The Competition Commission has approved Coal of Africa’s (CoAL) acquisition of Pan-African Resources Coal Holdings (PAR Coal).

CoAL‚ an Australian company‚ is listed on the Australia Stock Exchange‚ the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and the JSE.

 CoAL is involved in coal exploration‚ development and mining within South Africa‚ with its projects including future mining and the supply of coking and thermal coal.

CoAL’s key projects include the Vele Colliery (coking and thermal coal)‚ which set it on a collision course with environmental activists due to its proximity to the Mapungubwe National Park — a world heritage site.

In November 2011‚ CoAL and the Save Mapungubwe Coalition declared a truce and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) over the Vele mine in Limpopo.

CoAL and the coalition had been at loggerheads over development of the coking coal mine because of its proximity to the Mapungubwe National Park‚ declared a world heritage site in 2003 by the UN’s Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation and raised concerns at the “potential adverse impact of the approved mining site on the outstanding value of the property“.

 PAR Coal is a South African company controlled by Pan African Resources Plc‚ a company incorporated in the United Kingdom. PAR Coal is an investment vehicle to acquire coal operations.

Also approved‚ without any conditions‚ was the merger of Wescoal Holdings Ltd and Keaton Energy Holdings Ltd.

Wescoal controls several collieries and coal washing plants and owns several coal depots. Its operations include exploration‚ mining‚ processing‚ supply‚ sales and distribution of coal and coal-related products.

Keaton Energy is a coal mining and development company which mines and supplies coal for power generation and for the export market. It controls several mining collieries.

The Commission found all these deals were unlikely to substantially prevent or lessen competition and raised no public interest concerns.