Engineering and construction major Murray & Roberts will highlight its rebranded operating platforms at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre and run from February 9 to 12.

Mining contracting company and Murray & Roberts Group subsidiary Murray & Roberts Cementation business development director Allan Widlake tells Mining Weekly that Murray & Roberts’ stand at the indaba will comprise all four of the group’s newly rebranded platforms, namely Oil & Gas, Underground Mining, Energy & Industrial as well as Infrastructure & Building.

Widlake explains that the renaming of the platforms is part of the company’s initiative to reposition Murray & Roberts and its brand in the minds of its stakeholders and for the platform names to more accurately describe the target market sectors in which the group operates.

The platforms previously traded under different names – the Oil & Gas unit was known as Construction Australia Oil & Gas & Minerals, the Underground Mining unit as Construction Global Underground Mining and Energy &Industrial as Engineering Africa, while the Infrastructure & Building unit was previously called Construction Africa& Middle East.

Widlake says the old names often caused confusion among industry stakeholders, “as there was uncertainty about what each unit’s core competences and specific service offerings were”.

Therefore, in July 2014, Murray & Roberts’ executive management decided to shorten the names of the platforms to emphasise the role of each unit.

Operational Overview
Also in July, Murray & Roberts Cementation secured a contract to help develop diamond major De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine expansion project, in Limpopo.

The contract requires Murray & Roberts Cementation to develop the Venetia underground mine, including the sinking, equipping and commissioning of a decline shaft and two vertical shafts; horizontal-tunnel development to provide access to the kimberlite pipe, which is yet to be established; and developing the associated ventilation, ground- and water-handling infrastructure.

The company’s local project team will be complemented with project management and operational capacity from its Cementation mining sister companies in Australia and Canada.

The Canadian shaft-sinking method will be used to sink the vertical shafts, with Murray & Roberts Canadian subsidiary Cementation Canada providing specialist training for the shaft-sinking crews.

“The more advanced Canadian shaft-sinking model is designed for all activities in the shaft-sinking production cycle to be undertaken in line,” says Widlake, adding that, despite the probability of this method delivering good sinking rates, the primary drive in transitioning to this method is to improve safety, as no concurrent shaft-sinking activities are required.

The Venetia diamond mine is currently South Africa’ s largest diamond producer, contributing 40% of the country’s yearly diamond production.

De Beers expects to invest about R20-billion in the Venetia underground expansion project to extend the life-of-mine to beyond 2040, with the full conversion from an openpit to an underground operation expected to be completed by 2021.
Meanwhile, Widlake tells Mining Weekly that several of Murray & Roberts Cementation’s existing contracts were recently extended.

“In November 2014, we received a three-year contract extension for JSE-listed platinum mining company Northam Platinum’s fully mechanised underground Booysendal platinum mine, in Limpopo,” he says.

The contract involves the steady-state production and deepening of mining infrastructure to maintain production output.

Widlake also highlights that Murray & Roberts Cementation was awarded a two-year extension in September to develop copper producer Lubambe Copper Mines’ fully mechanised mining project in the Zambian Copperbelt, near the town of Chililabombwe.

The current contract involves all horizontal and ramp development work using trackless high-speed technology in ramps one to five.

Murray & Roberts Cementation was also requested to undertake the vertical development of return airways, service raises and silos.

Maintenance work on the surface infrastructure, which Murray & Roberts Cementation provided for the first phase of the contract from January 2011 to January 2014, will continue for the duration of the contract.

Murray & Roberts Cementation will also continue to develop the infrastructure for two conveyor belt systems and will supply and install all the temporary reticula-tion necessary for the development works.

The company will also install all temporary ven- tilation fans and ducting at the Lubambe mine.

Murray & Roberts Cementation was awarded a two-year mine development contract for diversified miner BHP Billiton’s Wessels underground manganese mine, near the town of Hotazel, in the Northern Cape.

Additionally, the company will start contract mining in the first quarter of 2015 at manganese miner Kalagadi Manganese’s underground mine, also near Hotazel.

African Expansion Plan

Widlake tells Mining Weekly that about 40% of Murray & Roberts Cementation’s order book comprises Africa-based projects and that the company is receiving an increasing number of enquiries about project work in Africa.

“We are focused on expanding our footprint in Africa and we believe the company is well placed to use our presence in Accra, Ghana, to take advantage of West African mining opportunities.”

Widlake adds that Murray & Roberts Cementation’s Kitwe office, in Zambia, is providing the company with a launch pad for Southern and Central African projects, particularly to support the growth of the mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo.