Research that left the page and changed the mine
Since 1999 the coal industry has funded one shared research programme: ours. These are eighteen of the hundreds of projects the programme has funded, chosen for the depth of their impact on how mines run, close and clean up. Every claim traces to a published report in the open Library.
The case studies
A selection of eighteen, told the way they happened: the problem, the work, the proof. The full record of every funded project lives in the Research Library.
We brought a poisoned wetland back to life
Eight years at Zaalklapspruit. The Dongalock innovation, the first diatom index for damaged wetlands, and water that cleans itself again.
The standard the industry rehabilitates by
We commissioned the rewrite of the national rehabilitation guideline. Published 2019. On desks across the sector.
Five phases to stop the spark underground
How ignitions start at a continuous miner’s cutting head, and the protocols that stop them.
How to close a mine and walk away honestly
Pitlakes, relinquishment criteria and the risk models that make a closure plan defensible.
Washing coal without water
We tested the world’s dry technologies on our own coals, then bought our own pilot plant.
The water that outlives the mine
Brine frozen into clean water and salt. Treatment that runs where no plant can be staffed.
The fire that needs no spark
Twenty years of sponcom science, ending in the guidelines opencast mines now run on.
The number the sector negotiates from
6.73 Mt CO2e, Scope 1 and 2. The baseline that turned an estimate into evidence.
From discard dump to road surface
60 million tonnes of discard a year, reframed as feedstock: asphalt, building components, rare earths.
Cleaner fire: the HELE-CFB programme
From first studies to a R10 million, nationally co-funded localisation programme for IRP 2025.
Farming with the water a mine leaves behind
Twenty years of trials. Crops and pastures growing safely on treated mine water.
The formula that holds the roof up
The pillar strength database and the mapping of century-old workings nobody wrote down.
The room that keeps a crew alive
Life-sustainability trials with crews inside the bay and the conditions measured.
Blasting where the ground is already burning
The hot hole doctrine for opencast mines, and the instruments that find the heat first.
The dust you cannot see
Honest sampling, masks that get worn, and the 2025 best practice guideline.
The laboratory that studies explosions
We funded the upgrade of the national coal dust explosibility facility, completed 2025/26.
Keeping soil alive while it waits
The stockpile science and the Soil Handbook: rehabilitation that starts on day one.
Cattle on the discard dump’s doorstep
Kenaf grown in coal discard, regenerative farming on rehabilitated land, and the carbon counted.
This research exists because members fund it
The industry paid for every page of this work, and every member got every result. That is the deal. Join it.