Modern Mining June 2016

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June 2016MODERN MINING15
MINING News
WP ad 90x260.indd 1 2016/02/08 1:35
ResGen strengthens its team
Resource Generation Limited (ResGen), an emerging ASX- and JSE-
listed coal producer, has announced the appointment of Zirk Van
Der Bank as Chief Operating Officer of its operating subsidiary,
Ledjadja Coal.
Van Der Bank is an experienced mining engineer with more
than 20 years’ experience in the coal mining industry. He has held
a range of supervisory and management positions at Sasol Mining,
Moolmans, Shanduka Coal and Glencore Coal SA.
Rob Lowe, ResGen Chief Executive Officer, said:“This appointment
is another positive step towards the strengthening of our owner’s
team and bringing the Boikarabelo mine into the final construction
phase. As we develop a new-generation coal mine, Zirk’s project and
operational experience will be vital to ensure that the project is com-
pleted on time and within budget.”
The Boikarabelomine is located in South Africa’sWaterberg region.
ResGen has reported probable reserves of 744,8 Mt of coal on 35 %
of the tenements under its control. Stage 1 of the mine development
targets saleable coal production of 6 Mt/a.
ResGen’s primary shareholders are the Public Investment
Corporation of South Africa (PIC), Noble Group and Altius Investment
Holdings.
The company recently concluded a Heads of Agreement and
Letter of Intent (LOI) for the design, procurement and construction
of the Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) for the mine. The
agreement with Sedgman, a member of the CIMIC Group and a lead-
ing Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor in
coal and minerals, provides for a fixed lump sum contract for US$141
million subject to exchange rate fluctuation.
The contract price represents a substantial saving over the pre-
viously announced estimate and was achieved as a result of the
Sedgman design offering a smaller footprint with associated capital
savings while offering equal, if not improved, production outputs. 
Melaia says that the identification of the proposed failure mech-
anism is both new and invaluable in that it identifies a possible
weakness with stators, and this, he says, will allow owners to plan and
manage any associated risk.
“As a result of the root cause of failure identification, the stator
winding and insulation has been redesigned, with the objective
of preventing a similar failure,” he says. “The modification made by
Marthinusen & Coutts has resulted in a marginal but non-negligible
difference to the performance and this, in turn, led to a detailed and
very important technical assessment by the cycloconverter drive
suppliers.”
Testing was done at various set stages during the manufacturing
process and included dimensional checks, high voltage checks, dis-
sipation factor tests and impulse inter-turn tests.
In total, some 8 000 kg of copper was used for the rewind of this
stator. The completed mass of the fully assembled motor is 98 tons.
The new stator coils are also arguably the largest set diamond
multi-turn coils manufactured in South Africa and on the continent.
Melaia says to add to this challenge resin rich technology was used.
“Resin rich technology is a challenge to implement even in small size
coils, so producing successful coils of these proportions is an achieve-
ment in itself.” 
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