It is reported that coal mining junior Keaton Energy would start coal production at its Klipfontein project, in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, immediately after minerals & energy department granted its 74% held subsidiary, Keaton Mining, a mining permit for the project.

Mr James Duncan spokesperson of Keaton Energy said that it had appointed mining contractor Shumba Mining, which was local to the area in Mpumalanga, and already on site. It is expecting to sell its first coal to a local merchant next month. The mine would produce about 40,000 tonnes per month.

Mr Paul Miller MD of Keaton Energy said that “Although relatively small, the Klipfontein project allows us to bring coal to market significantly ahead of schedule, demonstrating our commitment to move rapidly from exploration, through development, to mining.”

The Klipfontein project should provide Keaton Mining with cash flow for a period of about ten months while its larger Delmas project was developed. The Klipfontein resource was about 400,000 tonnes in total.

It expects to complete the Delmas project’s bankable feasibility study by October 2008 and to start mining in early 2009. The Delmas project had an in situ mineable coal resource of 178.4 million tons, which it said should support a 250,000 tonnes per month run of mine from three open pits.

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