1. Coal Mining
Compound Annual Growth rate (2022 – 2032): -5.5%
Coal Mining is the fastest declining industry with a compound annual growth rate of -5.5% from 2022 to 2032. The coal mining industry is responsible for extracting coal from the ground or a mine. According to BLS, wage and salary employment is expected to go from 40,400 in 2022 to 22,900 by 2032, representing a decline of 17.5%. The industry’s output is also expected to decline at a compounded rate of 4.1%. Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL) is a leading integrated energy and chemical company based in South Africa, with a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, as of May 29. The company is a prominent name in the coal mining business. Rising coal prices and a decline in coal quality have had a negative impact on the company’s mining business. The company’s mining business witnessed a 39% decline in adjusted EBITDA, for the six months ended December 31, 2023. Here are some comments from the company’s interim financial results for the six months ended December 31, 2023 earnings release:
“Our Mining business saw a 39 percent decline in adjusted EBITDA. This was largely due to lower export coal prices, higher external coal purchases and higher cash fixed costs coupled with safety incidents and related operational challenges experienced in the second quarter of our 2024 financial year. Despite these challenges, we achieved a 6% increase in productivity since the prior period.”
Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL) is taking significant steps to improve the overall quality of coal. Its integrated coal quality center was implemented last year, facilitating the management of coal quality variations. Here are some comments from its earnings release describing its coal destoning project:
“Additionally, our coal destoning project, which is nearing a final investment decision later in 2024, can improve coal quality and has the potential to reduce the percentage of rocks, in the coal feed to Secunda Operations, which will enable improved gasifier yield and thus, better value chain performance.”
Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL) is also pivoting to reduce the use of coal in boilers to reduce emissions. Here are some comments from its latest earnings release for the six months ended December 31, 2023:
“Some examples include Bridge to Work, a skills development and employability programme, which will see over 110 beneficiaries graduating from various technical programmes in the next 6 months. Through this programme we are partnering on projects that could potentially provide biomass feedstock, required as part of the pilot to replace coal in the boilers in Sasolburg, aligned to our emission reduction roadmap. This includes a pilot for farmers from the Iphepe programme being coached and mentored on growing Solaris, and employing 200 beneficiaries to harvest and process invasive and alien plants , as biomass feedstock”
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