Inside Mining August 2012

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Exxaro’s captive mines general manager, Dr Nombasa Tsengwa, on Tshikondeni’s imminent closure

T H E K N O W L E D G E Y O U N E E D F R O M T H E I N D U S T R Y E X P E R T S

ISSN 1999-8872 • R35.00 (incl. VAT) • Vol. 5 • No. 8• August 2012

The coal fatherDRA

HOT SEAT

TRANSPORT AND EARTHMOVING

Sishen makes way for big buckets and bowls

UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENTThe benefits of doing it right

CRUSHING AND SCREENING

Bigger is better

ON THE COVERMEDIA

Highly commended 2011 PICA Cover of the Year - B2B Publishing

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Exxaro’s captive mines general

manager, Dr Nombasa Tsengwa, on Tshikondeni’s

imminent closure


ISSN 1999-8872 • R35.00 (incl. VAT) • Vol. 5 • No. 8• August 2012

The coal fatherExxaro’s cap’’’xxaro s captive mtive mi

HOT SEAT

TRANSPORT AND EARTHMOVING

Sishen makes way for big buckets and bowls

UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENTThe benefits of doing it right

CRUSHING AND SCREENING

Bigger is better


iningN O W L E D G E Y O U N E E D F R O

August 2012August 2012CONTENTSPhola coal processing plant, a

joint venture between BHP Billiton

Energy Coal South Africa (BECSA)

and Anglo American Thermal Coal.

The R814 million project saw the

construction of a 16 Mtpm coal

washing facility servicing coal from

two mines – BECASA’s Klipspruit

and Anglo’s Zondagsfontein.

DRA designed and built a twin

module coal washing facility

with a throughput of 1 180 tph

per module as well as the ROM

storage and materials handling

systems. P6

12

EDITOR’S COMMENT33 Sunrise, sunset – the circle of life

MINING NEWS44 The top mining stories headlining this month

HOT TOPIC1010 Getting to grips with groundwater

HOT SEAT1212 Exxaro’s Tshikondeni walks towards the fi nish line

COAL1414 Overcoming coal junior challenges

2020 Growth opportunities for the coal industry across multiple platforms

UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT2222 The benefi ts of doing mechanised mining the

right way

2626 Finland’s concrete aspirations

2828 Revolutionising shaft sinking in South Africa

TRANSPORT AND EARTHMOVING3232 Sishen’s brand new bucket and bowl workshop

3636 HPE breaks new ground

3838 Concor’s lucky number 12

4040 Trollope spreads its wings and fl ies

CRUSHING AND SCREENING4242 Bigger screens are better says Haver

4444 Isithebe’s magic mill lining

4646 A decade of demand for BTI rock breakers

PUMPS AND MIXERS4848 FLSmidth pumps up its market share

5050 Mega mixing

5252 Pumping out fl agship products

20

28

44

1Ins ide Mining 08 /2012

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Editor’s comment

Of course you understand what I am saying – production can always be more, safety statistics should continuously be improved, and broadening horizons across continents is always the plan – am I wrong?

We, the small group of mining journalists, are always close by, grappling for the opportunity to share the industry’s ‘never boring’ news and fuelled by the constant buzz and drive of an in-dustry with an insatiable appetite for growth.

Who is expanding? Who is investing in a new mine? Who is opening a new mine?

We so often get caught up in the future, of what is to come, that we seldom take the time to look at the past and present, and celebrate those mines whose life is coming to an end.

Laying a mine to rest is like watching a child leave home – with nothing but memories remain-ing of the time spent nurturing, caring for and loving – from the parents who gave it life.

So when writing about the imminent closure of Exxaro’s special Tshikondeni mine, it brought a tear to my eye.

Like the runt of the mining giant’s brood, Tshi-kodeni is by far the smallest producer in the Exxaro stable. Yet despite its size, has required so much care and attention to prosper in the face of extremely difficult mining conditions.

Three small opencast sections will breathe one final breath into the mine before it is returned to the natural state it once was early in 2015.

With significant rehabilitation programmes in planning stage, Exxaro is showing nothing but the utmost respect for the land it has drawn from, and brings to mind the following words, which so aptly apply to the lives of our mines, and the re-sponsibility they have to our planet:

“A [mine’s] time… rises and falls like the sun. One day, the sun will set on our time and rise on a new generation’s.” When our time as ruler ends, we must return our kingdom to its natural form, connecting us all in the great circle of life.

Publisher Elizabeth Shorten

Associate publisher Ferdie Pieterse

Editor Laura Cornish

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ISSN 1999-8872 Inside Mining

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.___________________________________

All material in Inside Mining is copyright

protected and may not be reproduced either

in whole or in part without the prior written

permission of the publisher. The views of

contributors do not necessarily reflect those

of the the publishers.

The circle of life

Having visited Tshikondeni in the early days of my mining career, I truly feel I was part of its life, for just a moment in time, and will celebrate the full circle it will make when future generations will listen to stories of the mine that once was.

Before I get too sentimental, I must mention another great mining head who, I found out while writing this very column, is leaving. Fortunately, Kumba Iron Ore CEO Chris Griffith is not leaving the Anglo stable all together, but simply, how can I say it, reshuffling.

Griffith will soon be captaining Anglo Ameri-can Platinum (as of September 2012). Wow, he brought ‘fame and fortune’ to Kumba and with 18 years of experience within the Anglo Platinum stable, has more than enough know-how to offer the industry. The company is financially strug-gling and is in the midst of reviewing its business. Coupled with the platinum industry’s mini-reces-sion, will he take this company where it needs to

go? I am optimistic!One last thing – I look forward

to seeing you all at Electra Min-ing, which is just around the

corner. Inside Mining, and its sister website, w w w. m i n i n g n e . w s ,

will be exhibiting. Let me say this, our stand is sure to wow and mes-

merise you, and entice you over for an in-depth look.

Laura Cornish

SUNRISE, SUNSET

To our avid readers, be sure to sign up and get the latest updates and inside scoop from the mining industry. Check out what we are talking about on our website, Facebook page or follow me on Twitter and have your say.

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The average mining personality could be described as a

‘forward thinker’, a ‘long-term planner’, or an optimist with

an indescribable passion for the industry – often with an

over-ambitious frame of mind as well.

compiled by Ameerah Griffin

Mining newswww.miningne.ws

Top mining stories headlining this month

| SOUTH AFRICA |

Aquarius Platinum to become owner-operatorSource: www.miningne.ws

Aquarius Platinum has de-cided to terminate its contract mining model and will instead apply the ‘owner and opera-tor’ working model to ensure maximum future cost control and fl exibility.

Aquarius Platinum and contractor Murray & Roberts Cementation have mutually agreed to terminate their con-tract mining agreement.

The board of Aquarius has in-dicated that it is endeavoring

to proactively manage the company’s business to deal ef-fectively and responsibly with the continuing diffi cult trading conditions facing the platinum industry in South Africa.

The company’s Kroon-dal, Mimosa and tailings operations will further be optimised to maximise cash fl ow generation.

Blue Ridge, Marikana and Everest have been placed on care and maintenance, and all non-essential capital expendi-ture will be suspended.

This decision has been prompted by several fac-tors including the recent downsizing of the business of Aquarius Platinum South Africa, the changing indus-trial relations landscape in the country and the continuing margin pressure faced by the platinum industry.

Murray & Roberts Cementa-tion has agreed to provide Aquarius with full support and assistance during a six-month transition period, which is expected to be concluded by the end of December 2012.

The transition to owner-operated mining is expected to incur once-off costs of ap-proximately R190 million relat-ing principally to the purchase of mining equipment and stores inventory from Murray & Robert Cementation.

| AUSTRALIA |

BHP to grow Australian operationsSource: www.theaustralian.com.au

BHP Billton - Olympic Dam

BHP Billiton is pushing for environmental approval to grow its iron ore operations in Australia and seeking rights to potentially copper-rich land, despite its board having not yet considered

whether to proceed with two key expansion projects in the country costing tens of billions of dollars.

BHP has lodged documents with Western Australia’s Envi-ronmental Protection Author-ity to start an environmental review for plans to further boost ore production in the state’s remote Pilbara region to 350 Mtpa by 2020. It also has, in recent months, laid claim to thousands of kilometers of land around its Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine in South Australia.

In its application, BHP said it is investigating a number of developments, including bringing new ore bodies into operation at existing sites and developing new mines to grow production to more than double its current production capacity and, in time, grow it to 450 Mtpa.

The moves contrast with increasingly cautious com-ments from mining executives in recent weeks that refl ect the slump in commodity prices amid the ongoing economic gloom in Europe and concerns over China’s appetite for met-als and minerals.

Cover story

Ins ide Mining 08 /20126

DRA’s project portfolio is grow-ing annually, with numerous successes across most mineral sectors. Th e company has expe-

rienced phenomenal growth since its incep-tion in 1984 and has a number of large-scale prestigious projects under its belt.

“Our success is based upon humble be-ginnings, designing small and simple wash plants for the coal sector, with feed capaci-ties of no more than 500 tph,” says Mark Cresswell, consulting minerals processing engineer at DRA.

Although the company took on its fi rst large coal project in 1996 (the 1 400 tph Twistdraai plant for Sasol Coal), this proved to be a one-off . It was only 10 years later in the mid-2000s that its growth in coal really started to escalate with the awarding of the Western Coal study for the Anglo Coal/BECSA JV, which eventually became the 2 400 tph Phola coal processing plant, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“As the sector currently stands, DRA is singly responsible for about 50% of South Africa’s total coal washing capacity, and

is furthermore accountable for establish-ing three of the four last major coal pro-jects in the country – Mafube, Phola and Douglas-Middleburg Optimisation (DMO),” Cresswell explains.

Considering the company is currently working on another two major coal execu-tion projects, together with a number of studies aimed at moving into execution in the short- to mid-term, its EPCM stronghold in the sector looks set to continue.

“Our strategic intention is to move and evolve with the industry, which has already

DRA MINERAL PROJECTS

The coal fatherDRA Mineral Projects has a renowned reputation for its processing expertise,

across multiple commodities. Perhaps less commonly known is the foundation

upon which its success has grown – the coal sector, writes Laura Cornish.

Cover story


started undergoing changes as more and more players look to acquire new resources and produce new products such as coking coal from coalfi elds other than the traditional Wit-bank and Highveld resource, namely the Wa-terberg and Soutpansberg coalfi elds in South Africa, Moatize in Mozambique’s Tête Prov-ince, as well as in Madagascar and Botswana,” Cresswell continues. DRA is however assist-ing both governments and developers with infrastructure solutions in these regions.

DRA is currently developing a 4 000 tph plant design for Vale’s Moatize Phase 2 pro-ject, which will double the project’s treat-ment capacity from 26 Mtpa to 52 Mtpa ROM material. Also in Mozambique, the company is building a 400 tph modular plant for India’s Jindal Corp, alongside a study for Rio Tinto’s Riversdale resource.

Th e company’s largest current project is the establishment of a 2 000 tph plant for

Xstrata Coal South Africa’s Tweefontein project. Th e design builds on the success of Xstrata's Australian coal plants such as Mt Owen and Mangoola, with which it shares many conceptual features.

For countries like Botswana and Mada-gascar, one over-riding challenge remains the sole prohibiting factor for potential coal industry booms – the lack of infrastructure such as rail and ports. Once these problems have been resolved, DRA will form an essen-tial part of the coal fi elds’ development.

New technologies and trendsDRA prides itself on keeping abreast of the latest processing technologies applicable to the various minerals it is involved with, and this defi nitely includes coal.

While Cresswell points out that the coal sector is asking the contractor industry to supply larger dense media equipment and technologies that will reduce the volume of water required for coal washing, he speaks extensively of the growing necessity to fi nd solutions for treating coal fi nes.

It has been discovered that in the newer coal fi elds like Moatize, 70% of the coking coal product can be in the -1 mm coal sizes. Th is contrasts with an average Witbank ther-mal coal where typically only 5 to 15% of product comes from this size range.

Technologies best suited to such fi ne grade resources, according to Cresswell, who has spent the majority of his working career in the coal industry, include spirals, teeter bed separators, refl ux classifi ers, derrick screens and fi ne dense media separation plants.

