June 2011
This month's issue has a strong Botswanan flavour, with articles on two of Botswana's major mining projects featured. In the first article we look at the mammoth Cut 8 project at Jwaneng, the world's richest diamond mine, and specifically at the involvement of Basil Read Mining, which is a partner in the joint venture which has been contracted to move a massive 658 Mt of waste material over the next several years.
In our second article we describe the Gope diamond project (which has just been renamed the ‘Ghaghoo diamond mine'). Ghaghoo is being tackled in three stages and will be Botswana's first underground diamond mine.
Gold and mining contracting are covered in article on Murray & Roberts Cementation's contracts at the South Deep gold mine, which involve extensive development work below the mine's 95 level as well as the deepening of the vent shaft at the Twin Shaft complex by approximately 240 m. The shaft deepening is an intricate task being carried out in two phases and involves Cementation crews working below an existing shaft - which creates challenges from a safety perspective.
Gold also features in a report we have on Caledonia Mining's Blanket mine near Gwanda in South Matebeleland, Zimbabwe. Blanket is one of the veterans of Zimbabwe's mining industry, with over a century of production behind it. Caledonia has plans to take production up to 40 000 ounces a year - big by Zimbabwean standards - and has recently completed the No 4 Shaft expansion project and also installed an on-site diesel generator standby system to ensure no interruption to the mine's electrical supply.
Uranium mining, of course, is a very active sector of the resources sector at the moment with one of the main players in Southern Africa being Australia's Paladin Energy. We look at the latest results from its new Kayelekera mine in northern Malawi and its Langer Heinrich operation in Namibia in an article entitled Paladin's African mines push up production.
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Basil Read secures big share of Cut 8 project
Basil Read Mining has teamed up with Australia's Leighton Group and Botswana's Bothakga Burrow Botswana to tackle the US$3 billion pit deepening project at Jwaneng. Cut 8, as the project is known, will create a true ‘super-pit' and extend the mine's life from 2017 into the 2020s.
Rockwell updates its resource estimates
Rockwell Diamonds Inc has announced the release of updated mineral resource estimates for its alluvial diamond deposits on its properties in South Africa, including a determination of probable reserves at its flagship Saxendrift operation.
Rooderand study points to a ‘robust' project
Platinum Australia Limited (PLA) has reported the results from the recently completed Pre Feasibility Study (PFS) report for the Rooderand platinum project. The report shows the project to be commercially and technically viable and able to generate a return of approximately 40 % on the Base Case assumptions based on mining 9,6 Mt from open-pit operations and a further 7,3 Mt from underground.
Official launch date set for new platinum mine
Wesizwe Platinum has announced that the official launch date for its Frischgewaagd-Ledig mine development project has been agreed as 4 July 2011. Construction of the project in fact started earlier than this with the ‘first blast' - to establish the boxcuts for the shafts - having taken place in early April.
New top hammer drill rig is biggest in Africa
The first of Sandvik's revolutionary new DPi Series surface top hammer drill rigs - the biggest top hammer of its kind on the continent - has been commissioned at Independent Quarries in East London and two more are on order.
