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March 2015
MODERN MINING
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MINING News
Come meet some of the folk living next door to our miners Explore Kimberley’s self-catering accommodation options at two of our finest conservation reserves, Rooipoort and Dronfield. ROOIPOORT Activities: Game viewing, bird watching, bushmen petroglyphs, National Heritage Site. Accommodation: Rooipoort has a variety of self-catering accommodation to offer. “The Shooting Box” sleeps 12 people sharing. Box cottage sleeps 4 people sharing. Luxury tented camp accommodation sleeps 16 people sharing. DRONFIELD Activities: Game viewing, bird watching, vulture hide, swimming pool. Self-drive is allowed. Accommodation: 6 fully-equipped self-catering chalets. Consists of 3 family units and 3 open plan units. GAME DRIVES R1 200 for the rst 4 people, thereafter R200 per person. Max 9 per vehicle. Go to www.diamondroute.com or call 053 839 4455 to bookPalabora Copper (Pty) Limited, a subsid-
iary of Palabora Mining Company, has
received the much anticipated nod from
its shareholders to execute the R9,3 billion
life of mine extension project. The project
– known as Lift II – is a block-cave mine
development that will see the company
extending its life of mine until 2033. The
approval follows an extensive investment
on pre-feasibility and feasibility studies,
as well as the critical early works develop-
ment on which approximately R2 billion
was spent.
Announcing the shareholders’decision,
Palabora Copper’s Acting CEO, Maboko
Mahlaole, said it was exciting news for
the company, the community, contrac-
tors and, most importantly, the more than
2 200 people employed at the mine.“We’ve
always been known as South Africa’s prin-
cipal producer of refined copper and this
project allows us to extend that legacy for
the next 20 years.”
Mahlaole added that the completion
R9,3 billion Lift II at Palabora mine approved
of a ground-breaking bankable feasibility
study (BFS) in May 2014 had been a major
step forward. “That further gave credence
to the shareholders and the company in
understanding the orebody and the over-
all technical and capital requirements.”
Nick Fouche, Palabora Copper’s General
Manager of Growth Division, leading the
Lift II project, said that the BFS presented
an option, at a 90 % confidence level, to
develop a new Lift II mining footprint
– 450 m below Lift I – that will ensure a
continuation of copper mining in Palabora
until 2033. “Lift I is scheduled to reach its
lifespan during the year 2015,” he said.
Fouche added the project team has
already achieved some good results,
having developed over 10 km of tun-
nel infrastructure at some of the highest
advance rates in theworldwith a very good
safety record. Some of these successes
came from innovative means of contract-
ing and setting up the development.
“Lift II will make the company South
Africa’s first to operate electric LHDs and
will be identified as one of the deepest
block cave mines in the world. In addition,
we intend to raisebore 2 x 6,2 m diameter
holes to a depth of 1 200 m – such depth,
using this technology, has never before
been done in Africa,” Fouche said.
During the third quarter of 2013, min-
ing groups Rio Tinto and Anglo American
divested from the Palabora Mining
Company, creating an opportunity for a
Chinese consortium consisting of Hebei
Iron & Steel Group Co, Taewoo, General
Nice and China Africa Development Fund.
The Industrial Development Corporation
of South Africa SOC Limited (IDC) also has
a stake in the holding group.
Palabora Copper has been operational
since its incorporation in 1956. Originally
an open-pit operation, it evolved into an
underground block cave mine in the early
2000s. It currently produces around 33 000
tons of copper a year and is South Africa’s
sole producer of refined copper.