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BEST
PR
O
JECTS
70
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
DECEMBER
2015
Professional Services
C
Project information
• Company entering: Hatch Goba
• Project start date: 2009
• Project end date: October 2014
• Client: Sasol Mining
• EPCM consultant: RSV ENCO Hatch Goba
Coal Joint Venture
Impumelelo Shaft Project
Sasol Mining’s Impumelelo Shaft
Project is a new 8,5 Mtpa (expand-
able to 10,5 Mt/a) replacement
tonnage coal mine complex to its
Brandspruit Mine, located in the Secunda
area, Mpumalanga.
Sasol Mining appointed the RSV ENCO
Hatch Goba Coal Joint Venture as the
Engineering, Procurement and Construc-
tion Management (EPCM) consultant,
which brought together expertise in mate-
rials handling, civil engineering design,
mechanical, electrical, shaft-sinking, project
management, procurement, construction
management and coal mining.
A total of 24 500 m
2
of surface infrastruc-
ture was built for the 62-month, R4,6-billion
multi-disciplinary Greenfield project, which
had an integrated management team at its
helm. Specialised package managers were
responsible for total delivery within their
areas of responsibility.
The basic engineering design packages
ensured suitability, functionality, constructa-
bility, operability and maintainability of the
new mining infrastructure and associated
materials handling system. All the systems
were designed to be energy efficient and
optimised within strict coal degradation and
spillage tolerances.
The joint venture’s multi-disciplinary
team had to interface between the Sasol
project team, the Sasol Mining team and the
Sasol Coal Supply team, which would ulti-
mately run the entire operation and there-
fore had to be brought up to speed with the
project’s technical scope.
A techno-economic review of the
project’s feasibility was completed by the
joint venture in June 2009, followed by a
detailed engineering design phase from July
2009 to December 2010. Construction began
in earnest in June 2011.
Phase I construction was completed
in June 2015, with Phase II scheduled for
completion in June 2019. Upon completion,
Impumelelo Mine will have 13 production
seams, with a total shaft depth of 235 m.
The
project
scope
entailed
the
design and development of the complete
Greenfield mine complex. For this reason,
special consideration had to be paid to
the build-up of the new operation, in
conjunction with the phasing out of the
existing coal-mining operation.
During construction, a temporary river
diversion was made to enable the casting
of the centre abutment. Concrete augured
piles with an 800 mm diameter were cast
in situ through the river bed to a maximum
depth of 15 m in order to support the
new bridge.
The underground surge bunker beneath
4 Seam provides surge capacity as well
as a constant flow of 2 900 tph to
the incline conveyor. The live capacity is
1 500 t, aimed at controlling surges during
peak production and to feed onto the incline
conveyor via vibrating feeders.
The longest single flight overland
conveyor in the southern hemisphere
was constructed on this project. It has a
length of 27 125 m and a design capacity of
2 400 tph. Four underground trunk conveyors
provide the coal feed from section conveyor
belts to the underground surge bunker with
a maximum design capacity of 3 600 t/h.
Three shafts had to be sunk, two vertical
and one decline, to a depth of 240 m, with
the decline being 1 060 m in length. Both the
vertical shafts were sunk to 4 seam only and
the decline shaft to the 2 seam coal horizon.
An 11,7 m diameter coal bunker will
be established between the 4 and 2
seam horizons. Two seam reserves were
excluded in the shaft area and sub-declines
will be developed from the four seam coal
horizon at a later stage to establish the
necessary infrastructure on the two coal
seam horizon.