BHP Billiton to close Rietspruit coal operation

Partners Ingwe Coal and Tavistock Collieries will close the Rietspruit coal mine in South Africa.

Ingwe is a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. Michael Oppenheimer, president of BHP Billiton’s energy and coal division, says the decision to close is due to softness in the market.

“Volumes will reduce by approximately forty per cent in December 2001 with the closure of the underground operations,” he says, “and the remaining open-cast production will cease during May 2002.”

Rietspruit produces 4 million tonnes of coal per year for export to power stations in Europe.

The workforce of 728 will shrink to 434 in January 2002 and to 150 in May. Rehabilitation work will take five years. However, the union and the mine owners have developed a plan aimed at creating non-mining related jobs in the village of Rietspruit.

Situated 30 km south of Witbank in Mpumalanga province, the mine was established in 1976. It was initially scheduled to produce 5 million tons per year over 20 years, and this was later extended by five years.

Tavistock Collieries is a subsidiary of Johannesburg-based Duiker Mining.