Coal

Africa has substantial-quality coal reserves with most of these reserves being found in Southern Africa.

Coal is exported, is used to generate electricity, and is used in the production of steel and cement.

South Africa produces over 250 million tons of coal every year. It is estimated that almost 75% of this coal is used domestically. Nearly 80% of the energy needs of South Africa are taken care of by coal, and over 90% of the coal consumed on the entire African continent is currently produced in South Africa.

The extracted coal is typically shipped in small batches from South Africa’s east coast to overseas markets. Still, coal mining in Africa and South Africa mostly creates a steady supply to South Africa’s national electricity provider, Eskom. The other major coal producer in Mozambique. Mozambique is also expected to experience a sharp increase in coal production towards 2020 with its estimated production to exceed 100 million tons.

Botswana is the country with the world’s largest untapped coal reserves estimated at 200 billion tonnes. Botswana, aims through the state-owned firm Botswana Oil, to use its vast coal reserves to develop a substantial coal-to-liquid sector and tenders worth billions of USD have been issued in this regard.

Weighing is critical in the coal both at the point of measuring the amount of coal mined, to qualifying, managing and controlling the volumes dispatched. If coal is being delivered from the mine directly to coal-powered power stations weighing and the information systems around weighing are critical to managing and controlling both deliveries to site and the flow rates of coal into the power station furnaces.

Sasco has an extensive range of products to meet the specific weighing requirements of the Coal Sector, including weighbridges, hopper scales and belt weighing scales and the associated software solutions.