October2013

Vol 9 No 10www.crown.co.za

MODERN MININGIN THIS ISSUE… Minas Moatize ready to move forward Bentley Park provides world-class training Imaloto scoping studies completed Flatreef intercept “without precedent”

CONT

ENTS

October 2013

6

22

32

36

40

MODERN MINING

110.13

MINING NEWS4 Additional study work enhances tungsten project

5 Kibali pours first gold ahead of schedule

6 Ore processing starts at Kwale in Kenya

7 SA-designed crystalliser wins award

8 SNC-Lavalin builds up African track record

9 Boikarabelo start-up targeted for late 2015

10 Rockwell recovers four plus 100-carat diamonds

11 Key contractors appointed for Tschudi

12 IMX and MMG to joint venture on Nachingwea

14 Positive results from New Luika drilling

14 Significant discovery by Pangolin Diamonds

16 Uranium miner on cost-cutting drive

16 New Belaz truck launched at bauma Africa

ARTICLES

Cover18 Conveying coal on a grand scale

Coal22 Minas Moatize funded for further expansion

28 Phased development proposed for Imaloto

Manganese/iron ore32 Aquila committed to advancing SA projects

Training36 Bentley Park – a world-class training facility

Companies40 Taggart JHDA and LSL join global Forge Group

FEATURE – DRILLING AND EXPLORATION45 Geo-Explore Store – a geologist’s paradise

49 FQM starts drilling on Tsodilo’s metal licences

51 Phenomenal intercept on Platreef project

53 Drill rig control system wins award

PRODUCT NEWS55 Large XCMG wheel loader introduced to SA

57 Modular arm for confined space rescue

58 Monkey Tower™ – an instant scaffolding system

59 WEG smart relay proves popular

60 Rio-Carb simplifies liner replacement

61 Larger diameter Ultralock couplings introduced

62 Magni telescopic handlers launched locally

64 Zest WEG assists on winder contract

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MODERNM I N I N G

COVERTrippers on top of a surface bunker, part of a materials han-dling system for one of Sasol Mining’s new shafts. Sand-vik’s ability to provide turnkey materials handling solutions for mining projects is highlighted in our cover story on page 18.

PublisherJenny Warwick

EditorArthur Tassell

Advertising ManagerBennie Venter

Design & LayoutDarryl James

CirculationKaren Pearson

Subscriptions:Wendy CharlesR410 (incl. Vat) per annumPostage extra outside RSA

Printed by:Shumani Printers

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.

Published monthly by:Crown Publications ccP O Box 140, Bedfordview, 2008Tel: (011) 622-4770Fax: (011) 615-6108e-mail: mining@crown.co.za

Average circulation(April–June 2013)

4 337

What, I wonder, is the verdict of the min-ing industry on the

recent bauma Africa show held at the Gal-lagher Convention Centre in Midrand? The original bauma in Germany started off in the 1950s as a construction machinery exhibition but, in recent years, has tended to also target the mining industry. The inaugural bauma Af-rica event followed in the footsteps of its Ger-man parent and also positioned itself – in its promotional build-up – as both a construction and mining show.

The pressures of editing a mining magazine are such that I could only devote a few hours to attending the event so my assessment of it is necessarily impressionistic. For what it’s worth, however, I was generally impressed – but with a few caveats that I’ll make plain below.

On the plus side, I think Elaine Crewe, CEO of the organisers, MMI South Africa, and her team can take a bow for mounting a show that was well promoted and which ended up over three times bigger than originally planned. I gather there were 754 exhibitors – 123 from South Africa and 631 with their headquarters abroad – who occupied nearly 60 000 m2 of space, making bauma Africa comparable in size with the long-established Electra Min-ing event. The logistics of managing this huge number of exibitors must have been daunting but the MMI South Africa team seems to have coped remarkably well.

Around 84 % of the visitors were South African with – interestingly – Mozambique contributing the second biggest contingent. In third place was Germany, followed by Zimba-bwe, Zambia, Italy, Namibia, the UK and India – in that order.

On the downside, I think the attendance was a touch disappointing. The official figures are now out and it seems that bauma Africa had 14  700 registered trade visitors. While this might sound impres-sive, it is less than half of what Electra Mining normally attracts and a little bit below the figure of 16 000 that the organis-ers targeted. In addition, I would be curious to know how many of the 14 700 were actually from the mining sector. My guess – and it is only a guess – is that the majority of visi-tors were from the con-struction industry.

Still, MMI South Africa seems to have had a very positive response to bau-ma Africa. Elaine Crewe describes the feedback re-ceived as “just fantastic” while Lawrence Peters,

Chairman of CONMESA (Construction and Mining Equipment Suppliers’ Association), says the show “exceeded our expectations by far – we are extremely satisfied.”

What of the views of exhibitors themselves? Well, Glenn Schoeman, VP at Sandvik South Africa, reports that the company had “only quality visitors from countries we needed” and sold several machines while Anton Wheeler, MD of underground mining equipment sup-plier AARD Mining Equipment, seems to have been equally impressed, describing the event as “of a better quality than other shows.” An-other happy participant was Putzmeister – its CEO, Ludwig Geyser, says it “sold loads of ma-chinery” at bauma Africa.

AARD, incidentally, which started life as part of Boart Longyear, had a very impressive exhibit. Other companies that put a huge effort into their displays included Pilot Crushtec, Mynbou Rigs Afrika (see also page 16), Bell, which displayed nearly 30 machines (includ-ing the much anticipated Bell B60D ADT), Normet Africa, and ELB Equipment.

I’m not sure what the biggest machine was at bauma Africa but I imagine that one of the contenders was the Sandvik UJ540 mobile crusher on the Pilot Crushtec stand. In terms of weight, this comes in at just a shade under 100 tonnes and it is reportedly the biggest mobile crusher ever to have been exhibited at a show in South Africa.

MMI has reportedly confirmed plans for a second bauma Africa in 2015, although it is not yet clear whether the Gallagher Estate venue will be retained. Whatever the case, I’m sure it will be a winner, given the success of this year’s event. Having said this, I think the organisers are going to have to work hard on upping both the number of mining visitors and exhibitors if they want to establish bauma Africa as a ‘must attend’ mining expo. I’ve no doubt that MMI is up to the challenge.Arthur Tassell

BAUMA AFRICA – DID IT WORK AS A MINING SHOW?

The Bell B60D, Bell Equipment’s biggest ADT yet, was a big attraction at bauma Africa (photo: Arthur Tassell).

mining news

4 10.13

Lucara Diamond Corp, listed on the TSX and NAS-DAQ, has announced the recovery of a 257-carat diamond from its Karowe mine in Botswana. So far this year, there have been 47 diamonds recovered that were larger than 50 carats. Of these, 14 were larger than 100 carats. This new 257-carat clear diamond will be sold on tender in the fourth quar-ter of 2013.

Mining over the past six months has been focused on the Centre and South lobes of the AK6 kimberlite.

“The Karowe mine continues to outperform with the consistent recovery of large, high value dia-monds,” comments William Lamb, President and CEO of Lucara. “The recovery of this magnificent 257-carat diamond, along with the recovery of a significant parcel of larger stones over the past six months, strengthens our understanding of the resource at Karowe. Revenues generated from the sale of these diamonds will be used to reduce debt and strengthen Lucara’s balance sheet.”

Premier African Minerals Limited (PREM), an AIM-quoted multi-commodity natural resource company, has announced positive results from additional technical study work at its flagship RHA tungsten project, located in the prospec-tive Kamativi Tin Belt in north-west Zimbabwe. The work has extended the proposed open-pit mine life and further enhanced the robust economics of recommencing low-cost mining activities at RHA in late 2014.

Since the positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and Concept Mining Study results were announced in August 2013,

Kibo Mining, listed on AIM and the AltX, has announced key internal and external appointments to implement and manage the three-stage Rukwa Development Pro-gram (RDP) recently approved by the Kibo board of directors. The RDP is the product of extensive consultation and discussion with the Tanzanian Government, East West Power Company (EWP) of Korea and Stan-dard Bank Group and will be implemented

to accelerate development of Kibo’s flagship Rukwa Coal to Power Project (RCPP) in the Mbeya region.

The Rukwa Executive Management Team (REMT) has been formed comprising Kibo CEO Louis Coetzee and Kibo COO Louis Scheepers, along with external appointees Roy Adair and Casper van Wyk. Coetzee will chair the REMT whilst Adair will assume the position of Program Executive in the REMT,

Additional study work enhances RHA tungsten project

The RHA site showing historic mine workings (photo: PREM).

Huge diamond recovered at Karowe

which highlighted the economic viability of RHA supporting a low-capex 192  000  t/a tungsten-bearing ore operation over a six-year mine life, further optimisation work has been undertaken by independent mining con-sultants Royal Haskoning DHV (formerly Tur-gis Mining Consultants).

A Whittle computer design optimisation was recently completed on the proposed open pit at RHA, which indicates a revised lower strip-ping ratio of 6,2:1 (10:1 was assumed in the initial mining study), and an optimal open-pit life of circa 16 months, compared with

the 12 months previously estimated. In line with this, PREM says it is in active

discussions with potential funders for the project and possible off-take partners as one route to fast-track RHA towards production in the near-term with a target production date of late 2014. The company aims to start open-pit production development in late 2014, with underground mining development to com-mence thereafter to fulfil the project’s pro-jected six year life of mine.

The new pit design is targeted to increase the undiscounted before-tax NPV of RHA to US$120 million (US$118 million previously), and the before-tax IRR to 378 % (316 % pre-viously).

Intermittent small-scale mining has been conducted at RHA and the adjacent Tung mine (which Premier has an option to acquire) located 5 km away. Between 1931 and 1979 the mines jointly produced 1 247 tonnes of WO3 in wolframite concentrate at an average concentrate grade of 65 % WO3.

RHA occupies a low ridge, which is ap-proximately 850 m long, 300 m wide and stands about 80 m above its surroundings. Historic mine workings are in the form of ad-its, open pits, caved stopes, trenches, roads and rock dumps that occupy the surface. Tailings dumps are located on the north and south sides of the ridge.

Previous mine development was almost entirely carried out during the 1930s when the mine was developed on 30 m levels from the 945 m level to the 859 m level, by means of horizontal adits into the sides of the ridge, and a single vertical shaft down to the 845 m level. Some open pitting also occurred on the western part of the deposit.

with executive responsibility for the imple-mentation and execution of the RDP.

Adair has successfully served as CEO of a number of energy companies in the last 20 years including Hydro Tasmania, Senoko Power Limited and Yallourn Energy. Van Wyk, for his part, brings wide experience in corpo-rate finance and corporate structuring to the REMT.

In addition to the appointment of the REMT, Kibo has entered a 12-month, fixed-term Financial Advisory mandate with Stan-dard Bank. This will involve Standard Bank assisting the REMT with the development and delivery of a financial model for the RCPP and the strategic planning and development of a robust project development and financ-ing strategy.

Stage 1 of the RDP envisages the comple-tion of a BFS on the coal mine by Decem-ber 2014 and completion of a pre-feasibility study on the power plant by December 2014. Stage  2 will comprise all development and construction activities relevant to both the mine as well as the power plant, with Stage 3 comprising commissioning and operation of both the coal mine and power station.

Kibo sets up management team for Rukwa

510.13

mining news

The giant Kibali gold project in the north-eastern DRC has successfully started pro-duction well ahead of its original year-end target and still in line with capital forecasts, Mark Bristow, Chief Executive of part-owner Randgold Resources, which is developing and operating the project, announced at the mine site recently.

Bristow said that the Randgold develop-ment team had only moved on site in Janu-ary 2010, and since then had built a world-class gold mine in one of Africa’s remotest regions, in the process more than doubling the project’s reserves to 11 million ounces and increasing its resources to 21  million-plus ounces.

“It has been an enormous feat of geology, metallurgy, engineering and logistics, as well as negotiation and diplomacy, and its suc-cess is a tribute to the Randgold team, as well as the Congolese authorities, the local community and our business partners, con-tractors and suppliers,” he said. Kibali repre-

sents an initial investment of US$1,7 billion by Randgold Resources and its partner, Anglo-Gold Ashanti.

With the earlier start-up, Bristow said, Kibali was expected comfortably to exceed its production target of 30 000 ounces for the rest of this year, and was on track to meet next year’s forecast of 550 000 ounces.

The project is being developed in two phases. In the first, the plant’s oxide circuit has been commissioned early and is treating oxide ore from the stockpile of more than a million tonnes already produced by the open-pit mine. Gold sales are scheduled to start shortly when the circuit is in a steady state. The sulphide circuit will be commissioned in the second quarter of 2014. Phase 2, which runs concurrently with Phase 1 but extends to 2016, will include the completion of the underground mine, where development is al-ready well advanced.

The underground mine is scheduled to ac-cess first ore in early 2015 with stoping op-

Kibali pours first gold ahead of scheduleA view of the open-pit mine at Kibali. The project recently produced its first gold (photo: Randgold Resources).

erations starting later in that year. Kibali will also commission four hydropower facilities during the two phases to allow the mine to access low cost energy from the abundant hydropower potential in the DRC.

Bristow said the enormous relocation pro-gramme, which has involved the resettlement of more than 4 000 households in 14 villages on the Kibali site to a new model town, Kokiza, had also been completed on schedule. The administration of Kokiza is now in the process of being handed over to a local administration.

“Kibali is the fifth world-class gold mine Randgold has delivered to its stakeholders since 2000 when Morila was commissioned, and it is significant that we are doing so at a time when the gold mining industry gener-ally is cancelling projects, cutting budgets and revising growth plans downwards in the face of the drop in the gold price. This again illustrates the merit of Randgold’s long-term strategy of creating value through discovery and development, and of continuing to invest in our future even when the gold price turns down,” he said.

mining news

6 10.13

Perth-based Base Resources, listed on the ASX and AIM, has reported the commence-ment of ore processing through the mining unit and wet concentrator at the Kwale min-eral sands project in Kenya.

Following two weeks of water commission-ing and control logic testing, the first ore from the central dune has now been taken through the dozer trap mining unit and the wet con-centrator. Over the next several weeks min-ing and processing rates are planned to be ramped up and a stockpile of concentrate built up ahead of the commissioning of the mineral separation plant (MSP).

Construction work on the MSP is now in its final stages with commissioning of the ilmen-ite and rutile circuits and commencement of concentrate processing expected during No-

vember. This will be followed by the zircon circuit in December.

While some small container shipments are planned during December, the bulk ship-ments of finished product are now scheduled to start in January.

Most of the supporting infrastructure is now complete, with the access road, 132 kV power supply, tailings storage facility and Mukurumudzi dam now functionally com-plete. The Likoni marine facility is scheduled for completion in November, well ahead of the first bulk shipment.

The Kwale project is located 10 km inland from the Kenyan coast and 50 km south of Mombasa, Kenya’s principal port facility. The project was acquired by Base in July 2010 from Vaaldiam Mining Inc, which had

Construction at an advanced stage on the Kwale project (photo: Base Resources).

Ore processing starts at Kwale in Kenya spent more than US$60 million to progress it through resource definition, government ap-provals and Definitive Feasibility Studies.

Towards the completion of the detailed de-sign engineering stage of project implemen-tation, a review of the capital cost estimate was completed resulting in a 14 % increase over the original budget to US$298 million in-cluding contingencies.

Base has been able to successfully es-tablish a portfolio of off-take agreements with quality counterparties covering 70 % of projected revenue over the first five years of operations.

Over the first seven years of operations, production volumes will average 330 kt for ilmenite, 79 kt for rutile and 30 kt for zircon. Over the final six years, the figures will be 200 kt for ilmenite, 55 kt for rutile and 19 kt for zircon.

The Kwale process plant at night (photo: Base Resources).

JV takes the decision to stop mining at Yatela

A crystalliser at the Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar designed and constructed by Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies South Africa has received an award of distinction in the Global Water Intelligence Awards. The distinction, which falls under the Industrial Water Project of the Year category, was hand-ed to the leading water treatment company at the annual awards ceremony in Spain.

One of the largest ammonium sulphate evaporation and crystallisation plants in the world and capable of producing up to 200 000 tons of ammonium sulphate per an-num, the facility has been labelled one of the most advanced technical achievements in the field of industrial wastewater.

“We are proud to have been awarded such a prestigious accolade and will continue to bring innovative technologies to improve wastewater treatment,” Gunter Rencken, Managing Director of Veolia Water Solutions

SA-designed crystalliser wins award

The award-winning crystalliser at the Ambatovy mine designed and constructed by Veolia Water Solu-tions & Technologies South Africa.

& Technologies South Africa, said of the achievement.

The Ambatovy mine’s primary treatment system, part of the mine’s nickel and cobalt refinery, uses sulphuric acid, hydrogen sul-phide and ammonia to extract valuable sub-stances from slurried ore. The Veolia-built plant successfully treats the effluent streams from this process using state-of-the-art evap-oration and crystallisation technology, which extracts the valuable ammonium sulphate by-product for resale into the agriculture indus-try as a soil fertiliser.

“The result is that maximum value is ex-tracted from the ore, while all potentially harmful effluents are retained and treated within plant walls. This zero liquid discharge technology is fast becoming one of the world’s preferred methods of improving sus-tainability while maximising profitability at the same time,” said Rencken.

IAMGOLD Corporation reported recently that the Société d’Exploration des Mines d’Or de Yatela SA, a joint venture between IAMGOLD (40 %), AngloGold Ashanti (40 %) and the Gov-ernment of Mali (20 %), has decided to sus-pend mining excavation activities at the Yatela mine in Mali effective September 30, 2013.

This decision reflects a combination of fac-tors including miner safety in the pit, the drop in the spot price of gold and the reduction in profit margin. Processing of heap leach pads and ore already mined, however, will continue until the end of 2016.

Yatela is situated over 600 km north-west of the Malian capital of Bamako and about 25 km north of the Sadiola mine.

According to IAMGOLD, Yatela’s communi-

ty development activities will not be affected by the conclusion of mining activities. A new plan for social development focusing on the expansion and marketing of community de-velopment and current socio-economic pro-jects is being developed.

The development of Yatela started in 1997. The mining licence was issued in 2000 and the first gold poured in 2001. The initial planned life of mine was six years, and thus its closure was planned for 2007. Following various geological studies conducted by the company within the permit area, other eco-nomically exploitable deposits were discov-ered and this extended the life of the mine and led Yatela SA to defer the closure date several times.

710.13

mining news

mining news

8 10.13

Consolidation of PGM properties delivers results

Since establishing a project execution office in South Africa in 2006, SNC-Lavalin has been steadily building up a track record of locally executed projects across Africa. One of the most significant projects completed recently is the Kamoto redevelopment project for Ka-tanga Mining in the DRC.

SNC-Lavalin has been operating in Africa for more than 60 years from its international network of offices, delivering numerous suc-cessful projects in a variety of sectors in-cluding mining and minerals, infrastructure, power and energy.

“Today our Johannesburg staff comple-ment has grown significantly and we’re able to execute projects from conceptualisation and prefeasibility to execution on site,” says Alistair McKay, SNC-Lavalin business devel-opment manager. “We have a broad range

SNC-Lavalin builds up African track record

of in-house expertise that positions us to be able to design plants around almost all commodities and we’re excited about the in-creasing depth of process experience of our South African team. From this solid founda-tion we will continue to expand our services with a view to locally replicating the service offering already available through our inter-national offices.”

