A very good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Exxaro 2024 financial year-end results. A warm welcome to those of you watching from our LinkedIn page. My name is Sonwabise Mzinyathi. I am the Acting Chief Investor Relations and Liaison Officer for Exxaro, and I have the pleasure of facilitating the engagements for today. As you know, at Exxaro, we always begin our meetings with a safety briefing. Therefore, please pay attention to the following. We have not planned any emergency drill for today. If for some reason the alarm is activated, please remain calm and exit the building using the emergency exit doors. The assembly point is in front of the building, and this is where the roll call will be conducted. We will all remain at the assembly point until instructions are issued to re-enter the building.
In the event of this situation, please note that visitors should always be accompanied by their host. For our bathroom facilities, when you step outside the auditorium, turn to your right, and then first left, the restrooms will be on your right-hand side. Smoking is prohibited inside this building. There are smoking areas allocated outside of the building. In the event of load shedding or a power outage, please do not panic as we have generators on site which will kick in within three minutes, starting with the emergency lights, plugs, and then the Wi-Fi. Please take note of our disclaimer. Our agenda for today will cover our group performance overview, coal operational performance, group financial performance, and finally, we will provide our outlook for the year 2025. Our speakers for today, to my right, is Riaan Koppeschaar, our Acting CEO and Finance Director.
He is joined by Mervin Govender, our Acting Chief Coal Operations Officer. Later on, you will also hear from Leon Groenewald, who is our Managing Director for Energy. With that, over to you, Riaan.
Thank you, Sonwa. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. A special welcome to members of the board present here today and the Pensioners Club, whose support we always appreciate. As you know, I've been acting as the CEO since the 4th of December last year, following the precautionary suspension and the subsequent resignation of the CEO. As you saw this morning, the board has appointed a new CEO, Mr. Ben Magara. Ben is also here with us. Ben, you can perhaps put your hand up. Just on serious matters, as displayed. In the past few months, the board takes its fiduciary duties in overseeing the activities of the company very seriously, and our stakeholders are assured that Exxaro will take the appropriate steps to investigate all allegations, whether received from our tip-off line or directly to us as management or other channels within the organization.
As you've also been informed by the board, our Chief Coal Operations Officer, Mr. Khabe Masia, is still under precautionary suspension, pending an independent investigation by the law firm Bowmans. To reiterate the board's view, this is a suspension and neutral act that presumes no outcome.
Welcome to Coal Risk Call.
It does allow an independent investigation to proceed unhindered. While that process unfolds, the business of Exxaro is, however, continuing, and therefore, allow me to also introduce Mervin Govender. Mervin is the Acting Chief Coal Operations Officer. Mervin has been with Exxaro for more than 20 years, and he has run several of our operations successfully, including as General Manager of the Grootegeluk Mine. Mervin also was part of the team that successfully implemented the ZAR 20 billion project pipeline that culminated in the commissioning of Belfast Mine, among other critical operational projects. He has got a rich background, over 30 years' experience in mining, engineering, mineral separation, and smelter industries. Before coming into this current role, he was our General Manager for group projects. We welcome him to the team, and I am confident that under his leadership, our coal operations are in capable hands.
As the saying goes, we cannot direct the wind, but we can certainly adjust our sails in order to reach our desired destination. This has been the underlying theme for the past financial year as our business remains resilient, strategically adapting to the many market headwinds that came our way. We can all agree that 2024 was a year of mixed global sentiment, and nearly half of the world's population went to the voting polls, leading to major shifts in global and country-specific politics. We also saw that evolving geopolitical and economic tensions are leading to increased fragmentation in the global economy. Inflation and monetary policy saw significant developments as global disinflation continued, which led to a pivot in monetary policy, with central banks easing interest rates to boost economic activity. Back in South Africa, headline earnings inflation averaged 4.4%, down from the 5.9% in 2023.
Driven by a moderation in Brent crude oil prices, the marked strengthening of the rand, and overall broad-based disinflation in fuels and goods. While headline consumer and producer inflation rates declined, the benefits of lower inflation have yet to fully offset the cost escalations we are seeing. The rand also remained volatile against the dollar, as can be seen in the graph, ending the year at a level of ZAR 18.71. In South Africa, the peaceful completion of the May elections last year and the formation of the government of national unity led to an improved local consumer and global investor sentiment, fostering cautious optimism for economic growth. Coming to rail operations, they continue to face challenges, including theft, unavailability of locomotives, and infrastructure deteriorating. We recorded three derailments affecting volume throughput for the first half of the year.
