African Carbon Energy
The Theunissen project in the Free State province will become a vital contributor to the country ’ s electricity supply with the first 50 megawatt plant set to become operational in 2017
African Carbon Energy ( Africary ) is putting South Africa at the forefront of Underground Coal Gasification ( UCG ) by developing a one billion-tonne coal deposit at Theunissen in the Free State to fill a vital gap in the country ’ s electricity supply .
The junior miner , based in Pretoria and founded in 2007 by current CEO Johan Brand and late business partner Eliphus Monkoe , had pooled together their expertise in mining , exploration and gasification to establish a diversified commodities technology supplier in Southern Africa .
Working to register as an Independent Power Producer ( IPP ) with the Department of Energy , Africary is championing a technique that had been commonplace several decades ago , and one which holds several advantages over conventional coal mining which has now become the mainstream .
Schematic layout showing the scale of mining a very deep ( 370m ) coal seam
46 January 2015