Coal mine gives hope to Mpumalanga community

Phalanndwa Colliery is a coal mine in South Africa’s Province of Mpumalanga and has played a major role in uplifting the lives of residents in Victor Kanye community the mining company provides jobs and farming land to the community.

Victor Khanye Local Municipality is strategically located in the Highveld in Mpumalanga province on the border line of Gauteng province less than 100km from Pretoria, Johannesburg and Emalahleni.

Phalanndwa Colliery is situated 19 kilometers outside a small town of Delmas, it provides employment to Victor Kanye Community in both mining and farming.

The mine employs 35 000 males and females in both Phalanndwa Colliery and of the community

Some of the contributions made by Phalanndwa Colliery include bursary schemes to the youth, learner ship programme, it also provides excavator training to local youth, the license cost is paid for by the mine. The mine also free electricity and free water to the community.

The mine Led project on the year 2016 development of the Given Biko Bridge it was officially handed to Khanye local Municipality on the 1st of July 2016. The footbridge was named after Given Biko who was believed to have fallen in unsafe bridge.

The mine faces challenges from different community concern groups that demands employment from the mine. According to the department of mineral resources the must comply with the demands of the community for smooth operations, in most cases the mine deals with unplanned protests demanding answers from the mine managers.

Canyon Coal is producing 300 000 tonnes per month of run-of-mine, which equates to 3.6-million tons of coal a year across all its operations.

The mine is experiencing worker poaching from other emerging mines from around the province which is a loss. The mine is in a process acquire another plant which will produce 650 000 tonnes of coal per month.

By Moffat Mokoena