Despite these challenges, Richards Bay Coal Terminal exported 52.1 million tonnes compared to 47.2 million tonnes in 2023, and this was driven by an improved TFR performance in the second half of the year. As a result of that, Exxaro evacuated exports through RBCT, amounting to 5.2 million tonnes, up from the 4.6 million tonnes in 2023. 1.8 million tonnes were exported using alternative export channels. This is an increase from the 479,000 tonnes that we witnessed in 2023. Now, looking at the coal offtake, Eskom's 2024 performance improvements included a 7.6% rise in the energy availability factor and 323 days without load shedding that have given us a more stable demand and operational predictability. Performance trends of the commodity markets have varied between the first and second halves of the year.
Thermal coal started the year under pressure and strengthened, whereas iron ore started strong and lost momentum as the year progressed. Overall, Exxaro's commodity markets delivered softer performances in 2024, with lower average reference prices for thermal coal and iron ore. This context and operating background then leads us into the financial performance for 2024. We are pleased to announce that we had no fatalities in 2024, with our lost time injury frequency rate sitting at 0.06 for the group. Safety will be discussed in more detail later on. Our operations delivered a solid performance while navigating external factors within the operating environment. In line with our guidance that we gave previously, coal production reduced by 7% to 39.5 million tonnes for 2024, down from the 42.5 million tonnes in 2023. The decrease in production was largely driven by lower Eskom demand at our Grootegeluk Mine.
Notably, at Belfast Mine, the production improved by 21% to 3.5 million tonnes after completing a full year of production. This was also a record production achievement at the Belfast mine. As pointed out, export sales increased by 37% year-on-year to 7 million tonnes, driven by the use of alternative distribution channels and TFR's performance, which did improve in the latter part of the year. However, as a result of the lower production and various cost pressures, our cash cost per tonne increased by 32% year-on-year to ZAR 638 per tonne. Mervin will also unpack that in detail more later on. Looking at the markets, the benchmark API4 RBCT export price averaged $105 per tonne in 2024 compared to the $121 per tonne in 2023, a decline of 13% year-on-year.
Despite the decline, Exxaro achieved a very strong 95% price realization compared to the 97% in 2023, but still above our target of 90%. This was a result of our effective market-to-resource optimization initiatives. On energy, Synergy's operating wind assets generated 725 GWh of electricity compared to the 727 GWh in 2023, also in line with our guidance. Group EBITDA decreased by 22% from 2023, mainly attributable to the decrease in the coal EBITDA, while the adjusted equity accounted income decreased by 47% year-on-year, and that resulted mainly from 45% lower equity accounted income from our investment in Sishen Iron Ore Company. Our financial performance will also be discussed in more detail later on.
Headline earnings per share therefore decreased 36% to ZAR 30.16 per share for 2024, and our return on capital employed is sitting at 23%, still above our internal target of 20%. Due to the strong cash generation in the business, our net cash position increased to ZAR 16.3 billion, excluding the energy project financing, compared to the end of 2024, where the cash was sitting at ZAR 14.8 billion. Finally, I am very pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved a gross final cash dividend of ZAR 8.66 per share for the year ended 31 December 2024. Given the net cash position at the end of the year, the Board of Directors has also resolved to embark on a share repurchase program of ZAR 1.2 billion, subject to the prevailing market conditions at that point in time.
If we move on, at the heart of everything we do in Exxaro is our people. We prioritize wellness and safety always, ensuring that all our employees return to their families safely every day. This is done through incredible safety leadership, effective communication, consequence management, training, and also risk management, and our goal of zero harm definitely remains attainable. At the end of the financial year, the group reached a significant milestone, completing 28 consecutive months without a work-related fatality. We have also reached other notable fatality-free years by our operations, as indicated in this slide. Due to a focused strategy, Exxaro's lost time injury frequency rate has also maintained a downward trend since our inception, and we end the year with a lost time injury frequency rate of 0.06, down from 0.07 in 2023.
This does not only highlight the effectiveness of our safety strategy to date, but also highlights the dedication and commitment of all our employees towards safety. On this note, I would like to congratulate all our employees out there, whether you're at the connection, whether you're at the business unit, for reaching these remarkable milestones. Sustainable impact remains at the core of the Exxaro business, and delivering meaningful socio-economic value is integral to Exxaro's purpose of bettering better lives in Africa and beyond. Our efforts focus on addressing unemployment, enhancing education, and enabling infrastructure development to empower our host communities and also to drive inclusive economic growth. As at the end of December, we are proud that group social investments amounted to ZAR 2.1 billion. The local procurement of Black, Small, Medium, and Micro enterprises supported 562 organizations through enterprise and supplier development initiatives.