SNC-Lavalin’s modular expertise is report-edly attracting attention in the market with its focused offering of designing and building modular and containerised plants. This highly flexible service is proving popular for smaller projects and offers significant time and cost savings when project sites are remotely lo-cated.

“In building the company’s South African offering, our modular expertise has been a

One of SNC-Lavalin’s African projects – Konkola Copper Mines tailings plant in Zambia.

key focus,” says McKay. “For companies operating in Africa, one of the biggest chal-lenges is to move resources to remote loca-tions and there is always a concern about the safety and quality of the final product. The ability to modularise plants makes it possible to complete a lot of the work in a local work-shop, with high standards of health, safety and quality applied throughout.

“Modular plants are trial erected and cold commissioned in South Africa, before being dismantled and sent to site in modules. Since the plant has already been tried and tested, it’s very much a matter of putting it all back together and switching it on.”

The pyrometallurgy group is another area of expertise for the South Africa office. Com-prising about 18 specialists, engineers and designers including a full 3D design capabil-ity, the group specialises in custom designed pyrometallurgical plants and equipment.

“The pooled knowledge and experience of our pyrometallurgy team is putting us on the map, proving that we have the process expertise and equipment capabilities to de-liver cutting-edge solutions,” McKay says. “The differentiator for us lies in the fact that we are not only able to provide skills around furnaces and the like, but also to develop this technology in-house, moving away from be-ing a pure EPCM consultant to becoming a technology provider capable of supplying the necessary equipment.”

A few years ago SNC-Lavalin established a regional presence in the industrial and fer-tiliser markets through the acquisition of BE Morgan & Associates. This company already had a long-standing relationship with SNC-Lavalin for fertiliser and sulphuric acid plants, and McKay says the acquisition provided a vehicle to enter the African arena with these skills and expertise in-house. One of the more significant projects completed by SNC-Lava-lin following this acquisition has been Sasol Nitro’s new calcium ammonium nitrate/lime-stone ammonium nitrate production plant at its existing chemical complex in Secunda.

In its latest financial report, Pallinghurst Re-sources says that the consolidation into Sedi-belo Platinum Mines (formerly Platmin) of all of the Group’s PGM investments on the West-ern Limb of the Bushveld Complex during the last quarter of 2012 “has realised the objec-tives to which we have been working over the past five years.”

The company continues: “The consolida-tion was a key step to unlocking the signifi-cant investment value inherent in this Invest-ment Platform and the large and shallow resources base promises safe and low cost operations for many years to come. The sub-sequent equity investment by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), its largest to date into the mining industry, has provided funding for the next phase of development of the consolidated operations and will act as a

catalyst for wealth and job creation which will benefit all stakeholders.”

The focus at Sedibelo Platinum Mines dur-ing the first half of 2013 has been the build-up of operations at its Pilanesberg Platinum Mine (PPM) and the integration of the other properties forming the consolidation. Follow-ing the restructuring of the mining contracts and after taking direct control of the pit and plant, Sedibelo Platinum Mines reports it has seen significant improvements in its key op-erating parameters, including record produc-tion of 66 000 ounces of 4E PGMs for the first six months of 2013.

The DMR has approved Sedibelo Platinum Mines’ revised environmental management plan that provides for the conversion of the PPM pit into a water capture and storage facility at the end of the mine’s life, for the

benefit of the local community. In addition to the environmental and local developmental benefits, the plan involves significantly lower costs than full rehabilitation of the pit. Ap-plications have therefore been made to the DMR to approve the release of a portion of Sedibelo Platinum Mines’ statutorily mandat-ed rehabilitation escrow funds.

In January 2013, Sedibelo Platinum Mines formed a team led by Pallinghurst represen-tatives to prepare for an IPO. SRK Consulting has been appointed to complete geological, structural and resource modelling, along with a consolidated life of mine plan, as part of a Competent Person’s Report.

Pallinghurst says it expects Sedibelo Plati-num Mines’ improving operational results, long-life assets and strong growth profile to attract broad investor interest.

mining news

910.13

In its Annual Report for the year to 30 June 2013, Resource Generation Limited (Resgen) says it is “attempting to do everything we can to begin production at our Boikarabelo mine in late 2015.”

Boikarabelo is in the Waterberg region of South Africa, which accounts for 40 % of the country’s remaining coal reserves. Resgen says that with probable reserves of 744,8 Mt of coal – only 20 m below the surface – on 35 % of the tenements under its control and a total resource of 6,4 billion tonnes, Boikara-belo has the potential to be a massive low-cost, open-cut mine.

“We began the 2013 financial year with all the necessary regulatory approvals to begin the mine’s construction, and with a water use licence, a haulage contract with Trans-net Freight Rail and a power supply contract with Eskom,” the company says in its Annual Report. “The next step was to seek project finance.

“Six South African and global banks and fi-nanciers were mandated to provide approxi-mately 60 % of the funds required for con-struction, subject to final credit approval and negotiation of key commercial terms.

“The project’s viability was validated when their credit-approved offers were received in March 2013; however, the offers deviated from the agreed term sheet and included commercial conditions that the board consid-

ered were not in shareholders’ best interests and, as a result, were rejected.

“While we are continuing negotiations with an expanded group of 11 banks, we have de-veloped an alternative, staged funding plan, including leases and leveraged finance.

“Currently we are evaluating tenders we have received for the supply and finance of the mining fleet and for materials handling equipment for the coal handling and prepara-tion plant.”

Meanwhile, construction of mine infrastruc-ture, roadworks and water and power con-nections began in February 2013, financed by a U$20 million debenture issued the previous month, and Boikarabelo was classified as an operating mine site. Construction continues to progress, facilitated by a strategic partner-ship with Noble Group, a global supply chain manager of agricultural and energy products and metals, minerals and ores.

Under this partnership agreement, Noble Group has been appointed supply chain manager and exclusive marketing agent for the Boikarabelo mine and has substantially increased and extended its previous off-take contract.

Noble Group has also become an anchor investor in Resource Generation, acquiring a 7,5 % shareholding at 40 cents per share, and providing loan facilities totalling US$123 mil-lion, including US$55,3 million for construc-

tion of the 38 km rail link to Transnet Freight Rail’s network.

Resgen says that preparations for the rail link construction, including the pad for the base of the construction camp, access roads and related infrastructure, began in July 2013.

Further funds have been raised since the beginning of the 2014 financial year through a 1-for-1 entitlement offer at 22 cents per share. Shareholders subscribed for 16,7 % of the available shares, and stockbrokers have been appointed to seek investors for the balance.

Commitments to subscribe for most of the shortfall have been received from three companies that have been attracted by the high quality and potential of the Boikarabelo project, says Resgen. These are: Valu Invest-ments, which has placed an off-take contract and intends to conduct feasibility studies for construction of two coal-fired power stations adjacent to Boikarabelo, which it would build and operate independently; Altius Investment Holdings, a South African ‘black economi-cally empowered’ company; and Barsington, a Noble Group subsidiary.

Together with the funds expected to be received as a result of the entitlement offer, Resgen has raised finance of US$185 million since the beginning of 2013. This, says the company, is a substantial step towards the US$530 million total capital cost of the mine, which includes the coal preparation plant, buildings and infrastructure, mine equipment and the rail link.

Boikarabelo start-up targeted for late 2015

mining news

10 10.13

ASX-listed Luiri Gold says it is continuing to advance the due diligence requirements of potential funders of the Dunrobin gold project in Zambia. After announcing its maiden JORC compliant ore reserve in July 2013, Luiri was recently requested to advance from its inter-nal Feasibility Study (Luiri FS) to an indepen-dent feasibility study by a globally respected consulting group as a final stage of the due diligence funding process.

To satisfy this funding hurdle, the company has commissioned Coffey Mining of Perth to

Rockwell Diamonds Inc reports it has re-covered four rough diamonds each exceed-ing 100 carats in weight from its operations in the Middle Orange River (MOR) region in recent weeks. In addition, the company has recovered a higher than average number of diamonds smaller than 100 carats. This, says Rockwell, reinforces management’s decision to focus operations in this region and em-brace new processing technology.

Two stones weighing 116 carats and 138 carats were recovered at the Saxendrift processing plant from gravels originating from the Saxendrift Extension pit. In addi-tion, a 126-carat stone and a 169-carat stone were recovered from a mining area that has recently been opened up at the Saxendrift Hill Complex (SHC). The recently commissioned SHC plant – as Modern Mining reported in a lengthy article last month – utilises Boure-vestnik X-ray technology in both the concen-tration and recovery areas.

All of these stones will be sold into the beneficiation joint venture with Steinmetz Diamonds at market value. Rockwell will also participate equally in the value uplift once these stones have been polished and sold.

The frequency of Rockwell’s recoveries in the 20 to 100 carat category has improved with the commissioning of the SHC and Niewejaarskraal as well as integrating the Saxendrift Extension into Saxendrift’s mine plan. Implementation of diamond value man-

Rockwell recovers four plus 100-carat diamonds

Part of the processing plant at Rockwell’s new Niewejaarskraal mine (photo: Arthur Tassell).

agement principles and fit-for-purpose tech-nologies also contributed to the improvement.

Commenting on the recovery of these large, high valued stones, James Campbell, CEO and President, said: “Recovery of four rough diamonds exceeding 100 carats within a three-week period is a milestone in our ob-jective to grow production in the MOR region where we have a significant inventory of high

value in situ diamonds. It also attests to the quality of our recovery processes where the implementation of fit-for-purpose technol-ogy has improved our ability to recover large stones. This includes the Bulk X-ray technol-ogy which we pioneered in the full production environment at SHC, as well as our strong skills at Saxendrift, where efficiency initia-tives in the pan plant are paying off.”

New study launched on Dunrobin gold projectcomplete an independent Feasibility Study (Coffey FS) of the Dunrobin project.

Independent external consultants had pre-viously completed much of the work required for the Luiri FS. This included design and costing of the process plant and the pit de-sign for the ore reserve estimate.

To extract maximum value from this ex-ternal verification of the Luiri FS, Coffey has been requested to incorporate additional geo-metallurgical data into the block model of the orebody. This final study by Coffey will

incorporate a rigorous review of all the Luiri FS work that has previously been completed.

The geo-metallurgy data was generated from the infill drilling programme. Samples from every metre with a fire assay over 0,5 g/t gold were sent in for analysis and for determi-nation of cyanide soluble gold in a bottle roll test. A total of 613 bottle roll gold dissolution tests and 637 detailed analyses was received. Applying the 0,5 g/t gold cut off effectively constrained the data to the mineral resource. This work has added to Luiri’s understanding of the variability of the Dunrobin orebody. It provides much more information and con-fidence than the conventional approach of test work based on relatively few samples chosen to be ‘representative’ of the orebody.

The geo-metallurgical model now has local block specific gold recovery incorporated in it. This level of definition is unusually good and is greater than compiled for many de-finitive feasibility studies. This gives Luiri and potential financiers greater confidence in the gold recoveries that will be achieved.

These studies by Coffey are now well ad-vanced and the Coffey FS is expected shortly. A key element of the Coffey FS will be a min-ing schedule that includes detailed knowl-edge of gold recoveries and operating costs from each block of ore mined. Luiri says it re-mains confident that the average gold recov-ery for the LOM at Dunrobin will remain above the 90 % assumed in the Luiri FS.

Ferrex, the AIM-quoted iron ore and manganese development company, reports that the prospect-ing right covering the 4 192 ha Malelane iron ore project in Mpumalanga has been extended and is now valid to 20 May 2016.

The extension of the prospecting right is in line with the company’s strategy of continuing to develop Malelane as a low-capex, initial 1,8 Mt/a iron operation with a life of mine of 16,6 years. Malelane has a JORC-code compliant inferred re-source of 139 Mt at 37 % Fe which, importantly, is only modelled on 1,1  km of the 14 km of the BIF strike. The project has an upgraded total ex-ploration target of 1,6 bt to 2,0 bt at 28-30 % Fe

as announced on 4 June 2013. Additionally, the project is well connected in terms of infrastruc-ture with direct access to the port of Maputo in Mozambique.

“The extension of the prospecting right over the Malelane project is an important step in Malel-ane’s development, and will ensure sufficient time for the pre-feasibility and bankable feasibility to be completed as we advance Malelane towards production,” says Ferrex MD Dave Reeves. “We continue to work on the social and environmental aspects of the project and are currently preparing the mining permit application. We look forward to reporting on these developments in due course.”

Malelane prospecting right extended

mining news

Goldplat has announced that Russell Lam-ming has stepped down from his position as CEO and that Ian Visagie will take over in the interim with immediate effect. Lamming will enter into a six-month Consulting Agreement to provide his services to the company, en-suring continuity and an orderly handover.

Visagie, in his capacity as Financial Direc-

AIM-listed Weatherly International has an-nounced the appointment of key contractors to build its flagship Tschudi copper project in northern Namibia. The Tschudi mine will be an open-pit mine with ore processing con-sisting of crushing, agglomeration, stacking, heap leaching, solvent extraction and elec-trowinning to produce copper cathode. The plant is designed to produce 17 000 t/a of copper cathode.

Comments Rod Webster, CEO of Weather-ly: “The final negotiations to secure the loan for Tschudi took longer than originally antici-pated, but we were able to make significant operational progress on Tschudi during these negotiations. Appointing the contractors takes us one step closer to getting Tschudi into production.”

Weatherly has signed the mining contract with Basil Read Mining Namibia, a Namibian subsidiary of a South African firm that brings with it six decades of construction and min-ing expertise. Basil Read started operations in 1952, and has become a powerful brand in construction, development, engineering and mining in Southern Africa.

Basil Read Mining has announced sepa-rately that its R1,8 billion contract consists of two phases: a ten-month start-up phase which will commence in March 2014 and the open-pit phase, expected to last five years from December 2014 to December 2019. Although the initial contract period compris-ing the two phases is for five years, it has an

extra two year extension option. Total waste to be removed by Basil Read Mining will be 38,3  million bank cubic metres (bcm) with 4,7 million bcm of ore.

To undertake crushing, agglomeration and stacking, Weatherly has appointed B & E Inter-national North (Namibia), a Namibian subsid-iary of a South African firm. Founded in 1972, the company entered the mining services sector in 1993. Its skills include bulk mining, processing and beneficiation of minerals; de-sign and construction of purpose built plants; and maintenance and operation of processing plants for mine owners. In 2008, the company was acquired by Raubex Group Ltd.

The company’s customer list includes, among others, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Exxaro, Assmang, De Beers, Namdeb, most major South African construction companies and various international construction com-panies operating in Sub-Saharan Africa.

LogiMan will be responsible for plant con-

struction. The company, which will operate under a Namibian subsidiary for the Weath-erly contract, provides a specialist, multidis-ciplinary engineering consulting and project management service to the mining and heavy industries. Its particular strengths are in the process and minerals engineering sectors.

According to Weatherly, LogiMan has – in just a few years – developed a reputation for project delivery. Its growth has stemmed from its ability to service all stages of the project life cycle from concept to completion. Logi-Man does active work outside the borders of South Africa. The agreement with LogiMan is for a fixed price EPC contract (for R641 mil-lion) which, at current exchange rates, is con-sistent with the cost estimated in the feasibil-ity of December 2012.

Weatherly says it is close to finalising its agreement with Nampower (power supply) which will be executed post drawdown of the recently concluded Orion Mining Finance loan. It is also finalising a long-term acid sup-ply agreement with Protea Chemicals.

Key contractors appointed for Tschudi

Goldplat Chief Executive steps downtor since the company’s admission to AIM in July 2006, has been instrumental in the growth of Goldplat. The company says it is now seeking to find a South African-based CEO to guide the African focused gold com-pany through the next phase of its evolution, as it looks to build its market-leading gold re-covery position in Africa.

mining news

12 10.13

The Beltcon 17 conference held in Johannes-burg in August 2013 was reportedly a huge success with exhibitors and speakers alike describing it as the best yet to have been held.

“It will be hard to beat the success of this year’s Beltcon,” comments Carlos Andrade, Chairman of the organising committee. “The variety and quality of papers presented was quite remarkable. Internationally acclaimed leaders in the fields of materials handling and conveying were joined by top South African experts in presenting the latest information, research, development and trends in the in-dustry.”

Lou Killian of Exxaro delivered the keynote address. Topics covered by other speakers in-cluded quality control procedures for convey-or belt installations (Katlego Makgata, DRA, RSA); belt transitions analysis by finite element

Australia’s IMX Resources has announced that it has reached agreement with MMG Ex-ploration Holdings Limited (MMG) on terms and conditions under which MMG may earn up to a 60 % joint venture (JV) interest in IMX’s Nachingwea project, which includes the Ntaka Hill nickel sulphide project, located in south-east Tanzania.

MMG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed MMG Limited, a diversified base metals mining and explora-tion company with a market capitalisation of approximately US$1,35 billion.

“We are delighted to welcome MMG as our partner to test for deeper, high-grade mafic intrusive style nickel mineralisation at Ntaka Hill and to build on our success to date,” says IMX Managing Director Neil Meadows. “The deeper exploration programme lends itself to a partnership with a large company like MMG to manage the higher cost of such a pro-gramme, but also to bring to bear additional technical capability.

“If successful, the programme will deliver significant returns to IMX that simply would not have been possible for IMX to achieve alone, particularly in the current fund-raising environment for junior mining companies. We are very pleased to be partnering with MMG, a company with a sound reputation, a robust balance sheet and a strong belief in the ex-ploration and development potential of the Nachingwea project.”

He adds that the agreement with MMG will ensure a well-funded exploration programme and provide a path towards production with a major global producer should it prove suc-cessful. Importantly, he says, the expanded exploration programme can be progressed without the need for a highly dilutive corpo-rate level capital raising.

Since its acquisition of Continental Nickel Limited (CNI) in September 2012, IMX’s ex-ploration work at Ntaka Hill has focused on resource definition and delineation in support

IMX and MMG to joint venture on Nachingwea

The Nachingwea project is located in south-east Tanzania.

of near-surface, open-pit mining opportuni-ties. Together with work previously under-taken by CNI, this work has resulted in the delineation of measured and indicated min-eral resources of 20,3 Mt at 0,58 % nickel and 0,13 % copper for 117 880 tonnes of contained nickel together with inferred min-eral resources of 35,9 Mt at 0,66 % nickel and 0,14  % copper for 238 500 tonnes of con-tained nickel.

Under the terms of the agreement, MMG

will become operator of the JV, managing exploration work targeting exploration of the deeper, higher grade mineralisation. The par-ties will establish a technical working group consisting of representatives from both IMX and MMG.

MMG owns and operates the Lane Xang Minerals Limited (LXML) Sepon mine in Laos, the Kinsevere mine in the DRC and the Cen-tury, Golden Grove and Rosebery mines in Australia.

Conveyor conference impresses delegatesanalysis and field measurements on overland conveyors (David Kruse, AC-Tek, USA); belt de-tensioning in dips, and flywheels on belt conveyors (Gabriel Lodewijks, University of Technology, Delft); and non-gravity take-up technology (Alan Exton, Accrete, RSA).

The subject of common conveyor drive failures and variable speed drive use was covered by Lorinda Lakay of Joy Global, RSA while Dave Pitcher of Fenner RSA spoke on minimum pulley diameters, and calculation of correct radii for vertical curves in troughed belt conveyors. Ben-Piet Terblanche of Vey-ance, RSA looked at idler configurations.

