Location

Chilota Colliery Company (Pvt) Limited was given a Special Grant (SG) 4947 and is engaged in coal mining. The mining method is opencast since the coal seam is shallow. The SG is situated in Hwange District of Matabeleland North Province about 9 km away from Hwange town along the Deka road. It is approximately 2 323 hectares in area.

Chilota Colliery Company engaged Environmental Guardians Services to conduct an ESIA. The ESIA was conducted and an ESIA certificate was issued by the Environmental Management Agency in Zimbabwe.

The Mining Environment

The SG is mainly dominated by Kalahari sands. The sand is fine to medium grained. Thickness varies from area to area but can be as much as 75metres in places. These soils vary in colour from pale yellowish colour to reddish brown.

The mine footprint covers approximately 2 323 hectares (ha). The coal mine is developed as an open-cast mine Large mining machinery is used to exploit the coal and these include the following:

• Power shovels (which remove the overburden)
• Large trucks, which transport overburden and coal
• Bucket wheel excavators
• Conveyors
• Coal Preparation Plant (CPP)