We are also making a meaningful impact in our host communities by investing in education. Our early childhood development programs benefited more than 2,700 children, more than 40 registered early childhood development centers, and over 180 teachers through professional training. Also, very proud, in January of 2025, we handed over the newly built Martina Kekana school hall. It is a block of four classrooms and associated external upgrades to the Nelsons kop Primary School in Lephalale, benefiting more than 1,500 children and also teachers. This was at an investment of more than ZAR 20 million that also boosted the local economy through local company participation and job creation. With finite mine life, we are also reimagining the sustainability of our communities, ensuring that they continue to thrive beyond the life of mine by creating post-mining economies.
We do this through our mineral succession program, which grants emerging farmers access to rehabilitated and surplus mining land for agricultural and commercial ventures. At the end of 2024, our mineral succession program had more than 10,000 hectares of land under management, and we provided more than ZAR 63 million in funding towards 36 farming projects across six provinces in South Africa. Exxaro is also championing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and has maintained its value proposition as an employer of choice. As such, Exxaro has once again received recognition from the Top Employer Institute as a 2025 Top Employer. We also aim to go beyond compliance, and for the past six years, we are proud that we've consistently achieved our mining charter three employment equity targets.
Furthermore, a big milestone in 2024, we also signed a new three-year coal wage agreement with our trade unions, demonstrating the strong relations built on trust and mutual respect. Coming to our BEE or empowerment transaction, a big milestone for us, we are very pleased to announce that our major anchor shareholder, Eyesizwe , have signed a separate waiver and undertaking in favor of them to maintain the current 30.8% shareholding in Exxaro until December 2027. This is a significant milestone which ensures that Exxaro remains its empowerment level and status as one of South Africa's largest and foremost Black, empowered, and diversified listed mining companies. This also demonstrates the long-term relationship with them and also the confidence that they have in the Exxaro strategy going forward. Very pleased about that. At Exxaro, we also maintained our level two BEE status against our set target of three.
When it comes to diversity, we also committed to safeguard biodiversity through targeted initiatives, including species relocation, wetland rehabilitation, invasive plant management, and implementing conservation projects that protect native flora and fauna across our operations. Our impacts on diversity are further enhanced by strategic partnerships with conservation organizations and communities. Furthermore, we are also proud that the development of our decarbonization roadmap has now been achieved. This is critical for the business as it maps out our short, medium, and long-term decarbonization approaches essential towards our objective of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. I will explain and expand on this in the next slide. We are decarbonizing today to secure a sustainable tomorrow. This roadmap presents a comprehensive framework that summarizes our key milestones, our strategic initiatives, and the technologies necessary for Exxaro to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The roadmap provides a clear pathway to a low-carbon future, and its implementation is critical to Exxaro's operational resilience. We remain agile in our approach, and we will continue to regularly review and update the roadmap in line with the evolving technological and innovation landscape. From a 2022 base, we are targeting a 40% and 75% cumulative reduction in scope one and two emissions in 2030 and 2040, respectively. We will achieve this through renewable energy initiatives, as pointed out, and also equipment and fleet optimization technology. We believe that through this roadmap, we are well on our way to becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and contributing to an impactful transition in South Africa. I will now hand over to Mervin to take us through our coal operational performance results. Thanks, Mervin.
Thank you, Riaan. I'm really excited to be part of the coal team again and to put my coal boots on once more. We are going to create real value for our stakeholders through coal and to support our strategy and be part of a transition to a sustainable future. We continue to start with, before we continue with the presentation, I think it's absolutely important that we talk about the mining industry. Okay? The mining industry has had or experienced tragic losses to about 42 fatalities, six of them coming from coal. And you know, our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends who lost their loved ones in the mining industry. We are grateful to report that we have been fatality-free for 28 months in a row. Our mines are performing extremely well regarding fatality-free years.
However, we have to stay focused on everything and everyone and make sure everybody gets home safely every single day of our life. Operationally, we created value by realizing a solid EBITDA performance despite a decreased price, volume pressures from constrained offtake, as well as logistics performance. Among all of this, we were able to export 7 million tonnes and maintained an extremely good price realization of 95%. The lower demand and increased exports negatively impacted our unit cost. We also adapted our sustaining capital spend in line with market demand. I look forward to 2025 to work with the coal team and to deliver exceptional performance consistently. Now let's dive into our performance. We had an outstanding year in realizing our sustainable impact performance and exceptional achievements in this area, as already mentioned by Riaan in his opening slides.
Now looking at safety, safety is the leading priority in our business, and improved safety outcomes across the business remains a continued and collective responsibility. We are revitalizing our safety strategy to maintain the current performance, which we will launch at our CEO Sustainability Summit this year in April. Overall, we have seen a good safety performance with a reduced year-on-year lost time injury frequency rate and the lower number of high potential incidents. We continue our safety drive to achieve our internal target of 0.05. Our leaders will be spending more time in the field, engaging employees, and having quality interactions through visible felt leadership as part of our employee well-being strategy. We continue to drive the health and wellness of our employees for the employees to stay physically, mentally, psychologically, and financially fit in our business. We continue to build results-driven and agile teams.