DRA is, in fact, the only engineering house to build two 50 tph fi ne coal DMS plants

for Exarro’s Leeuwpan mine to the success-ful design developed by the Coaltech 2020 programme – a collaborative research pro-gramme established to address the specifi c needs of the coal mining industry in South Africa using local and international knowl-edge and skills to ensure it remains competi-tive into the 21st century.

And while fi ne coal products are normally dewatered in centrifuges, dewatering of the slimes is becoming increasingly important as new mines strive to reduce their raw water requirements. For this task, there are nu-merous fi lter press technologies emerging from Spain, China and Japan, along with

The DRA success formula

The key to DRA’s processing success across all of its commodities can be attributed to highly skilled experts in their respective fields. In addition to Mark Cresswell and Herman Oosthuizen (Principal process engineer) as coal preparation specialists in the Johannesburg office, DRA can also call on board director Clive Hart and Mike Salter, based in the Perth and Brisbane offices respectively to offer the industry specialised skills based on long-term, in-depth industry experience. This is proving to be particularly valuable for Australian-based coal mining groups moving into Southern Africa. DRA has also recently recruited a number of young graduate process engineers both in South Africa and Australia.

“DRA has gradually built up its processing capabilities by building on its corporate memory, establishing a ‘library’ of sound projects to base new designs on. We have home-grown engineers, base our success on repeat business and are proud of our Tier One supplier status with the Anglo Group.”

DRA prides itself on keeping abreast of the latest processing technologies applicable to the various minerals it is involved with

LEFT Phola processing plantRIGHT Twistdraai processing plant

Cover story

older technologies that have been upgraded and refi ned, such as the Bokela vacuum disk fi lter (Roymec Technologies), the Phoenix belt press (Malvern Engineering) and paste thickening, Cresswell adds.

Extending the lives of power stationsSome of the most exciting coal work DRA is currently involved in is the development of processing strategies for Eskom-tied

collieries, whose sole purpose is to supply coal exclusively to an adjacent power station.

Th e collieries include Khutala, which supplies the Kendal power station; New Denmark, which supplies Tu-tuka power station and Kriel Colliery, which supplies Kriel power station.

All three mines currently supply all their mined raw coal

to their respective power stations, which maximises the strategic resource. “However because these mines’ reserves of Eskom-quality coal are starting to reach the end of their life, more resources must be found. Th e short-term solution has been to supplement the supply with trucked in coal, but besides the extra expense, this has led to a severe de-terioration in the local provincial roads. We have been appointed to design partial wash-ing plants that are able to upgrade poorer quality reserves within the tied colliery mineral boundaries. Th e main eff ect on the

mine will be that it has to increase its mining rate by around 15%, stockpiles and a wash-ing plant will be required, there will also be a coarse discard to dispose of, but the great bonus will be the delivery of a consistent coal quality to the power stations. It should also be noted that there will be a reduction in the sulphur in the washed product of 10 to 15%,” Cresswell explains.

Consistency of supply to the Eskom spec is as important as a fl uctuating quality.

Cresswell explains that the model being copied is Eskom’s Letaba power station, which receives the lowest quality coal in the country from its tied New Vaal Colliery. Th e Letaba station is considered by Eskom to be one of its crown jewels because the New Vaal plant de-stones the raw coal feed and delivers a consistent quality to the boiler. “Our intention is to deliver New Vaal equivalent plants.”

Cresswell notes that all the plants will be large, no smaller than 1 000 tph, and could be approved to move into construction be-tween 2014 and 2020.

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ABOVE Phola processing plant under construction

Hot topic


South Africa’s surface water re-source is reducing, slowly but steadily, meaning the need to secure alternative water sources

is essential.Groundwater has always been considered

the ‘Cinderella’ of water sources and thus never truly considered a truely viable op-tion, says Dr Shafick Adams, chairman of South Africa’s Groundwater Associa-tion and research manager for the Water Research Commission.

“Despite its poor reputation, it is a viable source and can assist with the country’s water supply shortage. The cost of access-ing groundwater is, in fact, 10 times cheap-er to deliver than the cost of a desalination plant,” Adams continues.

The key to accessing this resource prop-erly is not the lack of technology to pump it to surface, but the necessity to implement the correct tools to monitor quality, toxic-ity and hydrology.

“There is also almost no cooperative bridge linking the consulting industry with project-implementing engineers on typical groundwater projects. This circum-stance, coupled with the lack of tool moni-toring training and awareness means that groundwater is often generally being moni-tored incorrectly, or not at all,” explains Vic Cruger, SM Enviro MD. If groundwater is

Getting to grips with groundwaterSM ENVIRO

Groundwater extraction for industrial use and consumption is a viable water

supply and should be given greater usage consideration. However, the need to

monitor this resource for toxins and pollutants, and to understand its hydrology

is essential, writes Laura Cornish.

to become a sustainable resource, then con-tinuous monitoring is essential.

SM Enviro sells process and environ-mental monitoring instrumentation de-vices – largely to consulting companies in the field of groundwater across Africa. Its equipment monitors almost every possible waste influence in the water, including pH levels, oxidation reduction potential, con-ductivity, residual chlorine, turbidity, sa-linity, total dissolved solids, temperature, as well as levels for resource monitoring and aquifer characterisation.

While the use of groundwater is and will become an increasingly signifi cant municipal initiative for supplying to local communi-ties, it is an extremely important issue to the mining sector as well. “It is essential that the mines are aware of and monitor their tailings

LEFT Tailings dams can be a major source of water pollution if not managed properly

ABOVE Mine’s must monitor to prevent environmental hazards such as AMD

The Vaal Dam

Hot topic

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facilities for possible seepage, dewatering on surface and underground, as well as wastewa-ter discharge, that could potentially pollute natural surface water streams and rivers, but can also pollute underground water sources as well, which in turn aff ects surface water streams,” Cruger continues.

The mining sector, however, has become exceedingly environment conscious and technologically advanced in terms of its understanding of the need to monitor its

environment-impacting footprint. As a re-sult of this, Cruger believes the country’s mining houses could lead other industries and municipalities forward in terms of learning how to monitor water sources ef-fectively and efficiently.

SM Enviro has most recently helped devel-op a special marine-equivalent monitoring

Teaching the new generation

Driven by its desire to enable and empower the new generation of consultants and engineers emerging into the water and associated industries with the necessity for groundwater moni-toring, the SA Groundwater Association, together with SM Enviro, embarked on a seminar road trip to provide groundwater monitoring training and discussion forums to university students. The one-day seminars were well attended and included the universities of Pretoria, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. A similar seminar was held in Windhoek for consultants mining and government institutions, including the Ministry of Water, Windhoek municipality and Namwater.

Consultants and various industry experts also attended and, thanks to the seminar, were pro-vided with the platform to share their industry knowledge.

“We were also successfully able to educate students and consultants on the technological advancements of typical monitoring equipment, which today is highly successful in remote monitoring,” Cruger adds.

Guest speaker, Dr Ted Way, a senior hydrologist with over 40 years of experience, applauded the event, praising all parties for initiating such a useful information transfer opportunity.

Christopher Williams, United States-based international sales manager for In-Situ (SM Enviro has the local distribution rights to sell the In-Situ water monitoring products), also attended. “Africa is becoming an increasingly important continent for our business, and we see massive potential for growth and increased knowledge awareness in this area,” Williams stated.

probe capable of operating at underground depths of 3 000 m – making it ideal for monitoring underground acid mine drain-age (AMD) water.

The company has instruments installed in numerous different shafts within the cen-tral and eastern Witwatersrand gold basins to monitor AMD.

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Hot seat

U nlike the majority of South Africa’s large opencast coal mines, Tshikondeni is an un-derground, hard coking coal

operation, and an extremely difficult mine to operate. Located in the fairly isolated Soutpansberg coalfield in Limpopo, just outside the Kruger National Park, its seam angles are extremely deep, varying be-tween 2 and 18 degrees, explains Exxaro’s

Hot seat

TSHIKONDENI

Almost time to say goodbye

Exxaro’s Tshikondeni coal mine has travelled a long and unconventionally

difficult road since its first production in 1984. As it walks towards the finish

line, it will leave a lasting legacy – one that ended on a high note, writes

Laura Cornish.

captive mines general manager, Dr Nom-basa Tsengwa.

Structurally, the 400 m deep mine is very complex, with faulting and intrusives also having a significant impact on mining with both displacement and devolatilisation of the coal. Major faults in the area tend to be listric normal faults forming steps and grabens, which delineate the different min-ing blocks. Intrusives occur in the form of

dolerite dykes and sills with thicknesses of between 15 and 30 m, respectively. The intrusives result in a devolatilisation halo that is related to the thickness and/or dip of the intrusive. “These factors have largely influenced the mine’s production volumes, which by comparison with Exxaro’s other coal mines, is extremely small,” Tseng-wa continues. Tshikondeni has traditional-ly mined between 500 000 and 580 000 tpa

Hot seat


Upskilling projects

• Exxaro has invested in the establishment of the Sanari Skills Development Centre in the area, aimed at teaching sewing, welding, carpentry and computer skills –the centre is up and running.

• The establishment of the Musunda citrus farm – a mango plantation where the trees are currently growing.

• The Makuya cattle feedlot. This is due to be commissioned later in 2012, following finalisation of the infrastructure.

• Mukomawabani vegetable garden – currently being established.

While most mines heading towards closure gradually decrease their annual production, with Tshikondeni it is quite the opposite, thanks to a project started last year.

“In April 2011, we commenced with our mini-pit project, which entails the addi-tion of three small open-pit operations, that have already successfully seen us increase our annual ROM production to 850 000 tpa, equating to about 350 000 tpa of saleable product,” Tsengwa outlines.

Each pit will be mined in sequence, the first already completed, which will take un-til the middle of 2013 to complete. Trollope Mining Services was appointed to mine all three pits.

Each pit is situated close to one of the mine’s old shafts and has been named ac-cordingly after the shafts. All three are no more than 2 km from the mine’s main of-fice buildings.

The first mini-pit, Kremetart, took just seven and a half months to complete and delivered an additional 280 000 t of coal. The second pit, Nari, is scheduled to be

completed in November this year, and will deliver a further 200 000 t. Preparation for the third pit, Mopani, has already com-menced, and it will deliver about 180 000 t over a six-month time frame.

In line with Exxaro’s extensive commit-ment to best environmental practices, all the pits will be backfilled and rehabilitated.

Rehabilitation around the shafts is also an ongoing activity on site.

Despite the operating challenges as-sociated with the mine, it has also made remarkable improvements in the area of safety over its life, which last year recorded an impressive 0.12 lost-time-injury rate – below Exxaro’s own target.

Building up to, and post closure“We are putting together a comprehensive mine closure plan, which we will finalise at the end of the year. It will look at the mine’s environmental footprint and other post-closure activities, including infrastructure, employees, after-care requirements, and compliance to our social and labour plan, and will also have to be approved by gov-ernment,” Tsengwa mentions.

Management has also already commenced with future forum strategy discussions

with its employees, engaging with them on possible future scenarios once the mine is closed.

The workforce is less hostile as a result. “We are investing heavily in reskilling our employees, teaching them different skills, and will even look to possibly relo-cate those who are willing to move to our other mines.” Tshikondeni employs about 700 permanent staff.

In January this year, the Tshikondeni plant was ‘overhauled’ to help better pro-cess the coal from the mini pits. Different options are being evaluated regarding what can be done with the plant which still has some operational life left.

“In April 2011, we commenced with our mini-pit project, which entails the addition of three small open-pit operations.” Nombasa Tsengwa,

Exxaro’s captive mines general manager

run-of-mine (ROM), delivering about 200 000 tpa of saleable product.

As one of three captive mines in the Exx-aro stable, all of its product is sold directly to ArcelorMittal, making it a strategically important asset to the company – until its last month of production.

Unfortunately, every mine has a finite lifespan, and Tshikondeni’s is almost up. Its closure will be official in 2015.

Exxaro’s captive mines

Exxaro has three captive mines: Tshikondeni, Matla and Arnot. Tshikondeni sells exclusively to ArcelorMittal, with the other two mines exclusively supplying Eskom. Tshikondeni’s production equates to 18% of the company’s entire coal consumption. In exchange, ArcelorMittal and Eskom fund the respective mines’ running costs.

Coal


The ASX-listed Ikwezi Mining story is an exciting one. Unlike most other junior coal compa-nies in South Africa, it has not

set its sights on developing the remaining eMalahleni coal resources.

