The implementation of Section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act of South Africa is having a considerably negative affect on South African mineral production levels.

Section 54 states that a mine safety inspectorate may close part of a mine, or an entire mine, should it believe that any particular occurrence or condition could endanger the health and safety of any individual on the mine.

Major domestic platinum producers have recorded substantial lost pro- duction resulting from mine or shaft closures through the execution of Section 54 in the past few years.

Platinum major Lonmin reports that Section 54 shutdowns resulted in the loss of 132 000 t during the third quarter of 2011 at its K3 and E1 shafts, after two fatalities in April that year.

Meanwhile, platinum producer Impala Platinum lost about 8 000 oz of platinum production owing to Section 54 notices in the first quarter of last year, with a similar amount lost in October 2010 as a result of a significant number of high-impact Section 54 suspension notices being issued.

The company reports that it is engaging with the Department of Mineral Resources and the inspectorate to gain clarity regarding its concerns, and formulate an appropriate way forward for both parties to reduce the impact on future production.

Further, Aquarius Platinum reports that attributable production at its Marikana operation fell by 22% to 52 962 platinum-group metal ounces in the 2011 financial year as a result of two weeks of lost underground production owing to a Section 54 suspension notice.

Software solutions developer Mineware platinum manager Ken Ansell points out that, while the South African mining industry is one of the most safety conscious sectors in the country, overregulation may lead to its demise.

“The continued use of Section 54 notices that result in the complete shut- down of a mine is extremely detrimental to the industry,” he asserts.

Mineware offers safety and health management software packages for mining operations, which are aimed at preventing lost production as a result of forced stoppages.

Ansell says the company has been involved in a number of platinum ope- rations where stringent safety mechanisms and regulatory systems have been required.

The company is currently developing an incident management system (IMS) that will monitor every aspect involved in the reporting of incidents to reduce the number of accidents and prevent lost production.

“The IMS will notify the user should there be overdue safety inspections on the mine and produce risk ratings for each workplace area. This allows the producer to identify high-risk areas on the mine and respond accordingly,” he says.

In addition, if a safety inspection does not meet the standard criteria, the IMS will generate an incident report, which it will address with the shift super- visor and mine manager.

The IMS system is being tested at a working platinum operation and 266 safety inspection failures have been reported since August last year.

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