I would like to highlight some noteworthy achievements in our environmental performance, demonstrating our dedication to sustainability. We have seen a 6.4% improvement in carbon intensity. Our water intensity increased from 105 liters run of mine to 140 liters run of mine. This was due to sufficient water reserves stored in the pit at GG, enabled by the excessive rainfall during 2023 compared to the lower rainfall experienced in 2024, similar to levels in 2022. We are still performing well below our targets of 180 liters per ton and still significantly below the coal mining benchmark of 380 liters per ton. Our rehabilitation efforts increased the area of rehabilitation land by 477 hectares, thereby increasing the percentage of land rehabilitated in the group by 7.2% to 26.2%. To give you an idea of what this looks like, this is equivalent to 670 soccer fields. Okay?
Where major environmental incidents are concerned, level two and three, we achieved zero incidents for both levels, which is an improvement from the one level two incident recorded last year at the Durnacol mine. We are pleased to report a 10.5% increase in community investments totaling ZAR 2.1 billion. Of this, 83% was directed towards supporting Black SMMEs through local procurement and enterprise supplier development. Riaan highlighted some of these successes in his stories and his slides. This is definitely a success story that enables great investment. We continue investing in a sustainable future for all stakeholders. Now I'll focus on our operational performance. We adapted our production and product levels to match market demand in successfully executing a market-to-resource optimization strategy. This remains key in our operating philosophy and assisted with managing our operations at optimal execution rates.
We produced in line with market demand, demonstrating our ability to adapt to market conditions and align production and capital expenditure accordingly. The total product reduced by 3 million tonnes due to the following. The Eskom offtake was caused by various challenges. Although improvements were evident in the second half of 2024, the total offtake still reduced by 1.3 million tonnes at Grootegeluk. As our major customer, this had a significant impact on our production processes. The pit consolidation at Lephalale resulted in improved execution and optimized product mix with a reduction of 794 kilotonnes. Although we have made good progress on the Lephalale optimization, this work is still not completed yet. We remain committed to creating stakeholder value and ensure ongoing robustness of our coal portfolio.
Matla, although at 152 kilotonnes lower production levels, really performed well considering the ending of the mine two short wall in May 2024. The lower production at Grootegeluk, Lephalale, and Matla was offset somewhat by increased production at Belfast, amounting to 609, owing to the fact that this is the first full year of production cycle after the tragic fatality that we had in 2022. Mafube is performing well, and we are benefiting from the new box cut, resulting in an improved production of 126 kilotonnes. Our total sales decreased by 2.7%, mainly due to Eskom impact, as highlighted previously. This is, however, offset by the outstanding performance of 37% improvement on our export sales. We experience an improved performance from TFR or Transnet Freight Rail in 2024.
Given the challenging performance of Transnet Freight Rail in the past, we have been working very hard to establish alternative routes to unlock value and move our coal into export markets. The 1.8 million tonnes exported via other ports assisted in debottlenecking the mines as far as possible at levels that still make financial sense. Our domestic sales decreased by 1.7 million tonnes, mainly due to moving additional volumes at Belfast into the export market at better than FCA margins, as well as challenges experienced during the Lephalale transition, as discussed earlier. We forecast sales to increase by 2 million tonnes in 2025, made up by the following: an increase of 1.3 million at Grootegeluk, an improved Eskom offtake based on the return of unit four at Medupi, and normalized sales in line with domestic demand.
A 700 kiloton increase in Mpumalanga sales, mainly driven by Matla, increasing by 400 kilotonnes due to the ramp-up of mine one. I also just need to recognize Eskom and thank them for the full capital approval, as we can now see the benefits starting to reflect in the volumes. In addition, Lephalale increased by 300 kilotonnes based on the good optimization work discussed above. Our market-to-resource optimization strategy at optimal values remains key in affecting the best production and sales mix options to remain competitive in the market where it makes financial sense. Although the decline in API4 price poses a challenge in selling our product through alternative ports, we continue to pursue this option to enable our operations as long as this makes business sense.
We will continue to build on the success created in our market-to-resource optimization strategy and to flex the business to adapt to our ever-changing macro environment. Next, we will discuss our performance in the export market. Here you will notice the successful placement of our product in the right markets at the right quality whilst realizing optimal value for our stakeholders. Now looking at the pie chart on the top right, you will note the following regarding our markets. Sales levels to Asia and India have normalized and likely represent sustainable levels. The market positions are supported by good demand for our strong product portfolio. It is very pleasing that the percentage of sales to Europe improved with substantially higher absolute volumes as the total exports increased by 1.9 million tonnes.
