Modern Mining March 2018

DIAMOND MINING

the pit are identified and minimised to allow mining to continue efficiently. “This means optimising the utilisation of equipment and expertise of the workforce, with a focus on applying good mining practices that avoid any rework as far as possible,” he says. Venetia’s Acting Section Manager Mining, Stephanie Bleker, points to the key role of quality drilling and blasting techniques in facil- itating efficient loading and maintaining high production levels. “We pay close attention to drill and blast quality to achieve good fragmentation and diggability for increased loading rates,” says Bleker. “As importantly, this also results in more stable highwalls that require less scal- ing, allowing us to optimise our slope angles thereby mining more kimberlite.” The appropriate sizing of the blasted mate- rial in turn provides benefits to the downstream ‘customer’ – the 6 Mt/a process plant – which can in turn operate its crushing and processing facilities at high efficiencies. Bleker also emphasises the importance of

conducive conditions in the pit provided by the mining staff – such as maintaining good haul roads so that truck speeds are not compromised and equipment life is maintained. Safety and health continue to rate as priori- ties in terms of De Beers’ Zero Harm philosophy, and Venetia invests regularly in technology upgrades that help mitigate incidents in the pit. One such recent advance has seen the capac- ity of the pit mesh network expanded to carry greater levels of video, radar data and fatigue data from the trucks and other equipment to the central control centre. This is part of the mine’s ever-improving proximity detection sys- tem and fatigue management system to prevent incidents. To make the best use of the in-pit equipment over the next five years, the role of contrac- tors will be important to even out the capacity where necessary. While the mine had 38 of its own haul trucks in operation last year, this is down to 35 trucks this year. Similarly, the num- ber of shovels is down from six last year to four Cat 6060 units with a 28 m 3 bucket configura- tion. Five large mine-owned drills conduct the

The K2 pit with the new shafts of the Venetia Underground Project in the background.

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March 2018  MODERN MINING  33