From discard dump to road surface
South Africa produces about 60 million tonnes of discard coal a year. We fund the research that treats that mountain as feedstock: asphalt, building components, advanced materials and rare earths.
The mountain grows either way
Discard dumps are the industry’s most visible legacy. They burn, they leach, they cost money to rehabilitate, and they grow by roughly 60 million tonnes a year. Managed as waste, they are a permanent expense. The better question is what they are feedstock for.
Map everything, prove the best routes
The 2023 desktop study mapped every credible use for coal and discard. Then the strongest routes went to proof. Coal waste went into asphalt mixes, and the final report, completed in 2025/26, describes a working route from discard into the road-building sector. Coal composites were characterised for strength, porosity and flammability as lightweight materials. Fabricated soils were manufactured from waste. And under P2022-3, Justice Nkuna’s team went after the rare earth elements locked in discard, and mapped the chemistry that still holds some of them in acid-insoluble phases.
A dump you can quarry
Roads get built everywhere discard exists, which is why the asphalt route matters most: it converts the industry’s ugliest liability into local infrastructure. The materials and rare earths work puts coal waste into the value chains of the next economy. And every tonne diverted is a tonne that no longer burns, leaches or waits for rehabilitation money. The dumps were always going to define the industry’s legacy. This work gets a say in how.
The evidence. Every claim traces to a published report.
In the news
The discard-to-product research agenda, and the critical minerals work now running alongside it, keeps drawing coverage.
MINING WEEKLYCoaltech delves into new uses for coal discards among new research priorities21 Jan 2025↗MINING WEEKLYMintek spearheading rare earth element recovery from discard coal, fly ash13 Mar 2026↗COAL AGECoaltech unveils new projects for 2025 to 20262025↗Where this goes next
Alternate uses closes the loop with dry beneficiation, which decides what becomes discard at all. Related: Dry Beneficiation. SponCom. The Rehabilitation Guideline.