The African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC) is a state-controlled mining business in South Africa.

History

The AEMFC was launched by

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

, the former president of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, prompting concerns that the state might attempt to nationalise parts of the mining industry. First established in 1944, it lay dormant for years, before beginning activities in 2007. It has been granted mining and prospecting rights, in competition with other mining companies. AEMFC is, officially, subsidiary to the Central Energy Fund. In February 2011, the AEMFC launched a coal mining project in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

, which is expected to produce 1.68 million tons of coal per year. , AEMFC was still loss-making, but gets interest-free loans from the Central Energy Fund (R209M as of 2016). Performance of its

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

mines has been disappointing. It moved into profit, by March 2013 stating a profit of R77M per year, and an equity of R490K, despite a loss of 54 409 tonnes of uninsured coal which was burned.

Activities

AEMFC owns the Vlakfontein coal mine in

Ogies Ogies is a settlement in Nkangala District Municipality in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It is a coal-mining town 29 km south-west of Witbank and 70 km north-east of Springs. History It was laid out in 1928 on the farm Oogi ...

which supplies the

Kendal Power Station Kendal Power Station is a coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa. It is sited in a coal-mining area; one of its sources is AEMFC's coal mine at Vlakfontein, near Ogies. History Design Kendal was built between 1982 and 1993. The fi ...

run by

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

References

{{reflist Mining companies of South Africa Non-renewable resource companies established in 1944 Coal companies of South Africa Government-owned companies of South Africa companies based in Johannesburg 1943 establishments in South Africa History of mining in South Africa