As previously indicated, the increased export volumes via Maputo and the placed pressure on our sales mix optimization in the short term, you will notice that the overall composition of our sales mix for 2024 was very close to that of 2023. We were successful in increasing our RB1 portion of the sales out of RBCT, which is 92%, and marginally increased our overall portion of RB1 in total mix of 74%. We expect further improvements on this number going forward. We are also pleased that we are able to sustain a robust price realization of 95% despite substantial price pressures in most markets. The team continues to focus on finding solutions across numerous domestic and export logistics channels to further optimize our cost to these markets. We build our forecast on a sound foundation established through our agility in responding to changing markets and logistics challenges.
Now let's move on to cost. I will now unpack the cost increase, the related contributors, as well as the conscious decisions made to ensure our business remains profitable. As previously highlighted, the variability in offtake by the market is still with us and continues to challenge us operationally, where we are producing at 21% below our installed capacity. If we were to produce an additional 3 million tonnes in line with 2023, our cost would have been ZAR 40 per ton lower in 2024. Nevertheless, we still created value during these volatile periods and are committed to seeing an improvement in 2025.
As the offtake volume uplift mentioned in the interim results did not materialize, we continue to utilize opportunities to prepare our operations to be more responsive to the new changing reality by, one, focusing on equipment maintenance, exposing coal, and ensuring that we are prepared for the increased demand, as well as establishing alternative export ports, which are strategically important to us. This resulted in a total absolute production cost increase of 22% against coal mining inflation of 4.9%. The main contributors of the cost increases are an increase of 1.9 million tonnes in export sales enabled by enabled logistics channels, Belfast producing for 12 consecutive months for the first time in three years, and increased equipment maintenance, as mentioned previously.
I will now focus on the main contributors of the ZAR 102 per ton increase in our production cost, as indicated by the shaded area in the bottom right graph. Our rand per ton variance remained in line with our results in June 2024, except for the change in the rehabilitation cost. The main contributors being accelerated equipment and maintenance accounting for ZAR 27 per ton, mainly at Grootegeluk, increased contractor cost of ZAR 22 per ton, mainly due to Belfast producing for 12 months and moving additional overburden volumes to increase our coal inventory and enable product flexibility. Employee cost increased by ZAR 22 per ton due to normal labor increases and the structural changes resulted from the technical support team being moved closer to our coal operations.
There's an increase in logistics cost of ZAR 54 per ton, assisting in exporting our product through alternative ports, but more importantly, leading to the establishment of our export routes via Maputo. As mentioned before, we are in the process of optimizing the Lephalale mine. This optimization resulted in reduced production volumes at improved qualities, with the resultant pit consolidation also impacting unit cost due to the establishment of the right pit liberation in the new mining area. Despite the increased costs, our commitment to use the best resources has allowed us to mitigate the impacts of market offtake, volatility, and focus on performance and improvements in order to deliver on the expected increased demand in 2025. Our guidance to remain within the coal mining inflation will always be under pressure with lower volumes.
However, we are committed to keep on improving in ensuring we produce optimal cost levels and ensure cost competitiveness. In closing, I will now take you through our capital expenditure. Our capital spend is portraying a good story and reflecting our commitment to invest responsibly and tailoring our capital spend to business requirements while still focusing on sustainable investments. We remain within our guidance provided during the December 2024 FDP close. Our dedication to capital excellence is demonstrated through our ongoing evaluation and reassessment of the capital pipeline. As highlighted previously, this guarantees that our investments are aligned with meaningful business objectives, fostering a sustainable business model and creating long-term value. Our main projects remain the equipment replacement strategies and input conveying at Grootegeluk, together with license to operate infrastructure. We plan our sustaining capital investments to maximize returns.
We expect demand to increase and our capital spend will align with this, still projecting an average annual spend of ZAR 2.5 billion-ZAR 3 billion in the coming years in real terms. Now, in summary, we realized a great performance on the sustainable impact front, and we will refresh our safety strategy to sustain and improve our performance. We remain adaptable and agile to respond to the market conditions and meticulously manage our market-to-resource strategy, which is the foundation of creating stakeholder value. We continue with our focus on decreasing our cost to acceptable levels. We invest responsibly in sustaining capital to support and enable our businesses. We continue to review our coal portfolio, test it for robustness to increased stakeholder value.
Lastly, I want to thank the operations teams at all our business units, as well as our colleagues here at the Connection for their outstanding performance, their adaptability, and their perseverance during very challenging periods. Now I will hand over to Riaan, who will provide a detailed overview of the financials. Thank you, Riaan.
