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MODERN MINING
September 2016
COAL
I
mpumelelo forms part of a R15,3 billion
mine replacement programme being un-
dertaken by Sasol Mining designed to
replace 60 % of its operations in the Se-
cunda area by 2020. Costing R4,7 billion
and now in its ramp-up phase, the new mine
replaces the Brandspruit operation (the oldest
of Sasol Mining’s Secunda-based operations)
and has the capacity to produce 8,5 Mt/a of
ROM coal (although this can be upgraded to
10,5 Mt/a). The mine’s entire output – it will
mine both the 4 and 2 seams of the Highveld
coalfield – is earmarked for the Sasol Synfuels
complex in Secunda with the coal being deliv-
ered to the complex via a single-flight 27 km
long overland conveyor with a planned operat-
ing capacity of 2 000 tons per hour (tph). The
conveyor is reputedly the longest of its kind in
the Southern Hemisphere.
As Wells explains, Murray & Roberts
Challenging coal bunker
Mike Wells (left) of Murray & Roberts Cementation with Willem van den Heever, Senior Project
Manager, Sasol Mining.
Murray & Roberts Cementation has successfully completed the construction of a 1 500-ton capacity
underground surge bunker and associated infrastructure at Sasol Mining’s new Impumelelo coal
mine. Describing the project, Mike Wells, Technical Director: Mine Development of Murray & Roberts
Cementation, says it was a very challenging assignment with the box front (essentially the steel and
concrete discharge structure below the bunker) being the biggest he has ever worked on in a 25-year
career of executing capital projects in the mining field.
Modern Mining’s
Arthur Tassell recently
visited the site and was able to view the bunker in operation.