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April 2015
MODERN MINING
39
feature
COUNTRY FOCUS –
ZAMBIA
heads for commissioning
Above:
Shaft-sinking
operations during the
sinking phase. The sinking
was undertaken using
traditional South African
shaft-sinking methods.
visited the Synclinorium project recently. MCM
is bringing in a 400-t capacity crane, which
will be used in removing the temporary sink-
ing headgear and erecting the new permanent
structure. At the time of writing, the crane had
arrived in Durban and was due to be trans-
ported to the Copperbelt in 23 road trucks.
Commenting on the Synclinorium proj-
ect, Murray & Roberts Cementation Zambia’s
Executive Director, Jan Nefdt, says it has been
one of three projects responsible for a huge
resurgence in Murray & Roberts Cementation’s
activities in Zambia. “The Group has been
involved with Zambia for many years but we
never felt the need to establish a permanent
presence in the country,” he says. “This changed
four years ago when we secured a major contract
for the new Lubambe mine of ARM and Vale
near Chililabombwe for decline construction
and ore reserve development, followed shortly
thereafter by the award of the Synclinorium
contract. Mopani subsequently awarded us a
second shaft contract – for the Mufulira Deeps
project. This is a 1 500 m deep, 6,1 m diameter
shaft, which we’re raise-boring using a Wirth
HG330 machine, together with related infra-
structure. We also, incidentally, have a second
raise borer at Mufulira – a Robbins 71R which
is being used for a vent hole.
“As a result of the Synclinorium and
Lubambe awards, we decided to establish a
permanent office here in Kitwe in the heart of
the Copperbelt and this was opened in 2012.
We view the office as being not only the base
for our Zambian operations but also for the DRC
– where we’ve already completed one contract
at Kipushi for Ivanhoe Mines – and other coun-
tries further north in Africa. Our total employee
complement in Zambia is now around 1 000,