Rehabilitation under way at Fairbreeze mine
Titanium dioxide miner Tronox KZN Sands’ Fairbreeze mine, near Richards Bay, in Kwazulu-Natal, is planning to start a new development phase to extend the mine’s life.
Speaking to Mining Weekly on March 17, Tronox KZN Sands Fairbreeze mine site director Shalen Poorun said work on the new development was expected to start later this year, initially as an 800 t/h operation but with the aim of ramping up to 2 168 t/h by mid-2023.
With new developments factored in, the life-of-mine will be extended to 2037.
Poorun said continuous work was under way to quantify additional reserves.
In 2015, mining began on the northern side of the Fairbreeze orebody. At its inception, production was planned for six years and is, therefore, nearing depletion.
The primary mining method at the Fairbreeze mine remains hydraulic mining. As the mine begins mining the southern orebody, the throughput will be increased by more than 80% against the backdrop of falling grades. This will allow the mine to maintain feed to the smelting facility at Empangeni.
The new expansion project will include an upgrade of the current mining system and the mineral concentration facility.
Poorun said Tronox was busy with the backfilling and rehabilitation of the Northern portion of the mine, having already completed the backfilling of the C orebody – the first orebody mined at Fairbreeze.
So far, about 50% of this orebody has been rehabilitated to indigenous grass, while final shaping and rehabilitation on the remainder continues. In addition, backfilling has begun on a portion of the C extension orebody where mining is expected to be completed within the next 12 months.
The initial portion of the orebody previously mined is currently under rehabilitation in line with the mine’s environmental management plan. Soil coverage by vegetation on the rehabilitated area is in excess of 50% over much of the area, successfully limiting the erosive effects of stormwater runoff, Poorun explained.
“These activities are currently executed, tracked and monitored against the environmental management plan to ensure sustainable post-mining land use,” he said.
Backfill and rehabilitation is undertaken in conjunction with the ongoing mining activities, thereby keeping the mining footprint to a minimum.
“Undertaking continuous rehabilitation alongside mining operations presents various complexities, such as positive and ongoing water ingress into the mining area. It presents safety and technical challenges,” Poorun noted.
In light of this, Tronox has established bespoke methods to manage such ingress which includes significant investments in major infrastructure to control and divert the water away from the active mining areas, he concluded.