The local subsidiary and 30% BEE owned Ikwezi Resources (Ikwezi) has instead se-cured a number of mining and prospecting rights in unexplored or yet-to-be-tapped mining areas, and will, from its first pro-ject, soon start producing from the largely forgotten KwaZulu-Natal coalfields.

With extensive background experience in the coal sector, which includes time with BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa, Pile’s business model and strategy for Ik-wezi has been well thought out and will also be well implemented. Ikwezi’s man-agement team also comprises the original NuCoal management.

“Why KwaZulu-Natal and Newcastle? In addition to the fact that KwaZulu-Natal still has significant amounts of untapped coal resources that provide quick expansion platforms and consolidation opportunities, it is also not constrained by rail capacity

and retains the flexibility to export via the Durban and Richards Bay ports, making the distance to the ports shorter – enough to consider trucking,” Pile outlines.

This fact alone highlights the advantages of choosing to mine in the KwaZulu-Natal area, in which it owns a number of pros-pecting rights, in addition to its current single mining right.

Ntendeka colliery – 70% ownership• Initial JORC reserve: 14 Mt• JORC resource: 221 Mt (upgrade expect-

ed in Q3, 2012)Considering Ikwezi's IPO was based on just a prospecting right for this 12 182 ha project in July last year, it has taken its 20 year life-of-mine (LOM) Ntendeka project quickly up the value curve.

Th e company acquired the project’s mining right in February this year, and believes its integrated water use licence is imminent.

First production – 1.25 Mtpa of saleable product at nameplate capacity – is expect-ed in the last quarter of this year, and re-mains dependent on putting certain loans in place, and the issue of the water licence.

It has also already entered into a transport agreement with Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and has been offered an off-take agreement from an international trading company to purchase its entire production and provide port facilities for a three-year period.

“We are already commissioning our on-site wash plant, which has been designed to process 170 000 tpm run-of-mine (ROM) material. Its design will also accommodate an additional second stage unit, which will increase its total capacity to 340 000 tpm ROM,” Pile explains.

Bond Equipment was responsible for the plant’s design and construction.

The Phase 2 expansion, which will in-crease annual production to 2.5 Mtpa, correlates directly with the need for an in-crease in overall Eskom power supply to the project, as well as the necessity to convert the mine from opencast to underground, which should start in late 2014.

The major mineable coal seam averages a consistent 2.5 m thickness, and it has be-tween four and five years of opencast po-tential. Underground, it will comprise five main sections.

OVERCOMING COAL JUNIOR CHALLENGES

Prospering in Natal, for a startWhile the demand for coal, both export and local, continues to escalate, it has

not made the process for junior coal companies evolving from developers to

miners an easy one, David Pile, MD of junior coal developer Ikwezi Mining, tells

Laura Cornish.

Coal


Eskom has verbally advised that there is sufficient power available in the area to

supply the operation’s requirements

Ntendeka 170 000 tph wash plant and Ikwezi has invested in the repair of two culverts as part of its community work in the KZN area

The thermal coal product, which gener-ally has elevated sulphur levels and slightly low volatiles, has a high calorific value (CV) and has been allocated entirely for the ex-port market, in which demand continues to escalate.

“Eskom is in the process of providing the operation with an initial 500 kVA. Four 1 MVA gensets manufactured specifically for the project by Engine Applications will run the wash plant and office complex un-til they are connected to an Eskom main power supply. An initial 7 MVA has been applied for from Eskom with the ramp-up of the project’s possible underground pro-gression and plant expansion as well.”

According to Pile, Eskom has ver-bally advised that there is sufficient

the rehabilitation of the first 8 km of a 16 km road connecting the wash plant to the siding.

In December last year, Ikwezi secured an option to purchase the land on which the siding for the old Ngagane power station is located, subject to the successful completion of a basic environmental impact assessment.

power available in the area to supply the operation’s requirements.

In line with the Ikwezi Mining's com-mitment to surrounding communities and its aim to transport its coal via rail, it is investing in upgrading the main haul road to the nearby Ngagane siding, which includes the repair of two culverts and

Coal


Th is has progressed well and is expected to be approved shortly to reinstate the original siding. “We have also decided to invest the cash required to own the siding, rather than have a third party fund its acquisition. We will engage with an outside party to oper-

ate it however,” Pile notes. Th is is expected to cost about A$3.4 million (R28.7 million) and take about three months to construct. In the interim, coal is planned to be trans-ported via an existing siding on the out-skirts of Newcastle.

December also saw Ikwezi secure 1.5 Mtpa of rail capacity from TFR, either to Durban or Richards Bay. The contract is renewable on an annual basis. Ikwezi is also in the final stages of negotiation of an approximate 500 000 tpa port allocation

in its own name. This contract is expected to be announced in the next two months.

“From a fi -nancial point of view, we are in advanced dis-cussions with

the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), along with two other banks to put a fi ve-year loan facility in place for the op-eration of about R200 million. Funding the coal plant as well as upgrading the siding at Ngagane requires an additional R100 mil-lion not originally budgeted for from inter-nal cash funds.

Pile explains that TFR has mandated DBSA to encourage mining houses to

return to rail logistics, by assisting with loan applications for this specific task.

Dundee colliery – 60% ownershipAlso situated in northern KwaZulu-Na-tal, the Dundee exploration project (for-merly Newcastle Phase 2) comprises a 4 664 ha area. Ikwezi currently holds a prospecting right, and is under way with an exploration drilling programme. Pile says the area is well understood within Ik-wezi’s management structure and indicates that the probability of announcing a 50 Mt good quality, low phosphorous coal is high. It also has close proximity to rail sidings.

Waterberg project – 70% ownershipThis 5 669 ha Limpopo based project (in-cluding six farms) holds massive potential for Ikwezi, should the necessary infra-structure required to sustain the area de-velop. The Waterberg is expected to be the next major coal field to be developed in South Africa.

Transnet has already committed to in-crease rail capacity in the coal field from 4 Mtpa to 23 Mtpa.

“We acquired two prospecting rights over the properties subject to certain conditions precedent including a S11 approval which is in process. These prospecting rights have an exploration target of between 2 and 4 Bnt, with coal for both the local and export markets,” says Pile. “We are also already in discussions regarding port capacity at Ma-tola, and looking at off-take opportunities.”

Acorn project – 60% ownershipSituated in Gauteng’s Springbok Flats, Ikwezi owns prospecting rights of the 20 758 ha thermal coal property.

“Th e coalfi elds, as yet to be mined, show similar characteristics to the Waterberg, but quite uniquely, are highly uranium-enriched,” Pile points out. “Until a viable extraction method can be found for such a reserve, we will retain this project as a major blue sky opportunity.”

ABOVE Repairing the culverts is currently underway BELOW Mothballed

Ngagane power station

TFR has mandated DBSA to encourage mining houses to return to rail logistics, by assisting with loan applications for this specific task

ABOVE FROM LEFT Various angles and close up of the Ntendeka plant

Coal

Ikwezi Mining Limited derives its’ heritage and name from the word “Ikwezi” used in South African culture and translates to “Morning Star” or “Rising Star”. Ikwezi Mining is a Specialist Coal Mining Company that focuses its core business in resource exploration, development, mining and processing. We are strategically positioned to exploit coal resources in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa.

Coal Resource Exploration | Development | Mining | Processing

“RISING STAR”

www.ikwezimining.com+27 11 994 8900

The acquisition is for Revuboè met-allurgical coal project in Mozam-bique, which Anglo American will acquire from the Talbot Estate for

a total cash consideration of $540 million (R4.6 billion).

The project is a joint venture partner-ship and includes Nippon Steel Cor-poration (33.3% interest) and POSCO (7.8% interest).

The Revuboè project has a reported Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource

of 1.4 billion tonnes of hard coking and thermal coal suitable for open cut mining, with the potential to support the export of 6 to 9 Mtpa on a 100% basis.

Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo American, says: “The acquisition of a ma-jority interest in Revuboè is in line with our strategic commitment to grow our global metallurgical coal business to supply our customers from each of the key metallurgi-cal coal supply regions of Australia, Canada and Mozambique. Revuboè is located in

A BIG ANGLO ACQUISITION

Making inroads into MozambiqueMajor mining company Anglo American has agreed

to acquire a 58.9% interest in one of Mozambique’s

most highly prospective coal projects.

the most attractive area of Mozambique’s Moatize coal basin and has a number of in-frastructure development options. We look forward to working with the government of Mozambique and our joint venture part-ners to progress this exciting prospect.”

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions and is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2012.

Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Anglo American

Coal


Consulting engineering and project implementation firm Hatch has been

instrumental in the shop detailing of six boiler ducts at Eskom’s Medupi and

Kusile power stations, in the Lephalale and Delmas areas.

FIRING UP

Detailing Medupi and Kusile’s boilers

Engineering, contracting and con-struction services company Murray & Roberts approached Hatch to as-sist with the shop detailing of the

boiler ducts, which included the creation of 3D models, 2D fabrication and erection drawings of ducting for 12 boilers using Tekla Structures software.

Hatch Structural Practice and Project Delivery Group: Detailing section leader, Hendrik van Graan, says that each boiler duct stretches a full 103 m up in the air and weighs up to 1 480 t per unit. Th e plate work varies between 5 and 6 mm, depending on hot or cold air fl ow.

Van Graan says that Hatch had to sup-ply the fabrication workshop and site with intensive, high-quality drawings and daily communications on progress, safety and ac-curacy. Th is required that the team members perform well in a fast-tracked environment with a signifi cant amount of pressure. Th e number of drawings per unit was as follows: 8 755 single part drawings, 3 623 assembly drawings and 40 general arrangement draw-ings; a total of 12 058 drawings per unit.

“Owing to the nature of this project, there was a substantial amount of tasks that oc-curred simultaneously, such as interface complexities with other detailing compa-nies, and mechanical and structural miss matches. Due to the complex nature of the interfaces, we needed to be able to think on our feet and provide innovative solutions to problems of varying complexity. Th e work often involved multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving,” explains Van Graan.

One of the complexities that Hatch man-aged to overcome through innovative work was the modifi cation of the duct structures previously detailed by others. Th e ducts needed to be modifi ed for the correct inter-facing as per the calculation sheets done by Hitachi in Germany. Van Graan says that most of the other detailing companies with-drew from this project due to the schedule and complexity.

Included in the innovative work items completed by Hatch was the modeling of major round duct structures as well.

Van Graan states that work accuracy was one of Hatch’s most important aspects on the project: “Owing to the fast changing nature of the construction environment, it was essential that every individual on the team, do his or her part to ensure that the detailing sequence experience as little delay as possible. Accuracy was very important in ensuring that the solution was engineered correctly. Mistakes can easily be made in such a fast-track programme, but the team

members performed exceptionally well, with the project coming in on time and on budget.”

Hatch is one of the only consulting engi-neering fi rms in South Africa with an in-house detailing division. Th ese capabilities are spread across the globe and can be ac-cessed through Hatch’s offi ces in Montreal, Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa; Delhi, India; and Shanghai, China.

ABOVE Hatch was instrumental in the shop detailing for all six boilers at Medupi

power station


Coal

In his keynote address at the confer-ence, organised by the Fossil Fuel Foundation, Prevost painted a posi-tive picture for the junior mining sec-

tor’s future, which is currently in a growth and consolidation phase. Junior miners are looking for large blocks of coal and are likely to focus on better quality product to increase on sales to the metallurgical and other industries. At the same time, junior miners will have to contain costs to ensure that product is competitively priced. The sale of product to Eskom is likely to be cur-tailed in the future because of low prices.

Turning to the potential for junior mines in the emerging Waterberg fields, Prevost declared that only large-scale mining hous-es will be able to run profitable mines in the region.

The major barrier of entry into the Wa-terberg for junior mines lies directly with the beneficiation of the raw coal to Eskom requirements. The capital required to es-tablish such plants will rule out the entry of junior mines to the Waterberg deposits he continues.

JUSTIFYING COAL JUNIORS

Growth opportunities across multiple platformsThe number of junior coal mines in South Africa

will continue increasing and the tonnages of coal

they ship will grow, Xavier Prevost, mining industry

doyen, told a recent Junior Coal Mining Ventures

conference held in Johannesburg.

Coal


“Waterberg coal is a highly complex prod-uct with ash contents of up to 60%. This requires a substantial investment in the washing process, which therefore limits en-try to the large mining houses.”

