mining news
4
07.13
Synclinorium shaft reaches the 700 m mark
Murray & Roberts Cementation Zambia is 19
months into a major contract, awarded in July
2011, for the shaft sinking and equipping of
the Synclinorium shaft for Mopani Copper
Mines (MCM) in Kitwe, Zambia. The main sink
began in May 2012 and the shaft has now
reached the 700 m mark. Project completion
is scheduled for June 2015.
This is the second biggest contract award-
ed to Murray & Roberts Cementation Zam-
bia and the first awarded to the company by
MCM. In 2010 the company was awarded a
decline sinking project at Konkola North (now
Lubambe), a joint venture between Vale and
African Rainbow Minerals.
MCM, an integrated copper and cobalt
producer operating in the Zambian Copper-
belt, is owned by Carlisa Investments Cor-
poration, a joint venture registered in Zam-
bia comprising Glencore International AG
(73,1 %), First Quantum Minerals (16,9 %) and
ZCCM Investment Holdings (10 %). Its opera-
tions comprise underground mines, concen-
trator plants, smelters and refineries located
in Nkana, Kitwe and Mufulira.
The Synclinorium shaft project will estab-
lish a hoisting and ventilation facility to extract
ore from the Nkana Synclinorium orebody
which is incorporated into the MCM complex
in Kitwe. The new shaft will enable ore pro-
duction at the Nkana mines to be maintained
above 4 Mt/a by 2017 and increase the life of
mine by 25 years.
Murray & Roberts Cementation’s project
manager, Neil Mackay, says site establish-
ment began in September 2011 with pre-
sink civil work provided by Murray & Roberts
group company, Concor Civils.
The original contract called for blind sink-
ing, equipping and commissioning of the
7 m diameter downcast rock hoist shaft to
a depth of 1 277 m. This main shaft will be
equipped as a rock hoisting shaft on the
brownfields mine to service a new area under
development. Murray & Roberts Cementation
Zambia has also been awarded the pre-sink
contract to a depth of 50 m of an associated
6 m diameter upcast ventilation shaft that will
reach a depth of 1 166 m.
The shaft is being sunk by drilling and
blasting with support provided by mesh and
bolts. The lining will be installed using the
Canadian shutter method that uses admix-
tures to self-level the concrete and ensure
that there is no honeycombing. This method
was chosen because it was deemed to be
a safer approach and represents the latest
trend in shaft sinking globally. It has already
been used by Murray & Roberts Cementation
for other recent shaft sinking projects and its
sister company in Canada has been assisting
local teams with the process of skills trans-
fer to make this the company’s shaft sinking
method of choice in the future.
Mackay says a unique feature of this proj-
ect is that the first Murray & Roberts Cemen-
tation e-learning computer training centre
has been established outside South Africa.
“Our main training academy is at Bentley
Park near Carletonville in South Africa and all
our expatriate site personnel are trained there
before being deployed to projects outside the
country,” he explains. “However, we identi-
fied the need for a satellite training centre in
Zambia to instruct our local personnel. We’ve
installed a bank of 10 PCs complete with
headsets and e-learning training comprises a
full set of procedures for each job category
— for example, the engineering sinking crew.
Each person works through the relevant set of
procedures and is required to complete a test
at the end of the session. Those who don’t
achieve a 100 % pass rate on this test must
start again from the beginning until they do.
“Safety procedures are an important com-
ponent of this training and we’ve just rolled
out the ‘Stop.Think.Act.24/7’ approach that
emphasises the importance of taking action
to correct unsafe conditions and behaviour
while giving recognition to positive behaviour.
‘24/7’ highlights the need to be safety-aware
at all times, both at work and after hours. All
shifts begin with a safety talk and we encour-
age the local personnel to run these meetings
according to a given agenda. Every person
entering the site must also pass a breath-
alyser test.”
Mackay says the core of senior Zambian
supervisors in the sinking crew were flown to
South Africa where they spent six weeks at
Bentley Park going through the actual sinking
procedures that will be applied at MCM on
mock-up shafts. He believes this transfer of
practical and theoretical knowledge will also
prove beneficial for the Zambian mining com-
munity in the future.
The current MCM project team comprises
32 Murray & Roberts Cementation personnel
and between 200 and 300 local recruits in-
cluding mine captains, shift supervisors and
persons in charge, as well as artisans and
general labourers.
Murray & Roberts Cementation Zambia is
poised to establish an office in Kitwe which
will centralise all project administration, pro-
vide a workshop and storage facility and a
permanent base for the e-learning training
centre.
The roll out of the Murray & Roberts ‘Stop.Think.Act.24/7’ programme at the main shaft bank area.
The main shaft with the new permanent hoist room under construction.
