Optimum back from the dead with historic dragline returned to production

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation. The troubled Optimum Colliery, having emerged from a business rescue process in February 2024, is being rapidly revived with a multibillion-rand investment from Liberty Coal to ramp up mining, processing and exports. This investment – in excess of R3-billion to date – is driving significant revitalisation activity around the once expansive and highly productive mining complex. Acquired by Liberty in February 2024 as part of a successful business rescue transaction, Optimum has a long history in South Africa's coal mining sector, dating back to 1970 when the complex was developed to supply coal to State power utility Eskom's Hendrina Power Station. The power station is less than 2 km from Optimum's heavy dense media separation (HMS) plant and less than 5 km from Optimum's mine offices. Mining Weekly visited the vast 38 000 ha mining complex on July 21, where a newly refurbished dragline was seen in operation at the Kwagga mine – a single renewal project that in itself cost Liberty R460-million. In its heyday, Optimum Colliery operated the most extensive fleet of the biggest models of draglines in the whole of Africa, according to a senior mine representative. Draglines the size of the 100 m-long-boom Marion 8200 are no longer manufactured, but would carry a price tag of about R2-billion in the current economic climate if they were, as confirmed by a Kwagga mine representative involved in its restoration. Liberty Coal COO Peter Nordin said a single dragline replaces eight excavators and enables significant economies of scale for the company and, as a result, its restoration was an easy decision to make. He added that because a dragline has not been successfully recommissioned in South Africa for nearly six years, Marion 8200 Number 3's restoration was "a significant moment in Liberty's achievements" to date. Mining Weekly visited the mine in December 2022, where two Marion 8200's and a Bucyrus dragline were observed parked, derelict and in a state of disrepair after years of abandonment following Optimum's decline in the years of State capture after the Gupta family acquired it in 2015. These draglines – which can excavate coal to depths of nearly 80 m while hoisting about 135 t of material in a single scoop – enable Liberty to undertake large-scale overburden stripping to expose underlying coal seams. As part of the dragline refurbishment project, major load-bearing components underwent structural integrity assessments and non-destructive testing, while the machine's bucket, rigging and fairlead assemblies were inspected and refurbished to optimise performance. The walking mechanism, slew system and lubrication systems were also serviced to restore full operational reliability. In terms of acquiring skilled dragline operators, Nordin said Liberty Coal was fortunate to be in the vicinity of other current dragline operations, with one particular such operation recently having ceased some dragline duties. Liberty plans to refurbish the other two draglines at Kwagga mine, with a feasibility exercise set to be undertaken on resorting the other Marion 8200 in 2027, following which some parts (with a lead time of up to 24 months) will need to be manufactured. The Bucyrus restoration will be undertaken once the second Marion is operationalised. "Within the next five years, we will have three draglines operating," stated Nordin. In terms of amalgamating the various detached mines that made up Optimum in the past, he said Liberty has consolidated the nine previously separate opencast mines at Optimum under a single mining right now registered to the company. Liberty is also advancing plans to revive the historic Boschmanspoort underground mine within the same mining right, with production expected to beg...