The all-important topic of debottlenecking conveyor systems was dealt with by John Elkink of Hatch Asociados, Peru while bulk solid and conveyor belt interactions was the theme of a presentation by Daniel Ausling,

TUNRA, University of Newcastle, Australia. Other topics covered were vulcanisation

for splicing steel cord conveyor belts using a new heating method (Lennart Schulz, Leib-niz Universität, Hannover); in-pit crushing and conveying (Andreas Oberrauner, Sandvik, Germany); haulage systems for underground gateroad development (David Hastie, Univer-sity of Wolongong, Australia); and predicting the indentation rolling resistance of conveyor belts (Paul Munzenberger, TUNRA, University of Newcastle, Australia).

The next Beltcon Conference, Beltcon 18, will be held mid-year in Johannesburg in 2015, continuing the tradition of bringing the latest ideas and ground-breaking technolo-gies to the materials handling and belt con-veying industry.

The programme and paper synopses of Beltcon 17 can be accessed on the Beltcon website: www.beltcon.org.za.

mining news

JSE-listed Wescoal reports that a desktop study on its Elandspruit coal project – ac-quired from Xstrata – has been completed. The project is located near Middelburg and is bordered by Shanduka Coal’s Graspan col-liery to the east.

The Elandspruit mining right contains five potentially mineable coal seams which oc-cur from sub-outcrop to a maximum depth of about 70 m below surface. All seams are near horizontal in attitude and appear to be devoid of geological complexities such as faulting or dolerite intrusions. Consequently, the min-ing approach is expected to prove relatively straightforward.

Wescoal commissioned The Mineral Cor-poration to undertake a Phase 1 desktop study intended to investigate a range of con-ceptual mine development options as a pref-ace to more detailed feasibility work.

The results of the Phase 1 desktop study indicate that annual production of approxi-mately 2 Mt is targetable over a 15-year mine life at an average strip ratio of 2,3:1,0 (BCM waste: tonnes coal) for the combined seams.

Mine scheduling simulations also indicate that the grade of as-mined coal should be relatively consistent over the life-of-mine with raw qualities averaging 21,14 MJ/kg calorific value, 30,0 % ash, 21,5 % volatile matter and 1,08 % sulphur content (air-dried, uncontami-nated basis).

The desktop study findings suggest that

Snowden to work on Namib project

Desktop study on Elandspruit completedthe most attractive result from a number of alternative production scenarios is achieved in an option which envisages marketing raw coal from the No 1 and No 2 Lower Seams as an Eskom-type product, with raw coal from the No 3 Seam and washed coal from the No 2 Upper and No 4 Lower Seams being sold into the export/inland market.

Further work is required to test the feasi-bility of this scenario. Modelling exercises predicted that washing all mined coal for a 26 MJ/kg product (adb) could achieve an average theoretical yield of 50 %. A range of processing alternatives designed to de-liver various sales options to the export, in-

land and Eskom markets is being assessed by Wescoal. These may involve toll-treating the run-of-mine coal off-site or upgrading through a dedicated on-site facility.

At this stage of project evaluation, no coal reserves have been declared as further work is required to develop a final life-of-mine plan as required by the SAMREC code.

Wescoal is currently progressing the re-quired environmental authorisations and has commenced negotiations with surface rights owners. These processes are expected to be completed during the first half of 2014 follow-ing which the commissioning of the Eland-spruit mine will commence with production expected to attain 200 000 tonnes per month by the last quarter of 2014.

North River Resources has appointed Snowden Mining Industry Consultants – UK to complete a comprehensive Feasibil-ity Study on the previously producing Namib lead zinc project. The scope of work encom-passes all aspects of the project through to the application for a mining licence. This in-cludes important near-term work to increase the current JORC resources on the project.

Early work will involve desktop reviews of the tailings dump, ore in-situ within the his-toric mine structure and of the Northern ore lodes to ascertain resources on each.

The planned work programme also in-

corporates reviewing tailings retreatment, designing drill programmes for resource en-hancement in and around the mine, mine de-sign and scheduling, ventilation, metallurgy, process flowsheets, and a detailed cash flow model.

Namib is a brownfield lead, zinc and silver mine near Swakopmund in Namibia, which was closed in 1992 due to falling commodity prices.

After reviewing its project data and eco-nomics, North River has increased the base case production levels upon re-opening of the mine from 200 000 t/a to 250 000 t/a.

mining news

Junior diamond explorer Pangolin Diamonds Corp, listed on the TSX-V, reports it has dis-covered a volcanic intrusion with diamond-inclusion type ilmenites (the ‘SWS-21’), locat-ed in its 100 %-owned Mmadinare diamond project in north-eastern Botswana. This is one of the four project areas for which Pan-golin has exploration licences.

Independent laboratory analysis by CF Mineral Laboratories Inc of Kelowna, BC, Canada returned five manganese-rich or ‘Mn-ilmenites’ recovered from the SWS-21. These were recovered from 20 kg of material taken from a discovery pit at a 2 m depth in the cen-tral part of the intrusion.

The five Mn-ilmenites are similar to ilmen-ites reported by Dr Felix V. Kaminsky and co-workers from 2001 to 2009 as inclusions in di-amonds and from diamondiferous kimberlites

Shanta Gold has provided an update on prog-ress achieved with its 2013 diamond drilling programme commissioned to expand the indicated category resource base at its two main ore deposits, Bauhinia Creek and Luika, at the New Luika Gold Mine in Tanzania.

The drilling has consistently intersected mineralisation at levels below that of the cur-rently defined indicated resource and has confirmed the continuity of previously iden-tified payshoots at depth and along strike. High grade intersections including 10,42 m at 5,02 g/t have been achieved at depth. In addi-tion, significant new mineralised strike exten-sions at Bauhinia Creek have been identified at depth and to the west of the currently de-fined orebody. A new high grade intersection has been achieved at depth and to the east of the currently defined Luika South deposit including 4,52 m at 13,10 g/t.

Twenty diamond drill holes for 4 751 m have been completed (with two further holes to be drilled) to provide improved orebody definition at depth and along strike so as to determine the feasibility of possible future underground mining operations. The orebod-ies are currently open at depth at Bauhinia Creek and Luika and along strike to the west at Bauhinia Creek. Shanta intends integrating drill findings into an updated resource as-sessment for Bauhinia Creek and Luika. Min-

Significant discovery by Pangolin Diamondsin the Juina area of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Those ilmenites are reportedly derived from the lower mantle of the earth and are important diamond indicator minerals, says Pangolin.

Enzyme-leach trace element results from the SWS-21, identified by the independent analysis of material sent to Activation Labo-ratories of Ancaster, Ontario, are consistent with orientation trace element results over known diamondiferous kimberlites in the Jwaneng kimberlite field.

The SWS-21 was discovered through pitting from surface and has negligible overburden.

Pangolin is continuing exploration work on the SWS-21. A team is currently on site ex-cavating trenches to delineate the surface area. The team will dig at least three explora-tion pits to a minimum 5 m depth and pro-cess at least 100 tonnes of material through

Pangolin`s Dense Media Separation plant. The concentrate will be sent to an indepen-dent laboratory for the possible recovery of macro-diamonds. In addition, sampling will be conducted to locate the source of the Mn-ilmenites recovered from stream sediment soil samples.

Comments Dr Leon Daniels, Chairman of Pangolin: “The discovery of the SWS-21 intrusion Mn-ilmenites, similar to those re-ported as diamond inclusions from Brazil, is a significant development for our Mmadi-nare diamond project, where our focus is to discover near-surface, high grade diamond-iferous kimberlites for in-house diamond production. The team on the ground is highly motivated by these positive results.”

Pangolin also holds the Tsabong North project in south-west Botswana, where it has recently discovered one of the largest kim-berlites in the world, modelled at 270 ha.

Positive results from New Luika drilling programme

eralised intersections have successfully been achieved to depths of approximately 350 m below surface at Bauhinia Creek and 270 m below surface at Luika.

“Bauhinia Creek is currently the corner-stone deposit for Shanta Gold and it was important that we confirmed our expecta-tion that this high grade ore body extends at depth and to the west,” comments Mike Houston, Shanta Gold CEO. “These early stage drilling results at Bauhinia Creek are very encouraging with the targeted drilling

Locality map – Bauhinia Creek, Luika and Luika South deposits.

at Luika South and Luika confirming the high grade payshoots in these orebodies extend at depth. Given the close proximity to Bau-hinia Creek, it may be possible to exploit them via one underground mining operation.

“With production at New Luika stabilising and with the further upgrades to the plant in early 2014 on track, the updated resource statement (due out in October) will enable management to consider various scenarios to extend the Life of Mine with an increased level of confidence.”

1510.13

mining news

Review of Pickstone Peerless gold resource completedAIM-listed African Consolidated Resources (ACR) has announced the receipt of a report from SRK Consulting (South Africa) on the Pickstone Peerless mineral resource. The Pickstone Peerless gold project is located near Kadoma in Zimbabwe.

Dr Ferdi Camisani, a former Chairman of SAMREC, was retained to carry out an independent audit and review of the ExplorMine Consultants (EMC) resource estimation, as announced on 15 July 2013. SRK has now completed its review of the EMC estimation and held discussions with Dr Camisani on the results of his audit and review of the EMC estimation.

SRK considers that the mineral resources are reported in compli-ance with the guidelines of the JORC code and are a reasonable representation of the available exploration data set. The geological interpretation and estimation methods applied are considered to be appropriate.

Dr Camisani’s review states that “the Pickstone and Peerless mineral resource estimates meet the requirements of ‘reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction’ and can be taken as fully representative of the gold mineralisation potential in the area estimated.”

ACR’S Chief Executive, Craig Hutton, commented: “We are very pleased to receive confirmation from SRK of ExplorMine Consult-ing’s resource estimation. We are progressing with our work on the Pre-Feasibility Study for the larger open pit at Pickstone Peerless including the higher grade sulphide ore outlined in our Preliminary Economic Assessment in December 2012 and are targeting a min-eral reserve of 1 000 000 oz of gold.”

Pickstone and Peerless are sub-parallel mineralised zones of the same deposit, with the Peerless Trend being just 400 m to the north of the Pickstone Trend. Mining at the project site goes back to the early 1900s and ownership has changed many times over the years, with the company contributing the most (prior to ACR) probably being Rio Tinto which acquired the property in 1960 and mined at Pickstone till 1972, when it mothballed the operation due to the low gold price, the bush war and difficulties related to sanctions. ACR acquired the property in 2004.

PTM mobilises seven drill rigs to Waterberg ExtensionPlatinum Group Metals (PTM) has announced that the DMR has granted prospecting rights and consent for prospecting to com-mence on the Waterberg Extension Rights covering approximately 530 km2 immediately adjacent and north of the newly discovered 17,5 million inferred ounce Waterberg platinum and palladium de-posit.

Seven drills have been mobilised to commence drilling targeting the potential extension of the Bushveld Complex and the Water berg platinum deposit by drilling holes spaced 1 km or more apart over approximately 20 km.

PTM holds an effective 87 % interest in the Waterberg Extension prospecting rights. The Extension Rights adjoin immediately to the north of the Waterberg Joint Venture where the company holds an effective 49,9 % interest with JOGMEC, the Japanese State Com-pany, with a private empowerment partner holding the balance.

Recent detailed airborne gravity and magnetic surveys com-pleted by PTM over the known deposit and the Extension Permits provide signatures that clearly correlate to the shallow edge of the Waterberg deposit and provide obvious shallow targets along strike from the current northern edge of the drilled off deposit.

A preliminary economic assessment on the Waterberg Platinum deposit is underway by WorleyParsonsTWP, with the results ex-pected in December 2013. The shallowest edge of the Waterberg deposit is at 130 m deep.

mining news

16 10.13

Paladin Energy, which operates the Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera uranium mines in Namibia and Malawi respectively, has com-pleted a cost rationalisation review and pro-duction optimisation analysis for FY14 and FY15, continuing its aggressive focus on con-stant performance enhancement.

The company says improving operational efficiency is its priority objective and further

Uranium miner on cost-cutting drive the further incremental weakening of the ura-nium spot price although, in Paladin’s opin-ion, this price decrease does not detract from the very strong fundamentals of this com-modity in the mid to long term,” the company says in a recent statement.

The detailed cost review encompassed ex-amination of all activities within the Paladin Group, from its mining operations and explo-ration to corporate/administration overheads, sales and business development areas.

Paladin says that cash cost cuts for FY14 are forecast to total US$23 million. Corpo-rate overhead and exploration costs are to be cut by US$10,8 million, a 24 % reduction over FY13, while discretionary capital expen-diture has been reduced by US$12,4 million, with the majority of those cuts coming during FY14. Board and management base salaries are to be cut by 10 %.

Langer Heinrich C1 cash costs are targeted to be reduced by 15 % to approximately US$25/lb over FY14 and FY15 before the impact of in-flation while Kayelekera C1 cash costs are tar-geted to be reduced by 22 % to approximately US$30,6/lb over the same period.

Paladin says it remains committed to ongo-ing strategic rationalisation of its asset base. This includes re-igniting discussions and ne-gotiations to sell a minority stake in Langer Heinrich. Paladin is also pursuing potential joint venture partners for its undeveloped ad-vanced stage assets.

Bulk reagent offloading at Langer Heinrich. The mine’s C1 cash costs are targeted to be reduced by 15 % to approximately US$25/lb over FY14 and FY15. Langer Heinrich is currently performing very well, pro-ducing a record 1,43 Mlb of U3O8 in the September quarter this year (photo: Paladin Energy).

gains are expected to be maintained over the next two years continuing on from the 9 % and 25 % C1 cash cost reductions achieved during the June 2013 quarter compared with the June 2012 quarter for Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera respectively.

“Reviewing and implementing far reaching rationalisation and optimisation strategies have now become even more pertinent with

Pictured on the Mynbou Rigs Afrika stand at the re-cent bauma Africa show is the Belaz 75581 90-tonne capacity mining truck, with AC/AC drive. This was probably the biggest mining truck at the show and is an entirely new model from Belarus-based Belaz (which has also recently launched what is thought

to be the world’s first 450-tonne payload dump truck). The machine seen at bauma Africa is des-tined for Kolomela mine, where it will be joining the fleet of mining contractor Roux Engineering. Belaz is represented in South Africa by Mynbou Rigs Afrika, which is based in Jet Park, Johannesburg.

New Belaz truck launched at bauma Africa

Hwange records a US$4,5 million lossIn its interim financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2013, Zimbabwean coal pro-ducer Hwange Colliery Company reports that sales revenue for the period under review was US$40,4 million compared to the US$51,8 mil-lion recorded during the same period last year. The operating loss was US$4,5 million com-pared to an operating profit of US$1,6 million for the first six months of last year.

The financial performance is attributed to the poor cash flow position of the company. This was exacerbated by legacy debts in ex-cess of US$140 million dating back to 2008 and antiquated equipment.

Total coal sales for the period under review amounted to 913 440 tonnes with this fig-ure being comparable to the 918 491 tonnes achieved during the same period last year.

Hwange Colliery reports it has taken deliv-ery of mining equipment worth US$11 million from Sany Heavy Equipment Company Lim-ited of China. This equipment will augment the mining machinery worth US$7 million pro-cured in October 2012. Another initiative to procure drilling equipment from South Africa is at an advanced stage and should be conclud-ed in time for delivery of the drills in the fourth quarter of 2013. There is no doubt – says the company – that the recapitalisation initiatives currently being implemented organically will result in improved production performance.

mining news

1710.13

ASX-listed Minbos Resources will focus on the development of its outstanding Angolan phosphate assets after announcing its inten-tion to divest its assets in the DRC.

Minbos has taken the first steps in the sale process, serving First Right of Refusal on its joint venture (JV) partner Allamanda Trading Ltd, as set out in the articles of the JV company Phosphalux SPRL.

Minbos, through its 100 %-owned subsidiary Agrim SPRL, en-tered into a JV with Allamanda in August 2012 to explore and de-velop the Kanzi phosphate project in the Western DRC region which is contained within three active exploration licences. It also has ex-clusive options to six other tenements in the DRC. Minbos currently holds a 49 % economic interest in the project.

To date the company has completed a Scoping Study which has confirmed very positive economic returns and has delineated a JORC-compliant indicated resource of 58,5 Mt at 14,2 % P2O5.

If Allamanda does not take up its First Right of Refusal, then Min-bos is entitled under the statutes to sell its economic interest to a third party.

Scott Sullivan, Minbos’ Managing Director and Executive Chair-man, commented: “Minbos has two projects in development, both at the Bankable Feasibility Stage, in what remains a very con-strained capital market. The Board has made a strong commitment to Angola which has momentum and significant upside. We be-lieve that focusing our efforts and resources on the development of our high grade Cacata project in Angola is in the best interests of shareholders.”

Minbos to concentrate on Angolan phosphate assets

Continental Coal Limited, the ASX-listed company focused on ther-mal coal production in South Africa, has announced various opera-tional improvements at its recently commissioned Penumbra coal mine.

Production build-up at Penumbra is on target to achieve the mine’s design capacity of 63 000 tonnes run-of mine (ROM) per month by November 2013. ROM production for July and August 2013 increased to an average of 26 787 tonnes per month, a 35 % improvement over the average monthly production of 19 895 tonnes per month achieved in Q2 2013.

The commissioning of the permanent ventilation shaft in August 2013 was the last remaining infrastructure required to reach the de-sign capacity of 63 000 tonnes per month. With adequate ventilation in place since early September 2013, both continuous miner sec-tions are fully operational and able to establish the planned mining outlay of nine road production sections.

Another positive development is the improvement in the yield as the mining sections are being established. The average yield for the month-to-date (September) is approximately 59 %, a marked improvement on the average yield of 44 % achieved in July and August 2013 and the average yield of 37 % achieved in Q2 2013.

A drill-and-blast section will be added to the two continuous miner sections during November 2013 which will add additional flexibility to maintain the planned production rate. Each continu-ous miner section currently has two shuttle cars with the third cars expected in December 2013, creating further flexibility for steady state production.

All required surface infrastructure has been completed and the installation of the underground substations is now in progress. The installation of the substations has no impact on the planned pro-duction rate.

Apart from Penumbra, Continental also owns and operates the Vlakvarkfontein and Ferreira mines and is planning the development of a fourth thermal coal mine, DeWittekrans.

Penumbra on target to achieve its full production capacity

cover story

18 10.13

Apart from the length of the system and high capacity of run-of-mine coal required, the conveyor also needs to span a number of wa-

terways and roads and skirt populated areas without impacting on any of them.

The state-of-the-art design incorporates four drives at the head end and one drive at the tail end, which precludes the need for a mid-way drive station and transfer point with associated infrastructure and manpower.

Sasol’s Shondoni Colliery will eventually replace the group’s current Middelbult coal mine and provide

CONVEYING COAL ON A GRAND SCALE

Above: The Shondoni materials handling system is not yet at a stage where it can be photographed but a similar installation was undertaken by Sandvik for Shondoni’s sister mine, Thubelisha. Seen here is the Thubelisha overland conveyor.

Right: A typical transfer point on the Thubelisha overland con-veyor.

Work is underway on one of the world’s longest and curved overland conveyors at Sasol Mining’s new Shon-doni shaft in Secunda. The 21 km long conveyor is part of a complete integrated mining system offered by Sandvik Mining Systems, a part of Sandvik Mining and Construction RSA, to provide a turnkey materials handling solution from underground on to the Middelbult conveyor.

much of the coal needed to fuel the company for the next two decades. Sasol Synfuels will require rela-tively high grade coal from the mine, with large lump sizes and minimal fines.

Slick solutionTransfer points, chutes and bunkers need to be de-signed to prevent coal degradation.