This statement was in direct contrast with the view of Eskom’s Johann Bester, who told delegates that the energy para-statal sees opportunities for junior mines to supply Eskom with between 5 and 10 Mtpa from the Waterberg. Eskom is in negotiation with Transnet regarding the provision of rail infrastructure.

“The percentage of volatiles in coal sourced from the Waterberg is a lot higher and the washing of product to Eskom re-quirements is challenging. We are currently running trials in our power stations.”

Bester, who is the GM for fuel saving in the primary energy division at Eskom, says that 10 Mtpa of coal from the Waterberg has already been secured.

“Eskom requires 20 Mtpa of coal from the Waterberg for the next 40 years from 2018. Contracting principles for the Waterberg will include adhering to today’s best prac-tice green mining principles, beyond legis-lative requirements with new parameters for coal quality management, including au-tomated systems.”

Referring to junior mining development, Bester mentioned that Eskom is currently sourcing 30% of coal on medium-term con-tracts, the primary portion (about 35 Mtpa) of which is sourced from junior mines.

“The significant volumes of coal Eskom still needs to secure for the long term

provides an increasing opportunity for the junior mining coal sector to collaborate with each other as well as with Eskom to further develop the mining sector of South Africa and also improve the security of sup-ply from Mpumalanga and the Waterberg.”

He stated that Eskom is committed to paying a price for coal that will enable mines to be sustainable.

Gas fracking is environmentally acceptable“Gas fracking, as opposed to conventional fracking, presents the possibility of access-ing quantities of gas in the Karoo in an en-vironmentally acceptable fashion,” said An-drew Kinghorn of Shava Mining Enterprise.

Providing the conference with an energy update in which he examined the various energy product mix options, Kinghorn pointed out that an environmentally friendly fracking cocktail mix was already in use in the United States.

“If we go into fracking in the Karoo and we have cronyism and corruption, we will have contamination. If we go the right route we will get a good product with no problems.”

Kinghorn made the comment against the background of the current high energy costs of 50c/kWh being levied by Eskom, which is resulting in South Africa begin-ning to exceed international industrial prices, in particular prices in more energy intensive industries.

“South Africa’s electricity prices, even excluding carbon tax, are at the high end of prices in China and India. South Africa needs a transparent, affordable price.”

Juniors need a better mining charterPaul Miller, outgoing MD of Keaton Ener-gy, told delegates that while the company was a staunch supporter of the Mining Charter, three unintended consequences of the charter need to be addressed.

Not only do farmers have to be paid for underground rights, but for surface rights as well. Highlighting flaws within the Min-eral and Petroleum Resources Protection Act (MPRPA), he said a ‘tie-breaking pro-cess that works’ is required to ensure that mining companies do not have to pay three or four times the value of agricultural land. In addition, the Act does not allow a min-ing right to be used as security to secure finance without specific contractual and legal requirements, one of which requires ministerial approval. “This limits the abil-ity of entrants to the mining industry. I’m surprised banks haven’t lobbied the minis-ter (concerning the anomaly).”

Sustainability

Julie Stacey, an independent consultant with Envaluation, a company that focuses on sustainable development in the mining sector, says: “There is no excuse not to get the basics right. If we create pollution, we have to seek solutions. Pursue poor performers and point fingers at the mines not doing things right.”

Miller also pointed out that mines are also required to hire illiterate people and have to educate them to a certain level - a cost burden that junior mines cannot afford to carry. “No credit is given in the charter for junior miners providing jobs for the unemployed.”

From junior explorer to junior producer and exporterContinental Coal, with two operational mines, a third mine near Ermelo close to seam and the De Wittekrans mine expected to begin production in 2013, is also busy with exploration in Botswana.

Speaking on the subject of the rise from junior explorer to junior producer of ex-port and domestic coal, CEO Don Turvey told delegates: “We have three exploration projects in Botswana just across the bor-der from the Waterberg. We see a growth platform in South Africa and are looking further afield – the Americas, Australia and Indonesia. We want to build an interna-tional company.”

Barry Nel, chairman of Elitheni Coal, said the company has secured an export order and will start shipping through East Lon-don in November. “We are exporting our coal because local industry (in the Eastern Cape) can’t burn our product. We were hop-ing that there would be a [power] IPP we could fuel, but the project was shelled.”

South Africa’s first stocks of coal were mined in the Eastern Cape in 1857. Mining stopped in 1915.

ABOVE The junior coal industry is instrumental in supplying coal to Eskom’s

power stations

Underground development


The word ‘mechanised’ still induces a lot of negativity in the mining sector. In contradiction to its core purpose of increasing productivity,

it is often associated with decreasing pro-ductivity and compromising workers’ safety. Ultimately, as a result of false bad publicity, it is often deemed a cost failure.

Th e fault typically lies with the incorrect use of the equipment and mine plan, rather than the equipment itself.

“Considering mechanised mining, for both development and production, has been suc-cessfully implemented across many mining operations around the world, it already is a tried and tested practice.

“Th e key to understanding the merits and benefi ts that a mechanised system has to of-fer requires a complete shift in mindset, as

well as an awareness of how to implement it correctly,” says Björn Göhre, Sandvik Min-ing and Construction’s general manager for business development.

Sandvik Mining is just one of a handful of companies that not only supplies mecha-nised mining equipment, but is happy to consult with its clients to ensure mine lay-out and development plans are best suited to mechanised equipment.

Ultimately, the entire industry needs to accept the fact that the sector is evolving.

Operating and development costs are in-creasing rapidly, along with steep annual cost increases in wages and power.

“Mines no longer have the luxury of time when it comes to developing new declines, and need to access more reserves as quickly as possible. Achieving this not only sees new and expansion projects start generat-ing cash faster, but increases their net profi t value as well,” Göhre continues.

In terms of development specifi cally, Göhre states undeniably that the mechanised

MECHANISED MINING

The benefits of doing it rightMechanised mining – it is the present and future methodology for underground

development. But why is the entire industry not embracing the advantages it

offers? Particularly in South Africa, Laura Cornish asks.

LEFT The Sandvik LH514 14 t load haul dumper offers reliable performance

RIGHT The Sandvik TH540 is the perfect fi t for the LH514 LHD.

“Understanding the merits and benefits that a mechanised system has to offer requires a complete shift in mindset, as well as an awareness of how to implement it correctly.” Björn Göhre, Sandvik Mining and Construction’s general

manager for business development



approach can reduce overall construction time by up to two thirds. In other words, a 2.5 km decline that would traditionally take fi ve years to develop will take two.

“Th e average traditional advancement rate of a twin decline system is, at best, 60 m every month, but more commonly is closer to 40 m. Mechanised mining can achieve an advance rate of up to 100 m a month,” Göhre outlines.

Doing it right

Many conventional mining operations introduce mechanised equipment for de-velopment, but continue to operate around conventional batch mining processes for production. Sweating the mechanised min-ing assets through continuous drilling, supporting, loading and tramming cycles should remain as standard procedure, and not viewed as separate cycles. However, the conventional stoping operations, which are performed in a batch process between day and night shifts, result in safety and production clashes if not separated. This leads to not fully integrated processes in the underground mining system.

Such hybrid systems often result in overcrowding and puts workers at risk, meaning the two streams are seldom run in conjunction.

The result is decreased productivity levels, where the blame is usually directed at the non-availability of the mechanised equipment during the production time of the mining cycle.

“With mechanised mining, the chal-lenge is to plan the perfect cycle and then execute the plan. For example, at any one time there should be an end being loaded, an end being drilled and another end being supported so that the planned panels are ready for the next shift. This eliminates the situation where costly machines stand idle because they cannot be operated if the end has not been prepared at the planned time as the interaction between the cycles is so interdependent. Imagine how productiv-ity will increase if the ends are prepared and planned to such an extent that a drill rig will be continuously drilling for a full shift. This will ensure that the purpose of the drill rig, which is to continuously drill holes, is fulfilled.”

And this is not hearsay, it is fact – if the system and equipment are utilised correctly. Some of the country’s large-scale mining houses are already achieving these mecha-nised advancement rates.

Simply put, mechanised mining requires highly skilled operators and supervisors, a

ABOVE The Sandvik DD321-40 is capable of delivering 3 to 5 m long rounds


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well thought out and executed mine plan, good maintenance routines and at least three ends to develop.

“Th e result is a safer mine operation, thanks to the separation of development sections from production sections.”

Despite the general reluctance of the in-dustry to adopt the mechanised approach, the sector is slowly progressing. Göhre points out that the mechanised industry is growing on an average of between 5 and 8% every year. Th is is largely thanks to the fact that the cost of running a mechanised mine is starting to become competitive with tra-ditional methods.

Trans4MineBecause the country’s severe skills short-age could be attributed as one of the biggest shortcomings for mechanised mining sys-tems, Sandvik Mining has become heavily involved in apprentice training, local skills development and on-site training.

“In addition to training about 100 new ap-prentices every year, we also partner with our clients and reinvest in skills develop-ment in surrounding areas, with a particular

focus on teaching the teachers to ensure the best skills transfer to future generations. We have also discovered that it is at the supervisory level that there is a noticeable skills defi ciency.”

As a result, Sandvik Mining established a consulting business unit called Trans4Mine, which conducts audits for mine operations and also off ers equipment training and sim-ulation packages. Th e aim of the audit is to put together a programme that maps out an action plan to elevate production levels to meet the mine’s requirements safely.

Göhre is one of the founding members of Trans4Mine. Mine personnel are involved from the outset and members of senior and middle management are co-opted to an ac-tion committee, which drives the project and includes representatives from Sandvik Mining’s own action unit.

Low production levels usually result from an imbalance in the cycles that are the cor-nerstone of a healthy mechanised mining

system. Th e Trans4Mine team drills down in the people, process or system elements that aff ect the production. Once the con-tributing factors are identifi ed, action plans with relevant responsible mine personnel are mutually agreed on and implemented. Th ese generally lead to miniature improve-ment projects that have the biggest impact on productivity – idling equipment will not deliver.

RIGHT The Sandvik DS311 is able to bolt without exposing operators to

unsupported ground

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FINLAND’S CONCRETE ASPIRATIONS


Taking Africa by stormSouth Africa remains a central hub for international companies looking

to establish or grow their presence across the African continent. Finland’s

underground mining solutions provider Normet has done precisely that,

writes Laura Cornish.

An interesting fact

The market for underground mining and construction equipment of the type produced by Normet is estimated at R200 million a year, while the market for specialist chemicals and systems for concrete-based products is also estimated at R200 million annually.

The Minimec machine in operation

Spraymec

While the global mining are-na is a playing field for all, most have their eyes set on Africa. The continent is

expected to continue opening up vast opportunities for min-ing contractors in particular as more and more projects develop.

Normet has 50 years of ex-perience in the development, production, sales and service of e q u i p -ment and vehicles for underground mining and tunnel construction.

It also provides patented construction chemicals for these industries, together with a comprehensive range of lifetime care services for maintenance and operat-ing processes throughout the entire life-cycle of its products. It has delivered over 8 000 machines globally.

“Until 2007, Normet was represented on the African continent through third par-ties, but this was discontinued after the global economic crash. We spent a large part of the recession focusing on growing

our brands and resources internally for the global market, and started building a stronger network,” Normet president Tom Melbye, explains.

Having invested and prepared itself around the world for the next global

boom, the company launched a programme dedicated

to establishing a local

p r e s e n c e in Asia, Aus-tralia, the United States, and now also in one of the company’s remaining ‘blind spots’ – Africa. “The continent is rich in minerals, has an appetite for international companies and is looking for safe mecha-nisation technologies,” Melbye continues.

“And because we need to have a more lo-cal presence to grow our business in Africa, we have established a regional office in Gauteng, South Africa.”

Th e branch was offi cially ‘open for busi-ness’ in May and already has customers pur-chasing its products. In July, its chemical manufacturing plant went into production and will produce a range of construction ma-terials used in underground mining and civil engineering projects, such as sprayed con-crete for rock support, water proofi ng, and repair and protection for civil construction.

The company is aiming to employ be-tween 20 and 40 people at the local

branch and insists on employing the best skills available.

