Modern Mining March 2016

DIAMONDS

96,1%complete versus the target of 91,9%. The civils package was at 68 %, the RSF at 94,6 % and the earthworks at 99,5 %. As one would expect, the SMPP and the EC&I packages are at earlier stages, at 13,5 % and 3,5 % complete respectively. As regards accommodation, 18 out of 24 prefabricated units – all with underfloor heating – were on site and occupied. These have been supplied by National & Overseas Modular Construction of Bloemfontein and apart from housing construction workers will also provide the mine’s permanent accommo- dation. A new, fully staffed and equipped clinic has also been commissioned. Some of the quantities involved at Liqhobong are quite formidable, with the RSF, for exam- ple, involving the placing of 1,5 million cubic metres of rock and earth for the starter wall and the main plant terrace about 1,2 million cubic metres of earthworks. The project has also involved some road construction. It was deter- mined as long ago as 2012 that the existing road

piping and platework (SMPP) contractor and CUSA the electrical, control and instrumenta- tion (EC&I) contractor. “People sometimes ask me what are the keys to a successful project,” says Brown. “The answer is that you need to do your homework in terms of all your studies and planning, you need to put a good team together and then you – and all your contractors – need to work extremely hard. There are simply no short cuts – although I can’t deny that it does help to have a bit of luck! Certainly, at Liqhobong we’ve ticked off all the boxes. What most impresses me is the work ethic on site – our own people are highly committed and their enthusiasm has been matched by our contractors, who have all performed very well.” While Liqhobong is currently on schedule, this is on the basis of a revised timeline which was announced in mid-2015. “Originally, we were planning to be producing by the end of the second quarter of this year,” notes Brown. “We were, however, delayed by the amount of over- burden removal on the primary crusher and plant terraces being far greater than anticipated. The weather was also not kind to us during the early months of construction and in November 2014 Liqhobong received double the normal annual rainfall in just a few days. We’ve now recovered from these setbacks and currently are very satisfied with progress, with almost all our work packages either on or ahead of sched- ule or, at the worst, just marginally behind and catching up fast.” As of January this year, design and engineer- ing of the project was 99,8 % complete and procurement 99 % complete. Fabrication was

Looking west towards the main plant terrace. In the foreground is the scrubber feed conveyor.

Prefabricated accommo- dation. When this photo was taken in January, 18 out of 24 units had been completed.

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March 2016  MODERN MINING  31