South Africa's coal occurs in the Ecca group (coloured mustard yellow). These rocks were deposited in a vast inland lake or sea, when Africa was part of Gondwana. It was only along the northern and north-eastern shores of this body of water where marshes formed peat, and eventually turned into coal.

Coal is found in South Africa in 19 coalfields (Figure 1), located mainly in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and the Free State, with lesser amounts in Gauteng, the North West Province and the Eastern Cape.

After the Witbank Coalfield, the Highveld Coalfield is the next largest producing Coalfield in South Africa. The Coalfield is host to up to five coal seams within the middle Ecca Group sediments of the Karoo Supergroup.

Coal is found in South Africa in 19 coalfields (Figure 1.4), located mainly in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Free State, with lesser amounts in Gauteng, the North West Province and the Eastern Cape.

Overall, South Africa’s coal deposit occur in 18 coalfields distributed across the Main Karoo Basin and extensional rift-related sub-basins (Fig. 1). Coals are predominantly high to medium volatile bituminous rank, and there is a general trend of increasing rank from west to east, across South African coalfields (Cairncross, 2001).

Apr 19, 2024 · There are 19 coalfields in South Africa, most of which are located in the north-east. A majority of the coal mines in South Africa are located in the Mpumalanga province whose coal production is about 81% of the country’s total output.

With the economic coal reserves in South Africa’s Witbank Coalfield (the country’s most productive coalfield) dwindling rapidly, it is becoming increasingly important to identify other South African and SADC coalfields with economically exploitable resources.

distribution and quality of the coals, 19 coalfields are generally recognised in South Africa. This paper provides an updated review of their exploration and exploitation histories, general geology, and coal

All of the main exploited coal deposits in South-Central Africa are hosted in sedimentary rocks of the Late Carboniferous to Middle Jurassic aged, Karoo Supergroup and their temporal equivalents. Apart from being the host to the regions’ coals, the Karoo aged rocks also contain a world class palaeontological record.

Based on geographic considerations, and variations in the sedimentation, origin, formation, distribution and quality of the coals, 19 coalfields are generally recognised in South Africa. This paper provides an updated review of their exploration and exploitation histories, general geology, coal seam nomenclature and coal qualities.