The laboratory that studies explosions so mines never see one
Kloppersbos is the national facility where coal dust explosibility is characterised. We funded its upgrade, completed in the 2025/26 year, so the science that protects every underground section has a home for the next generation.
Old instruments, permanent hazard
Coal dust explodes. Characterising exactly how, for each coal, under which conditions, is the science underneath stone dusting standards, barrier design and every explosion-prevention measure a colliery takes. That science lives at Kloppersbos, and the facility needed investment: ageing equipment carrying a national responsibility, while the evaluation of explosibility test equipment showed where the gaps were.
Rebuild the national instrument
We funded the Kloppersbos explosibility laboratory upgrade, completed within the 2025/26 year and delivered with the CSIR, restoring the facility at the heart of coal dust safety. Alongside it, the in-situ stress measurement programme puts real numbers on the ground stresses South African collieries mine in, feeding both safety and design. Our chairperson’s letter called the upgrade what it is: strengthening the national facility on which coal dust safety depends.
Capability, secured
This is not a finding; it is the machine that produces findings. With the upgrade complete, every explosibility characterisation the industry needs for the coming decades has a working national home, and the safety standards built on that data stand on current measurement rather than old equipment’s best effort. Infrastructure is the least glamorous thing research money buys, and sometimes the most important.
The evidence. Every claim traces to a published report.
Where this goes next
Kloppersbos serves every underground safety programme we fund. Related: Continuous Miner Safety. SponCom. Respirable Dust.