“Sandvik Mining Systems’ successful bid was based on a combination of providing an innovative technical solution with a sound, proven execution philosophy and a balance between initial capex and opex expenditure,” says Rudi Pieterse, Market De-velopment and Sales Manager for Sandvik Mining Systems.

He explains that the project begins underground with a shaft incline conveyor to transport coal from the mine’s main ore pass to the surface. This 900 m long conveyor has an impressive lift of 170 m (more than 50 storeys) at an hourly capacity of 3 600 tons. It requires a massive 3 MW installed variable speed

cover story

1910.13

drive to convey the coal onto the surface level bunker conveyor.

With the same capacity as the incline conveyor, the bunker conveyor is required to lift the material an-other 40 m over a distance of 280 m to the company’s surface bunker. Power to achieve this is derived from a 710 kW drive which takes the material to the top of the 15 000 ton bunker. Once on top, a tripper con-veyor spanning 160 m with a 6 m lift uses a bifurcated chute to provide even distribution of materials across the surface area and minimise drop forces to prevent

degradation of the material. Coal drawn from the main bunker is then conveyed across a further 515 m at a rate of 2 400 tons per hour.

Overland conveyanceWith some of the main challenges still lying ahead, the material finally makes its way to the main overland conveyor. While maintaining the same capacity as the previous conveyor, the overland conveyor requires a massive 5 MW of installed drives (four at the head and a single drive at the tail) to move the coal over the re-quired 21 km. Complicating the overland journey, its route requires five horizontal curves (6 000 m radius) to guide it through an existing corridor.

Numerous sensitive water crossings, with the lon-gest one spanning 700 m, as well as road crossings and the close proximity of human settlements, re-quire the conveyor to be spillage free over these sensi-tive areas. A huge 80 ton counter weight provides the required tension to keep the belt operating trouble-free and without slippage at either end.

At ‘landfall’, the conveyor feeds two smaller con-veyors, the SCS moving head conveyor which sup-plies coal direct to the plant or a bunker conveyor

Thubelisha coal bunker seen at night.

Sandvik Mining Systems commissioned an intensive dynamic analysis study of wave theory and time dependent transmission of large local force and displacement disturbances along the belt. The analysis was carried out by David Kruse of AC-Tek and models the belt mathematically as a series of elastic springs and masses that deform along the belt’s axis. Rheological law deter-mines the joints between springs.

In this way damaging shock waves and large local belt dis-placement, which cannot be determined through static body analysis, can be resolved. The dynamic analysis determines belt tensions and power demands during transient conditions (such as starting and stopping). It also simulates motor and brake (or capstan) control functions and integrates their independent con-trol methods with the elastic response of the system to develop control and tuning methods to limit shockwave forces.

Dynamic analysis

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2110.13

The Shondoni system will have to traverse both roads (as seen here) and waterways.

At a glance

Project name: Shondoni Colliery Bulk Materials Handling System

Client: Sasol MiningTender awarded to: Sandvik Mining SystemsOverall length: 23 789 mInstalled power: Approximately 10 MWMax required tonnage: 4 000 tons per hourSpeed of belt: 5,7 m/s

which feeds the main plant. The SCS bunker makes use of a moving head for even distribution across the entire surface area. Below, a reclaim conveyor and small Middelbult feeder transfer belt ensure the ma-terial is delivered on site, where it is needed.

“Our proactive approach to minimise maintenance and enhance the efficiency and reliability of the sys-tem also necessitated the use of mechanical luffing chutes in place of vibrating chutes that allowed us to minimise moving parts and so cut energy consump-tion and slash maintenance requirements. We also used discrete element modelling (DEM) methods to optimise all the flows and ensure transfer chutes were optimally designed for the high speed of the

main belts (6 m/s). In this way, we are able to deliver a high performance solution that sets the benchmark for performance in the bulk materials handling indus-try,” Pieterse concludes.

22 10.13

coal

Minas Moatize is one of four operating coal mines in the Tete area – the others are

Benga, Moatize and Chingodzi – and is also the smallest. Karstel, how-ever, believes it is potentially the healthiest of all the coal operations in the region. “The problem with coal mining in Mozambique is that the infrastructure – particularly rail

infrastructure – in place is inadequate to handle all the projected coal production from the Moatize coal-field, a constraint which is likely to last for at least several years,” he says. “Minas Moatize is possibly the only operation to have aligned its development plans with infrastructural capacity and to have re-duced capex to realistic levels.”

A seasoned South African coal miner (with stints

in senior management positions with BHP Billiton, Xstrata Coal, Mmakau Coal and Optimum Coal), Karstel joined BHR in September last year and im-mediately began a review – and revision – of the company’s ambitious and expensive plans for the expansion of Minas Moatize. “Without going too much into the detail, BHR at that point was aiming for a ROM production of 4 Mt/a and was planning to build a processing plant that would have cost a mam-moth US$100 million,” he says. “Since then, we’ve re-phased and redesigned the project to allow us to reach a capacity of 2,8 Mt/a at a fraction of the origi-nally envisaged capex.”

When Karstel took over as CEO, Minas Moatize – originally developed as a very small underground operation in 1980 – was in its phase one stage, with a small 600 000 t/a thermal coal wash plant in op-eration. In May this year, the Phase 2A plant, which

MINAS MOATIZE FUNDED FOR FURTHER EXPANSION

Rowan Karstel, CEO of Beacon Hill Re-sources.

Although it has been forced to delay the ramp-up at its Minas Moatize coal mine near Tete in Mozambique due to low thermal and coking coal prices, Beacon Hill Resources (BHR) re-mains optimistic about prospects for the mine and says that all the pieces are in place for it to become a Tier 1 operation within the next year. Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell recently spoke to Rowan Karstel, BHR’s Chief Executive Officer, who says that a new funding initia-tive will raise up to US$19,2 million (via the issuing of convertible loan notes) and clears the way for implementation of phases 2B and 2C of the mine’s development plan, which will take plant capacity up to 2,8 Mt/a and reduce the costs of production dramatically.

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Above: A striking view of the Phase 2A wash plant at the Minas Moatize mine.

Right: The wash plant produced its first low volatile coking coal in the second quarter of this year.

coal

takes capacity up to 1,8 Mt/a, was completed and the intention is to follow this with Phases 2B and C, which will increase capacity to 2,8 Mt/a. With the new funding under its belt, BHR is now in a position to start on these two phases. Says Karstel: “We expect to start placing orders in November and to start con-struction early in the new year, with the start of com-missioning targeted for September 2014. Phase 2A has cost us US$6,5 million and we expect to spend a further US$13 million on Phases 2B and C.”

The Phase 2A plant was designed by Taggart and built by JH Tech of Middelburg (with most of the fabrication taking place in Witbank in South Africa). It was transported to Mozambique by road using 25 trucks. According to Karstel, the design takes into account the collective experience from Vale’s and Rio Tinto’s wash plants with regard to maximising the coke fraction in the fine coal and, among other things, incorporates FLSmidth Ludowici’s new re-flux classifier technology.

“The commissioning and ramp-up has generally gone well and the plant is operating in line with our expectations,” says Karstel. “Having said this, there have been challenges. For example, mainline power spikes and voltage drops have interrupted plant op-eration on a frequent basis. These events typically last only a few seconds – but in those few seconds you lose your magnetite medium and it takes around three hours to recover and reach the requisite levels in the plant again. We will only solve this issue once

coal

24 10.13

Workmen busy on track-laying for the Carbonoc loading facility, located 8 km from Minas Moatize.

we put in a standby generator system and UPS in the new year. In addition, we’ve had difficulty sourcing the fine-grained magnetite we need for the plant, al-though we’ve now resolved this issue. We’ve also, as you would expect, detected some plant inefficien-

cies that will need to be addressed – most notably a cyclone discard screen which is clearly under-sized. None of these issues are too serious and we’ve been encouraged by the ability of the plant to consistently produce the hard coking coal which is the prime

coal

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The Phase 2A plant takes capacity up to 1,8 Mt/a.

A Bell B25D operated by mining contractor Tayanna in operation at Minas Moatize.

driver of the Minas Moatize project.”Phase 2B will increase the capacity of the plant to

2,8 Mt/a through an additional crushing station and a second dense medium cyclone plant and is expected to provide the capacity to produce 576 000 t/a of low

volatile hard coking coal and 655 000 t/a of export quality thermal coal (5 400 kcal) for the Indian mar-ket. The plan is also to replace the old technology Lamellas with a thickener and increase the water re-covery efficiency. Phase 2C, which will be carried out in parallel with 2B, will comprise a flotation plant with a filter press that will increase the coking coal yield from 15 % to 21 % with an on-mine cash cost of approximately US$30/t and an FOB cost in Beira of less than US$110/t. The construction period for both phases is expected to be eight to nine months.

Karstel says that until Phases 2B and C come on line, BHR will hold production at Minas Moatize at a level of 20 000 tonnes of plant feed a month. “At this stage, it makes no sense for us to ramp up to the full Phase 2A capacity, as our costs of production would exceed the prices we can get in the current market,” he explains. “For the time being, we will keep the mine running at a low level and sell all product at the mine gate, which will allow us to turn a small operating profit. Once phases 2B and C are complete, we will then ramp up from 20 000 t/month to the full 2,8 Mt/a capacity and start exports in earnest. With the efficiencies and much lower costs of production that Phases 2B and C will deliver, we would expect to this to be a profitable operation – even at present thermal and coking coal prices.”

While the poor market conditions currently pre-vailing have been a setback for BHR (and indeed all other operators in the Tete coal basin), Karstel does emphasise that the company – via its subsidiary, Minas Moatize Limitada – has made considerable progress on most aspects of the Minas Moatize op-eration, including the logistics and reserves. “As I think you know, we have an allocation of 0,5 Mt/a (or 7,7 % of line capacity) on the Sena rail line to Bei-ra and this will increase to 1,5 Mt/a commensurate

coal

2710.13

with the planned increase in the capacity of the line to 20 Mt/a,” he says. “We will initially operate two trains, each consisting of two locomotives with 42 wagons, with each wagon having a 61-t capacity. We have a leasing agreement in place with Thelo Rolling Stock Leasing – which we signed in January this year – in terms of which they will provide five Grindrod ‘as new’ locomotives, as well as 90 new Gondola-type wagons, and we’ve also concluded an agreement with RRL Grindrod in terms of which they will manage and operate our rail services.”

Karstel adds that locos and wagons are currently under manufacture in South Africa and that deliv-ery is expected towards the end of this year or early in 2014. “We will start interim test operations in H1 2014 in preparation for the start of exports in the sec-ond half of the year,” he says.

BHR has also made a breakthrough in terms of its access to the port of Beira. “Our original plan was to use the Dondo rail siding – 30 km from the port – as the off-loading siding for Minas Moatize but that would have resulted in significant road transport costs, as it would have been necessary to truck the coal from the siding to Beira,” notes Karstel. “We’ve now identified a new site we can use known as ‘Ware-house No 4’, which is immediately next to the en-trance to the port. To construct the facilities we need at this site will cost around US$5 million and take five months to complete but the operational savings will be huge. We anticipate starting construction in November once we’ve secured the appropriate plan-ning and environmental permits.”

At the other end of the Sena line near Tete, BHR is in joint venture with Jindal on the Carbonoc loading

Another view of the Phase 2A plant. Phases 2B and C will increase capacity to 2,8 Mt/a.

facility, located 8 km from Minas Moatize. This proj-ect is reportedly progressing well and the siding is ex-pected to be operational shortly. BHR’s contribution to the Carbonoc facility is valued at approximately US$2 million.

In respect of reserves, BHR has just published a JORC-compliant coal reserve statement, indicating a total ROM proven and probable saleable reserve of 16,6 Mt, of which at least 8,3 Mt is coking coal, suf-ficient for a mine life of up to 15 years. Comments Karstel: “In January 2013 the Minas Moatize resource statement was increased by over 30 % to 86,8 Mt and by following the same methodology, through addi-tional exploration work and value engineering, we expect to make further improvements to our reserve base. We are also active in reviewing opportunities in adjacent properties and we believe that these could increase our life of mine to 35 years.”

Looking ahead, Karstel says that BHR – which is listed on AIM and the ASX (although it plans to del-ist from the latter) – is in discussion with key stake-holders (including its partner, Global Coke) on the building of a metallurgical coke plant, together with a 24 MW co-generation facility, in Tete and notes it has also identified a pig iron opportunity based on a magnetite deposit 35 km east of Tete, which it will tackle on a joint venture basis.

“Despite the infrastructural restraints, we believe that Mozambique is an excellent mining destination, offering a very low level of country risk,” he says. “We’ve been impressed with the help and support we’ve received from the government and we’re confi-dent that BHR has a great future in the country.”Photos courtesy of Beacon Hill Resources

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28 10.13

Highlights of the studies include a modelled net present value (NPV) of US$36 million at a post-tax real discount rate of 10 % and a Life

of Mine (LOM) of 19 years (Phases 1 and 2) for total ROM production of 21 Mt. Phase 1 would produce a RAW product with an average CV of 5 504 kcal/kg net as received (NAR) while Phase 2 would produce a primary product (for export) yielding over 62  % with an average CV of 5 689 kcal/kg NAR and 16,5 % ash and a secondary product yielding 33 % with an average CV of 3 627 kcal/kg NAR for a combined yield in excess of 95 %.

A LOM export price of US$3,40 per GJ equating to US$81 per tonne has been applied. When using the medium export term price assumption of US$3,74 per GJ equating to US$89 per tonne, the project NPV increases to US$55 million at a post- tax real discount rate of 10 %.

Phase 1 includes an initial truck-and-shovel open-pit mining operation whereby the Main Seam will be mined, crushed, screened and sold RAW to a pro-posed coal-fired Independent Power Producer (IPP), which is planned to be located adjacent to the mine.

Initial capital for Phase 1 is estimated at approximate-ly US$12 million with a LOM of nine years.

Phase 2 involves an underground mining operation whereby the ROM coal will be beneficiated for the purposes of producing a primary export grade prod-uct which will be trucked to the existing Port of Tu-lear for export. The discard coal will be sold to the IPP as referred to above. Capital required for Phase 2 is estimated at US$84 million and this phase of the development will have a LOM of 10 years.

Lemur holds a 99 % interest in the Imaloto proj-ect, which is located in south-west Madagascar, 60 km south of the national highway which leads di-rectly to the existing Port of Tulear, a further 150 km away. The project consists of one mining permit and four exploration permits covering an area totalling 81,25  km2 and contains a JORC-compliant coal re-source of 135,7 million gross tonnes in situ (GTIS), of which 91 % is measured and indicated.

Lemur has undertaken three separate scoping stud-ies in relation to mining, infrastructure and land logistics, and port facilities to understand the oper-ating, capital and process requirements in order to

PHASED DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED FOR IMALOTO

A drill site at Imaloto. Lemur Resources holds a 99 % interest in the project, which it acquired in April 2011 through its acquisition of Coal of Madagascar.

ASX-listed coal exploration company Lemur Resources Limited, currently the subject of a takeover bid by AIM-listed Bushveld Minerals (which is developing the Mokopane tin project and the Bushveld iron ore proj-ect in South Africa), reports that the consolidated results of the mining, infrastructure, land logistics and port scoping studies undertaken at its Imaloto coal project in Madagascar highlight the potential of the project and provide a pathway for its proposed development. Two phases of development are envisaged – an initial low capex open-pit mining operation (Phase 1) followed by an underground mining operation (Phase 2).

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The Imaloto project is located in the Ima-loto Coal Basin, which is the northern-most coal field in the greater Sakoa Basin of south-west Madagascar.

commence an economically viable mining operation producing up to 1 Mt/a of saleable export product and 400 kt/a of saleable domestic product from Ima-loto. The mining scoping study was prepared by Bad-ger Mining & Consulting, the infrastructure and land logistics scoping study by DRA Mineral Projects and the port scoping study by Ports of Africa (POA).

In addition to the above scoping studies, F-Tech In-ternational Limited has undertaken a pre-feasibility study assessing the viability of constructing an IPP in near proximity to the project which is the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding with Jiro sy Rano Malagasy (Jirama), the state-owned electricity compa-ny responsible for the production, transmission and distribution of electricity in Madagascar.

Lemur is planning that the IPP concession be housed in a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lemur group. Once the concession has been issued, the com-pany will then look to secure a strategic equity part-ner who will act as a financier in the development of the power plant via equity contributions at the proj-ect level thereby covering a substantial part, if not all, of the required capital outlay.

The results of the scoping studies have been used by Hindsight Financial and Commercial Solutions to construct the project’s financial model.

The mining scoping study contemplates that open-cast operations will be a contract mining operation with a conventional truck-and-shovel system being used.

Pre-stripping of the soft overburden and prepara-tion of the box cut is expected to take three months. Once complete, the open-pit operation will com-mence in Block 1 – the project area has been broken into five mining blocks – and will access the deposit from one side perpendicular to the strike line and move along strike at a pre-determined stripping ra-tio, thereby reducing the waste and ROM hauling dis-tance and related costs. ROM tonnes will be hauled outside the pit to various stockpiles depending on the coal specifications where they await processing.

The Mining Rock Mass Rating (MRMR) for Block 1 where the opencast mining is to begin is rated 50, al-

lowing for the Block 1 pit wall to have an end wall overall slope angle of 55 degrees. The three water sources requiring management via pumping and re-ticulation systems are: rivers adjacent to or crossing the intended opencast mining area; precipitation over the opencast mining area itself; and groundwater.

It is envisaged that the Phase 2 underground mine will also be a contract mining operation. Construction of the underground operation is scheduled to start seven years after the commencement of the open-pit operation with related production occurring in year 9. The portal and ventilation shaft are to be construct-ed in Block 4 where the underground operation will commence. Production in Block 4 will be balanced with production from Block 1 and 3 over the LOM.

A mechanised bord and pillar mining approach will be adopted utilising unmanned mobile machines. As the depth of the underground mining increases, so too do the pillar sizes. These pillars have been sched-uled for removal on retreat. The coal itself appears to be of a greater or similar strength to that of South Afri-can coal mines. The design of pillars cannot be based on the strength of the rock and coal alone but it gives reason to believe that the Salamon formula for the de-sign of pillars and the safety factors commonly used in South Africa for conventional bord and pillar min-ing and for pillar extraction will apply in Madagascar.

Core samples indicate that the roof rock comprises competent sandstone requiring minimal mesh and bolting. The floor in places has up to a half metre of laminated sandstone that will break up when tra-versed by heavy mobile machines and end up in the plant.

The processing and land logistics scoping study contemplates Phase 1 production being crushed and screened only. The underground ROM tonnes pro-duced during Phase 2, however, will be washed in preparation for the seaborne market.

It has been confirmed by F-tech that the Main, Up-per and Top seams in their RAW form, save for crush and screen, are suitable as power station feedstock for a circulating fluidised bed (CFB) combustor config-ured power station. Front-end loaders will be used to

coal

Exploration drilling on the Imaloto project. In August 2011 Lemur commenced the third phase of exploration at the site which culminated in 2012 in a revised resource of 135,7 million gross tonnes in situ (GTIS).

feed ROM tonnes into the screening facility, with the fines product then being hauled to a stockpile adja-cent to the power station.

Coal beneficiation studies indicate that the optimal wash will be single stage and will result in an export quality primary product with the secondary product having specifications making it suitable for power station feedstock, meaning the theoretical yield of the Main Seam would be 100 %.