“Tunnelling is our business and the chemicals we use in our wet sprayed con-crete (a concept which Melbye was in-strumental in developing) are unparal-leled with any other,” Normet GM Gary Clench, adds. And although Normet may remain a household name to some, the

Africa’s

leader in

natural

resource

and

development

solutions

Tel: +27(0) 11 441 1111 www.srk.co.za

company is reintroducing itself to the market as not only an equipment provid-er, but a solutions creator/problem-solver as well.

Normet employees are experts in all fields of business and are qualified not only to sell a machine, but to assist with repairs and problems, as well as provide recommendations. The company has a team of ‘flying engineers’ who can be sent to any job site to quickly resolve any equip-ment and/or process problems.

Says Melbye: “Another important aspect of the new group structure is the change from a product- and production-driven company to a market-driven or-ganisation. We want to be as close as possible to our customers, wherever they are in the world.”

According to the company’s sub-regional manager, Ian Northcroft, the compa-ny has between 50 and 60 machines operating across Africa.

“Thanks to the new regional branch, we will be able to offer these machines ser-vice, maintenance and spare parts sup-plies going forwards, in addition to creat-ing new business supply opportunities,” states Northcroft.

The sub-Saharan operation will fo-cus on new sales and servicing of the entire Normet product range, includ-ing concrete sprayers, lifting and charg-ing equipment, as well as underground

transport equipment.It is the group’s African growth forecasts

that tell the real story about its view on what opportunities the continent holds in store.

Melbye predicts that 30% of the compa-ny’s growth will be generated from Africa-generated work over the next three years.

Minimec – the most recent addition to Normet’s rangeNormet has recently added a new product to its diverse equipment range. The Mini-mec is a mechanised concrete spraying ro-bot. Designed especially for smaller-scale sprayed concrete works, it is the recom-

mended solution for m e c h a n i s e d

spraying in e s c a l a t o r and tun-

nel shafts, small diam-eter tunnels

o r in places inaccessible to larger machinery.

“This small, mobile and robust shotcrete robot is ideal for the narrow gold and plati-num stopes in South Africa, sitting com-fortably in areas with a height of around 2 m,” Clench explains.

Despite the Minimec’s small, compact di-mensions, there is no need to compromise on the spraying range, output efficiency, safety or quality of spraying concrete. With its telescopic boom, it can cover up to 8 m in height and 6.4 m in width with a spray-ing distance of 1.5 m.

Normet acquires the remaining 60% of TAM International

In April 2010 Normet acquired 40% of the construction chemicals manufacturer and supplier TAM International (TAM), to form a global partnership. The company has since grown rapidly and significantly in the underground construction and mining sectors.

Based on this growth success, Normet has acquired the remaining 60% of TAM, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of the Normet Group.

“Our 40% ownership in TAM was a logical step forward in Normet’s quest to offer the industry a total solution that customers see value in. This has already proved successful in the areas of the world where the company has offered such solutions, but with the complete acquisition of TAM, we can accelerate our ability to provide both new and existing Normet customers around the world entire process solutions that lower their risk and achieve a positive project outcome,” says Aaro Cantell, chairman of Normet Group.

Today TAM is involved in many major and prestigious tunnelling projects in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom (such as Crossrail) and in Singapore. It is also very active in mining projects in Australia, Sweden and Ireland, to name a few.

Moving forward, all TAM companies worldwide will eventually operate under the Normet company name, and ‘TAM’ will be retained as the product brand name for construction chemical products.

Variomec



No other country in the world has sunk and operated as many deep level mining shafts as South Af-rica, and the trend is continuing

as most of the country’s shallow resources have been depleted.

From a global perspective, the phenome-non is growing, and countries like Australia and South America are in need of deep level shaft sinking expertise.

A CANADIAN UPGRADE

Revolutionising shaft sinking in South AfricaSouth Africa may have the world’s respect for its deep level shaft sinking project

expertise, but the same cannot be said for its safety statistics. “Our local shaft

sinking model needs to be modernised,” TWP Mining general manager, Murray

Macnab, tells Laura Cornish.

Environmental compliance and law is also on the rise, meaning more projects are likely to receive approval as underground rather than surface operations.

TWP Projects, a company that specialises in the design and management of sinking shafts, engineering and project house, is currently busy with 15 major shaft sink-ing projects. “Th e workload has neces-sitated substantial growth in our mining

division, which has doubled in the last year,” says Macnab.

Decades of South African history, howev-er, indicate that shaft sinking remains one of the most risky and safety-compromising activities on a mine.

And mining houses, unions, workers and the government are all calling for and de-manding that safety be prioritised – which requires a drastic change in local mindset.



Th ere are fundamental shaft sinking ele-ments that have to change if South Africa is to retain, and in some instances, regain its reputation in this relatively niche mining area. “Our traditional, historical shaft sink-ing methods are unsafe and don’t protect the workers. We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a diff erent result every time.”

Considering the country’s skills level is severely lacking, the most obvious solution is to reduce the human element as much as possible, if not all together. “Th e absence of suffi cient skills lies at the heart of fatalities. A strong, competent and well-experienced team can sink a shaft using traditional methods without any fatalities. Impala Plat-inum’s 20 Main Shaft is evidence of this; it was sunk to 1 050 m without any incident. While training is absolutely vital, it does not count for experience,” Macnab states.

Signifi cant investment is being injected into research and development to best de-termine new mechanisation technologies and methods to reduce the human factor from its current average of 300 people, to around 30, and ultimately, all together.

Until such new technologies can be im-plemented, the answer is to apply existing technologies that have already proven to dramatically enhance safety.

A solutionMacnab says that TWP is promoting ad-vanced shaft sinking technologies and all South Africa’s shaft sinking. Companies are seeing the benefi ts. Shaft sinking contrac-tor Murray & Roberts Cementation is an-other leading this fi eld forward, and is not only committed to changing the way mine shafts are sunk in South Africa, but will not sink another shaft using traditional South African methods.

“We have completely abandoned the tra-ditional South African approach to shaft sinking – using cactus grabs and Jumbo drill rigs that stand on the bottom of the shaft, as well as the conventional way of carrying out concurrent activities in the sinking cy-cle,” Allan Widlake, the company’s business development executive, says.

Th e new shaft sinking methodology har-nesses sling-down Jumbos that nest in the sinking stage.

“Th e advantage here is that this equipment can drill a burn cut round, which improves the advance and reduces the fl y rock that

typically causes damage in the conventional method,” Widlake continues.

“We’ll use sensitised emulsions for the blast initiation, with vertical shaft muckers housed in the stage – as opposed to cactus grabs. Th is allows for a faster cleaning time, with only one person needed at the bot-tom of the shaft during the mucking cycle. Th ere are tremendous safety advantages to this approach, since the muckers are capable of manoeuvring the kibbles into position, eliminating the need for the human element in this dangerous task.”

Murray & Roberts Cementation has also changed the design of the shaft shutter, to be able to accomplish a six-metre lift in a single eight-hour shift. Th e company has

furthermore changed the way in which ma-terials handling takes place on the surface, introducing a much more mechanised ap-proach than before. “Th e overall impact of all these changes is that although the num-ber of people involved has been reduced, the individual skill set is higher than before.”

Th e implementation of such advanced equipment and skills means that all activities in the sinking cycles can be handled in line, in other words, no two jobs will take place simul-taneously. Contrary to the assumption that this will slow down the entire cycles, the full combination of changes engineered will actu-ally improve productivities across the board.

“Th e traditional number of people involved in the shaft sinking process will be pared

LEFT TWP is underway with major shaft sinking project, 17 Shaft for Impala

PlatinumRIGHT Training is underway in the shaft

mock-up at Bentley Park

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down to a small, multi-skilled team that will perform all the required tasks. In practical terms, this means the labour force involved with sinking will be reduced to about one third of what is currently being utilised.

“We’ve been able to implement this water-shed revision in our future approach to shaft sinking by virtue of the fact that we have a sister company in Canada that has long

since proved this methodology and has been assisting us with the process of skills trans-fer to bring about a smooth transition. Th is is not an R&D exercise,” Widlake stresses.

Murray & Roberts has already sent numer-ous employees to Canada and the United States to view the methodology fi rst hand.

Both TWP Projects and Murray & Rob-erts are poised to deliver on their vision to

revolutionise the local shaft sinking industry. Both companies have been selected as pre-ferred contractors (EPCM and shaft sinking respectively) for the development of an un-derground mining operation at De Beers Con-solidated Mines’ Venetia kimberlite mine.

“Venetia will be the fi rst successful shaft sinking project to fully apply this new shaft sinking methodology,” Macnab points out.

Th e project is still pending fi nal approval from the De Beers and Anglo American boards – which are due this year.

For South Africa, Macnab believes that the platinum industry will still off er at least 10 new fi rst-generation shaft sinking projects in the future – particularly on the eastern limb. Th e gold industry could also continue going deeper as well.

“Th eir viability however is largely deter-mined by associated costs, particularly pow-er, and the need to reduce the human element below certain levels. If our industry can fi nd solutions to these problems, shaft sinking projects in the country remain ample.”

“South African shaft sinking companies have the will and the ability to take safety in shaft sinking to a new level.” Murray

Macnab, TWP Mining general manager

ABOVE Shaft bottom mucking by means of VSM clam shell machines.

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A FULL-SCALE TRAINING FACILITYMurray & Roberts Cementation has moved a step closer to fully implementing its innovative new shaft sinking method. The company is undertaking a multimillion rand upgrade to its Bentley Park training facility near Carletonville. The modifications to the existing training facility will serve to implement components of the necessary skills transfer across all stages of the sinking cycle.

Murray & Roberts established Bentley Park as training academy solely for its employees in 2005. It is the only training academy in the mining industry that is ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:1999 accredited, with accreditation from the Mining Qualifications Authority that effectively affords a licence to train in the mining industry.

Up to 300 people can be accommodated at the centre.The upgrade to Bentley Park, considered the country’s largest

mining contracting facility dedicated to the training of in-house personnel, is being managed by a steering committee and will be able to enrol the first trainees later in 2012.

Orders have been placed for the necessary imported equipment and designs for the conversion of the facility have been completed. Each of the existing four six-metre diameter training shafts will be modified to replicate a specific phase of the shaft sinking cycle.

This will ensure that every team member will have actually practised the procedures repeatedly before being deployed to a client site. Final skills transfer will be conducted on the job, under the supervision of the team’s Canadian counterparts from its sister company in Canada. Two Canadian trainers will be seconded to the Bentley Park training team and, once on site, five Canadian

trainers will be deployed to ensure that every single shift is covered. Murray & Roberts Cementation will deploy as many as 40 trainees in total for any single shaft project.

The trainees will also be required to complete a theoretical component, which includes safety procedures. The Bentley Park team has already drafted this material, in conjunction with the safety department, and it will shortly be submitted for peer review by the Canadian office.

The first training shaft will replicate the new mucking method, allowing trainees to experience first-hand how the unit mucks and traverses in and out of the stage.

The second shaft will be used to demonstrate and practise a new drilling method and handling of the drill rig.

The third shaft will be equipped for the shaft lining process, which is regarded as the key activity in the new method, requiring the highest levels of skill.

The fourth shaft will showcase pre-sink methodology, involving the use of excavators for mucking. Trainees will be able to lower and raise the excavators and muck the shaft. They will also train on the stage-mounted drill equipment.

New shaftsmen will be in training for about three months before going onto a client site for a further four to six months, to ensure the training cycle is comprehensively completed.

With the dearth of shaft sinking skills still an issue in the industry, suitable retention strategies are being put in place to ensure emerging trainees remain with the company. These strategies take a multi-faceted and holistic approach.

Transport and earthmoving


Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine near Kathu in the Northern Cape, the largest iron

ore mine in the country, will see significant growth over the next eight years. This

requires the injection of cash into the mine’s on-site infrastructure to support its

development, writes Laura Cornish.

SISHEN’S BUCKET AND BOWL

A big workshop for a big mining fleet

T he growth of the current 12 x 4 km Sishen opencast pit ne-cessitates additional haul trucks for overburden waste handling.

With this in mind, engineering project house TWP (part of the Basil Read Group) was contracted to design and oversee the construction management of a new ‘Buck-et and Bowl’ workshop facility, which will cater to the maintenance and service re-quirements of the mine’s expanded haul

truck fleet’s buckets and bowls. Infrastruc-ture and EPCM company BVi Group has been appointed as design subcontractors to TWP, alongside main construction com-pany, Stefanutti Stocks.

