Modern Mining February 2016

PLATINUM

Northam Platinum’s new Booysendal mine is a fully mechanised room and pillar operation which is not only performing strongly in terms of achieving its mining targets but is also (as of this writing) operating very safely, with its Lost Time Injury Incidence Rate (LTIIR) being significantly lower than the industry average. “Booysendal is a model mine which is setting new benchmarks for the industry and which has the potential to become the biggest PGM producer on the Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Complex,” says its GM, Willie Theron, who is a strong proponent of the benefits of mechanisation. Booysendal – modern and

D evelopment of Booysendal start- ed in mid-2011 and the concen- trator plant was commissioned in mid-2013. It has now ramped up to its initial production level of 187 500 reef tonnes a month – which translates into approximately 160 000 4E PGM ounces per annum. Murray & Roberts Cementation has played a key role in getting Booysendal to this point. The company was awarded a contract in 2010 to develop and equip two sets of declines (one being an unusual reverse decline cluster and the other the on-reef decline cluster) and to also undertake initial stoping. This origi- nal contract was for 36 months but Murray & Roberts Cementation is still on site today and in terms of a recent three-year contract exten- sion will continue with mining development and stoping for just under another two years until the end of December 2017.

While the capital footprint of the mine is now all but complete in terms of what is known as the Phase 1 project, there is plenty of ‘blue sky’ at Booysendal as the property has a strike length of 14,5 km and hosts a resource of 103,6 Moz. To put this in perspective, this is way ahead of all other Eastern limb properties with only Der Brochen (with a strike length of 8,5 km and a resource of 79,3 Moz) being at all comparable. Elaborating on the expansion potential, Theron says that the Phase 1 (or UG2 North) mine is being deepened to allow Booysendal to increase production to 215 kt/month. “We’re also planning to exploit the Merensky reef from the existing footprint,” he says. “To test the viability of a Merensky operation, we’ve established a boxcut and two declines to access the orebody. “A bulk sample has now been extracted for metallurgical testwork and we’re also

22  MODERN MINING  February 2016