The wash plant design contemplated in the scop-ing study is based on an annual production case of a minimum of 1 Mt/a export thermal coal product. The plant will be based upon the Forzando plant design which has a capacity of ±350 t/h. This allows for the washing of up to 1,7 Mt/a and, based on the average yield of the Imaloto Main Seam, 1 Mt/a export grade thermal coal will be achieved.

Front-end loaders will be used to feed ROM tonnes into the wash plant. The export grade thermal coal will be stockpiled separate to the secondary product where it will await truck haulage to the port of Tulear. Again, the secondary product is to be stockpiled adja-cent to the power station.

The scoping study allows for the construction of a new 60 km gravel access and haul road due north connecting the project to the existing highway which currently connects Tulear to Antananarivo.

The access road will be a two-lane system, except for a 1 km stretch approximately 500 m from the plant access gate, which will have three lanes to al-low haulage vehicles to park off the main access road without causing a safety hazard to the normal flow of traffic. Included in the capital costs is the construc-tion of four bridges.

It is proposed that the export product be hauled us-ing 34-tonne Interlink side tipper trucks. This selec-tion was governed by Madagascar’s road legislation in terms of haul truck sizes and axle loads and also allowed for the 1 Mt/a to be achieved.

Results of the port scoping study determined that the most suitable and economical port operation would involve the coal being delivered from the mine to a stockyard south of the city by road. The export

product would then be stacked and reclaimed using front-end loaders and placed onto a conveyor belt that runs out to the jetty using the existing causeway as a base. It would then be loaded by radial stackers into 5 000-tonne dumb barges that deliver the coal by tug to a 50 000-tonne deadweight ocean-going vessel (OGV) at a suitable anchorage just off the main quay. Coal would then be loaded into the ship’s hold using cranes and grabs secured to the ship.

Looking ahead, Lemur says it intends focusing its efforts in the immediate future on working with Ji-rama towards having an IPP concession awarded; evaluating alternative port sites with the Ministry of Transport; permit administration; and considering “means to realising value from the Imaloto coal proj-ect including approaching strategic investors.”Photos courtesy of Lemur Resources

32 10.13

manganese/iron ore

Aquila has a 74 % interest in Avontuur and Thabazimbi, the balance in each instance being held by its long-standing BEE part-

ner, Rakana Consolidated Mines, whose principals are mining entrepreneurs Nchakha Moloi and Non-kqubela Mazwai. To service the projects, Avontuur has established a corporate office in Johannesburg and exploration offices in Thabazimbi and Groblers-hoop.

The South African team – consisting of approxi-mately 30 direct employees – is headed by Mike Halliday, who is Head of Country, South Africa, and Martin Stulpner, Senior Commercial Manager, South Africa. Prior to joining Aquila, Halliday was VP, Legal Services and Projects, at Uranium One while Stulpner was with Anglo American in its Johannesburg office, responsible for strategic planning of Anglo’s global ferrous metals business.

In terms of stage of development, Avontuur is the more advanced project with a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) having been completed on the Graven-hage deposit (forming part of Avontuur) in late 2011. By contrast, Thabazimbi is at the conceptual study stage. On the other hand, Aquila has thus far ploughed some R270 million into Thabazimbi as op-posed to only R150 million into Avontuur.

Both projects are, at the very least, several years from production given the current state of the re-source market (although Poli is bullish on the pros-pects for both iron ore and manganese) and the fact that both will be dependent – to a lesser or greater

AQUILA COMMITTED TO ADVANCING SA PROJECTS

A drill rig in operation at the Thabazimbi iron ore project. The project comprises five new order prospecting rights surrounding the town of Thabazimbi.

Pictured (left to right) are Toni Poli, CEO of Aquila, Mike Halliday, Head of Country, South Africa, and Martin Stulpner, Senior Com-mercial Manager, South Africa.

Although ASX-listed Aquila Resources is currently primarily concentrating on its two Australian projects – the Eagle Downs hard coking coal project and the West Pilbara iron ore project – it remains highly com-mitted to developing its assets in South Africa, on which it has already spent more than R450 million. This assurance was given by the company’s Executive Chairman and CEO, Tony Poli, when he briefed members of the media in Johannesburg recently on the Avontuur manganese project in the Northern Cape and the Thabazimbi iron ore project in Limpopo.

degree – on Transnet increasing rail capacity on two key export routes. In addition, Avontuur faces the challenge of an overlapping prospecting right which

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manganese/iron ore

in two areas, hosted within the Hotazel Banded Iron Formation (BIF) above and below a mafic sill. The lower manganese lode below the mafic sill occurs mainly as a single seam of plus 30 % Mn minerali-sation. The upper manganese lodes occur above the mafic sill and mainly towards the western area of the deposit as three seams of plus 30 % Mn mineralisa-tion in places. The general dip of the stratigraphy is 7 to 12 deg.

The Gravenhage DFS – based on a JORC-compliant reserve of 20,2 Mt at an average grade of 40,1 % Mn – envisages a 1,5 Mt/a ROM open-cut operation, with subsequent underground mining by decline access from the open pit. The DFS provides for the oxide ore to be crushed and screened to produce 1,125 Mt/a of lump ore for export – the main target market is China – and 330 kt/a of fine ore for sale to domestic sinter plants. Blending stockpiles at the mine will allow for a consistent product to be prepared for transport to domestic and international customers.

The DFS estimates the initial capex for the project at US$180 million. Additional capital would be re-quired for the underground mine but this would not be incurred until the fourth year of production.

All current planned manganese projects in the KMF are reliant on Transnet upgrading the logistics corridor to Port Elizabeth from its present capacity of approximately 5,5 Mt/a to 8 Mt/a by 2017 and 16 Mt by 2020. Whether Transnet meets these deadlines re-mains to be seen but Aquila, for its part, has taken all the right steps. It has participated in the Manganese Export Capacity Allocation (MECA) process and has been prequalified by Transnet to participate in the re-allocation of the Port Elizabeth export capacity.

Moving on to the Thabazimbi project, which incor-porates the Meletse deposit, the interesting question is whether there is some scope for synergy with Kumba

Drilling in progress at Avontuur, situated approximately 30 km north of the Kalahari Manganese Field.

has hampered the grant to Aquila of a mining right over the Gravenhage deposit.

In a recent ASX release, Aquila said: “The company has recently received documentation from lawyers representing Pan African Mineral Development Com-pany (Pty) Ltd (PAMDC), a company incorporated on 26 November 2007 and owned by the governments of South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which alleges that PAMDC is the holder of an overlapping prospect-ing right.

“The alleged overlapping prospecting right ap-pears, from the documentation, to have been granted to PAMDC on 17 November 2011, which is over five years after a prospecting right over parts of the same areas was granted to the company’s wholly owned subsidiary. The alleged grant is also almost one year after the Gravenhage Mining Right Application was accepted by the South African Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), on 22 December 2010.”

Aquila says it believes further discussions with the DMR and the South African Minister of Mineral Resources are unlikely to be successful and that it is prepared to take legal action if necessary to protect the security of its tenure.

Assuming the tenure problem is resolved, Graven-hage looks to be a very robust project for Aquila, with the DFS having confirmed its technical and eco-nomic viability. It is situated at the northern end of the Avontuur tenement, approximately 30 km north of the Kalahari Manganese Field (KMF). While the southern area of the Avontuur tenement is interpreted to be an extension of the main KMF, the northern area hosts a separate sedimentary basin named the Avon-tuur Basin, which is thought to be a ‘relic’ of the KMF.

The manganese occurrences at Gravenhage occur

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manganese/iron ore

Exploration at Gravenhage has defined a JORC-compliant reserve of 20,2 Mt at an aver-age grade of 40,1 % Mn.

A drill rig working at the Meletse deposit. Meletese, which forms part of the Thabazimbi project, lies to the east of Thabazimbi at the base of the Penge Iron Formation.

Iron Ore, which owns the currently operating Thaba-zimbi mine. The mine, which has operated since the early 1930s, is now a very mature operation and is due for closure in 2016. Although Kumba is planning de-velopment of the Phoenix project in order to replace Thabazimbi’s production, one would imagine that Meletse could be of interest to it. Alternatively, Aquila could take over some of the Thabazimbi mine’s infra-structure, thus reducing the required capex for Mele-tse. At the recent media briefing, Tony Poli confirmed that Aquila was in discussions with “all parties” in respect of Meletse but declined to identify them.

The Thabazimbi project comprises five new order prospecting rights surrounding the town of Thaba-zimbi. Meletse is located on the Donkerpoort pros-pecting right to the east of the town and lies at the base of the Penge Iron Formation, along the contact with underlying black carbonaceous shales and dolo-mites. It boasts a JORC-compliant resource of 80,8 Mt of haematite ore at 61,09 % Fe, of which 75 % falls into the measured and indicated categories. The de-posit is expected to produce a premium lump high quality product with very low deleterious element contaminants for the steel industry.

A detailed conceptual study on Meletse has indi-cated that the deposit could support an open-pit, di-rect shipping operation producing high-grade (greater than 62 % Fe) lump and fine ore for both export and domestic markets over a mine life of 15 plus years.

From a rail siding near the mine, ore can potential-ly be supplied to export markets via Transnet’s exist-ing – but overloaded – rail network to either Maputo or Richards Bay. Aquila is also working with Transnet to investigate transport of iron ore along the proposed Waterberg coal line corridor, a project which is re-portedly still in the feasibility stage.

Initial capex (excluding prestrip) is estimated at between US$215 million and US$300 million, de-pending on the logistics solution. Very tentatively, the number of jobs to be created during construction would be in the region of plus 300 with a further 450 permanent jobs being created once the mine enters operation.

The conceptual study was based on a resource of 48 Mt but has now been revised to allow for the much greater resource now in place (which could allow a production rate of up to 4 Mt/a). An initial concept-level mine design has been completed based on the updated resource and has been incorporated into the mining right application which has recently been lodged with the DME.

According to Poli, Aquila recognises the need for new entrants to South Africa’s mining industry to have vigorous social and labour programmes and he said the company had already invested approxi-mately R500 000 on educational facilities. This funding has financed the construction of ablution facilities at the Spitzkop Special Needs School in

Thabazimbi, the preparation of a water storage and reticulation system at Moshia High School in Alma, Limpopo, and the estab-lishment of a computer laboratory at the Groblershoop High School in the Northern Cape.

Aquila has a market capitali-sation of plus R8 billion and ap-proximately R5,4 billion of cash in the bank, making it a reasonably healthy company when set along-side its peers in the junior mining market. In addition, it has started construction of its second mine – Eagle Downs in Queensland’s Bowen Basin – and expects to have it in operation by 2017. Photos courtesy of Aquila Resources

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Bentley Park lies close to the town of Carleton-ville and the many shaft headframes visible in the vicinity confirm that this is an area whose

development over the past century has been inextri-cably bound up with growth of South Africa’s deep-level gold mining industry. It is a fitting home for the Murray & Roberts Cementation Training Academy (to give the facility its full name), which was established in 2005 and which has since expanded rapidly – to the point where it can now handle 450 learners a day.

In charge of the day-to-day running of the Academy is Tony Pretorius, Risk Manager, who says the facility has all the necessary resources and competencies to deliver word class training to its learners. “Our train-ing methodology incorporates a wide range of tech-nology such as e-learning, conventional and mining services mock-ups, trackless mechanised simulation, visual-based training and mass integrated assess-ment-based training,” he says.

Pretorius adds that the Academy is the only train-ing facility of its kind in Africa that is ISO 9001: 2000, ISO 14001: 2004 and OHSAS 18001: 1999 certificat-

BENTLEY PARK – A WORLD CLASS TRAINING FACILITYMurray & Roberts Cementation – as even its competitors would concede – is a world leader in the fields of underground mining contracting, shaft sinking, raise drilling and mining services and is certainly the biggest company of its type operating in Africa. With this size, however, comes the challenge of providing effective training for a huge workforce which constantly varies in size but which currently stands at around 6 000. The company has responded to this challenge by creating a Training Academy which is the most advanced of its type in Africa and possibly globally. Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell recently visited the facility, located at Bentley Park on the West Rand.

Some of the senior staff of the Training Academy. They are (from left) Raymond Otto, Safety Manager, Tony Pretorius, Risk Manager, Charles Reynecke, Training Coordinator, and Erick Beukes, Training Officer, Shaft Sinking.

ed. It also has accreditation from the Mining Qualifi-cations Authority (MQA), effectively licensing it to provide training in engineering, mineral extraction and occupational health and safety and to offer Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). It has a highly qualified permanent staff which now consists of 52 people, mainly trainers who are all registered with the MQA.

Facilities include an e-learning venue (equipped with 65 computers) for semi-skilled workers, a TMM (Trackless Mechanised Mining) e-learning venue (with ten ‘thin client’ machines, which are computers without their own hard drives), a skilled e-learning venue (with 30 ‘thin clients’), a VBT (Visual Based Training) venue with ten seats, a simulator building (which accommodates the latest fourth-generation CyberMine simulators from Durban-based Thorough-Tec) and 15 lecture rooms. In addition, the Academy has a range of mock-ups which realistically replicate key mining activities and locations on typical mines or mining projects. The shaft-sinking mock-ups, for example, vary in depth from 6 m to 15 m while a

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raise drill (or raise borer), used on Murray & Roberts Cementation projects in the past but now ‘retired’ is used to train raise-drill operators.

Learners are generally accommodated at the Bent-ley Park premises in comfortable prefab units. Two kitchens – operated on contract by Fedics – serve the complex, providing three meals a day for each learn-er. While most of the accommodation available is provided for men, the Academy has been adapting to cater for the increasing number of female learners and currently can cater for 24 females in the semi-skilled category and six in the skilled.

Since its early days when the emphasis was primar-ily on company induction and basic skills, the Acad-emy’s offering has grown tremendously in scope and the current course prospectus is a nearly 60-page long document. “Our offering is very broad and includes training in conventional and trackless mining, engi-neering, mining services, shaft sinking, supervisory development and SHEQ,” states Pretorius.

Itemising all the skills taught in the various port-folios would be tedious but – to give readers some insight as to what is on offer – the conventional min-ing portfolio includes the following modules or pro-grammes: examining and declaring an underground workplace safe; installation, removal and mainte-nance of support; handling and stacking of explo-sives; rock-drill operation; loader operation; winch operation; loco operation; tipping; and shotcreting. The trackless mining training programmes are, as one would expect, closely related to specific classes of machines such as LHDs, drill rigs, bolters, haulers and forklifts/scissor lifts. Material from OEMs such as Sandvik, AARD and Manitou is included in these programmes.

While the Training Academy has generated most of its teaching material in-house, external service pro-viders are used for some of the programmes. For ex-ample, Action Training Academy provides basic first aid training while mining learnerships and blasting certificates are sourced through Anglo Platinum and

Trainees receiving instruction on a 630 rail-bound air loader.

One of the new shaft mockups which will be used for instruction in the new Canadian shaft-sinking method.

engineering learnerships through AngloGold Ashanti.Referring to trends within the mining industry

and their impact on the Training Academy, Pretorius

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A winch chamber at Bentley Park.

Loading box forming part of a complete materials handling sys-tem at the Bentley Park premises.

notes a growing move from conventional mining into trackless mining and says the Academy has had to shift accordingly. “Ultimately, the training we pro-vide must reflect the choices of our clients,” he says.

He also notes that with Murray & Roberts Cementa-tion now standardising on a new shaft-sinking meth-od pioneered by its sister company in Canada, the Academy has had to adapt its shaft-sinking mock-ups

A female trainee learns the basics of roof support.

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One of the well-equipped e-learning venues.

to cater for the new methodology – a task which was still on-going when Modern Mining recently visited Bentley Park. Each of the four existing 6 m dia shafts is being modified to replicate a specific phase of the new shaft-sinking cycle.

The shaft-sinking method has already been proven in North America and represents a complete move away from the traditional South African approach to shaft-sinking, which harnesses cactus grabs and jum-bo drill rigs that stand on the bottom of the shaft, as well as the conventional way of carrying out concur-rent activities in the sinking cycle. Instead, all activi-ties in the sinking cycle are handled in line – with no two jobs taking place simultaneously.

Murray & Roberts Cementation’s Business Devel-opment Executive Allan Widlake is on record as de-scribing the new method as highly innovative, offer-ing both safety and productivity advantages over the traditional approach. Describing the system last year, he said: “The traditional number of people involved in the shaft-sinking process will be pared down to a small, multi-skilled team that will perform all the re-quired tasks. In practical terms, this means the labour force involved with sinking will be reduced to about one third of what is currently being utilised.” Ac-cording to Widlake, the system has been so effective from a safety perspective that Cementation in North America has completed several full shafts without in-curring a single Lost Time Injury (LTI).

The first full-scale outing for the new method will be on a massive diamond project. Murray & Roberts Cementation has been appointed as the shaft-sinking contractor for the two vertical shafts the project re-quires and has indicated that it will be using the Ca-nadian methodology. The Bentley Park facility will play a crucial role in training the shaft-sinking crews for this contract, which is expected to enter the im-plementation phase next year.

Finally, what does the future have in store for Bent-Dining area at Bentley Park. The Training Academy can provide three meals a day for each learner.

ley Park? Pretorius says the main upcoming change is likely to be a broadening of its client base. “Since its establishment, Bentley Park has dedicated itself almost exclusively to training Murray & Roberts Ce-mentation’s employees – although on occasion we have also trained personnel from other Murray & Roberts Group companies. We are, however, seriously considering offering our services to external clients, particularly junior and mid-tier mining companies who often have very few mining skills in house. An efficient, safe mining industry in Southern Africa is in everyone’s interests and we believe Bentley Park is well positioned to make a key contribution to this goal,” he concludes.Photos: Murray & Roberts Cementation and Arthur Tassell

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Smith says the Taggart acquisition continues Forge Group’s geographical, commodity and sector diversification which has seen it emerge

in little more than a decade into a major player in the international mining, power and construction in-dustries. With its roots in construction, Forge listed on the ASX in 2007 (changing its name from aiCon-struction to Forge Group Ltd) and now operates in Australasia, Asia, Africa and North America. It has four fully-integrated business units – Minerals & Re-sources, Power, Construction and Asset Management – and has a global workforce of approximately 2 700. Its clients include BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo-Gold Ashanti, Xstrata and ArcelorMittal.

Elaborating on the rationale for the acquisition, Smith says that a particular attraction was the fact that it would expand Forge’s exposure to EPC and

Asset Management in a recovering North Amer-ican market. “Taggart has traditionally been very strong in coal in the United States and ranks as one of the leaders in that country – and in-deed in many parts of the globe – in terms of the EPC delivery of coal handling and preparation plants,” he notes. “The acquisition gives us a large footprint in the United States and we see significant growth in this market, particularly in the coal and clean coal technology segments. There is a lot of opportunity to grow Taggart’s existing Asset Management capabili-ties organically in the US, and this will be a priority for us. In addition, we’ve acquired Taggart’s interests in China and in South Africa, and we are well placed

TAGGART JHDA AND LSL JOIN GLOBAL FORGE GROUP

Kalahari crushing, screening and handling plant, Northern Cape, South Africa. Forge Group provided its client, United Manganese of Kalahari, with a complete 575 t/h turnkey manganese handling plant, including all engineering, design, procurement, fabrication, erection and project management services.

Brett Smith, Chief Operating Officer – EPC of Forge Group.

