JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) on Monday met with mining companies that would be affected by a safety directive relating to mechanised bord-and-pillar mining methods in the North West province.

Mines using mechanised bord-and-pillar mines in province were instructed on Friday to reduce bord widths in their shafts from 10 m to 6 m.

The directive also stated that extraction rations should be limited to 75%, prominent geological features should be supported by pillars, boxing of roadways must be towards one direction, and that the orientation of leads and lags between headings must almost be aligned for effective ventilation.

The safety order would impact on mines owned by Aquarius Platinum, Anglo Platinum and Xstrata.

Xstrata spokesperson Songezo Zibi described the meeting with the DMR as positive, and said that it was agreed that all mines affected by the order would make individual presentations to the Inspectorate.

"Mining operations will continue as planned in the meantime," he said in an emailed statement.

The directive was issued after five workers were killed in a fall-of-ground accident at the Marikana mine and seeks to prevent rockfalls and rockbursts in metalliferious mines.

The directive would affect Aquarius' Kroondal and Marikana mines, which are 50:50 joint-venture operations with the world's largest platinum producer, Anglo Platinum.

Anglo Platinum's wholly-owned Bathopele mine would also be affected by the directive, investor relations manager Anna Mulholland told Mining Weekly Online.

"We are currently assessing the impact and engaging with the Department of Mineral Resources on the issue, but safety has to come first in everything we do," she said earlier on Monday.

Aquarius, which formally appealed against the directive, said that ruling would have a "detrimental" economic effect on chromite and platinum mines that use the bord-and-pillar mining method.

The mines using these mining methods reportedly produced about 9% of South Africa's platinum supply.

The National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said that the union fully supported the inspector of mines' decision.

"We believe that the directive will indeed enhance safety at Aquarius. The problems that often leads to rockfalls and ground falls are mostly due to lack of proper support in the mines," he stated.

ASX-, JSE-, and LSE-listed Aquarius' share price took a beating on the news, falling by as much as 23% in Australia, 25% in Johannesburg and 17% in London.

Its Kroondal mine produced 422 078 platinum group metals (PGMs) ounces in 2009, and represented 46% of its attributable production in the year. The Marikana operation, just east of Kroondal, produced 157 937 PGM ounces, which accounted for 17% of the midtier miner's production.

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