South African coal has one research programme, and the industry pays for it itself.

Coaltech exists so that the problems no single mine can afford to solve alone get solved once, properly, and for everyone. We are a non-profit association. Our members are the mining groups, the researchers, the universities and the public institutions that between them run and study this industry, and they fund the work because they need the answers.

The purpose has not moved since 1999. Develop the technology and apply the research that keeps the South African coal industry competitive, sustainable and safe.

What makes it work is who is in the room. Mining groups and mines bring the problem and the site. Researchers and research organisations bring the method. Universities, academics and students bring the people who will still be doing this work in twenty years. Government and public institutions bring reach, and increasingly co-investment. Not one of those four can do it alone, and holding them together is the job.

The Coaltech Board and the specialised Steering Committees decide what gets researched. That is deliberate. It means the agenda is set by the people who carry the consequences rather than by whoever happened to submit a proposal, and it is the reason the programme is still relevant after more than twenty five years. It is also how Coaltech builds the coal researchers and postgraduate students the industry will need long after the current projects have closed.