Murray & Roberts recently announced that Boipelo Mining Contractors has been awarded an approximate ZAR3.2 billion ($232 million) contract for the provision of underground mining services at the Arnot coal mine in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Boipelo Mining Contractors, a BBBEE Level 1 underground mining contractor, is a joint venture between Murray & Roberts Limited (49%) and Amandla TM (51%), providing contracting services to the local coal mining industry.

Murray & Roberts Cementation will be the active partner with Amandla TM (100% black-owned) on this project. The Arnot colliery is owned by Arnot Opco, to which Exxaro Resources transferred ownership in 2019, and includes the 10, 11 and 12 Shafts, each in development with each shaft set to produce some 1 Mt/y of thermal coal. The company also has surface mining operations.

The Group rounded off the contract award statement with a comment on its focus on coal going forward, saying it “understands the global implications of climate change and is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and growing its service offerings in the cleaner energy sector. Considering the shortage of electricity in South Africa and Eskom’s dependence on its fleet of coal-fired power stations to generate electricity to meet base-load demand, the Group has decided to limit its coal mining service offering to the South African mining sector.”