JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South African copper producer Palabora Mining indicated on Wednesday that it would have to revise its forecast hoisting volumes from its underground mine, as its north hoisting winder would be out of service, owing to tangled tail ropes.
The company reported that the tail ropes became tangled on Monday morning, owing to a process control failure. An investigation found that a small quantity of spillage from the skip loading station entered the shaft and interfered with the tail ropes.
Work was currently under way to rectify the situation and the north hoisting winder was expected to return to operational status by the middle of next week.
Meanwhile, the south winder would also be out of service for a number of days this week, while the tangled ropes were being removed.
However, Palabora indicated that there were sufficient inventories to keep its downstream copper sections producing, while opportune maintenance was carried out.