Two South African companies with a strong presence in mining, Taggart JHDA and LSL Consulting, are now part of the Perth-based Forge Group Ltd as a result of Forge’s recent acquisition of Taggart Global in a deal worth US$43 million. ASX-listed Forge is a leading engineering, construction and asset management company that provides services to the mining industry and in its 2013 financial year (to 30 June 2013) recorded a net profit after tax of A$62,9 million on a rev-enue of A$1,1 billion. Modern Mining recently spoke to Forge’s Chief Operating Officer – EPC, Brett Smith, about the deal and its implications.

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Forge Group Africa recently completed SMPP and E&I supply and installation at London Mining Company’s Marampa Iron Ore Proj-ect (MIOP) at Lunsar, Sierra Leone and has been awarded further phases of the project.

Another current African contract for Forge is an extensive upgrade to the Obuasi processing plant of AngloGold Ashanti in Ghana.

to capitalise on the growing level of investment in the resources and utility sectors here.”

Smith, who was appointed COO – EPC in June last year, stresses that Taggart’s skills are largely comple-mentary to Forge’s, with Forge having traditionally had a focus – in respect of its Minerals and Resources business – on base metals and iron ore. He adds that Taggart, headquartered in Pittsburgh, has brought an order book of US$465 million into Forge Group, bringing the Group’s total order book to more than A$2,1 billion. “We anticipate that the Taggart busi-ness will contribute US$350 million of revenue to Forge in FY2014,” he says.

He also points out that Taggart has a good ‘cultural’ fit with Forge. “I’ve known the senior management

of Taggart Global for many years and I’m in no doubt that we share the same values – we run our compa-nies the same way, we have the same types of custom-ers and we both have a strong commitment to cor-porate ethics, to safety and to environmental care,” he says. “Moreover, we were never competitors. I’m happy to say that Taggart’s senior management will continue with us.”

While the two South African companies might seem a relatively small part of the overall Forge-Taggart deal, Smith stresses that the opportunity to acquire Taggart’s 51 % interest in Taggart JHDA and LSL (and its sister company Tekpro Projects) was in fact a major drawcard. “We see Africa as a critically important market for Forge,” he says. “As far as re-

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sources go, it is one of the most important markets in the world and I recall seeing a report recently which indicated that more dollars are going into exploration in Africa than into Australia and Brazil combined.

“We’ve been in Africa for several years through our Webb subsidiary, primarily in West Africa and pri-marily in fabrication and construction. Having the South African companies in our stable means that we can now access the African mining and minerals mar-ket in a way which was not previously possible. We will now be able to take on contracts throughout the continent, using the South African engineering and project management skills rather than relying on our offices in Australia and the US. All told, we now have around 400 people in our African operations, which are overseen by our GM Africa, Clint Donkin.”

LSL/Tekpro, which traces its roots back to 1981, is a materials handling specialist operating mainly in the power and mining sectors, and has complet-ed well over 40 major projects since 2000, includ-ing materials handling systems for Exxaro’s recently completed Grootegeluk Medupi Expansion Project (GMEP). It has a reputation for innovation and a few years back was responsible for the installation of a 6,6 km dual carry conveyor – dubbed the ‘Pretzel’ – at the Namakwa Sands mine on South Africa’s West Coast. At the time of initial construction in 2002 (it was later extended), the conveyor was the fourth such system in the world and certainly the longest in South Africa. LSL/Tekpro became part of Taggart in 2010. Its Managing Director is Dimitri Simigiannis, who continues in this role.

Taggart JHDA, for its part, was founded by Jim Harrison in 1988 and a 51 % share was acquired by Taggart in 2008, with revenue over the following 12 months growing by 300 %. Over the years it has built up a strong reputation in coal, particularly in de-bottlenecking and rebuild projects, but its exper-tise extends to many other minerals and it recently, for example, completed a 575 t/h manganese hand-

ling plant for United Manganese of Kalahari. As with LSL/Tekpro, the present management will stay in place.

Taggart JHDA and LSL/Tekpro have operated as in-dependent entities in South Africa (albeit with a high degree of cooperation when appropriate) and this is likely to continue now that they are part of Forge. Re-branding, however, is almost certain to take place as Forge’s global strategy is to use the Forge name.

Commenting on the benefits that Forge brings to the South African companies, Smith says the Group’s deep pockets and strong balance sheet will allow them to tackle much bigger projects in Africa than they traditionally have in the past – where the limit was projects worth up to around A$60 million. “Forge has typically taken on projects up to A$500 million and with our latest award – for the 55 Mt/a processing plant at Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Austra-lia – we’re going well beyond this. Roy Hill is worth A$1,47 billion, although we are undertaking it in joint venture with Spanish contractor Duro Felguera.”

Smith adds that not only will the South African companies have a mandate to expand their opera-tions in Africa but there is every possibility that they will participate in projects outside Africa – either by contributing their skills to sister companies within Forge Group or by taking on projects directly as prin-cipal contractors. “Being part of Forge opens up end-less expansion possibilities for the companies,” com-ments Smith.

Forge Group implements projects on an EPC (turn-key) basis and Smith says that both Taggart JHDA and LSL/Tekpro have traditionally worked on this model. “We believe the EPC model is the best avail-able. It is particularly appropriate in recessionary conditions such as we have at present, when clients need certainty on price. As you know, there have been some spectacular over-runs on some recent EPCM contracts.”Photos courtesy of Forge Group

Wonderfontein coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP), Shanduka Coal, Mpumalanga, South Africa. Forge Group completed a full engineering, procurement and construction contract for a 600 t/h CHPP.

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Born in the UK but raised in a succession of African countries including Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Blewett is well-equipped

to manage the Geo Explore Store as his own back-ground includes a seven-year stint as an exploration geologist in South Africa with Shell, Gencor and BHP Billiton. As he says, “I don’t believe I could run this business successfully if it weren’t for my own background in geology and exploration. Those years of being in the field have given me an excellent un-derstanding of what my customers need.”

In 1995 Blewett accepted a position with Corstor International in Johannesburg and served as its Sales Manager for 13 years. The company was bought out by a multi-national in 2008 and Blewett decided to move on. Within a few months he started Geo- Explore Store, initially working from premises in Isando which the business quickly outgrew.

Explaining the need for the new company, he says a gap developed in the market in terms of geological accessories. “I established Geo-Explore Store to fill this gap. We focus on supplying a very full range of geological accessories, although we also do core trays and sheds. The venture has been a huge success and from one employee – myself – we’re now up to a staff of seven and we supply right through Africa – and even beyond, as we are currently filling a very sub-stantial order for a mine in Saudi Arabia.”

Geo-Explore Store shares premises with Serviços Altantico, a company which, among other things, specialises in providing all the equipment required for the start-up of new mines in Africa. “On occasion we work very closely with Serviços Altantico and we also source certain items – such as core sheds – from them,” says Blewett.

Blewett acknowledges that the exploration indus-try is in a downturn at present in South Africa but points out that this has been balanced by reasonable levels of activity in Africa generally. “If it weren’t for our African footprint we’d be in big trouble,” he says. “The areas where we are most active vary all the time but, at the moment, the countries generating good business for us include Zambia, the DRC, the Republic of Congo, some states in West Africa, Tan-zania and Ethiopia. By contrast, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique are very quiet – but this could all reverse in a year or two.”

Geo-Explore Store has distributors in half a dozen African countries who each keep some stock but big-

ger orders are shipped directly from South Africa – either by air, road, rail or sea. Says Blewett: “We know our logistics. We’re very experienced in getting supplies to even the remotest parts of Africa.”

The business now has a client base of in excess of 2 000 all over Africa, which includes most of the larg-er mining houses, smaller junior and mid-tier mining companies, junior explorers, many geological consul-tancies and individual geologists. Blewett mentions that within South Africa itself a commitment to BEE has become virtually a pre-requisite to continuing in business and says Geo-Explore Store is at an ad-vanced stage in negotiations which will see it emerge shortly as a fully empowered company.

To market the company, Blewett relies to a great ex-tent on ‘word of mouth’ recommendations but backs this up by participation – either as a sponsor or ex-hibitor (or both) – in geological meetings and min-ing conferences in South Africa and its neighbouring states. To take a couple of instances, the company is a regular exhibitor at the Botswana Resource Sector Conference, held once a year in Gaborone, and also has a regular presence at the Geoforum event organ-ised by the Geological Society of South Africa.

In terms of its products, Geo-Explore Store sources locally where practicable but it also represents many famous offshore brands. Its hammers and picks come from US company Estwing, which uses specially forged steels in its manufacturing process, its com-passes from Breithaupt Kassel of Germany, Silva of Sweden and Brunton of the US, its torches from Mag-Lite and its GPS units from Garmin. The range in each category is broad with, for example, eight differ-ent geological compasses on offer, all of which Geo-Explore Store is able to repair, service and calibrate.

The hammers and compasses all fall into a prod-

GEO-EXPLORE STORE – A GEOLOGIST’S PARADISE

Denis Blewett with some of Geo-Explore Store’s locally manufac-tured core splitters.

If ever there was a one-stop shop for geologists it is the Geo-Explore Store in Meadowdale, Germiston. Almost every conceivable item that a geologist would require in the field – from hammers and compasses through to core trays and camping equipment– is stocked at the premises. Modern Mining recently spoke to Denis Blewett, who runs the company, to find out more about its origins and the products and services it offers.

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Part of the huge product range stocked by Geo-Explore Store.

uct category which Geo-Explore Store defines as field equipment, which also includes haversacks, scribes, streak plates, ‘wet strength’ notebooks, log books, lenses, field vests and even leather belts. Another cat-egory is survey equipment and products here include measuring wheels, levels, Total Stations, flags, pin tags, optical squares and various types of demarca-tion and measuring tapes.

Sampling equipment is also – as one would expect – an important part of the product line-up and among the items the Geo-Explore Store can supply are clas-sic gold pans based on the original design, grit blocks, geochem boxes and envelopes, dip meters, saws, core splitters and grinders, rifflers, scales, augers, sieves and plastic bags.

Although by no means the main focus of the busi-ness, a comprehensive range of core storage systems is stocked, all of which are manufactured locally for Geo-Explore Store. The systems are available either in metal or plastic, in all commonly used sizes, and with a full range of accessories such as removable handles, tray lids and carry boxes. The UV-protected plastic core trays are generally more expensive but have some key advantages. They are non-magnetic, which allows accurate results when testing for mag-netic susceptibility, chemically inactive, so there is no possibility of contaminating core samples, and, perhaps most importantly of all, they have no sharp edges, making them very safe to use.

Blewett stresses that safety is a core value of Geo-Explore Store and says all its products are evaluated

to ensure that they are safe to use, comply with all safety regulations and are environmentally friend-ly. “We also offer training in the use of some of our equipment – for example, core splitters – where safe-ty can be an issue if operators do not follow the cor-rect procedures,” he says.

Summing up, Blewett says that Geo-Explore Store is now one of the major players in its field, with a market share in geological accessories of probably more than 40 %. “I attribute this to the quality of our range, our personal service and our deep knowledge of both geology and Africa,” he says. “We are looking to expand our range and our services all the time so I see further growth ahead for the business, despite the current constrained economic conditions.”Photos by Arthur Tassell

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One DD rig will drill ‘fences’ across prospec-tive targets such as fault intersections for the purpose of increasing the knowledge of the

basin stratigraphy and structure. Holes will be in-clined thus providing oriented core, spaced 500 to 2 000 m apart, and 300 to 700 m in depth. Fences will traverse key geological contacts and will, for the most part, be oriented in an east-west direction.

The initial programme of nine holes will take be-tween two and four months to complete.

RC drilling will be sampling the transported cover – the Kalahari Group – testing for metal anomalism which may originate from buried mineralisation in the Neoproterozoic ‘basement’.

The RC drilling will work an offset grid pattern with lines spaced 2 km apart and average 50 m deep with a following diamond ‘tail’ when selected. The RC drill programme envisions 250 holes to be drilled in priority areas to outline deposit footprints with further areas to be covered if the technique proves successful.

Samples of Kalahari sand will be split and com-posited into 2 m samples on the drill rig, and then sieved to a 180 micron fraction. This fine fraction will be depleted in quartz grains and enriched in metal-adsorbing clays and iron-oxides. Samples will be as-sayed for trace Cu, Ni, Au and accessory metals. The diamond drill ‘tail’ will collect a small (1 to 6 m long) core sample from the Neoproterozoic basement.

As Modern Mining reported earlier this year, the strategic partnership between Tsodilo and FQM – finalised in April this year – is based on Tsodilo’s dis-covery of what it believes is the south-westerly exten-sion of the Central African Copperbelt of Zambia and the DRC on its tenements in north-west Botswana.

“It has become increasingly apparent to us over the past several years that the area hosts a sequence of rocks that is identical in age and composition to those on the Copperbelt,” James Bruchs, Chairman and CEO of Tsodilo, told Modern Mining at the time. “First Quantum has seen the potential of the area and hence the partnership agreement. We’re delighted to be partnering with them as we have only very lim-ited copper expertise in house whereas they have a proven record in terms of exploration for copper and subsequent mine development.”

There is a particular correlation between the Botswana rocks and those found in the area of the Sentinel-Lumwana-Kansanshi deposits of north-west Zambia, with the same hydrothermal alteration of sedimentary rocks seen in this area having been intersected in several holes drilled by Tsodilo. FQM is developing a new copper mine at Sentinel, where it has defined a resource of 1 027 Mt at 0,51 % cop-

per, and also a new nickel mine at nearby Enterprise, where the resource amounts to just over 40 Mt at 1,07 % Ni.

Tsodilo also recently reported that FQM had com-menced a major airborne electro-magnetic survey over the Tsodilo metal licences. It said that FQM has contracted with Spectrem Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo Operations, part of the Anglo American Group (AAG), to conduct the survey. AAG has invested about US$20 million and 15 years of development effort into the SPECTREM2000 fixed wing and ExplorHEM helicopter systems. The SPEC-TREM2000 system is a highly-successful proprietary airborne electromagnetic technique used to detect metalliferous sulphide bodies at or beneath the earth’s surface. The survey will cover 11 800 line km and should be complete, or nearly so, by the time this article appears in print.

FQM STARTS DRILLING ON TSODILO’S METAL LICENCES

The RC drilling will work an offset grid pattern with lines spaced 2 km apart and the drill holes will average 50 m in depth.

Tsodilo Resources, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, says that First Quantum Minerals (FQM)’s initial drilling programme in north-western Botswana has recently begun. The drilling programme will take place on metal licences held by Tsodilo which form the project area of the strategic partnership between Tsodilo and FQM announced on April 18, 2013.

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The intersection in Hole TMT006 also includes: a 40,79-m section grading 6,88 g/t 4PGE at a 3  g/t 3PE cut-off; and additional nickel and

copper mineralisation grading 0,37 % nickel and 0,20 % copper, plus a platinum-to-palladium ratio of approximately 1 to 1, over the entire 90-m inter-section.

“This is an extraordinary drill hole,” says Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe’s Executive Chairman. “The 90-m thickness of the intercept, which roughly is the same height as a 30-storey building, is unprecedented at Flatreef and I believe it also is without precedent in an underground platinum discovery in South Africa.

“The scale of the mineralised intercept has obvious implications for the contained PGMs and base metals in the open-ended Flatreef poly-metallic discovery. The combined grade and thickness of the PGMs and base metals mineralisation seen in this hole far ex-ceeds anything we’ve previously encountered in all of our years of delineating resources on our Platreef project.”

The gentle dips in the Flatreef discovery area mean that the drilled thickness approximates true thickness.

Hole TMT006 was collared approximately 360 m south of the location of the bulk-sample shaft, which recently received approval to proceed from the DMR. The high-grade mineralisation started at a depth of 803,43 m below surface and continued to a depth of 894,07 m. The two mineralised reefs that comprise the uppermost mineralised portion of the Flatreef dis-covery – T1M and T2 – are adjacent to each other in this area, which is a contributing factor to the size of the intersection.

Previous drilling by Ivanhoe at the Flatreef Dis-covery produced combined intercepts of the T1M and T2 zones that averaged 24 m in thickness. This is exceptional for the Bushveld, where many under-ground platinum mines have averaged thicknesses of 0,4 to 1,5 m.

Within the project area, the separation between the T1M and T2 reefs varies considerably, but with a general thinning from east to west. The separation between the T1M and the T2 reefs is controlled by the thickness of the T1 feldspathic pyroxenite that can vary from a few metres to more than 100 metres and appears to be controlled by syn-intrusive structures. Drill holes adjacent to TMT006 also show unusually thick mineralised intersections varying from 21,0 m to 48,8 m. What makes TMT006 exceptional, says Ivanhoe, is the extent and continuity of the miner-alisation that extends into the footwall of the T2 reef.

Hole TMT006 is one of seven metallurgical and geotechnical holes drilled since June 2013 and for which Ivanhoe has received assay results.

The current development drilling programme is being conducted in an area around the site for the bulk-sample shaft that forms part of the planned, ini-tial five years of underground mining at Flatreef. The company will use the results from the metallurgy and geotechnical holes for feasibility study test work.

Ivanhoe has 14 drill rigs at the Platreef project, with nine rigs drilling metallurgical/geotechnical holes and five exploration rigs targeting a potential contigu-ous, high-grade mineralised zone to the south-east of Flatreef’s Zone 1. The exploration drilling programme is focused on delineating the target – Ga-Madiba – that is believed to represent the southern continua-tion of the shallow Flatreef underground deposit.

Since drilling resumed at the project in June 2013, a total of 24 759 m has been drilled in 22 holes and 11 deflections, representing approximately 70 % of the planned 2013 development drilling programme. Ivanhoe expects to complete the 2013 drilling pro-gram in mid-December.

Ivanhoe has now drilled more than 709 400 m at the Platreef project since the prospecting rights for

PHENOMENAL INTERCEPT ON PLATREEF PROJECT

Location of recent drill holes TMT001-TMT007 relative to the bulk-sample shaft.

TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines (formerly Ivanplats) reports it has intersected mineralisation containing 4,51 g/t of platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold (4PGE) over 90,64 m at a 1 g/t 3PE cut-off in a recently drilled hole at the underground Flatreef platinum, palladium, nickel, copper, gold and rhodium discovery. The Flatreef is part of the company’s Platreef project near Mokopane in South Africa’s Bushveld Complex.

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Atlas Copco has been named one of the win-ners of the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) 2013 competition for the inter-

face design of the new rig control system, RCS 5.The IDEA competition is organised by the Industri-

al Designers Society of America (IDSA). It was estab-lished in 1980 and reportedly ranks as one of the most pre-eminent international design competitions. RCS-5 received a bronze in the Digital Design category.

“We’re honored to be the first company in the min-ing industry that receives a design award for a con-trol system,” says Sisirnath Sangireddy, Team Leader Interaction Design at Atlas Copco’s Industrial Design Competence Centre. “This proves that our design is recognised as the very best in the business.”

RCS 5 is a hardware and software interface solution designed for drill rigs. It is used as the primary user interface between the rig and the operator, assisting, monitoring and controlling the rig and enabling lo-cal or remote control. The system also logs statuses, events and error information for future analysis.

The interface is designed to accommodate different scenarios such as ambidextrousness, color blindness and variable light conditions and it fulfills all indus-try and usability standards. By using self-explanatory symbols, the solution works globally.

Navigation within the system is done through a

The new RCS 5 from Atlas Copco. Navigation is via a 15 inch touch screen display and drilling is controlled through two multifunctional joysticks.

Drill rig control system wins award15 inch touch screen dis-play. Drilling is controlled through two multifunc-tional joysticks with pri-mary functions grouped in the top of the joy-sticks. This allows the operator to focus on the drilling in-stead of searching for functions on the display.

