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MODERN MINING
January 2016
Top projects
SOUTHERN AFRICA’S
TOP MINING
T
he first of our diamond projects is
the new
processing plant
at Petra
Diamonds’ iconic
Cullinan mine
near Pretoria. The state-of-the-art
facility is already in the construc-
tion phase and will be commissioned by mid-
2017. It will replace the current plant which
has been in operation for around 70 years,
in the process reducing the ‘footprint’ of the
mine’s treatment facilities from around 26 ha
to a much more compact 5 ha. To reduce break-
age of stones to a minimum, the plant will use
autogenous milling and HPGR technology. It
will also use XRF (X-ray fluorescence) to re-
place Dense Media Separation with only the
-25 mm material reporting to the DMS circuit.
Petra estimates that operating costs will be
lowered by as much as R20 to R25 per tonne as
compared to the existing plant.
Our second diamond project is De Beers’
Venetia Underground Project (VUP)
, which
will see the Venetia mine in Limpopo tran-
sitioning into an underground operation by
the early 2020s – with the life of mine being
extended to the 2040s. The US$2 billion proj-
ect, said to be the biggest diamond mining
project currently underway anywhere in the
world, will involve development of around 80
km of shafts, tunnels, chambers, workshops
and water and ventilation systems – with this
figure rising to 220 km over the life of mine.
An innovative approach has been adopted for
In our regular Top Mining Projects feature we look
at projects distinguished by their size, innovation or
pioneering spirit. This year we have identified five that meet
these criteria. Two are diamond projects, two are copper
while the fifth is a new underground coal mine. In contrast
to previous years where many were located across border,
this year all but one are located in South Africa.
TOP PROJECTS