Thanks, Mervin. It's good to see you back in your coal boots. We struggled to get him into a suit this morning. Morning. To ensure comparability, the figures presented in this section are based on the IFRS results adjusted for headline earnings adjustments detailed in the additional slides. The high-level overview of the group results depicts the performance of our managed operations in the first two graphs at the top. As you can see, revenue increased by 5%, contrasting with a 22% decline in EBITDA.
Income from equity-accounted investments is highlighted in the top right graph, indicating a notable decline, mainly due to SIOC's contribution decreasing by ZAR 2.8 billion compared to 2023. Equity income per investment is available in the additional slides. Despite operating amid dynamic and challenging market conditions, we generated ZAR 10.4 billion in cash as at the end of 2024, and we ended in a net cash position of ZAR 12 billion, which we will discuss in more detail later on. This translated into headline earnings of ZAR 30.16 per share. On this slide, it presents the performance of the Waterberg and Mpumalanga coal operations. Although revenue from both regions increased from 2023, EBITDA declined across Waterberg and Mpumalanga commercial due to various cost pressures and also external factors.
Starting with the Waterberg, the revenue increased by ZAR 67 million, driven by higher prices for the Eskom sales and increased export volumes. This was offset by lower export prices and reduced domestic sales. Despite this, EBITDA decreased by ZAR 1.6 billion, with inflation adding ZAR 418 million to the cost base, adding pressure on our profitability. Operational cost increased, as unpacked by Mervin earlier on. The rise in export volumes also resulted in higher distribution costs of about ZAR 221 million in the Waterberg. Another factor impacting EBITDA was the change in rehabilitation liability. While it decreased in 2023 due to lower closure cost and a higher discount rate, the trend reversed in 2024 as a lower discount rate was used, and that led to a negative EBITDA impact of ZAR 128 million.
Shifting focus to Mpumalanga, the Mpumalanga EBITDA declined by ZAR 751 million despite a ZAR 1.2 billion revenue increase. This revenue growth was largely due to higher export volumes, particularly from Belfast, while domestic volumes declined as we prioritized exports. However, lower coal prices tempered the revenue benefit. Cost pressures also played a role, with inflation adding ZAR 149 million to the cost base. Additionally, distribution costs added ZAR 716 million. As achieving the required export volumes, we might use alternative logistics solutions at a higher cost. As Mervin discussed, operational cost at Belfast also increased as we mined there for the full year, further weighing on EBITDA. On a positive note, we had higher buy-ins from Mafube JV at lower prices, which provided some relief, contributing ZAR 100 million EBITDA uplift.
However, a rise in the long-term closure cost for water, along with lower discount rates in 2024, increased the rehabilitation liability in Mpumal anga, negatively impacting EBITDA by ZAR 197 million. The EBITDA for Matla, as you can see, remained very stable. Additionally, in 2024, we also benefited from an exploration right granted to a third party at our Moranbah South operation, contributing ZAR 133 million to the coal EBITDA under the other bucket. Overall, these dynamics resulted in an EBITDA margin of 26% for the coal business. Moving then to Synergy. Synergy's wind operations generated 725 GWh of electricity, and the 2025 forecast stands at 719 GWh, demonstrating the consistency of the performance. Operational EBITDA, the margin remained stable at 80%, supported by the long-term offtake agreements with Eskom.
Synergy's project financing debt includes ZAR 4.1 billion for the two wind farms to be settled by 2031, and ZAR 1.1 billion for the Lephalale solar projects. The debt drawdowns have started, and it will be fully settled by 2042. Both facilities are non-recourse to the Exxaro balance sheet and hedged through interest rate swap. The LSP project remains on track, and we expect completion to take place mid-2025, and it is expected to remain within the approved investment amount. As at the end of December, the total project cost incurred stood at ZAR 634 million. Once completed, LSP is expected to reduce Grootegeluk Mine's scope two emissions by 25%, and the electricity cost savings that we foresee in the second half of this year alone is about ZAR 67 million. On an annual basis, you can see ZAR 150-ZAR 200 million.
Let's take a closer look at the EBITDA analysis, starting with the price impact. In line with the decline in the benchmark API4 Index price, export prices in 2024 were $17 a tonne lower than in 2023. Additionally, the coal price realization relative to the index declined by 2%. This was partially offset by higher domestic market prices, which provided some support to revenue. Moving to the volumes, export volumes increased by 1.9 million tonnes or 37%, reflecting our decision to utilize alternative logistics solutions in combination with the sales through RBCT, which grew by 13% in 2024. On the other hand, sales at Belfast on the domestic front declined by 981 kilotonnes as exports were prioritized over local deliveries, as well as the power station offtake demand due to unplanned maintenance at Medupi and Matimba power stations, affecting sales into the utility sector.
