The Southstock Division is located in the province of Mpumalanga, South Africa, on the high plateau grasslands of the Middleveld. The Southstock Division comprises the South Witbank, Middelburg, Douglas, and Tavistock collieries.

Southstock is part of the Witbank Coalfield, the biggest coal producing area in South Africa and is the where the country’s biggest power stations are situated. The area has well developed infrastructure as a result of its long mining history.

Bituminous coal is mined at Southstock from the No 5, No 4 and No 2 coal seams using a combination of underground and opencast mining methods.

The complex currently has two washing plants, both producing a high quality thermal coal for the export market and a lower quality secondary product for the local power utility. A new plant is under construction for the newly commissioned Southstock 5 seam opencast operation that will produce export thermal coal and inland metallurgical coal.

All the operations in the Southstock complex are 100% owned by Xstrata South Africa, except for the Douglas and Middelburg mines which are operated under a joint venture with BHP Billiton (Xstrata 16%).

The Tavistock colliery was registered in 1936 and in 1960 Tavistock acquired the South Witbank Coal Mine (SWCM), which was registered in 1945. JCI acquired and interest in Tavistock and SWCM in 1975 and in 1998 Duiker Mining acquired Tavistock from JCI. Glencore bought Duiker mining from Lonmin in 2000 and Xstrata acquired the Duiker group in 2002.

• Commercial Farming Project – expansion from 400ha to 1200ha with the three upcoming farmers
• 50% involvement in a Fly tying business in with Rietspruit community
• School development in both the Rietspruit and Kriel communities to enable sufficient learners passing matric with Maths and Science
• Southstock adopted the Rietspruit HIV/Aids Clinic
• Southstock adopted the Kriel Police Station