Modern Quarrying July-August 2016

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July - August 2016 MODERN QUARRYING 31
QUARRYING
SERVICES
“All this has created an increased
demand for a skilled independent
environmental consultancy with prac-
titioners that can bring complete par-
tiality to the table. This impartiality,
coupled with our broad spectrum of
applications knowledge and in-depth
understanding of the duties as well as
the rights of the applicant or licence
holder, ensures our customer base of
a level of proficiency not readily avail-
able elsewhere,” Smit says.
This depth of knowledge and
experience includes that of all depart-
mental processes and even though the
application process has been dramat-
ically simplified, Smit believes that it
is ever more critical for organisations
to use the services of practitioners
that are able to seamlessly follow the
requisite processes through the One
Environmental System.
An important differentiator that
Greenmined Environmental offers its
client base is access to an in-house
legal advisor. “This assists with the
processes according to the legislation
time frame, and having this level of
expertise on hand is a real advantage
as should there be any legal issues on
a client site then we are able to offer
a legal service directly from our con-
sultancy,” Smit says. “This can translate
into a major cost saving in terms of
time, which is of the essence in such
applications, and is obviously also a
saving in bottom line costs.”
Another service offering that is
seeing a steady increase in demand
is that of occupational hygiene. With
the focus on uplifting levels of occu-
pational hygiene and the need to
comply with the requirements of the
Mine Health and Safety Act, operators
are reviewing current programmes to
ensure that these are in line with the
mandatory codes of practice applica-
ble to individual sites. “We are able to
conduct a full audit on occupational
hygiene monitoring programmes and
this includes aspects such as person-
nel exposure to noise, airborne pol-
lutants, the thermal environment and
ergonomics. We are able to assess both
the physical and chemical stresses and
provide comprehensive feedback,” she
says.
Such programme audits will deter-
mine any gaps in the management
and monitoring system, and then
identify appropriate corrective action
to address any non-conformances.
Greenmined Environmental is able to
make recommendations in terms of
implementing the corrective action
and then monitoring the programme
going forward.
Greenmined Environmental was
founded in early 2012 by Smit, whose
environmental management expe-
rience draws from her tenure at pri-
vate environmental consultancies and
at the Department of Water Affairs
(DWA). The company offers a depth of
understanding of government depart-
mental mechanisms and the functions
that support the success of depart-
mental application processes.
Smit says that although the consul-
tancy is a small business, it has a solid
reputation for delivering results that
ensure its client base remain compli-
ant with current legislation.
In the world of mining operations – where
every cubic millimetre of ore and every
second of uptime counts – the impor-
tance of blasthole monitoring is essential.
However, some operations are failing to
meet their potential by allowing poorly
drilled blastholes to force them into dupli-
cating blasts unnecessarily, ultimately
hampering production. It is crucial that
mines measure twice and blast once.
Blasthole surveying is a key part of
blast planning and blast optimisation.
These two processes are vital in ensur-
ing that every blast goes off without a
hitch, that the optimal amount and type
of explosives are used and that the right
results are achieved.
When drilling blastholes, there are
a number of technical and geological
factors that can lead to an undesirable
drilling pattern. From a technical aspect,
excessive drilling and the use of worn out
drill bits can lead to errors in blasthole
structures while rock types and ground
water can lead to drilling deviations.
Deviations lead to poor blast results, low
productivity, safety risks and environmen-
tal impacts.
Blasthole surveying can identify drill-
ing deviations as well as burden lengths
and drilling depths. This is crucial to oper-
ations because a small burden length can
result in too much rock being blasted
from the bench face while too long a
length results in the explosive energy
coming back up the blasthole.
Using Boretrak™ equipment, for
Blasthole monitoring cuts
costs and saves time