JSE Alt-X listed electrical and instrumentation company B and W Instrumentation and Electrical Limited (B and W) is supplying and installing power lines for the new R3-billion Thubelisha shaft, an expansion of Twistdraai Colliery in Secunda, which will supply coal to the export market as well as a middlings product to Sasol Synfuels.

B and W was commissioned by RSV Enco-Goba - a joint venture - to supply and install over 10 km worth of 11kV power lines that will power the Twistdraai Colliery Thubelisha shaft. A new substation has been built especially to give continuous power to the shaft.

“We are facing a number of challenges in erecting the power lines on time, especially as we only took delivery of poles in late October, but I have no doubt that B and W's varied and extensive expertise and skills base will enable us to meet any logistical or technical challenge and still complete the scope of our work by the due date,” says B and W project manager Johan Burger.

Twistdraai Colliery Thubelisha shaft and another mine - Impumulelo - will replace the almost depleted Twistdraai and Brandspruit mines respectively. Thubelisha will be commissioned in 2012.

Peak production of the Thubelisha mine is expected in 2015. “But by 2012, two fully operational production sections have to be running so that the existing Twistdraai mine can begin ramping down,” says Burger.

B and W CEO Brian Harley says that Sasol's plans to continuously renew its coal-mining capacity benefits B and W significantly. “Sasol has to replace three mines in the next ten years, which means a potential need for electrical and instrumentation services such as those we supply.”