IPC Coal and IPC Mining have secured funding from Centaur Holdings to accelerate operations its opencast mining operations at Nungu colliery in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.
With this funding, IPC will be able to begin mining the underground reserves of around seven million tons of thermal coal in February.
Coal reserves at the Nungu colliery are located beneath the surface with access to the underground coal reserves through the highwall of mined out Nungu West opencast pit.
The transaction managed by the private equity division of the Centaur Group.
Under the deal, Centaur could increase the funding and acquire a stake in IPC as a secondary stage to the transaction.
Centaur CEO Daniel McGowan said: “The recently completed funding package for IPC is part of Centaur’s strategic plan for its mining division, with a specific focus on high quality export thermal coal and established logistics infrastructure.
“The funding package further demonstrates Centaur’s selective expansion plans in the natural resources sector in South Africa. Centaur will begin work on the secondary stage of the transaction during Q1.”
Centaur was advised by Webber Wentzel, Centaur Asset Management and Ecca Project Services.