Name and Location
Styldrift 1 expansion project, North West, South Africa.

Client
Royal Bafokeng Platinum, or RBPlat (67%) and Anglo American Platinum (33%).

Project Description
The Styldrift project area is adjacent to the existing Boschkoppie mining area and is located about 5.5 km from the existing Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine (BRPM).

The project will exploit one of the last major Merensky mining blocks on the Western Bushveld.

Styldrift 1 will deliver an underground operation, which will be accessed through a twin vertical shaft system, with the main shaft being sunk to 758 m and the services shaft to 723 m.

The configuration of the main shaft will allow for a single-deck personnel-and-material cage compartment that can transport 185 people; a cage counterweight compartment; two Merensky reef skip compartments, each designed to accommodate a 22 t skip; and two future skip compartments, each accommodating a 13 t skip.

The services shaft will comprise a personnel-and-equipment cage compartment with the capacity to transport 22 people, and a cage counterweight compartment.

Four winders will be used during the project construction phase and three during the production phase. The height of the main shaft headgear is 58.6 m and the service shaft 41.3 m.

Concentrator capacity will be 2.76-million tonnes a year.

Initially, wide-reef trackless mining methods will be used and then a combination of wide reef trackless mining and narrow-reef conventional mining methods.

The mine will process 230 000 t/m of Merensky reef and 20 000 t/m of waste at steady state.

Value
The miner reduced the budgeted capital expenditure (capex) for the Styldrift I project from R11.4-billion to R11.01-billion in November 2013, with R3.138-billion having been spent to date, of which R627-million was spent during the six months ended June 2014, in line with project progress. The full-year capex for 2014 is forecast at R1.578-billion.

RBPlat has an obligation to fund 67% of the total project.

Duration
Production ramp-up is expected to start in July 2015 and steady state – at 230 000 t/m – in July 2018.

Latest Developments
The project was 46.6% complete following the six months ended June 2014, against a planned completion of 47%.

The concentrator portion of the project, the first phase of which was approved by RBPlat’s board of directors in June 2014, started in July 2014 with completion planned for the second half of 2015. This entails upgrading the current BRPM concentrator from 200 000 t/m to 250 000 t/m.

The key project activities during the first half included the sinking of the main and services shafts to shaft bottom, the raise boring of ore-handling infrastructure and the No 1 ventilation shaft, as well as the development of life-of-mine infrastructure on the 600, 642 and 708 levels.

As a result of its publicised international litigation process and the impact of the five-month strike in the platinum sector on projects with other key clients, the shaft sinking and development contractor’s operating position was compromised. This impacted negatively on progress, contributing to critical path activities ending the reporting period 26 days behind schedule.

RBPlat has engaged with the contractor and has developed and implemented contingency plans to mitigate further risk associated with the contractor’s remaining portion of the Styldrift project.

The main shaft equipping started in July 2014 and will finish in the first quarter of 2015. During this period, the services shaft will provide all logistical support for underground development and construction work, including rock hoisting, transportation of men and material, and all services.

The services shaft capacity has been identified as a critical constraint, as its total capacity is below the level of mining and construction work planned.
Several optimisation measures are being investigated and implemented, with the potential impact on the project schedule also assessed.

Surface construction continues to progress well with the construction of silos, change houses, lamp room and office infrastructure.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
WorleyParsons (main project engineering, procurement and construction management contractor); Anglo technical division (mine shaft design); Mining & Engineering Technical Services, or Mets (services shaft headgears); Shaft Sinkers (main and services shafts and associated works); Louwill Engineering (main and services shafts’ headgears and winder house structural manufacturing and erection); FLSmidth Minerals (main shaft personnel and material winder mechanical portion); Actom - formerly Alstom Industry (main shaft personnel and material winder electrical portion); Coilmech (service winder mechanical and electrical portions); Stefanutti Stocks Civils Wramatshe joint venture (civils Phase 2 contract – main bulk surface civils); Sarens (cranes) Sandvik Mining (underground production trackless equipment).

On Budget and on Time?
At the end of the six months ended June 2014, the project was 26 days behind schedule.

The project remains below budget, mainly as a result of underusing the escalations and contingencies not being used.

Contact Details for Project Information
RBPlat communications manager Kea Kalebe, tel +27 14 573 1487, fax +27 86 219 5131 or email kkalebe@bafokengplatinum.co.za.
WorleyParsons, tel +27 11 218 3000.
Mets, tel +61 8 9421 9000 or fax +61 8 9325 8311.
Shaft Sinkers, tel +27 11 445 4300.
Louwill Engineering, tel +27 11 818 5186, fax +27 11 818 5185 or email mail@louwill.co.za.
FLSmidth Minerals, tel +45 36 18 10 00, fax +45 36 44 11 46 or email info@flsmidth.com.
Actom, tel +27 11 820 5111 or fax +27 11 820 5100.
Coilmech, tel +27 11 452 4063, fax +27 11 452 6104 or email info@coilmech.co.za.
Stefanutti Stocks, tel +27 11 571 4300, fax +27 11 571 4370 or email holdings@stefstocks.com.
Sarens, tel +27 11 861 3800, fax +27 11 861 3899 or email info@sarenssa.co.za.
Sandvik Mining EMEA business development manager Bjorn Gohre, tel +27 11 570 9676.