Modern Mining April 2015

COUNTRY FOCUS – ZAMBIA

heads for commissioning

visited the Synclinorium project recently. MCM is bringing in a 400-t capacity crane, which will be used in removing the temporary sink- ing headgear and erecting the new permanent structure. At the time of writing, the crane had arrived in Durban and was due to be trans- ported to the Copperbelt in 23 road trucks. Commenting on the Synclinorium proj- ect, Murray & Roberts Cementation Zambia’s Executive Director, Jan Nefdt, says it has been one of three projects responsible for a huge resurgence in Murray & Roberts Cementation’s activities in Zambia. “The Group has been involved with Zambia for many years but we never felt the need to establish a permanent presence in the country,” he says. “This changed four years ago when we secured a major contract for the new Lubambe mine of ARM and Vale near Chililabombwe for decline construction and ore reserve development, followed shortly thereafter by the award of the Synclinorium contract. Mopani subsequently awarded us a second shaft contract – for the Mufulira Deeps project. This is a 1 500 m deep, 6,1 m diameter shaft, which we’re raise-boring using a Wirth HG330 machine, together with related infra- structure. We also, incidentally, have a second

raise borer at Mufulira – a Robbins 71R which is being used for a vent hole. “As a result of the Synclinorium and Lubambe awards, we decided to establish a permanent office here in Kitwe in the heart of the Copperbelt and this was opened in 2012. We view the office as being not only the base for our Zambian operations but also for the DRC – where we’ve already completed one contract at Kipushi for Ivanhoe Mines – and other coun- tries further north in Africa. Our total employee complement in Zambia is now around 1 000,

Above: Shaft-sinking operations during the sinking phase. The sinking was undertaken using traditional South African shaft-sinking methods.

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April 2015  MODERN MINING  39