Vedanta's Konkola Copper Mines plans a $317m, 300MW coal-fired power plant in southern Zambia, as President Hakainde Hichilema presses the company to accelerate investment to support copper growth.
Transnet Freight Rail carried 167.9Mt of freight in FY2025/26, up 4.9%, as coal exports rose to 58.5Mt and iron ore to 52.8Mt, but the operator says it must clear 180Mt to meet demand.
Thungela Resources reported on 17 August 2026 that H1 2026 profit jumped as coal prices and rail performance improved, lifting its interim dividend to R5.50 a share from R2 a year earlier.
Thungela Resources posted a sharp rise in first-half profit to R1.4bn, helped by firmer coal prices and a 12% jump in export sales, and lifted its interim dividend to R5.50 a share.
Exxaro Resources flagged a fall of up to 23% in headline earnings for the first half of 2026, even as its coal exports rose 15% to 3.94 million tonnes on firmer thermal coal prices.
South African mining production fell 4% year-on-year in June 2026, Stats SA data published on 13 August showed, worse than the 3.3% decline analysts had forecast.
The API4 Richards Bay thermal coal price stood at $105.75 a tonne on 7 August 2026, far below the roughly $400 a tonne peak reached during the 2022 energy crisis.
Glencore is considering restarting South African coal growth projects that it shelved when the business fell below 50 million tonnes a year, as improving rail capacity revives the economics.
Vulcan has begun a $160m electrification project at its Moatize coal mine in Mozambique, aiming to replace diesel equipment with a 300MW power system across mining, processing and rail.
Eskom CEO Dan Marokane has warned against locking South Africa into hard deadlines for closing coal-fired power stations, saying rigid targets could trigger a new supply crisis.
Richards Bay Coal Terminal exported just over 30 million tonnes of coal in the first half of 2026 and could reach about 62 million tonnes for the year if Transnet sustains its rail recovery.
Richards Bay Coal Terminal said on 22 July 2026 that 2026 exports could rise 10% on 2025's 56.5 million tonnes, helped by a swift recovery from a June derailment.
A Centre for Environmental Rights report launched in Johannesburg finds South Africa has at least 400 abandoned coal mines and that Mpumalanga has properly closed none of them.
Transnet has concluded access agreements with 11 train operating companies covering coal, manganese, containers and fuel, in the first big step of its open-access rail reform.
MC Mining is preparing to commission its Makhado hard coking coal project in Limpopo while suspending operations at its unprofitable Uitkomst mine in KwaZulu-Natal.
South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed Eskom's bid to keep its coal and diesel supply contracts secret, upholding a High Court order that the utility disclose them.
Thungela Resources reported a R7.1bn net loss for 2025 after taking an R8.8bn asset impairment, as export coal prices fell 20% in South Africa and 17% at its Australian Ensham mine.
Richards Bay Coal Terminal exported 57.66 million tonnes of coal in 2025, up more than 10%, and CEO Alan Waller says a consistent 65-million-tonne annual rate is achievable in 2026.
Richards Bay Coal Terminal exported 57.66 million tonnes of coal in 2025, up more than 10% on 2024, as Transnet's rail recovery and reduced cable theft lifted volumes.
Mozambique expects coal production to exceed 22 million tonnes in 2026, up 15% on 2025, as Vulcan's Moatize operation and other Tete province mines increase output despite softer global prices.
Peabody Energy terminated its agreement to buy Anglo American's steelmaking coal portfolio for up to $3.8bn on 19 August 2025, prompting Anglo to launch arbitration over the collapsed deal a month later.
Exxaro Resources has begun a formal consultation process that could close its Leeuwpan Colliery, citing lower coal export prices and shrinking demand from Eskom.
Botswana is considering an emergency 615MW coal-fired power station after years of breakdowns at Morupule B, with only 65% of electricity demand currently met from local generation.