The result, says Atlas Copco, is an optimal work flow with organised information and increased usability.

“The joysticks together with the touch screen pro-vide a really ergonomic working environment, and this has been one of our biggest focus areas,” says Jo-han Jonsson, Product Manager at Atlas Copco. “Our aim in general has been to develop an ergonomic op-erator system that is intuitive and easy-to-use. You get a faster production start when a new rig comes on site and it also reduces the training time needed for new operators.”

RCS 5 is currently available on Atlas Copco’s E-series of large development drill rigs.

Drilling at Platreef in June this year. Ivanhoe currently has 14 drill rigs working on the project (photo: Ivanhoe Mines).

the Turfspruit and Macalacaskop licences were ac-quired in February 1998.

Ivanhoe also reports that it is undertaking a 3-D geophysical seismic survey over the Flatreef discov-ery before beginning site preparation work for the bulk-sample shaft. The seismic survey is expected to be completed in early November 2013.

According to Lars-Eric Johansson, CEO of Ivanhoe, it has become standard practice at many South Af-rican mines to conduct 3-D seismic surveys prior to sinking new shafts or beginning major underground developments. The seismic survey will provide Ivan-hoe’s engineers with high-resolution imaging of the Flatreef mineralised zones ahead of the planned min-ing development.

Terrace and collar designs for the 7,25-m-diameter bulk-sample shaft (Shaft #1) have commenced and contractor mobilisation and site preparation is expect-ed to start in December, once the preliminary results have been received from the 3-D survey. Approxi-mately 250 contract employees will be working on the shaft once the sinking work begins. The vertical shaft will extend to a depth below surface of 800  m and facilitate the collection of a mineralised bulk sample in the second half of 2015 to complete the company’s development assessment of the Flatreef.

Shaft #1, including some initial lateral underground development work, is expected to cost US$80  mil-lion, which is expected to be fully funded from the approximately US$180 million in dedicated funds re-maining in Ivanhoe’s treasury from the US$280 mil-lion received in 2011 for the sale of an 8 % interest in the Platreef project to a Japanese consortium of Itochu Corporation, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Cor-poration (JOGMEC) and JGC Corporation.

Ivanhoe is working with the Japanese consortium on an integrated Flatreef development plan based on an exclusively underground mining operation of up to 12 Mt/a utilising multiple shafts. The study is ex-pected to be completed late this year or early next year.

South Africa-based Aveng Mining, the sinking con-tractor for Shaft #1, has been working on shaft engi-neering and design since June 2013.

Ivanhoe describes the Platreef project as a Tier One discovery of platinum-group elements, nickel, copper and gold. The project is located on two contiguous rights, Turfspruit and Macalacaskop, which adjoin Anglo Platinum’s Mogalakwena mining operations.

The Flatreef mineral resource, with a strike length of 6 km, predominantly lies within a flat to gently dipping portion of the Platreef mineralised belt at relatively shallow depths of approximately 700 to 1 100 m below surface.

product news

5510.13

Power and automation technology group ABB has won an order to provide four dual pinion high-speed ring-geared mill drive systems for Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine in the Erongo region in western-central Namibia.

The Husab greenfield project is expected to become the second largest uranium mine in the world, with a production potential of 6 800 tons of uranium oxide per year. This amount surpasses the total current uranium production of Namibia and will enable the country to become the second largest ura-nium producer worldwide.

The scope of supply comprises four vari-able-speed drive systems with asynchronous motors, ACS6000 frequency converters with mill application controller, transformers, medi-

XCMG Africa has launched the largest XCMG wheel loader currently available in South-ern Africa. “The new LW900K wheel loader, which was introduced to the local market at bauma Africa 2013, is an exciting develop-ment for XCMG, to support the development of diverse industries, including the construc-tion, mining and infrastructure sectors,” says Martin von Gericke, CEO, XCMG Africa, part of the global XCMG Group. “Continuous re-search and development forms part of the Chinese principal’s strategy to gain market share throughout the African continent.”

The robust LW900K wheel loader, which has a 9-t loading capacity, has been designed for improved productivity, reliability and op-erator comfort. This environmentally-friendly machine also boasts low emissions in com-pliance with more stringent environmental regulations, including European and Ameri-can emission regulations and standards.

The new electronically controlled Cummins QSM 11 engine has a power rating of 250 kW at 2 100 rpm and is supported by Cummins South Africa. A cyclone type pre-filter, com-bined with a double filtering system, prevents the engine from being damaged in dusty en-vironments.

The ZF 4WG 310 transmission, backed by ZF South Africa, has ZF electro-hydraulic shifting and is designed for improved work-ing efficiency. The functions of neutral gear start protection, shifting locking and the KD gear, are easy to operate. The single handle pilot control system reduces operating force and enhances operator comfort.

The LW900K features a factory fitted steer-ing accumulator to facilitate steering if an engine or hydraulic failure should occur. This

Specialist drive engineering company SEW-EURODRIVE is assisting its clients in optimising their applications by provid-ing them with a comprehensive set of skills through its DriveAcademy located in Jo-hannesburg.

The DriveAcademy offers drive technol-ogy training, and since its official establish-ment in South Africa in 2011, more than 500 SEW-EURODRIVE customers have been trained, notes SEW-EURODRIVE’s General Manager of Communications, Rene Rose.

“The DriveAcademy offers well re-searched and tested training material, as well as training demo models,” she says.

She indicates that the DriveAcademy of-fers product specific and general training related to drive engineering to both SEW-EURODRIVE staff and customers. “There are 18 predefined courses offered in total; however, the DriveAcademy can customise courses to suit individual customer require-ments.”

According to Rose, the logic behind the DriveAcademy is to provide customers with professional training to an interna-tional standard, as this will enable them to obtain maximum value from their product,

DriveAcademy offers drive technology training

A demo rig manufactured by SEW-EURODRIVE.

while assisting them in undertaking basic maintenance on units themselves.

“By being self-sufficient in the event of a breakdown, the customer limits downtime and productivity losses as a direct result of preventative maintenance. The training puts the power back in the hands of the customer and ensures that the products keep working in the way they were designed to, while en-suring that the customer’s plant keeps run-ning at optimum productivity,” she continues.

The DriveAcademy has proven to be popu-lar in several local industries. “The electron-ics courses are exceptionally well attended, especially Movidrive B, which is a more com-plex inverter,” she says. “Our geared motor maintenance and repairs training has also proven to be highly popular to date.”

What’s more, SEW-EURODRIVE offers demo benches, which customers can pur-chase to conduct their own internal training. “The idea behind demo benches is that cus-tomers with training centres can purchase these to do their own internal training, and also to do simulations and testing for actual applications in their plant,” states Rose.

“The demo benches produced by SEW-EURODRIVE SA are of such a high standard

that they are manufactured locally and ex-ported to other SEW-EURODRIVE offices too.”SEW-EURODRIVE, tel (+27 11) 248-7000

Large XCMG wheel loader introduced to SAis said to improve operator safety and pro-tection of the unit. The articulation limit is hy-draulically controlled.

The machine has also been designed for low oil consumption. This is achieved with a high torque engine and high capacity torque converter which ensure optimum efficiency during low speed travelling.

Bucket capacities of the LW900K series vary between 4,0 m³ and 6,9 m³, with a rated bucket capacity of 4,5 m³. These machines have a dumping height of 3 400 mm and a dumping reach of 1 470 mm.

The wide track design and long wheelbase ensure stability and enhanced safety, even in rough working conditions. The maximum ar-ticulation angle of the loader is 40 deg with a minimum turning radius of 6 200 mm.

Hanson Liu (left), VP, XCMG China, and Martin von Gericke, CEO, XCMG Africa, pictured at bau-ma Africa with the LW900K wheel loader in the background (photo: Arthur Tassell).

Richard Bradfield, XCMG Africa, tel (+27 11) 230-1900

ABB to supply mill drive systems to Husabum voltage cubicles and system engineering and spare parts for two 6,75 MW semi-autog-enous (SAG) mills, and two 4,25 MW ball mills.

ABB says its variable-speed, ring-geared mill drive (RMD) solutions are designed for reliable long-life and low maintenance op-eration. The proven technology optimises the grinding process, which makes it ideal for ores with varying grinding properties. In addi-tion to high system efficiency, availability and process reliability, the variable-speed drive also provides significant energy and operat-ing cost savings by using less electricity than a conventional fixed-speed mill drive.

The contract was awarded in May 2013 with first deliveries scheduled for Q1, 2014. ABB, tel (+27 11) 579-8000

product news

56 10.13

Babcock added two excavators to its showcase of new SDLG construc-tion machinery at bauma Africa 2013 — the first SDLG excavators to be released for export to Africa, as part of a global product launch.

The Babcock International Group is the exclusive distributor of Shan-dong Lingong Construction Machinery (SDLG) in Southern Africa. The SDLG range includes wheel loaders, graders, excavators and vibratory rollers.

In Southern Africa, 21-ton excavators attract the largest sales volume in their class. Weighing in at 20 700 kg, Babcock’s new LG6210E exca-vator is fitted with a 3,9 m long dipper arm with a long undercarriage and three roller guides on each side of the track.

The 14-ton LG6150E will effectively allow Babcock to make an entry into the lighter construction and civils market segments in which it has not offered products in the past.

Babcock’s SDLG General Manager Eric Lerche says SDLG produces larger excavators which Babcock will consider introducing at a later date. The two new models complement the company’s existing SDLG

Powerscreen’s new-look machines on displayPowerscreen, one of the world’s leading providers of mobile crush-ing and screening equipment, exhibited its Trakpactor 320 impact crusher, Warrior 2400 screen and Warrior 800 screen at the inaugu-ral bauma Africa show in conjunction with its South African distribu-tor, ELB Equipment.

Powerscreen used the show to launch its newly painted ma-chines. The rugged new look maintains the traditional Powerscreen green colour while adopting a dark grey colour on the chassis and conveyors.

The first machine to be enhanced with the new colour scheme was the Trakpactor 320 on display at bauma Africa. The machine was sold to Hein Senekal of Warthog Carriers. Senekal has been an ELB customer for 20 years and owns a fleet of Powerscreen® ma-chines. “ELB has a knowledgeable sales team and provides great service to their customers. I am delighted to own the first 2 tonne machine anywhere in the world,” Senekal commented.

The Trakpactor 320 is a mid-sized horizontal impact crusher de-signed to offer operators and contractors excellent reduction and high consistency of product shape for performance in quarry and recycling applications. With tracked mobility, the plant is capable of working in the most demanding environments and features rapid set-up time, a fuel efficient direct drive system and excellent output potential of up to 320 t/h.

The Powerscreen® Warrior 800 is a multi-purpose, heavy duty incline 2-deck screen, capable of stockpiling, 3-way splitting or scalping before and after the crushing units. The screenbox will ac-cept a wide variety of screen media, making it suitable for a range of applications including topsoil, recycling, construction and demoli-tion waste, sand, gravel and aggregates. The machine is available in either tracked or wheeled mobile versions.

Specially designed for large scale operators in the quarrying and mining sectors, the Warrior 2400 screen is capable of handling larger feed sizes and output potentials of up to 800 t/h. Featuring a heavy duty incline screen with a high amplitude triple shaft drive mechanism, a maximum feed size of up to 750 mm3 on 2,5 solid density and the ability to separate materials at 300 mm, it is said to be ideally suited to screening, scalping, 2 or 3 way splitting and stockpiling materials such as aggregates, topsoil, coal, construc-tion, demolition waste and iron ore. ELB Equipment, tel (+27 11) 306-0700

SDLG range showcased at bauma range, a value offering supported by Babcock’s extensive geo-graphic dealer footprint.

Also showcased at bauma Africa 2013 were three new construc-tion machines recently released for export by SDLG.

The LG9190 16-ton class grader is competitively priced and is said to feature world class manufacturing quality. When equipped with rip-pers and front counterweight, its gross weight increases to 17,6 tons.

The LG978L, a larger wheel loader with a bucket capacity of 4,2 m3, has a mass of 23,6 tons. Lerche says this new machine will enable Babcock SDLG to enter into operations where large capacity machines are required, for example, in coal re-handling applications when equipped with coal buckets.

Most of the new SDLG machines are equipped with fuel efficient Deutz or Cummins Diesel engines and feature quiet, ergonomical-ly designed cabs that are air conditioned as standard and ROPS/FOPS certified, ensuring the SDLG range meets with internationally accepted safety standards.

“The SDLG range is characterised by its simplicity, cost effective-ness and fit-for-purpose design,” Lerche says. “These machines are proving ideal for the re-handling, construction, quarrying, agricultur-al and aggregate industries, targeting the light to medium applica-tions. They offer extended trouble-free operation and are extremely maintenance friendly, being devoid of sophisticated electronics.”Babcock Equipment, tel (+27 11) 230-7300

The LG978L wheel loader will enable Babcock SDLG to enter into operations where large capacity machines are required.

product news

5710.13

Industrial workers can – it is claimed – exit or gain access to confined spaces with greater ease than ever before by making use of the SmartArm portable modular arm introduced to the local market by the African division of MSA.

MSA Africa’s Fall Protection Product Man-ager, Emmanuel Manaka, explains that con-fined space rescues can be technically chal-lenging due to the environment in which they occur. “Confined spaces are often narrow and constricting, and are usually either unlit or poorly lit, forcing rescuers to provide their own light source,” he says.

These hazards therefore create a limited window in which to perform a rescue. The general rule is that after four minutes with-out oxygen, a person in a confined space will likely suffer asphyxia resulting in either brain damage or death.

Due to the unique nature of confined space rescues, specialised equipment is necessary to perform a safe and successful rescue. In the event that an entry rescue must be per-formed, Manaka notes that rescue personnel will wear protective clothing appropriate for the situation.

“This may include a self-contained breath-

Versatile flow meter from ifm electronicThe new ‘efector mid’ from ifm electronic is an all-rounder as it monitors volumetric flow quantities, total quantities and temperatures. What is more, the measuring and evaluation units of the sensor are combined in an ex-tremely compact housing.

Versatile in use, efector mid is suited for dif-ferent flow directions up to 600 ℓ/min and liq-uids with a conductivity from 20 µS/cm such as water, coolants, emulsions or water-based cleaning agents. Analogue, binary, pulse and frequency outputs offer various options to process the measured data. In addition, the magnetic-inductive sensor offers an inte-grated empty pipe detection and simulation mode. It is also available with an EPDM seal and is therefore KTW approved. This makes it perfectly suited for drinking water applica-tions, says ifm electronic.

During set-up, the compact efector mid features easy, intuitive handling via three but-tons situated directly on the unit. This allows immediate use of the sensor in the field. ifm electronic SA, tel (+27 12) 450-0370

The efector mid flow meter.

ing apparatus, protective headgear and the use of explosion-proof lighting. The rescuer may also wear a full body harness with an attached safety line, especially if a vertical descent is required. To assist in vertical de-scents, a mechanical winch and tripod may be set up over the access point if the bottom of the confined space is more than five feet from the entrance.”

Manaka points out that the SmartArm is a simple modular device that allows workers to quickly set up for entry into or exit from a con-fined space with flanged horizontal or vertical access points. “The SmartArm is easy to use, transport and install. The device is compliant as an anchorage connector, thereby provid-ing a safe option for entry and emergency extraction by eliminating the need for rescue workers to enter the confined space. It also

provides a speedy single-action recovery process that greatly reduces the potential for injury even further.”Emmanuel Manaka, MSA Africa, (+27 11) 610-2626

Modular arm for confined space rescue

The SmartArm is a simple modular device that al-lows workers to quickly set up for entry into or exit from a confined space.

product news

58 10.13

Monkey Tower™ is a brand new product – essentially an unfolding scaffolding system – developed by engineer Alan Watt in the UK and is available for the first time in Southern Africa exclusively through Boom Access Plat-forms (a Division of Audentia).

Watt worked on a PhD in deployable struc-tures at Cambridge University, in particular working on developing new concepts for un-folding structures for satellites. This involved making satellite dishes, solar panels and similar equipment small enough to fit inside the tight constraints of the launch vehicle en-velope. Additional constraints involved sub-stances that cannot be used in space, such as oil or grease.

He also worked at the Jet Propulsion Labo-

A cost effective alternative to galvanised steel borehole rising mains has been introduced to the South African market.

The smooth walls of this new product en-sure water flow at low friction losses, contrib-uting to a high ‘water to wire’ ratio and re-duced energy costs.

The product is also rust proof and resistant to corrosion and build up of solids in the pipe. Being light in weight, it is easy to handle on site, thus reducing time and cost, and, due to the square thread design, is claimed to have excellent high tensile load handling charac-

Monkey Tower™ – an instant scaffolding systemratories of NASA in Pasadena, California for part of his PhD programme. Towards the end of his period of study, he entered a business plan competition with the idea of the Monkey Tower™ (although by a different name then) and won about £20 000 in funding with further funding coming from the UK government.

What makes the product unique is that it can be set-up by a single person in five min-utes and can be towed behind any vehicle. It is safe because safety latches automatically lock ladders in place, and toeboards and handrails are permanent fixtures so they can-not be forgotten. It is ‘human-powered’ so there are no batteries to die or fuel tanks to refill as with ‘Cherry Pickers’ or scissor lifts.

It can fit through a single door, and is light-weight at only 380 kg.

The Monkey Tower™ can take a safe load of up to 250 kg, meaning two people can work on the platform at any one time. The Monkey Tower™ Mini can take a 150 kg load and at 90 kg can easily fit into the back of a van or on the back of a bakkie.

The Monkey Tower™ has a maximum platform height of 4,5 m, with an optional additional metre taking it to 5,5 m (a work-ing height of 6,5/7,5 m). The Mini version has a maximum platform height of 1,9 m with a working height of 3,9 m.Mark Bind, tel (+27 21) 671-0370, website: www.MonkeyTower.co.za

The Monkey Tower™ can take a safe load of up to 250 kg.

Cost-effective borehole columnteristics. Because the pipes do not react to acid or alkaline water, they have an extremely long life in the well.

With a safe allowable hydrostatic pres-sure (dependent on class) of between 18 and 50 kg/cm2, a maximum of 500 m pump delivery head is catered for, allowing the product to be used in extremely high pressure applications.

Available in 3 m lengths, the piping can be varied in class as the pressure declines, al-lowing for a very cost effective installation.Corde, tel (+27 11) 609-4803, website: www.corde.co.za

product news

5910.13

The Zest WEG Group reports it is enjoying great success with the WEG SRW01 smart relay, a low voltage electric motor manage-ment system with state-of-the-art technology and network communication capabilities. The WEG SRW01 has the necessary functions to protect electric motors while enabling moni-toring and control via communication net-works. This is in addition to identifying pa-rameter and status information in real time.

This innovative smart relay can be con-nected in DeviceNet, Modbus-RTU and Pro-fibus-DP through a communication module that allows the user to change the commu-nication protocol quickly and easily in a way that is automatically recognised by the Smart Relay. Its measurement set creates access to all magnitudes of the electric motor power supply, such as current, voltage, frequency and power factor.

This unit can provide up to ten digital in-puts and eight digital outputs. An important feature of the product is the HMI with built-in memory, which allows system monitor-ing, relay programming and storage of up to three sets of parameters and three user pro-grammes. Easy access to the relay param-

JVT Vibrating Equipment’s Managing Direc-tor, Fanie Swart, warns users of the risks as-sociated with fitting non-OEM parts, particu-larly drives and drive components to vibrating screens and feeders.

