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Junior miner’s platinum mine progressing well

27th June 2014

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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JSE-listed junior platinum-group metals mining company Wesizwe Platinum last month cut the first level of the ventilation shaft at its North West-based Bakubung platinum mine. The shaft is about 690 m below the shaft level and 45 m above the first intersection of the region’s platinum-rich Merensky reef.

Wesizwe projects executive Jacob Mothomogolo said during a media site visit to the company’s 420 000-t-a-year Bakubung platinum mine that the horizontal develop- ment of the ventilation shaft would soon bring it to the same level as the main shaft.

The drilling of the rock engineering-modelled support had also been initiated with a view to bolster any intersected geological fault in the area into which the station would be cut.

Mothomogolo added that the latest milestone was one of several targets achieved this year so far, with progress made in terms of sinking the main and ventilation shafts, precommissioning the ventilation shaft winder and overall project sinking.

“At the end of April, the main shaft had reached a depth of 520 m and the project had sunk over 1 200 m in total,” he noted.

Project Development

Wesizwe has made good progress on the development of its main shaft, and is now forecasting that the completion date for the 970 m shaft will be October 15, 2015 – 85 days ahead of the initial completion date of January 16, 2016.

Similarly, the ventilation shaft is expected to reach its final depth of 880 m by November 2016, which will bring shaft completion 72 days ahead of schedule.

“Until the end of the year, the focus of Wesizwe’s project development work at Bakubung will be on improving shaft-sinking rates, creating station breakaways, developing stations and levels, and advancing further optimisation work around ventilation and compressors,” Mothomogolo explained.

Optimisation Implementation

In March, Wesizwe commissioned an optimisation study at Bakubung to investigate ways of bolstering the project’s business case by incorporating recent changes in the platinum business environment.

Factors that were considered in developing the optimisation plan included lower metal prices; increasing cost pressures – particularly with regards to increases in electricity and labour; the social climate – in terms of labour unrest in the broader platinum sector; the need for improved working conditions; the investment climate; and the need to reduce overall business risk.

Mothomogolo said, while developing the plan, Wesizwe studied the operational practices of other platinum mining companies to identify the main challenges that existing operations were facing.

Wesizwe discovered that these challenges included a lack of a mineable face and poor reserves, inadequate logistics for mineworkers, materials and rock disposal; inadequate workshop facilities; and inefficient working cycles.

Mothomogolo explained that these challenges resulted in additional operational challenges, such as inadequate time spent on working faces; the inability of mines to consistently handle ore volumes produced; worker fatigue; poor worker productivity levels; and poor response times to breakdowns and emergencies.

Therefore, the optimisation plan, which has already been implemented, had saved the mine about R2.2-billion to date, and enabled the project to produce higher metal outputs, ensuring greater capital efficiencies and higher production levels.

Safety, Health and Environment

Mothomogolo further highlighted that Bakubung mine had no injuries in May and had achieved more than 70 lost-time-injury- (LTI-) free days since the end of February.

Overall, the project had an LTI frequency rate of 1.28 for every million man-hours worked and had also achieved more than 530 000 progressive consecutive fatality-free shifts as at March 31.

Mothomogolo attributed the mine’s high levels of safety to Wesizwe’s campaigns promoting a safe work environment.

Moreover, he stressed that the company would “continue to build healthy relationships with all stakeholders to safeguard the lives of its employees”.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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