29 / 52
February 2016
MODERN MINING
27
PLATINUM
Booysendal’s world-class infrastructure
The Booysendal underground infra-
structure incorporates a reverse decline
system consisting of two barrels (exclud-
ing the Merensky reef access barrel). The
main barrel contains the conveyor belt
and chairlift for the transfer of rock and
personnel. The other barrel is for the
movement of mechanised equipment
into and out of the mine.
Unique to the Booysendal design
is the footwall decline which is placed
some 24 m below the reef horizon. This
decline is connected to the reverse
decline and contains the conveyor and
chairlift for the conveyance of rock and
personnel respectively. The placement
of the conveyor in the footwall (ore pass
capacity) generally allows for rock hoist-
ing to surface to take place during off
peak periods.
On surface, the Booysendal con-
centrator plant is a typical MF2 circuit
type plant and has a nameplate capac-
ity of 187 500 ROM tonnes per month
(although in practice it has proved quite
capable of handling 200 000 tonnes per
month). The processing facilities include
a DMS plant – commissioned but not
yet operational – designed to remove
approximately 20 % of waste from the
ROM material and improve the head
grade to the primary mill and a spi-
rals plant which removes the saleable
chrome fraction from the ore prior to the
tails thickener.
The concentrator plant has a nameplate capacity of 187 500 tonnes per month.
These were excavated into the mountain-
side by famed geologist Hans Merensky
– the Merensky reef, of course, is named
after him – when he explored the area in
the 1920s and it was important that they
remained undisturbed.
In the event, the blasting operation was
executed successfully, with no damage to
either infrastructure or the historical sites.
For interested readers, the precise meth-
ods used to achieve this outcome were
the subject of a technical paper by Eddie
Badenhorst of DRA Global which was
published recently by the Association of
Mine Managers of South Africa.
Summing up Murray & Roberts
Cementation’s involvement with
Booysendal, Blom says that the company
is proud of its association with the mine.
“Booysendal now ranks as one of our flagship
contracts – with our employee complement
on site numbering in the region of 1 200
people (excluding sub-contractors),” he says.
“We enjoy an excellent relationship with the
mine’s management team and are fully com-
mitted to achieving the mine’s goals – not just
in respect of production but also, of course,
safety, environmental care, training, employ-
ment equity, and social and labour objectives.
Even though our current contract only runs
until the end of 2017, we are hoping that we
will continue as part of the Booysendal team
for many years to come.”
Photos courtesy of Northam Platinum unless otherwise
acknowledged
The Merensky boxcut
during construction. Note
the proximity of the Eskom
substation.