We also faced inflationary pressure similar to the mining industry, which contributed to an increase in costs. Electricity cost rose by 14%, while labor cost increased by 6.7%, and other cost increases were in line with PPI at 3.1%. Diesel costs provided some relief, decreasing by 6.3%, helping to offset some of the inflationary impacts. Beyond inflation, other cost factors also influenced EBITDA, as pointed out. Selling and distribution costs rose by ZAR 1.4 billion, primarily due to the higher export volumes and the use of alternative logistics solutions. Operational cost increased by ZAR 1.1 billion, as discussed by Mervin earlier on. Additionally, rehabilitation costs had a negative variance of ZAR 289 million, driven by external assessments in 2024, whereas in 2024, the combination of higher post-closure water cost and the unfavorable discount rate negatively impacted costs.
The foreign exchange impact was also negative, with the stronger ZAR-USD exchange rate weighing on revenue and foreign debtor and cash balances. Finally, looking at general costs, insurance expenses increased as a once-off ZAR 375 million benefit recorded in financial year 2023 from the accounting treatment of a new insurance product that did not recur in 2024. Additionally, social impact spend increased, reflecting the company's commitment to broader community engagement and corporate responsibility. Now let's review the cash generation and capital allocation strategy. Our capital allocation framework remains focused on maintaining a net debt EBITDA ratio below 1.5 times, excluding project financing, providing flexibility for future growth while maintaining a strong balance sheet. For 2024, our net cash inflows totaled ZAR 11.7 billion, which included ZAR 7.8 billion from our own operations, demonstrating the robust cash generating ability of our core business.
Additionally, we received ZAR 3.7 billion in dividends from SIOC and ZAR 137 million from our Mafube JV. This also further strengthened our liquidity position. In line with our capital allocation framework, we directed funds toward key areas. ZAR 2.2 billion was allocated to sustaining operations and support functions, ensuring the ongoing efficiency and reliability of our assets. A significant ZAR 8.3 billion was paid in dividends, reinforcing our commitment to shareholder returns. This included ZAR 4.6 billion from our own managed operations and ZAR 3.7 billion from the SIOC pass-through dividend. Under other allocations, we accounted for ZAR 360 million in deposits with insurance providers and ZAR 321 million for acquiring shares to settle vested share-based payment schemes. As a result, our closing cash position as at the end of December stood at ZAR 16.3 billion, excluding the energy segment's net debt of ZAR 4.3 billion.
We also ensured that the economic value was shared with our stakeholders, and we contributed ZAR 7 billion to employees, reflecting our investment in human capital. ZAR 4.8 billion was paid in taxes and royalties, supporting national development. ZAR 7.7 billion was distributed as dividends to external shareholders, reinforcing the confidence in our business. Additionally, ZAR 199 million was allocated to community initiatives, ensuring full meaningful socio-economic impact beyond our operations. As pointed out, I'm pleased to announce that the board has resolved to pay a final dividend of ZAR 8.66 at an overall group cover ratio of 1.8. This is a pass-through of the SIOC dividend and a cover of two and a half times on Exxaro adjusted group earnings. As previously signaled to the market, we aim to balance the level of cash retention with our growth strategy and also returns to shareholders.
Taking into account possible downside scenarios and retaining flexibility, we earmark the cash retention of between ZAR 12 billion-ZAR 15 billion, excluding our energy project financing for our growth strategy. Considering the level of cash in the business, the board has resolved to implement a ZAR 1.2 billion share repurchase program, which will be subject to prevailing market conditions at the time, as well as the JSE listing requirements. Our cash retention will continuously be reviewed, taking into account the economic outlook and the pace of implementation of our growth strategy. All right, I have spoken a lot, we will move to slide 24, the outlook. As we look ahead, the global economic landscape remains uncertain for us with geopolitical tensions and policy shifts continuing to evolve.
Whilst these international developments will undoubtedly have an impact on our business, our focus remains firmly on the factors within our control. Closer to home, the formation of the government of national unity has improved sentiment, fostering a sense of cautious optimism for economic growth. We also see positive developments such as increased private investment in renewables, Eskom's progress on maintenance and transmission upgrades, and accelerated reforms in port and rail. In 2024, South Africa's real GDP grew by 0.6%, driven by a strong fourth quarter after downward pressures in the earlier quarters. We are hopeful that this momentum will continue into 2025. On the logistics front, as you know, the network statement was released in December 2024 with an update in February this year, and that sets out the framework for private sector access to Transnet's rail network.
There are some encouraging developments here, including the official opening of third-party access fees that prioritize efficient operations and also support long-term tenure for investment. We are also pleased with the minister's openness to collaboration and the way industry feedback has been incorporated into the network statement. Going forward, we will continue to engage on areas where further improvements are needed to ensure the framework supports sustainable growth. Turning to the commodity markets, the seaborne thermal coal demand is expected to be influenced by geopolitical factors and also the energy security needs of each country. Domestically, any improvement in the local economy is likely to boost coal demand from local end users, particularly as Eskom works to address its operational challenges. That said, infrastructure challenges remain, as we see with the recent railway breakdown on the RBCT Waterberg line due to heavy rainfalls.
