Wesizwe Platinum’s Bakubung mine, in the North West, remains on track to complete shaft sinking in October, after which commissioning will start.

The main shaft is currently 25 m away from bottom level, while the ventilation shaft is 45 m away from bottom level. Both shafts are expected to reach the bottom and end of sink within the next three months.

The company notes that the main shaft stripping and commissioning is now expected to start in November, ahead of the initial scheduled start of commissioning during the first quarter of next year.

Wesizwe is currently focused on connecting the main and ventilation shaft on Level 77, with 30 m of development to holing still to be done.

The holing between the ventilation and main shafts will be completed at the end of this month.

Further, the mine’s bulk sampling programme is well under way and on track to be completed in September.

“We are currently busy with adjudication for the placement of an order on the engineering, procurement and construction management for the process plant,” explains Wesizwe projects executive Jacob Mothomogolo. He adds that Wesizwe plans to place an order in September and prepare for front-end engineering on order of long lead items. The process plant commissioning is planned for the third quarter of 2019.

The overall requirements of the mine are being met through the team’s preparing for main shaft equipping and commissioning. The mine’s operational readiness programme strategy and plan have been defined and implementation has been initiated.

The preparations for start of shaft equipping are progressing well, with commissioning of the jigging shed, the first batch of steel work delivered, and 11 km of shaft cable delivered. The surface permanent stores and rail link to the jigging shed are also being installed.

The services projects for power and water supply are also progressing, with the first 1.75-million litres a day of water supplied to the mine expected at the end of 2015. The Phase 2 power commissioning date is the second quarter of 2016, which will give installed capacity of 60 MVA – the full requirement for mining and processing through life-of-mine.

Meanwhile, in April, the mine suffered its second fatality when a contractor working as a stage hand on the main shaft was fatally injured while working on the sinking stage as he fell about 15 m to the shaft bottom.

As a result, the mine experienced lost time owing to a Section 54 stoppage. This provision permits a safety inspector, mandated by the Department of Mineral Resources, to issue an instruction halting or suspending mining operations or practices, should the inspector believe that there is an occurrence, practice or condition at a mine that endangers or might endanger a person’s health or safety.

The mine suffered its first fatality in October last year, when a contractor employed as a jumbo operator was fatally injured during the shaft sinking process in the main shaft.

The outcome of the mine’s latest fatality resulted in an inquiry, as well as investigations to review the safety, health and environmental (SHE) management system and the implementation of plans. The SHE and operations management structure was reviewed for risk assessments and the standard operating procedures (SOPs) are being reviewed, with SOP retraining also conducted.

The majority of the workforce currently on site are contractors, with the total number of such personnel fluctuating from 110 to 800, although this is expected to increase when Phase 2 surface infrastructure construction starts towards the end of 2015.

Meanwhile, labour-related and environmental geotechnical challenges also led to time lost on the project. The unexpected weak ground in the footwall of the upper group two reef on 77L through the shafts meant that extra support had to be installed in excavations, leading to slow progress on development.

“The last month saw progressing through better ground and we are now seeing a slight improvement in development rates,” notes Mothomogolo.

“The project is well under way and the current continuous-improvement exercises . . . aim to further save time and capital costs . . . The aim is also to continue reviewing the designs to increase capacity and flexibility to ensure optimal operability of the mine,” he concludes.