SASOL said on Friday that it is looking to secure coal from other sources after shelving a proposed coal strip mine on the Vaal River. ”We are examining alternatives,” Alfonso Niemand said, adding Sasol could boost output from existing mines or buy from external sources. Sasol, which turns coal into liquid fuels via a synthetic gas, currently has an underground and strip mining operation which supply feedstock to its facilities at Sasolburg. The company had proposed to open a new strip mine, but the project was fiercely opposed by a local environmental group which argued it endangered the nearby Vaal River. Sasol said on Thursday that it had dropped the proposed Sigma Northwest strip mine in its latest mining application submitted to the government.