Modern Mining January 2022

DIAMONDS

hours of face time out of the 12 hours, we want to uti- lise the face time as much as possible. The two-hour benefit translates into about 30% saving in the cycle time, which is critical in our accelerated programme.” Operational readiness To successfully transition from surface to under- ground mining and to establish a mine of the future at VUP, De Beers has adopted an Operational Readiness Framework to enhance the transformation of people, processes and systems. With any mine of the future, operating practices basically entail the adoption and incorporation of new technologies such as automation and digitalisation, among others. The people aspect was always going to be impor- tant, if not principal, given that the success or failure of technology initiatives depend, to a large degree, on the effectiveness of an organisation’s change management strategies. The transition from open- cast to underground also demanded a complete mindset shift and new skills. De Beers’ Operational Readiness Framework was designed to manage the transformation at VUP, ensuring that the operating environment was pre- pared to effectively support and accept the changes resulting from the project. This entailed the assess- ment of people readiness as far as transformation was concerned. It also looked at systems and pro- cesses, as well as at assets and facilities. People are central to where De Beers wants to be. The people transformation aspect has been approached through several perspectives, including assessments, training and skills transfer. Commenting on the skills transitioning pro- gramme, Rodel says employees first have to go through heat tolerance testing and screening to assess their fitness to work underground. Once they have successfully gone through those processes, they are exposed to various underground skills such as infrastructure construction, LHD and twin-boom drill operations. The first group of 20 employees transitioned from surface to underground in Q4 2019. Since then, the company has transitioned about 140 employees in total. “We have some specific programmes focused at particular skills. The focus point of a mechanised mine is jumbo drill operation. We have brought in 80 Redpath expatriates who are experts in under- ground mining. During their four-year stay with us, they will be critical in transferring skills to our own people. We have also put in place a culture transition programme which looks at how we transition from an open pit to an underground mindset,” says Rodel. Fundamentally, there are two phases in De Beers’ skills transfer programme with the Redpath expatriates, explains Van den Berg. During the first phase, transitioning employees get to spend time in the active areas where development is currently happening. For example, you would have a jumbo

a huge amount of capital in this project. The team on site understands well what needs to be done to get us to safe first production,” he says. A number of construction items on 46L are tar- geted for completion in 2022 before first production can commence. These include, among others, the access double vent door (May 2022), the fan chamber vent door (November 2022), the access water door (March 2022), the booster fan (December 2022), the 11 kV switching substation (November 2022), the VSD substation (September 2022), the 690 V mini-substa- tion (November 2022) and loading tip 1 (March 2022). Each development level has a similar schedule of deliverables as mentioned above. There are also several near-term milestones to be achieved in the next three to four months, says Rodel, to allow for the ramp-up of construction efforts. This will be key to achieving first produc- tion by the end of 2022. These include, among others, commencement of the 46 Level workshop in January 2022, commissioning of the production shaft by March 2022, getting the KO2 pit portal operational by December 2021, development of the pump system upgrade phase 1 by November 2021 and commissioning of the second Sandvik DD422i jumbo drill rig by February 2022. Innovative techniques of installing primary ground support are also being adopted to drive the ramp-up. One such clever way is in-cycle shotcret- ing, a new method pioneered by Redpath at the Venetia site. The conventional way entails mesh installation with split sets followed by bolt installa- tion. With in-cycle shotcreting, this is replaced by shotcreting and bolts only. “The win is in the split sets and meshing ver- sus the shotcreting,” explains Kobus van den Berg, senior mining manager, VUP. “We apply shotcrete at a 50 mm thickness followed by a two-hour re-entry period, which allows us to achieve the required strength and then we can immediately install the bolts. That whole cycle is two hours quicker than the conventional method. Given that we only have seven

For its equipment purchases from 2023, De Beers is already looking at battery electric technology as part of its goal to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Top projects

20  MODERN MINING  January 2022