We continue to explore all available routes to market to meet customer demand and also to unlock value. As always, our priority is to collaborate with the industry through public-private partnerships and to maintain our sharp focus on operational excellence. By concentrating on what we can control, we are confident we can navigate the uncertainties ahead and continue delivering value for all our stakeholders. Our business is still impacted by, as pointed out, commodity prices, domestic structural challenges and developments, the levels of coal offtake, and both the global and domestic geopolitical environment. As such, and as Mervin also discussed, we provide the following guidance for the 2025 financial year. Coal production and sales to be within the range of 39.5 million tonnes-43.7 million tonnes. Export sales to be within 6.65 million tonnes-7.35 million tonnes.
We have kept our coal sustaining capital guidance unchanged between ZAR 2.5 billion and ZAR 3 billion. On energy, due to the anticipated commissioning of the Lephalale solar plant, our energy guidance increases, and we expect it to be within the range of 780 GWh-810 GWh, which consists of full-year wind generation and half-year solar generation for the Lephalale solar project. As stated previously, we will continue to exercise operational excellence to ensure we respond effectively to market conditions and customer demands, strategically managing those elements within our control. Our sustainable growth and impact strategy remains intact, supported by our five strategic objectives of transitioning at speed and scale, making our minerals and energy business thrive and empower people to create impact and to become a catalyst for economic growth and economic environmental stewardship, and our aspiration to be carbon neutral by 2050.
We are saying that in 2025, Exxaro is positioned to win, and we will continue powering possibility in Africa and beyond for decades to come. The successful execution of our strategy will see us deliver a diversified portfolio of assets with the aim to have earnings from our coal business, energy transition minerals, and a robust energy solutions business. We will accomplish this while continuing to integrate ESG principles into our operations. In closing, we remain focused, ensuring that we are delivering safely on our strategy. We also draw confidence in our executive and management teams. Under their guard and leadership, I can assure you Exxaro is in good hands. We've got a combined executive experience of more than 300 years and a long service record at Exxaro. Our executive and management team understands the business, the operations, the people, the communities, and all its stakeholders very well.
As such, we are confident in our ability to execute the strategy and to continue creating stakeholder value. On that note, we are progressing with our growth strategy and minerals that power a clean world. We continue with our approach very diligently to assess opportunities aligned with our investment criteria. Also, as announced last month, Synergy, our energy solutions business, has entered into a partnership with G7 Renewable Energies in the Karreebosch wind farm, which has secured an agreement with Northam Platinum to supply 140 MW of power to the mines over a 20-year period. Synergy owns 80% of the share capital in Karreebosch, as well as 50% in the asset management company. This adds a further 140 gross MW of net capacity to Synergy's existing 297 MW, bringing the total gross capacity of Synergy to over 437 MW. This also diversifies Synergy's customer base.
With this deal closed, Synergy is also well on track to achieve its target to be a robust energy solutions business with a managed capacity of 1.6 GW by 2030. Exxaro's success lies in its operational excellence. In 2025, we will continue to drive safety, remaining vigilant to prevent workplace incidents, and fostering a proactive safety culture that safeguards lives and enhances operational resilience. We are currently, as pointed out in the process, refreshing our safety strategy, and we will launch this refreshed strategy at our CEO Safety Summit in April of 2025. With a portfolio of quality assets and through operational excellence and our effective strategic initiatives such as our early value strategy, our market to resource optimization, our product mix initiative, we will continue managing and optimizing costs to maintain our strong margins.
We will maintain our collaborative approach in responding to the changing policy and regulatory environment with agility. Now that we've also achieved the development of our decarbonization roadmap, the next step is to operationalize it within Exxaro and our operations. Remember, our roadmap is a living plan, and we will continue to regularly review and update it as new technologies and innovations come into fruition. Guided by our clear capital allocation framework, we will maintain strong capital discipline while creating value for all our stakeholders. Importantly, the most important topic, our people. As we look into the future, our aspiration is to remain an employer of choice, and we remain steadfast in that ambition. We recognize that at the heart of the achievement are the excellent people of Exxaro.
By fostering a supportive and inclusive work environment, we will empower our people to reach their full potential so that they will be able to continue to deliver results and secure the future of Exxaro. As I conclude, I'd like to thank each and every one of them, whether you're at the coalface, at the business unit, where you're situated here at the connection, for your dedication, your hard work, and the resilience that you have shown in the past financial year. Thank you very much. Danke, in kosi, kya Leboha. Thank you.