Page 25 - CEN 13 Apr.indd

By using the VZ-400, to determine off-line and grade
mining, Anglogold Ashanti will eradicate the need for
later redevelopment and therefore reworking of areas
already mined.
The Mponeng Mine is located between the towns of
Carletonville and Fochville on the border between
Gauteng and the North West Province, southwest of
Johannesburg.
The operation, the world‘s deepest mine, extracts the
Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) at depths between
2400 metres and 3900 metres through sequential-grid
mining, producing more than 500 000 ounces of gold
a year.
Anglogold Ashanti is also hoping to use the laser scanner
to monitor workings for signs of deformation; a common
phenomenon as rocks at these depths are under enormous
pressure. The company currently undertakes visual
inspections. However, using the VZ-400 it would be able
to capture highly accurate and repeatable measurements,
at regular intervals, in order to identify any possible issues
at the earliest opportunity.
The RIEGL VZ-400 is a high speed laser scanner with
a wide range of view. The VZ-400 utilises unique echo
digitisation and online waveform analysis to achieve
superior performance and accuracies of measurement,
even under adverse weather conditions. Achieving
accuracies of 3 millimetres at ranges of up to 600
metres the VZ-400 can capture up to 122 000 points
per second with a 100 x 360-degree field of view.
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Anglogold Ashanti’s
Mponeng Mine in
South Africa.