South Africa to supply Ukraine with one million tonnes of coal

Ukraine has announced that due to military conflict and disruptions to its coal production plants South Africa will be providing it with one million tonnes of coal. The relevant agreements have been signed and the vessel is loading for delivery. Interestingly this comes after Zuma's visit to Russia amid rumors that Russian companies are in pole position for the approximate R1 trillion tender to build South Africa several nuclear power stations. Talk about a fat piggy in the middle! AC

KIEV, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Ukraine will buy one million tonnes of coal from South Africa because the military conflict in its Donbass region has disrupted domestic coal production, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday.

Pro-Russian separatists are battling Kiev's forces in eastern Ukraine, which is home to much of the country's heavy industry and coal mines and accounts for about 18 percent of the economy's output.

"They (the rebels) bombed our main coal mines … and so the government has already signed an agreement on the supply of one million tonnes of coal from South Africa," Yatseniuk told a televised cabinet session.

"The first vessel is loading now," he added.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, writing by Gareth Jones)