Modern Mining November 2016

COVER STORY

Rock Project According to Greyling, the WorleyParsons head office-based design team and site-based construction team reached a total of 72 at proj- ect peak – although this figure is now declining with the WorleyParsons portion of the BRP now over 65 % complete. WorleyParsons’ EPCM Project Manager is Paul Liebenberg while the construction team based permanently on site is headed by Construction Manager Theo van Niekerk. Highlighting the safety achievement, Greyling says the WorleyParsons site team, in partnership with an average of 1 200 contrac- tors per month, has accumulated (as of the time of writing in early October) 1 488 days without a fatality and 750 shifts without a single lost time injury (LTI), with the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) being an exceptional 0,2. “A very comprehensive Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality system, very simi- lar to the WorleyParsons ‘Good to go’ system, ensures that all contractors are adequately trained, prepared, informed and instructed before they are allowed on site,” he states. “Any incidents that do occur on site are investigated vigorously in order to establish root causes and effective remedial actions.” The BRP can be viewed as primarily a ‘brownfield’ project as it affects separate pro- ducing underground mines. These are the Gloria mine and the Nchwaning mines, com- missioned between 1975 and 1981, producing medium grade carbonated ore. The extraction method utilised is room and pillar mining, with average stoping widths being in the region of 3,5 to 4,5 m. Infrastructure in use at the mines includes a mixture of vertical and decline shafts for

personnel, rock and material transport. The project encompasses the modernisation, upgrading and extension of the current infra- structure at both Gloria and the Nchwaning mines. Specifically, a new vertical ventilation shaft at Gloria was commissioned and handed over to BRMO in February 2016 while at Nchwaning II the vertical dual purpose shaft has been refurbished and upgraded, a task

Above: Nchwaning II shaft headgear modifications in progress. Bottom from left to right: 1. Shaft ore-pass control chute under construction. 2. Nchwaning I load-out arrangement at 2 West. 3. Nchwaning I crusher feed conveyor head chute.

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