Awarded in April 2011, the project took 14 months to complete, coming in on budget, says Digby Glover, CEO of TWP.

“The workshop will enable us to do our business safely and efficiently, while si-multaneously allowing us to sweat our growing fleet assets without compromis-ing on maintenance,” says Sishen general manager, Andrew Loots.

Launched in June this year, the workshop is enormous in size, but is only temporary.

A permanent facility is already under construction, and is due to be completed in September 2013

LEFT The new Bucket and Bowl workshop will accommodate some of the largest

mining vehicles in the industry

Sishen statistics

• Sishen first became operational in 1953

• it has a current 28 year lifespan• it mines opencast to an average depth of 400 m

• it produces 41 Mtpa of saleable product• about 6.25 Mtpa is distributed to local markets.

A permanent facility (life of mine work-shop) is already under construction, and is due to be completed in September 2013.

The workshop, measuring 50 x 40 m, with a height of 27 m and internal foot-print of 2 000 m², has been fitted with two 80 t overhead cranes, and the largest commercially installed tyre press (450 t) in the country, which will be moved to the life of mine workshop when it starts oper-ating. There were 450 people working on

site during the project’s peak construction phase period.

It also had four undercover bays and six apron bays outside.

The scope of work for the ‘Bucket and Bowl’ workshop also incorporated a tyre

ABOVE the new Komatsu 960 truck situated outside the new workshop

BELOW A view of the Sishen overburden dumps in the background


yard for storing up to 280 tyres for the mega trucks, an adjacent administra-tion building, compressor room, nitrogen tank storage slab, sewer pump station and 11 kV sub-station.

Mindful of the impact of the mine on the neighboring district within the Kalahari

landscape, the workshop was positioned close to the existing waste dump, meaning its location is within a controlled environ-ment isolated from the mine operations, with polluted wash water and contami-nated stormwater run-off leading to a new pollution dam complex.

A total of 4 600 m³ of concrete, 560 t of structural steel and 93 000 bricks were used. At peak, a total of 455 employees were on site.

The project achieved a zero lost time in-jury over 700 885 man-hours and 326 days worked (462 calendar days).


The successful completion of the ‘Buck-et and Bowl’ workshop is regarded as a major achievement in that numerous challenges were overcome both prior to commencement of the project and during

the study phase, and during the construc-tion phase.

These included the remoteness of the location, environmental considera-tions, adaptation of the facility for an alternative purpose before the permanent

maintenance facility is completed, and the size of the building required to service the mega trucks.

“We consider our most impressive achieve-ment however the zero lost time injuries – over 464 days,” Glover concludes.

ABOVE Workshop interior, 26 m in heightRIGHT BVi mining director, Hennie Maas,

and TWP Projects CEO, Digby Glover

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The Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator is now the largest and most power-ful in the HPE Africa range,” says Neil Sauls, HPE general manager.

It is particularly well-suited for use in min-ing and quarrying applications, explains Hyundai Heavy Industries team leader JJ Choi. “Th e size and robustness of the ex-cavator makes it an ideal choice for large earthmoving projects, especially in the harsh African climate and landscape. It is also more competitively priced than similar sized com-petitor excavators, ultimately reducing the overhead costs of managing a larger fl eet, while maintaining the highest standards of quality and reliability,” he continues.

Th e Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator was suc-cessfully launched internationally in 2011, and Choi is confi dent that it will be well

BREAKING NEW GROUND


Elevated excavatorHPE Africa, the sole distributor of Hyundai

earthmoving equipment in Southern Africa, is

expanding its product offering following the recent

introduction of its 120 t Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator.

received by the local market. “A considerable amount of investment is being poured into African mining projects in particular, and development is taking place at a rapid rate. With this in mind, local contractors will be

looking for earthmoving machinery such as the Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator, which is robust and reliable, while remaining af-fordable. Th ese features, coupled with HPE Africa’s commitment to customer support, place the Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator in a

strong position enter-ing the market,”

he enthuses. Th e “technologi-cally advanced”

g gquality and reliability,” he continues.

Th e Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator was suc-cessfully launched internationally in 2011,and Choi is confi dent that it will be well

pAfrica’s commitment to customer support,place the Hyundai R1200LC-9 excavator in a

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he enthuses.Th e “technologi-cally advanced”

R1200LC-9 comes standard with Hyundai’s exclusive Hi-mate remote management system, which provides operators and deal-ers with continuous access to vital service and diagnostic information on the ma-

chine from any computer in the world with internet access.

“Users can pinpoint the excavator’s exact location using digital mapping and set ma-chine work boundaries to reduce the need for multiple service calls. Hi-mate also promotes preventative maintenance and reducing of machine downtime,” Sauls explains.

With a comprehensive stockholding of Hyundai parts and spares, and fully trained and qualifi ed mechanics, HPE Africa is capa-ble of servicing and repairing the excavator

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The size and robustness of the excavator makes it an ideal choice for large earthmoving projects

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We have exceeded the required production targets for the last 11 years at Impala Plati-num’s opencast mine near

Rustenburg and, as a result, our contract has renewed for another year,” says George Killian, Concor Opencast Mining’s site manager at the mine.

“Th e annual targets are set jointly by Im-pala Platinum and Concor Opencast Mining. Scope of work comprises extraction from a narrow reef dipping at approximately nine degrees to a depth of between 30 and 35 m, crushing the material to <300 mm and de-livering to the stockpile. Th e mine draws material from the stockpile for transporta-tion to the processing plant where platinum and other minerals are extracted. Concor

Opencast Mining’s contract also includes the rehabilitation of the mined areas, of which 26 have been completed to date.”

“We are following the outcrop reef com-prising the Merensky reef and the UG2 reef,” Killian says.

“Th e strike length is 14 km. To mid-June this year we had moved 2.5 million cubic metres of top soil, 19.6 million cubic me-tres of overburden and 921 000 m³ of reef material. Th e corresponding fi gures for the Merensky reef are 1.6 million cubic me-tres of topsoil, 9.4 million cubic metres of overburden and 1 million cubic metres of reef material.”

Frank O’Toole, Impala Platinum’s mine manager for the opencast operation, says that Concor Opencast Mining “has met and exceeded our expectations in all areas – safe-ty, production and community relations.

“Our fi rst priority is safety and we expect quality work. Th e operation is uneconomic, however, if production targets are also not

An opencast odysseyLUCKY NUMBER 12

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BELOW A general view of the opencast operation at Impala Platinum where Concor Opencast Mining has operated for the last

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met. In addition, community relations are challenging and we require Concor Opencast Mining to be involved with all aff ected stakehold-ers, including farmers. High standards must be maintained in those interactions to foster good relationships. Concor Opencast Mining is doing well in all these areas.” Killian attributes his team’s success to high levels of planning and discipline coupled with a strong adher-

ence to safety standards. Among the challenges faced by the team are geological – presented by potholes, dykes and fractures in the reefs, all of which impact on productivity – and interfacing with communities in the Bafokeng area aff ected by the blasting and mining operations.

Turning to safety, Killian states that the opencast operation has worked four and a half million hours with no fatalities. Last Sep-tember, the operation was awarded platinum safety medals by Im-pala Platinum and received Concor Opencast Mining’s divisional

safety award for achieving zero lost time injuries for a full year. Th e site’s short-term objective is to achieve two years without lost time injuries.

Concor Opencast Mining employs 200 permanent people on site. Activity is plant intensive and requires the use of 35 machines, ranging from a 70 t excavator to 45 t rigid trucks and 30 t articu-lated dump truck. Two nine-and-a-half-hour shifts are worked five days a week and one shift is worked on Saturdays.

Rehabilitation forms part of the Concor Opencast Mining contract at Impala Platinum

Neo Motlhajoe, environmental offi cer for Impala Platinum, at one of the rehabilitation sites on this opencast mine

The operation... received Concor Opencast Mining’s divisional safety award for achieving zero lost time injuries for a full year

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Up until 2008, opencast mining contractor Trollope Mining Ser-vices (TMS) was thriving on the back of a single client, and a sin-

gle commodity – coal. “It was the recession

DIVERSITY DELIVERANCE

Spread your wings and flySurviving the recent world economic recession had its advantages – particularly

for those who were willing to change their business model and strategy. Trollope

Mining Services did just that, and the benefi ts are paying off, writes Laura Cornish.

that made us realise that our business model needed to change. Four years down the line, we are a diff erent company and have almost doubled in size as result of strategic decisions we made,” explains TMS MD, Guy Hopkins.

DiversifyingToday, TMS is substantially diversifi ed, with 10 opencast contracts across the platinum, gold, andalusite and coal sectors. Its work-force headcount stands at 1 100 – of which over 800 are operators.

“Diversity is the key to ensuring your risk is widely spread and not confi ned to any single area,” Hopkins adds. “Because the nature of most coal mining is largely opencast, it re-mains a key area of our business and always will do. Our target into the near future is for coal to constitute no more than 60% of our total business.”

TMS is due to complete the last two coal contracts (with Xstrata Coal) it retained dur-ing and after the recession, shortly. Once these are completed, every contract on its books will be newly awarded since 2008.

According to Hopkins, the other key diver-sity component is geographic location. “Our short- to mid-term focus now is to follow our clients across the border, which until now had been restricted to South African project work only.”


Th e company is currently tendering on a number of contracts in Africa and hopes to secure an established presence within the next three years. Even though the company lacks experience outside its local borders, Hopkin’s African experience is extensive. Th e ‘trick’, he explains, is to secure just one project, which puts a foot in the door and enables the learn-ing curve to start. And it appears Botswana and Namibia are TMS’s primary targets. Se-curing additional work outside of South Africa means one thing – greater growth.

“Th is past month we moved 3.2 million cubes of earth, which means we are operat-ing almost at full capacity. New project work in Africa would require us to grow our fl eet (of 400 units). Our intention, for now, is to remain a mid-tier contractor and not take on larger scale equipment. Our dump trucks vary in size from 40 to 100 t.”

Joint venturesHopkin’s has recorded substantial expe-rience in the construction industry over his work career and admits that the in-dustry has achieved numerous successes thanks to strategically established joint

venture agreements. “Joint venture agree-ments in the mining sector have yet to be fully exploited, tested and implemented, but it is something I am familiar with and would like to explore,” Hopkins notes.

Delving into new, but familiar areasPlaying in the mining space requires long-term thinking, and that is exactly what TMS is doing. “We could buy bigger machines and tender on bigger contracts or we could delve into new business areas, which we have set our sights on. We would like to mine our own coal operations.”

In line with this vision, the company al-ready owns a mining right to a small coal property in eMalahleni, together with few prospecting rights. It is also applying for ad-ditional prospecting rights.

Hopkins explains that the plan is for the company to mine its fi rst reserve – 800 000 t – which should take no more than 18 months. Th e major challenge is learning about and conforming to all the regulatory compli-ance issues associated with mining, such as attaining the correct licences, environ-mental procedure documents and off -take

agreements. Mining itself is in essence TMS’s core business.

An environmental management pro-gramme is the last outstanding requirement necessary to start mining, which Hopkins believes TMS could be ready for in the next eight months to one year.

Th e company even owns its own small 100 000 tpm wash plant, which it acquired from Sasol Mining as a test plant.

“Alternatively, we may look to purchase prospecting rights, prove up a reserve and resource, and sell them, with greater values, to interested buyers.”

Business model policy

Contracts: Hopkin’s preference is for contracts ranging between one and three years in length. This is the best way to ensure the company is protected from having to incur escalation costs if payment is settled on upfront and fixed for the contract period.

Replacement: Hopkin’s likes his core plant’s availability to be between 92% and 95% at all times. Based on this, the company’s policy to replace its machines after their first life, which can be anywhere between 12 000 and 20 000 hours.

Managing debt levels: To ensure the company is able to maintain its debt levels, its growth overall aspirations are not too big, and are sustainable – between 10 and 20% for the next while. Stabilisation is not a bad place to be sometimes and can be healthy for a company for certain periods.


Crushing and screening

THE SCREENING SAINT

Bigger is betterMore and more low-grade resources are becoming viable mining projects thanks

to commodity prices and new generation equipment capable of handling high

tonnage volumes, writes Laura Cornish.

S creening, washing and pelletising solutions company Haver & Boeck-er is intent on making big inroads into the African mining market.

So much so that it has established a lo-cal subsidiary, Haver Southern Africa, to drive its business and solutions across the continent.

