As South Africa’s second largest earner with regard to the value of total sales after gold, coal provides 6.1% of the country’s total merchandise exports. World wide, South Africa is the sixth largest holder of coal with 31 billion tonnes of recoverable coal reserves. This is equivalent to 11 % of the world’s total coal reserves.
While most of the coal is consumed by the South Africa’s energy sector, (approximately 77 %)circa 69 million tonnes of coal per annum are exported via Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal. In the past, the majority of our coal exports went to Europe, but recently, India and China have become the preferred market.
Coal production in South Africa is concentrated in large mines, with 8 mines accounting for 61 % of the output. About 46.5 % of the country’s coal mining is underground and 53.5 % is produced from open-cast mining methods. Bituminous or steam coal is South Africa’s main export coal, with anthracite having to be imported, due to dwindling reserves.