MINING News
Shaft Sinkers Holdings plc, the interna-
tional shaft sinking and underground
construction group, has reported contin-
ued excellent progress on its shaft-sinking
contract at the Kibali gold mine project in
the DRC. The main shaft sinking is report-
edly progressing very well and has reached
a major milestone of 500 m, with sinking
proceeding at a rate of at least 3 m per day
for more than 30 continuous days.
Kibali is a joint venture between mine
operator Randgold Resources (45 %),
AngloGold Ashanti (45 %) and Congolese
parastatal Sokimo (10 %). The project is
situated near Doko, in the north-eastern
Orientale Province, and Shaft Sinkers was
awarded the mobilisation and vertical
shaft contracts in November 2012 with
an estimated total value of £82,3 million.
Shaft Sinkers is confident that it will meet
the overall project completion schedule
for the final commissioning and hand-over
of the permanent shaft in November 2017.
“We are delighted with the progress
our teams are mak-
ing at Kibali,” said
Alon Davidov, Chief
Executive of Shaf t
Sinkers. “The very high
sinking rates we are
achieving are a clear
example of the sub-
stantial technical skills
in our company.”
Mark Bristow, Chief
Executive of Randgold
Resources, said: “I
would like to congrat-
ulate all involved at
Kibali. The achievement
of 30 days continuous
sinking at 3 metres per
day is truly world class
and is contributing
Basil Read makes
senior appointments
Basil Read, the construction, mining,
development and engineering group, has
announced the appointment of two senior
executives with immediate effect.
KhathutsheloMapasa has been appointed
as Executive Director: Mining. He has 15 years
of experience with the De Beers Group, start-
ing in 1999 as Senior Plant Metallurgist rising
to Project Manager for De Beers’Forevermark
brand. His experience spans both interna-
tional and domestic markets, having worked
for De Beers in the UK and South Africa where
he reportedly gained significant experience
in providing strategic, operations, projects
and marketing leadership in uniquely chal-
lenging situations. Prior to joining Basil Read
he was the Principal Process Engineer and
Head of Loss Prevention, responsible for
techno-economic governance and support
for the De Beers Group operations and proj-
ects in South Africa and Botswana.
Mapasa holds a PMD (Programme for
Management Development) from Harvard
Business School and a BSc Chemical
Engineering from the University of Cape
Town.
Mfezeko Gwazube has been appointed
as Director: Special Projects. He has exten-
sive experience in engineering consulting
and the built-environment having held
various roles within the private and public
sector including his most recent role in the
National Department of Public Works where
he was responsible for the management of
the Infrastructure Programme of DPW and
Professional Services.
Gwazube holds a MAP (Management
Advancement Programme) from Wits
Business School and a BSc Construction
Management (Honours) from the University
of Cape Town.
Fast work by Shaft Sinkers at Kibali
Shaft headgear at the Kibali gold mine in the north-eastern DRC (photo:
Randgold Resources).
greatly to our efforts at Kibali.”
Major current projects being under-
taken by Shaft Sinkers include the 17 Shaft
complex for Impala Platinum, Leeuwkop
for Afplats (where the company is well
advanced on the sinking of a 984 m deep
shaft), the Styldrift project for Anglo
Platinum and Royal Bafokeng Resources,
the Karee 3, Hossy and Saffy projects for
Lonmin, as well as Rampura Agucha for
Hindustan Zinc Limited.
In respect of the No 17 shaft complex
contract for Impala, Shaft Sinkers states
in its recent annual report for 2013 that
sinking of the Fridge shaft has been com-
pleted and currently development work is
being undertaken at both the ventilation
and main shafts. Shaft Sinkers agreed a
new contract with Impala in April 2014.
Says Shaft Sinkers: “The new contract runs
until 15 September 2014, after which date
it will terminate if not renewed. Impala is
retendering the contract and Shaft Sinkers
is participating in the retender process.”
