some 15 km away near Palapye in order to supply surface water to the mine. While any coal mine has a negative environmental impact, and the coal burnt in a power station results in carbon dioxide emissions, the colliery has taken steps to make the negative environmental impact as low as possible: the colliery received ISO 14001 certification in 2010, and activities are controlled using a formal Environmental Management System. All required environmental permitting is in place and EIAs are publicly accessible on the Expansion Project website*. Use of water in a water scarce country is reduced by performing dry screening in the plant, storm water is captured and re-used, and replenishable surface water from the North-South carrier is used. Care was taken during design to construct a plant with a small footprint and the plant will be placed on previously disturbed ground. Energy saving initiatives (energy efficient motors, lighting and solar water heating etc.) have been incorporated into the design. The mine does not produce any discards, does not deposit fines on a slimes dam (these are dispatched to BPC to be burnt in the power station) and does not discharge any effluent water into the environment. While the colliery has mining rights over an area of some 170 square kilometers, mining is conducted below surface, and current land-use owners' rights to farm and graze cattle on tribal land have not been affected. No forced relocation of people living within the mining area has occurred. The colliery operates a small game park of some 1700 hectares in the area around the mine village, and this is used for conservation and to provide people of the area with recreation and environmental education. The coalfield is composed of four main seams, only one of which, the No. 1 Seam, is currently being mined, below surface, using bord and pillar mining methods and continuous miners. No pillar extraction occurs, and the mine design is conservative to prevent surface subsidence. The No. 1 Seam has an average height of 8.5 meters (28 ft), an average CV of around 23.5 MJ/kg (air-dry) and is located at an average depth of 80 meters (260 ft) below surface. Production over a recent 7-year stretch averaged 877,000 tonnes per year. Overall coalfield resources within the mining lease area estimated at 5 billion tonnes of coal. In 2021, it was announced that the mine will develop a new