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South Africa Will Rely on Coal for Decades, Key Miner Says

  • Company expects to supply Kusile power station until 2070
  • Seriti to double in size pending acquisition of South32 mines
Mike Teke
Mike TekePhotographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

Seriti Resources Holdings Ltd., poised to become Africa’s second biggest coal producer, is betting that South Africa will rely on coal for decades even as Africa’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases implements carbon taxes and is under pressure to improve air quality.

The most-industrialized economy on the continent will soon release an energy blueprint to outline the sources it will get its power from in the future. The carbon tax, designed to incentivize a move away from the coal that accounts for almost all power generation, could eventually cost state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. about 11.5 billion rand ($751 million) a year.