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Completion of Mindola shaft expected in 2019

27th January 2017

By: Nadine James

Features Deputy Editor

     

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The Mindola Deeps shaft sinking project in Kitwe, Zambia, should be completed by 2019, marking the first time that a 2 000 m shaft will be raisedrilled, says mining contractor Redpath Mining.

The project, which is owned by diversified mining and marketing company Glencore’s Zambian copper mining unit, Mopani Copper Mines, comprises two phases, explains Redpath Mining Africa raiseboring manager Johan Davel.

The first phase entails the sinking, raiseboring, equipping and commissioning of a 2 000-m-deep, 6.1-m-diameter shaft, while the second phase is to develop about 8 000 m of primary access. Redpath was awarded the contract towards the end of 2012.

“At Mindola Deeps, we are raisedrilling a vertical shaft in four lifts of about 500 m each. We have now completed two lifts and are busy with the third.”

Davel explains that the shaft will be constructed using raiseboring and directional drilling technology, with a portion from the surface involving a conventional blind sink.

A large shaft collar and bulk cold-air intake duct will also be part of the construction works. The collar and cold-air duct have been constructed from a boxcut of about 16 000 m3 from the surface to a depth of 18 m. The shaft has been blind-sunk and concrete-lined to a depth of about 85 m below the collar elevation. The shaft furnishing will comprise bunton sets at 6 m intervals, with 12 m steel guides. The permanent shaft configuration includes two hoisting compartments and a single man and/or materials compartment.

The bulk of the 10 000 m access development is to establish a decline system from the existing 5 220-foot level to the bottom of the new shaft, but the development will also comprise equipping the new shaft with a crusher station, clear- water dams, silos and associated feed conveyors on the 6 100-foot level.

The Mindola Deeps project started with site establishment in July 2013 and the first underground blast was initiated on November 25, 2013. The project, Redpath’s first in Zambia, comprises a team of 280 Zambians and 68 expatriates. Davel remarks that, despite ground conditions being more challenging than expected and waste removal constraints, the project’s development targets have been consistently met.

He notes that, in terms of safety, the drilling team has achieved an impressive 1 193 lost-time injury-free days. The verticality of the shaft was one of the high focus areas. “The drilling team performed exceptionally, having established a maximum deviation of 67 mm over a distance of 1 470 m.”

Mining Indaba
Redpath Africa marketing and business infrastructure manager Davlin Richardson explains that Redpath will exhibit at the 2017 Investing in African Mining Indaba, to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 6 to 9.

He explains: “The Mining Indaba is the best platform to market our business to a global audience while connecting with companies on a local level. Our theme for the 2017 event focuses on four pillars – safety, mechanisation, innovation and performance.”

Stand 421 will display four scale models representing each pillar and depict Redpath projects and machinery. Richardson notes that the models are of gold mining company Harmony Gold’s Phakisa Number 3 vent shaft, in the Free State, which Redpath rehabilitated by 2013; the first-of-its kind sand tunnel development at UK-based Gem Diamonds’ recommissioned Ghaghoo diamond mine, in Botswana; the Redbore 50 raisedrill, complete with the Redtrax Transporter, and the Redbore 100 raisedrill – the most powerful and largest-capacity proven raisedrilling system ever manufactured.

Other Projects
Richardson notes that the company has managed to secure several projects on the African continent, despite the stagnation of the mining industry.

“Our current local projects include raisedrilling work at Sasol’s Impumelelo mine [near Secunda]; capital development work at Northam Platinum’s Zondereinde mine, in Limpopo; and the start of work at South African mining company Platinum Group Metals’ Maseve platinum mine, near Rustenburg, also in the North West.”

Redpath is also working on three separate projects at Glencore’s Mopani mine, in Zambia. Besides Mindola, the other raisedrilling project at the Synclinorium vent shaft, which includes drilling two sections, should be completed within the next few months.

The company is also involved in a joint venture project with Zambian-owned company Rig Resources for the development and longhole drilling and stoping work at Mopani’s Central shaft and Mufulira mine, Richardson concludes.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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