South Africa needed to wake up to the reality that water was just as important to the economy as coal, Eskom chief commercial officer Dan Marokane said on Wednesday.

Marokane told the IHS McCloskey South African Coal Export Conference in Cape Town that Eskom, which burnt 130-million tons of coal a year, believed the relatively recent dry-coal beneficiation was the way forward as it reduced water use.

“Every drop of water that we can save counts and water is one area that is receiving high priority,” he told Engineering News Online.

A water pipeline was being built to the Waterberg, a dry area earmarked as South Africa’s next big coal-mining focus for both domestic consumption and exportation.

To combat climate change, co-firing with wooden biomas fuel was being pursued and on coal quality management, Marokane was able to report that Eskom currently had a far better relationship with South Africa’s Chamber of Mines than as the case wat this time last year and contractors were increasingly supplying appropriate quality coal for Eskom generation.

South Africa’s coal road map was “yet to bear fruit”, South African Coal Road Map chairperson Ian Hall told the conference.

Hall said that the first phase of the coal road map, which was scheduled to be released in November, had still not been released.

The upside was that the road map initiative had brought together all the relevant divergent parties, including government, coal miners and industry consultants, and was expected to assist South Africa to align its economic, infrastructural and social strategies and its developmental requirements.