Discussing the supply of drive and drive motors for vibrating equipment, Swart points out that it is critically important to the efficient operating of screens and feeders that origi-nal equipment manufacturer components are installed.

Vibrating equipment is carefully and sys-tematically designed to perform to stringent specifications to ensure high efficiencies and robustness are met, specific to the applica-tion they are required for.

“Screen drive beams are designed for a particular drive type and model,” says Swart. “During design, consideration is given not only to the centrifugal force exerted, but also more importantly to the location where this centrifugal force will be transmitted into the beam. Each manufacturer’s designs have dif-ferent physical dimensions. A non-OEM drive would typically require an adaptor plate to be fitted in order for it to align correctly to the beam. However, these typically have a differ-ent footprint to the original equipment. The re-sult is that the centrifugal force will not trans-mit to the drive beam as per original design.”

He goes on to point out that this in turn means that the bolts on the adaptor and mo-tor fasteners will be unduly loaded with ad-ditional moment, resulting in excessive stress to the bolts and drive beam.

“Another consideration,” Swart says, “is that when the centrifugal force is applied to a

Smart relay from Zest WEG proves popular

eters is achieved through the USB port which enables the monitoring and programming of the relay via a personal computer with the WLP (WEG Ladder Program) software. This software is available free of charge from the Zest WEG Group.Zest WEG Group, tel (+27 11) 723-6000

The WEG SRW01 smart relay, a low voltage elec-tric motor management system.

JVT warns on the use of non-OEM partsposition different to that of the design, the effi-ciency of transferring the centrifugal force may be compromised. The position of the drive and the adaptor plate must be taken into consid-eration, as well as the additional weight of the adaptor plate. If not, it could result in more force required to achieve the desired result, which in turn could induce higher stresses into the already compromised drive beam design.”

Further, he says, one needs to keep in mind that original equipment manufacturers have the back-up, support and design infrastruc-ture to ensure fast, efficient problem solving. He adds that non-OEM manufacturers should be held accountable for retrofit parts they supply that ultimately affect the performance and efficiency of the vibrating equipment they are being fitted to.

JVT is the exclusive African party that is licensed to supply JÖST drive systems, ex-citers, unbalanced motors, dosing drives and many other components, including all OEM spares.

JÖST Germany and Joest (Pty) Ltd’s rela-tionship ended in early 2012. JÖST Germany has now elected to re-establish a stronger foothold within Southern Africa through the establishment of JVT Vibrating Equipment (Pty) Limited.

The JÖST Group has also announced that it has acquired the Johannesburg-based fabricator KFJ Steel (Pty) Ltd. KFJ is a sister company to JVT Vibrating Equipment and will manufacture machines for JVT.Fanie Swart, JVT Vibrating Equipment, tel (+27 11) 397-1087, e-mail: info@jvtvibration.co.za

product news

60 10.13

Liner plate specialist Rio-Carb says it has eliminated the costly and time-consuming process of liner replacement through the in-troduction of its revolutionary Rapid Removal system, which was officially launched in the local market in August 2013.

Rio-Carb Director Martin Maine notes that the Rapid Removal (RR) system incorporates a specialised M16 countersunk nibbed bolt and removal tool that entirely eliminate the need for grinding and cutting for the removal of used liner plates.

“The RR system consists of a countersunk nibbed bolt with a 5 mm slot in the end. The bolt is Chromium Carbide (CrC) hard-faced and galvanised. The removal tool prevents the bolt from turning while the nut is being threaded off,” he explains.

According to Maine, the system also elimi-nates the need for an extra operator to work inside the chute during the liner removal pro-

The new Outotec Larox® CC 240 is the result of decades of experience and continuous R&D, says Outotec. It is tailored to the needs of high volume industries such as iron ore, and others, where increased capacities with low energy and water consumption are critical.

The unique design of the Outotec Larox CC filter utilises microporous ceramic sectors instead of conventional filter cloth. Capillary action in the micropores creates high suction without the need for large, high-energy vacu-um pumps, resulting in low energy consump-tion and creating savings in CO2 emissions.

The ceramic disc’s micropores also ensure an extremely clear filtrate. Due to the capil-

Rio-Carb simplifies liner replacementcess. “The entire operation is done from the outside, thereby improving turnaround times while minimising labour costs and the risk of injury.”

He adds that Rio-Carb has also developed a machined plasma-cut countersunk hole cutting system that requires no insert, where the hard-faced head of the anchoring bolt forms a flush surface of hard CrC for mini-mum flow disturbance.

Maine states that the Rio-Carb Rapid Re-moval system serves as a complementary add-on to the company’s CrC liner plates. “Using exclusive MaxCS Technology, Rio-Carb is able to take the properties of CrC and

The Rapid Removal (RR) system incorporates a specialised M16 countersunk nibbed bolt and re-moval tool.

cast it via a welding process onto a mild steel backing plate, which gives it an optimum hardness of 58 RC, with flexibility for mould-ing and shaping,” he says.

Rio-Carb’s CrC plates have reportedly been proven in laboratory testing to provide up to ten times the wear resistance against abra-sion of industry-standard 400 and 500  BHN steels, which are also susceptible to anneal-ing when heated to 250 deg C or more.

Maine highlights the fact that the Rapid Removal system will be incorporated into the price of the CrC liners’ holes, thereby provid-ing the end-user with a comprehensive liner kit.Martin Maine, Rio-Carb, tel (+27 11) 908-1014

New high volume filter from Outoteclary action, CC filters produce extremely dry filter cakes meeting transportable limits and pelletising requirements. In iron and chro-mite pelletising, the consistent low moisture levels reduce binder additions and create stronger pellets.

The Outotec Larox CC 240 comes with a high level of instrumentation and automation, ensuring constant moisture levels for supe-rior downstream production.

The CC 240 operates in a closed-circuit system, which recycles the acidic cleaning solution and minimises effluent.Outotec, tel (+27 11) 649-0100, website: www.outotec.com

product news

6110.13

DPI Plastics – a leading manufacturer of wa-ter reticulation, drainage and pipe-fitting sys-tems in South Africa – is introducing larger diameter Ultralok PVC-M couplings to the local civils and mining sectors, following the continued success of its current range.

Ultralok, which is currently available in 110 mm and 105 mm diameters, is a first-of-its-kind patented product for the jointing of plain ended pipes.

DPI Plastics Technical Product Manager Renier Snyman points out that the company plans to launch the 155 mm and 160 mm Ultralok variants to the local market by No-vember 2013 and the 200 mm and 210 mm variants by May 2014. “Ultralok is ideal for re-pair couplings or primary joints in mining and civil pressure pipelines, due to the fact that it can be used with high-pressure PVC or HDPE pipelines up to 16 bar,” he says.

Snyman indicates that DPI Plastics origi-nally developed the Ultralok PVC-M coupling in mid-2012 in response to requests from its clients in the mining industry who were ex-periencing substantial and costly damage to their metal pipelines as a result of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) in the water.

“When the metal pipes are exposed to sulphate containing water, the interaction of water and metal creates a layer of molecu-lar hydrogen on the metal surface. SRB then oxidise the hydrogen while creating hydrogen

Larger diameter Ultralock couplings introducedsulphide, which causes severe corrosion,” he explains.

Snyman highlights the fact that the Ultralok system is fully protected against corrosion. “The lightweight, high-strength, low reactivity and corrosion resistance of PVC as a material makes it far better suited to heavy-duty and highly-abrasive mining applications.”

According to Snyman, the design mecha-nism of Ultralok is unique in terms of its ro-bustness and gripping nature. “The body is manufactured from high-impact PVC, incor-porating a unique pressure enhancing rubber seal,” he says. “As the pressure increases, the design of the seal facilitates a distributed load, thereby alleviating the tensile load on the body of the coupling.”

Ultralok is manufactured in-house by Jo-hannesburg-based DPI Plastics and is per-

An Ultralok steel reinforced PVC pressure pipe coupling.

formance tested to the company’s stringent internal specifications to meet all criteria for use in 16 bar pressure pipelines where fully restrained joints are required. Martine Goodchild, DPI Plastics, tel (+27 21) 957-5600

Shantui shows off its latest modelsEarthmoving equipment manufacturer Shan-tui gave visitors to bauma Africa a sneak pre-view of its new 48-ton SE480 excavator and SL60W-3 wheel loader – which were officially launched in Africa at the event.

Shantui’s Vice GM for equipment in South-ern Africa, Garron Troskie, points out that the company’s new SE480 excavator boasts a 47,6  ton operating weight and a bucket ca-pacity of 2,3 m3, making it ideally suited to mining and quarrying applications.

“Mining and quarrying are among the most rapidly developing sectors in Africa and the introduction of the SE480 excavator will as-sist Shantui in gaining a stronger foothold in this market. The excavator offers power and quality at an affordable price and is designed for quarrying applications, as well as for entry level mining operations,” he says.

Troskie highlights the fact that the latest -3 version of the Shantui SL60W wheel loader is also designed for mining and quarrying applications. “The Shantui SL60W-3 wheel loader is powered by a Cummins engine, which develops 175 kW of power. This unit has an operating weight of 21 tons and has a 3,5 m³ bucket capacity.”Garron Troskie, Shantui, tel (+27 11) 390-8160, e-mail: garront@shantui.com

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62 10.13

The company that has brought leading access platform solutions to the African market with the US-manufactured JLG brand is gearing up to change the industry perception of telehan-dler machines with the launch of the all-new Magni telescopic handlers brand to the heavy-duty mining and construction sectors.

“We identified the need in the African mar-ket for a machine that is capable of more than just day-to-day material handling, and that delivers significantly elevated capacities and heights,” says Larry Smith, MD and found-ing partner of Eazi Sales & Service. “When we came across the Magni brand, we visited the factory in Italy, evaluated the technology and realised that the designers and engineers probably have more experience than any other

Magni telescopic handlers launched locally

Larry Smith (on the right), MD of Eazi Sales & Service, with Riccardo Magni, founder of Magni Telescopic Handlers, at the launch of the Magni range held at bauma Africa.

telehandler company currently in the world.”Magni Telescopic Handlers, which has

been manufacturing since September 2012, was founded by the long-term Manitou Italy president, Riccardo Magni. The brand has al-ready gained significant market acceptance in Europe, with an annual demand estimated to surpass 300 machines by 2014.

Magni currently manufactures the rotating RTH and high-capacity HTH telehandlers. The RTH range consists of seven models with weight capacities ranging from 4 to 6  tons, and features maximum heights of between 18 and 30 m. The HTH range is available in three variations which are capable of lifting a maximum of 15, 25 or 30 tons respectively – making the HTH 30.12 model the largest

capacity telehandler in the world.“The RTH model functions as a crane, ac-

cess platform and telehandler, all-in-one, making it an extremely cost-effective alter-native to purchasing and maintaining three separate machines. Together with the excep-tional reach height of up to 30 m, this makes the RTH perfect for construction and mining applications,” says Smith.

Each RTH model features the ability to ro-tate 180 degrees in either direction, offering 360 degrees of visibility, while optional ride control, which constantly displays load limits, further allows operators to control the boom remotely should ground visibility become im-portant. Larry Smith, Eazi Sales & Service, tel 086-100-5540, e-mail: larry@eazi.co.za

The M-Sens 2 sensor from SWR Engineering is used for online moisture measurement of all types of dust, powder or granulates and is said to be ideal for moisture measurement of coal and cement during batching. M-Sens 2 is characterised by its uncomplicated instal-lation as well as its simple calibration.

With a measuring range of 0- 85 % residual moisture, the M-Sens 2 sensor’s functionality is based on precise high frequency measure-ment of direct digitisation of measured val-ues which results in a high resolution. As the

Online moisture measurementmaterials surface and the capillary moisture influences its specific conductivity capacity, the moisture can be measured exactly by a constant averaged bulk density.

The sensor window is protected by a ce-ramic disc which is very resilient to abrasion and pressure.

The complete measuring unit consists of the welding flange, one to three sensors each with a 2 m connection cable, the MME 100 or the MME 300 evaluation unit. OEN Enterprises, tel (+27 11) 675-4447

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Weir Minerals Africa focuses on reduced cost of ownershipProlonged economic pressure has led to a definite shift in the min-ing environment whereby major mining houses are reducing the amount of money being spent on new capital projects, in favour of a stronger focus on operating expenses and efficiencies.

So says Dave Athey, Weir Minerals Africa Regional MD for Middle East and Africa, who adds that this has resulted in increasing em-phasis on boosting operating efficiencies and operational output.

“More than ever, local mines now need best performing equip-ment including best in class wear components,” he says. “This is one of the areas in which we’ve excelled, driven by a robust com-mitment to lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TOC). This com-mitment underpins the design of all our equipment with a focus on issues around engineering, hydraulics and the cost of materials, as well as how quickly and easily components can be changed out, repaired and maintained.

“Over the past five years, we’ve also put a lot of effort into de-veloping a superior installed service base that is virtually on the doorstep of our major customer hubs in all the major mining coun-tries of Africa. This has created a genuine competitive edge for our company.”

In addition, Athey says product development has received sub-stantial attention within the organisation. In the past two years Weir Minerals Africa has introduced new pump ranges, namely the SLR and WBH® slurry pumps and MCR® mill circuit pumps.

Weir Minerals Africa produces a large proportion of these prod-ucts in-house, only importing items such as electric motors, bear-ings and natural rubber, resulting in about 95 % local content. The company has its own manufacturing facilities and also outsources certain items to local third party manufacturing facilities.

Quality is a central philosophy at Weir Minerals Africa and its 2013 quality strategy has brought about a fundamental shift from qual-ity control to quality assurance. While quality control calls for an inspection at the end of a process, quality assurance focuses on redesigning the elements of a process in order to ensure that the quality of the product is 100 % when it reaches the customer.

In terms of supply chain enhancements, the company is reaping first-rate rewards from a two-year campaign implemented to trans-form its relationship with its main suppliers from simply transac-tional associations into fully fledged strategic partnerships.

“Our objective has been to assist and motivate our suppliers to manufacture products that are increasingly more cost effective and in line with our quality standards,” Wim van Vliet, Weir Minerals Af-rica’s supply chain director, says. “Feeding out of this are improved on-time deliveries and stock management.”Rene Calitz, Weir Minerals Africa, tel (+27 11) 929-2622

The Warman WBH slurry pump undergoing testing at Weir Minerals Af-rica’s Alrode manufacturing centre.

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Index to advertisersACTOM 58AEL Mining Services 46Air Liquide 21APE Pumps 31Atlas Copco 9AZ Hollink South Africa 13Bell Equipment Company 7Benhaus Molori 52 Beowolf Mining 48 Booyco Electronics 63Brelko 60Donaldson Filtration 44

Dynamic Fluid Control 42Eaton Hydraulics 15Eaton Industries GmbH IBCErnest Lowe 20Geo-Explore Store 47Horne South Africa 14Hytec Services Africa 61ifm electronic OBCJVT Vibrating Equipment 56Marthinusen & Coutts 57MDM Engineering 5Mining Indaba 54

MMD Mineral Sizing 59Nepean Conveyors 62Sandvik Mining 50Sandvik Mining Systems OFCSEW Eurodrive IFCSRK Consulting 26Taggart JHDA Engineers 2Tenova Delkor 30Transcor Truck Hire 11Veolia Water 34WorleyParsonsTWP 17

The Zest WEG Group’s small works division was recently contracted by Dymot Engineer-ing to supply electric equipment destined for a kibble and stage winder application at a mine in the DRC. The order included a floor standing panel with a WEG CFW09 variable speed drive (VSD) rated at 75 kW with dynam-ic braking and a full driver desk complete with a range of WEG LV switchgear for the kibble. Zest WEG Group also supplied a W22 55 kW, 400 V electric motor and dual 11 kW motors with one control panel for the stage winder.

The Zest WEG Group has a long-stand-ing relationship with Dymot Engineering, which standardises on WEG motors to drive its winching systems. Last year Zest WEG Group supplied a similar set of electrical con-trol equipment to Dymot Engineering for the same DRC-based mine and the success of this installation led to the second order. All this equipment has been supplied to under-ground contractor Bomar Projects, which is establishing the mine’s shaft system.

“We received the second order from Bomar in early 2013 and we again chose to source the electrical control equipment needed from Zest WEG Group, not only for the quality of its products and services but because our customer wanted this equipment to be sup-plied by a company capable of supporting the equipment from a nearby base,” says Bil-

Zest WEG assists on winder contractlie Christie, Engineering Manager at Dymot Engineering. “Zest WEG Group fulfils this requirement through its strategically situ-ated network of branches and distributors throughout Africa, staffed with skilled per-sonnel able to provide technical support and parts supply.

“The second order was more technically specific than the previous one, because it includes a separate braking resistor rated at 100 % of the motor rating. This is a fast winch that will run continuously at 1,5 m/s moving men and materials. The Zest WEG Group small works team was more than willing to help us program the special brake valve in-volved in this installation and when we tested the system before shipping it, everything worked perfectly. This team really did a good overall job for us.”

The Zest WEG Group’s small works divi-sion primarily produces smaller starter panels for the OEM market and the end user. Most of these starter panels are tailor made for specific customer requirements and incorporate prod-ucts from WEG’s own range including WEG switchgear, WEG VSDs and WEG soft-starters.

The small works division provides an im-portant value-add to customers who tradi-tionally buy motors and drives from the com-pany. Its specialist team is able to provide tailormade solutions designed for specific

purposes, which are a great improvement on off-the-shelf products. Zest WEG Group says these solutions are backed by its in-house expertise, rigorous quality control and excep-tional lead times.Zest WEG Group, tel (+27 11) 723-6000

The floor standing panel with a WEG CFW09 vari-able speed drive (VSD) rated at 75 kW with dy-namic braking supplied to Dymot Engineering by Zest WEG Group for a kibble and stage winder application.

In the six months since implementing a main-tenance contract at Debswana’s Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana, FLSmidth has reportedly reduced unplanned outages by more than 5 %. Jwaneng is a long-standing FLSmidth customer and has purchased an array of materials handling equipment from the company.

“We’ve deployed a significant number of technicians on site to support and maintain the equipment we’ve supplied to Jwaneng, only six of whom are expats,” says Buks Roodt, Director responsible for Customer Services at FLSmidth. “The scope of the maintenance contract includes mechanical maintenance of 102 conveyors including all

Unplanned outages at Jwaneng reducedchutes and belt magnets, as well as mainte-nance management, spares and maintenance planning using the customer’s SAP system, standby and breakdown support and clean-ing services.

“Having designed and manufactured this equipment puts us in an ideal position to add real value to the mine’s operation and main-tenance. Every additional per cent of plant availability means direct revenue to the cus-tomer and we’ve demonstrated that the new maintenance contract is already benefitting the Jwaneng mine. We’re very proud of these early gains and are committed to sustaining them.”

Roodt adds that a great deal of value is

added to the customer’s operation through focused OEM services. In addition to its Operation and Maintenance offering, the company’s Parts Availability Guarantee pro-gramme includes stocking of fast moving and strategic parts, stock location optimisation, simplified order processing, 24/7 ordering and troubleshooting, as well as service and training programmes.

FLSmidth’s Service Visits programme cov-ers service audits, troubleshooting, on-site repairs, parts installation, service supervision and on-site training. Its Rebuild, Upgrade and Replacement programme includes complete rebuilds, repairs, retrofits and calibration, laboratory sampling services, and assistance with process optimisation.FLSmidth, tel (+27 10) 210-4820