“Although it is challenging establishing, or in our case re-establishing, a local pres-ence, our advantage lies in the strong glob-al reputation behind the Haver name. We have added strength from our internation-al structure, with various global modular technology designs organised into a screen-ing group, with three global manufacturing

facilities specialising and optimising vari-ous vibrating screen components,” explains Noel De Wet, local general manager.

When a screen order is placed, each of the three facilities in Canada, Brazil and Ger-many manufacture certain components, which are then transported and assembled as close to the site as possible.



“Our focus is to grow our African installation base and, more importantly, provide after-sales service”

All of the Haver companies have become increasingly aware that while most of the world’s high-grade resource has been de-pleted, the remaining ore bodies become viable on the back of signifi cantly increased production volumes to compensate for lower grades.

“Most new projects require large volumes of machines within relatively short time-frames, capable of processing signifi cant volumes of low-grade ores. Haver has stra-tegically positioned itself in this market – indicating its capability of fulfi lling high volume, large-scale equipment needs time-ously,” De Wet reiterates.

“Our machines have proven designs, are durable, easy to maintain, are adapted to customers’ specifi c process needs and have extremely competitive lead times because we can distribute the workload across our manufacturing facilities. A speciality of Ha-ver is its 4-bearing primary scalping screen with constant amplitude, meaning they can handle diffi cult, sticky materials and highly fl uctuating loads without diffi culty,” he continues.

Joachim Hoppe, technical and marketing director, believes there are few companies that have the capacity to design and opti-mally manufacture screens of the size re-quired in process plants today.

And even though the company is targeting large-scale screens, it is fully equipped to supply the entire size range.

To demonstrate the Haver screening group’s capacity for handling large-scale projects, De Wet points out that the compa-ny has recently executed seven large supply orders worldwide.

“ T h e s e seven pro-jects alone required 77 large vibrat-ing screens. Th e group’s largest machine supplied to date is a 4 x 11 m (20 000 tph) vibrating screen,” De Wet points out.

While the local subsidiary has spent the past two years – it was officially estab-lished in 2009 – familiarising the mining sector with its services and equipment, it already has a small installation base.

The company recently replaced two scalping screens that had been installed and successfully operating at a Namibian mine since 1975. “While this alone is proof

of the Haver screen’s extreme durabil-ity, the replacement was essentially just a product upgrade, incorporating the latest technology,” Hoppe notes.

Cement producer LaFarge has had a sim-ilar experience at its Lichtenburg opera-tion, where three of the company’s 4-bear-ing eccentric-driven vibrating screens remain in operation. They were also in-stalled in the mid-1970s.

“For the immediate future, our focus is to grow our African installation base and, more importantly, provide after-sales service and machine maintenance. Ulti-mately, we would like to establish a fully staffed and equipped service centre, capa-ble of replacing entire machines, similar

to that of our Brazil sister company,” Hoppe outlines.

De Wet continues: “Entering a new mar-ket is a demanding exercise and relatively

slow process, but we have already had our first sup-ply order in South

Africa.”The company will sup-

ply two ‘new generation’ large vibrating screens (1 800 x 6 000 mm) for a diamond application situated along the Orange River. To suit the customer’s processing needs, the screens have been designed with three decks.

As further evidence of the entire group’s screening capabilities, global mining house Vale last year awarded the Haver screening group with its 2011 ‘best screen-ing’ award.


One of the largest components of Metso’s business, both glob-ally and locally, is the supply of large-scale grinding and crush-

ing equipment to the mining industry.Th e nature of the business requires an

extensive network of foundries – support structures and comminution wear solutions for the group – manufacturing various com-ponents and castings for the company’s ex-tensive product lines.

Situated in the remote Isithebe township, half way between Durban and Richards Bay, Metso’s South African foundry, Isithebe, was fi rst founded in 1978 (under diff erent owner-ship) and forms an integral part of the local company’s crushing and grinding business.


ISITHEBE FOUNDRY FULLY FITTED

The magic metallic lining

Minerals processing equipment specialist Metso’s local foundry Isithebe, one of

six across the globe, has introduced the manufacture of metallic mill linings to its

facility – aimed at driving the company’s local and African business. A visit to the

foundry was an eye-opener, writes Laura Cornish.

“Up until recently, our core function has primarily been the manufacture of large manganese crusher wear parts for the Met-so crushing business – to both the African and Australian markets,” explains Cameron Mather, Isithebe foundry’s general manager.

Considering Metso’s signifi cant investment into its local foundry over the recent years, equipping the foundry largely with new and additional equipment, it was decided last year to expand the company’s service and manufacturing capability.

“Th e result of a 2011 newborn strategy is the manufacture of metallic mill lining products in manganese steel, low-alloy steel and high chromium iron – for AG, SAG and ball mills. Unlike any other foundry-manufactured

Isithebe specs

• Land area: 55 950 m²• Production area: 19 300 m²• ICT programme: SAP GPS, also high-fidelity simulation, solidifications simulation by Magma Soft

• Delivery lead time: six weeks• On time delivery: 95%• Smelting: 12 t electric arc furnace and four 1.5 MW electric furnaces

• Quality control: ISO9001:2008 and SANS 407:2008 (also chemical analysis, hardness tests, visual surface quality, ultrasonic tests, impact resistance, metallography, dimensions, strict temperature control on heat treatment ovens)

• The cooling process: Quenching in water, oil or forced air

Interior lining of a mill



THE FOUNDRIES (70 000 TPA TOTAL CAPACITY)Metso’s own foundries producing high chromium white iron, chrome-molybdenum steel and high chrome martensitic steels.

Foundry Annual capacity

Maximum cast capacity

Melting process

Moulding process

Sorocaba (Brazil) 30 000 t 30 t EAF Mechanised/mechanical

Tampere (Finland) 12 000 t 45 t EAF/VOD Mechanised/mechanical

Isithebe (South Africa) 12 000 t 12 t EAF Manual

Slaverna (Czech Republic) 13 000 t 8 t EAF/IND Manual

Ahmedabad (India) 7 000 t 5 t Induction Manual

The history of Isithebe

1979: Following a joint venture between Lennings Holdings (South Africa), Vickers (United Kingdom) and Vickers (Australia), Lennings Manganese was founded in Isithebe, KwaZulu-Natal.1985: Rexnord certified Lennings Manganese as a supplier of manganese steel castings. Lennings was officially recognised as a worldwide source for manganese parts to the Nordberg Group.1991: Scaw Metals took control of Lennings foundry.1998: Nordberg took control of the Lennings manganese facility.2001: Nordberg Lennings became part of Metso Minerals as Metso Minerals Isithebe plant.

It also providers HIV/Aids counselling and guidance – its workforce, and the entire area, has a high level of HIV infection.

Metso’s customer model (supplied by Farnworth)1. Supply and service agreements – focus on core business• pay per kilowatt-hour or tonne. Service

where applicable• improved capital utilisation/cash fl ow• utilise Metso maintenance crew.2. Increased availability – revenue• liner parts in balanced life cycles • predictable maintenance stops • quick installation/changeouts.3. Potential capacity increase – revenue• lining optimised in relation to operating

conditions/objectives4. Reduced lining costs• long life from application unique design

and materials.5. Improved environment/safety with rubber and poly-met linings• low weight components reducing accidents

risks• reduced noise levels.

product, the mill linings will not only be manufactured for Metso’s product range, but will be sold to the industry for any mill in operation.

Metso has been manufacturing rubber mill linings for decades, which is undertaken at its factory in Vereeniging.

“Th ere are very specifi c strategic reasons for adding this product to our foundry manu-facturing off er,” says Dennis Farnworth, Metso’s rubber and synthetic wears regional sales manager.

“Primarily because mining houses today require larger mills to increase their produc-tion volumes, even more so for low-grade ores. Th is means that the correct liner de-sign and material selection off er are ex-tremely important to ensure an improved and optimum grinding performance.

Th e ideal situation for Metso is having the ability to off er our clients the entire lining range. Sometimes rubber is the best solution, sometimes poly-met or steel, and sometimes even a combination of these.”

Metallic-lined mills also off er:• improved grinding performance• increased wear life• reduced downtime for replacement• improved ergonomic conditions during

installation• reduced liner breakage risk and reduced

grinding media consumption.“With an annual capacity of 12 000 t, the in-tention is to allocate 8 000 tpa to the crusher lining business and the remaining 4 000 tpa to the metallic lining business as it takes off ,” Mather continues.

Th e company will even consider a mecha-nised manufacturing stream once the prod-uct volume warrants it.

Th is new business avenue will form an inte-gral part of Metso’s overall growth strategy, to triple its business in Africa in the next six years.

“Th anks to the addition of metallic mill lin-ers, we are also now able to off er our clients the full comprehensive range of lining prod-ucts, which in many cases is a combination of both rubber and metallic (poly-met). And because each lining design is customised to each client and their processing needs, we are the ultimate solutions and product provider,” Farnworth believes.

Th e immediate success of the foundry’s new product line is the group’s close working

global network and standardised global best practice methods, fi rst implemented in 2005. “We are able to share best practices and tech-nologies across our globe of facilities. Th is includes material research and development,

benchmarking and reporting systems, global compliance according to

Metso specifi cations and controls, and, ultimately,

the promotion of a ‘one quality’ concept off ering

customers reliable and consistent wear part performance,” Mather outlines.

Because metallic lining applications can vary substantially from rubber linings, Isithebe is working closely with its Brazilian sister foundry, which already has extensive experi-ence in metallic mill lining manufacturing. It is currently is the major supplier of metallic mill liners to the South American market.

Committed to the environment and its workforceTh e Metso group is also committed to reduc-ing its environmental footprint and practis-ing energy effi ciency, and recently introduced its Metso Energy Effi ciency Programme.

“Th e initiative aims to reduce the entire global group’s energy consumption by 15% by 2015 and 20% by 2020. Th e Isithebe foundry will contribute towards these tar-gets and is reviewing all its manufacturing lines and components,” Mather notes.

Th is includes purchasing a new air com-pressor, incorporating new furnace linings to better retain heat, introducing energy effi cient motors and lighting, and even looking at technologies to convert its off -heat (generated from the foundry process) into energy.

Th e foundry, which thanks to Metso is a vital local business component, employs 377 employees – the majority sourced di-rectly from the township. Among just a few major industrial players in the area, Metso is contributing substantially to the local community, providing social upliftment and employment.



Bulk materials handling equip-ment manufacturer Osborn first started handling sales and mar-keting in sub-Saharan Africa for

its sister company Breaker Technology (BTI) – which is also a member of the Astec Industries Group of companies – in 2002. Since then, Osborn has achieved substan-tial growth of BTI’s business in the region. In addition to hydraulic breakers, BTI’s un-derground equipment range also includes underground utility vehicles, mobile rock breakers, stationary and portable rock breaker systems and mobile scalers.

Booyse says BTI equipment is highly sought-after, primarily because it is well suited to even the most arduous under-ground operating conditions, including South Africa’s gold mines. “Recent finite element analysis undertaken by BTI has further enhanced its features and perfor-mance. The simple construction of the rock breakers ensures reliability and low main-tenance. Simplicity of design is, in fact, a key element of the BTI breaker system,”

BTI ROCK BREAKERS

A decade of demandIt has been 10 years since Osborn added equipment from Canadian hydraulic

breaker specialist BTI to its underground offering. Demand for the robust range

has increased steadily ever since, says Casper Booyse, product sales manager for

Osborn’s BTI equipment.

What and where

The BTI BX and BXR range of rock breakers comprise 14 models, from 550 to 21 500 joules energy class, with most also available in box-style configurations.

BTI’s TM series of mobile rock breakers is a heavy-duty, low profile vehicle specifically designed for breaking oversize materials in underground applications.

The BTI scalers and rock breakers are employed underground once blasting has been completed. Scaling is the removal of insecure material from the back, sidewalls and face. Making the drift or tunnel safe for the next operation is the main purpose of scaling.

Booyse notes. “The breaker’s control valve also features a simple design to minimise cavitation, thereby reducing hydraulic com-ponent wear and increasing the efficiency and lifespan,” he adds.

Another noteworthy feature of the break-er system is its power-to-weight ratio. “This offers significant benefits to custom-ers, since larger, more powerful hammers can be mounted on smaller excavators or boom systems, resulting in reduced overall cost to the end user.”

