Morupule Colliery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Morupule Colliery is a coal mine located in Palapye, Botswana, and owned and operated by Debswana, a partnership between the government of Botswana and De Beers. Founded in 1973 to supply the nearby Bamangwato Concessions, Ltd copper and nickel mine, operations have expanded considerably since then to supply a number of regional power plants and industries, especially the nearby Morupule Power Station.

The coalfield is composed of four main seams, only one of which, the No. 1 Seam, is currently being mined subsurface using slope mining. The No. 1 Seam has an average height of 8.5 meters (28 ft), and is located at an average depth of 80 meters (260 ft) below surface. Production over a recent 7-year stretch averaged 877,000 tons per year. Overall coalfield reserves are estimated at 5 billion tons of coal.


[edit] References