Standard features on all models in-clude a nitrogen cushion chamber designed to absorb piston re-coil and recycle the energy to increase the output energy on the next blow, dual re-tainer pins to ensure posi-tive tool alignment and easy tool replacement; short tie rods that utilise protected threads to yield long life and high reliability, and a pro-tected lubrication point.

Booyse says that mobile and fixed hy-draulic rock breakers are increasingly being used for reducing oversize material under-ground, rather than secondary blasting, which was once the norm.

“The use of hydraulic rock breakers is a growing trend as more mines recognise the advantages, both in terms of efficiency, safety and increased production,” he com-ments. “BTI’s rock breaker systems mini-mise disruptive, costly and unsafe blast-ing, providing an efficient, safer alterna-tive. Rock breakers provide for selective breaking, as opposed to the indiscriminate

nature of blasting. This can allow for improved material grades to be

mined, which brings higher s a l e s revenue.”


T r totec.co.zwww.multotec.com

the right ingredients

for the perfect mix

Multotec, a leading mineral process solutions provider to the mining and mineral benefi ciation industries, partners with customers for perfect equilibrium between the life of equipment and process effectiveness in every individual customer application.

Our value-added products and extensive application knowledge have established our global reputation for providing optimum technical solutions and the highest levels of support through consulting services and fi eld service teams.

Indulge yourself in the Multotec experience 8

ROBOTIC CRUSHING

Jaws of steelInternational construction and crushing specialist Husqvarna has not only

enhanced the usefulness and flexibility of its robotic crushers, but has also

provided a whole new range of options for the industries they serve.

W ith the widest jaw open-ings on the market, the new DCR 300 and DCR 100 robotic crushers take Husq-

varna’s robots to a whole new level. With a crushing force of 45 and 34 t respec-tively, Husqvarna crushers’ deep and wide jaw openings provide the capacity to get through walls of 430 and 425 mm.

Both the DCR 300 and the DCR 100 are typical Husqvarna products with well thought through, robust designs and built-in innovative solutions. Both can be equipped with crushing tips in the middle of the crushers, making for even more ef-fective grinding. The metal cutters at the back of the jaw make it possible to cut thicker rebar.

The Husqvarna DCR 300 fits the Husq-varna DXR 310 and Husqvarna DXR 250 robots. With a robust design, the DCR 300 has a high power-to-weight ratio and

weighs in at 274 kg (includ-ing the adapter plate and

hoses). It has a depth of 195 mm and a maxi-

mum jaw opening of 430 mm.

The DCR 100 is the

s m a l l e r of the

two new c r u s h -ers, but c o m e s

w i t h two different jaw open-ing settings at 320 and

425 mm. This gives it an ever-wider range of use. It is compatible with the Husqvarna DXR 140 robot. The DCR 100 weighs 192 kg (including the adapter plate and hoses) and has a depth of 185 mm.

The crushers are easily serviced – the tips of the DCR 300 are detachable, for example.

Pumps and mixers


hundreds of pumps across multiple pro-jects in South Africa and Mozambique.”

Based on its coal-related project work, FLSmidth has established a small service centre in the country’s Tete province, pri-marily to service the coal sector.

“The challenge is to keep the momentum going, which we are absolutely dedicated to doing considering the installations we now have in that country. We have tenders out on various new and expansion projects as well, and hopefully will continue our suc-cess trend in the country should these pro-jects materialise for us.”

Moralee continues: “The coal sector is and will always remain an extremely im-portant industry for FLSmidth Krebs, but we are expanding our horizons and are keen on growing extensively in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mining sectors.”

In addition to retaining its close work-ing relationship with Kitwe, Zambia-based Liquid Rock Process Solutions, which serves as the group’s country representa-tive, the FLSmidth group is also committed to establishing a service centre in Zambia, aimed at providing the country with all of the products and services across the FLS-midth portfolio, including pumps.

The company’s South African assembly facility has been equally busy. “We have

ONE STEP AT A TIME

Pumping up market shareThe South African pump industry is highly competitive, but robust, solid

performing pumps that deliver will guarantee a continually growing market

share, writes Laura Cornish.

The UMD’s hydraulically improved design:

• minimises turbulence inside the volute• increases the wear life of the wet end components

• reduces downtime• increases slurry efficiency• maintains consistent pressure to hydrocyclones

• includes a wide range of pump sizes that can handle flows from 1900 to 15 000 m³/ hour

LEFT Krebs millMAX UMD (28 x 26) thiat is installed in a copper plant in

South America

Local pumps and valves manufac-turer FLSmidth Krebs, a subsidiary of the global FLSmidth brand, may be small compared to some of its

peers, but it continues to pursue an aggres-sive growth strategy aimed at increasing its market share in Africa, says Brad Moralee, FLSmidth Krebs general manager.

While the company’s aspirations may require long-term vision, it is well on its way, especially considering the recent suc-cesses on major projects it has tendered on, which include involvement in a local gold project.

“Over the past four years, we have supplied, installed and commissioned

Pumps and mixers

OOOOOOOnnnneeee SSSSooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrccccccccccccccccccccccccceeeeeee

Many SolutionsFLSmidth is your One Source for the world’s largest installed base of original equipment for the Minerals Processing industry. For testing, design, engineering, crushing, grinding, classifying,thickening, clarifying, filtering, slurry handling, flotation, mine shaft systems, pyroprocessing, material handling and automation, FLSmidth offers you a complete line of equipment with proven reliability and enhanced performance.

For further information please contact us at:

One Source

Pumps and mixers

“We have supplied, installed and commissioned hundreds of pumps across multiple projects in South Africa and Mozambique.” Brad Moralee, FLSmidth Krebs’

general manager

ABOVE A 14 x 12 Krebs slurryMAX pump

more than doubled the size of our current premises, from 4 000 to 10 700 m² to cater to our growing business.”

A larger facility will enable FLSmidth Krebs to improve its overall efficien-cy and productivity by increasing its assembly rate.

The UMD – a solid performerThe millMAX UMD is the latest addition to the Krebs millMAX family. It was intro-duced to the market just over a year ago

and is already performing well, with installations in South America, North America and Australia. Orders have been received for numerous future installations into mining sectors around the world.

The UMD design combines the patented millMAX suction side seal-ing technology with customer feed-back and computational fluid dynamic research. According to Moralee, it out-performs the competition in both

power consumption and wear life, lasting longer than any other mill discharge pump.

“We not only have designs for the largest UMD in the range, but now have them in production as well,” Moralee notes.

Pumps and mixers

EIRICH mixers simplify the metallurgical process by combining mixing and granulation. Our intensive mixers are specifi cally designed to produce predictable and reproducible grain sizes, saving you time and money, ensuring you get a high quality end-result.

The metallurgical process with EIRICH mixers1.

VS

2. The traditional metallurgical process

Increased green strength of pellets with lower fl ow of returns

Reduced use of binding agents

High mixture homogeneity and increased moisture distribution

Good agglomeration leads to less dust, increased permeability and reduced coke consumption

Fine ores

Stable agglomeration and mixture homogeneity with the use of organic binders

Optimal homogenisation of dust or slurry mixtures

Preparation of mixtures for different thermal processes

Drying and granulating of slurries containing heavy metals

Effectiveness

Effi ciency

Birkenmayer is the sole manufacturer and supplier of EIRICH mixers in S.A.

The R28 intensive mixer, supplied and supported in South Africa by industrial process company, Birkenmayer, fea-tures a throughput rate of 650 tph. This capacity is a result of high-tech designs that ensure the intensive mixing ef-

fect during operation. Louis Eksteen, business development man-ager at Birkenmayer explains: “Maximum energy is directed into the mix by a set of rotating mixing tools and a rotating pan. These components efficiently separate the transportation process from the high-speed mixing, making the R28 ideal for use in various ap-plications ranging from ore processing and cement mixing, to rub-ber compounds and emulsions that require true homogenisation.”

The intensive mixing principle is also employed to minimise wear and tear for lower maintenance and more economical operation.

Birkenmayer will analyse and design mixing processes for its cli-ents to determine optimal tilt angles, mixing speeds and durations, as well as other aspects which aff ect fi nal mix quality. Th e result is a complete mixing solution that includes the mixer’s feeding systems, measurement devices and other process-related components.

MEGA MIXING

Intensive mixing technology company Eirich

has developed and tested the new R28

intensive mixer to capacities of 5 500 ℓ, creating

a highly versatile, large-scale mixing solution.

ABOVE The new R28 intensive mixer features a load capacity of an incredible 5 500 ℓ – an industry fi rst for true homogenisation

South Africa gets intensive

Pumps and mixers

AMEC Minproc IFCAQUADAM 24Bell Equipment 33Birkenmeyer 50BVI Consulting 35DRA Mineral Projects 8DRA Mining OFCDRC Related Events 25Electra Mining 2

Filtaquip SA 5FLSmidth Krebs 49HATCH OBCHPE (High Power Equipment Africa) 37Ikwezi Mining 17Johnson Crane Hire 31K'enyuka 39Loesche SA 40M&J Engineering 30

MBE Minerals 11Mixtec 51Morris Crane 34Multotec Group 47Roymec Technologies 9SGS 51SM Enviro 4SRK Consulting Engineers 27Stefanutti Stocks Mining 18Trollope Mining Services 41

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

FLAGSHIP PROJECTS

Pumping out flagship productsWeir Minerals Africa has received a substantial order for the supply of its cyclones and pumps

to the Kwale mineral sands project in Kenya, Base Resources’ fl agship project. To date, this is

one of the company’s largest orders in Africa for the supply of Cavex cyclines.

This is also the first time that Weir Minerals Africa will supply Li-natex rubber liners in the Cavex technology. Both Cavex clusters

include the supply of Isogate valves with Linatex rubber linings.

This order was swiftly followed by a sec-ond contract from the project calling for the supply of 55 pumps including tailings pumps, cyclone feed pumps, plant and sump pumps — one of the largest orders across the product range that Weir Miner-als Africa has received out of East Africa.

The Kwale project is located 10 km inland from the Kenyan coast and 50 km south of Mombasa. Ore mining and production are scheduled to commence in August 2013 with a 13-year mine life that will produce ilmenite, rutile and zircon. The order will be delivered in October this year in good

time for the project’s 2013 startup. Weir Minerals Africa’s branch in East Africa will provide product support, and commission the equipment alongside the Kwale team. The order comprises one cluster of twelve 500CVX cyclones and a second cluster of eight 650CVX cyclones, as well as a vari-ety of 24 additional cyclones and stackers ranging in size from 100CVX to 650CVX. The 55 pumps will be delivered between December 2012 and February 2013.

“Weir Minerals Africa is proud to have been selected to supply this extensive range of cyclone and pump products,” says Rui Gomes, slurry pumps product manager at Weir Minerals Africa.

“This significant pump order is being sup-plied from our complete range of Warman AH pumps, the world standard for the most difficult slurry applications. The order

We offer: • Robust and ef cient agitators for all industries• The latest impeller designs for the best

process results• Innovative research and design to tailor our mixers to

your requirements• Global backup and support services for all

mixer brands• World-class application experience with installations

across the globe

Mixtec supplies the world with some of the most advanced and comprehensive uid mixing technology that is available today. Its ability to solve mixing problems with the latest technology and expertise is solely due to its commitment to mixing research and development.Whether your requirements are for simple blending or solids suspension to the more exacting standards of multiple complex reactions, Mixtec has the capability and experience to suit your needs, today and in the future.

Address: 59 Fleming Road, Meadowdale, Germiston

Postal: PO Box 8220, Edenglen, 1613Phone: +27 (0)11 974 7161

Fax: +27 (0)11 974 7167Website: www.mixtec.com

Fluid mixing technology, worlds best practice

includes 450MCR and 550MCR units – two of the biggest sizes in this range, signaling major acceptance of the MCR pump range in East Africa.”

ABOVE Warman AH 14 12 pumps prior to inspection at the quality verifi cation station

at the Alrode facility

Consulting EPCM Services Technologies Operations Support

Consultants, designers, engineers and project managersdelivering innovative solutions for surface and

underground mines and plants - including all studiesand technical support through to full EPCM projects.

www.hatch.co.za+27 (0)11 239 5300

Delivering projectsfrom concept to commissioning

Inside Mining August 2012

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Transcript of Inside Mining August 2012