Modern Mining November 2024

Innovation Hub and DRDGOLD to advance innovation The Innovation Hub and DRDGOLD’s Ergo Mining (Ergo) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train 50 unemployed youth to advance entrepreneurship and create jobs in Gauteng townships. The Innovation Hub, the innovation agency of Gauteng Province, is a subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency. Ergo, a subsidiary of DRDGOLD, is a major surface gold tailings retreatment operation extending from central Johannesburg to Ekurhuleni. The training and business incubation programme is planned for Ekurhuleni (Duduza and Tsakane) and Soweto, and will focus on equipping 50 youth in the areas of mobile device repairs, data annotation and graphic design. These training courses will run for six to nine-months and will start in October 2024. The Innovation Hub will run a participant selection process, which will be communicated with the target groups soon. Through its social and labour plan, Ergo has committed R2.5million towards this programme. Stats SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q1:2024 reports an unemployment rate of 32.9% for South Africa as a whole, with an unemployment rate in Gauteng of 34.9%. Youth aged 15-24 years and 25-34 years continue to have the highest unemployment rates at 59.7% and 40.7% respectively. n

Akobo Minerals reports good progress in the Segele mine development

Akobo Minerals, a prominent gold exploration and mining company based in Scandinavia with operations in Ethiopia, has announced significant progress in the development of the Segele mine. The completion of the crosscut between the Western

First view between the Western and Eastern tunnels.

and Eastern tunnels marks a major milestone, paving the way for the commencement of first stoping activities into the richest part of the Segele ore body. In the recent development phase, the mining team successfully reached the orebody in both the Western and Eastern tunnels. The completion of the crosscut is a crucial achievement, as it connects the two tunnels and enhances several aspects of the mining operation. This crosscut not only provides a secondary exit, thereby improving safety, but also optimises ventilation and logistics, laying the groundwork for the transition from mine development to focusing on stoping. Stoping is a critical process in underground mining, involving the extraction of ore from a series of large, inclined openings, known as stopes, which are created in the orebody. Essentially, stoping creates voids or spaces where the ore has been removed. The strategic positioning of the crosscut between the Trial Stope and Stope 01 provides the company with the flexibil ity to investigate both stopes in parallel rather than in sequence. This parallel approach allows for the possibility of prioritising Stope 01, which is located in the richest part of the ore body. The successful completion of the crosscut between the Western and Eastern tunnels is a key step forward, bringing the company closer to realising the full potential of the Segele mine. n

Innovation Hub and DRDGOLD sign MoU to advance innovation.

Minergy’s strategic turnaround plan showing early signs of resilience

that are positioning the company for operational stabilisation and a successful turnaround,” said Matthews Bagopi, Acting CEO of Minergy Coal. Key focus areas, such as estab lishing robust strategic partnerships, improving efficiencies and production, strengthening customer relationships, and optimising the capital structure, are currently being actively addressed with a measure of vigour and persis tence. n

Coal miner, Minergy, which released results for the year ended 30 June 2024, is in the midst of a significant transformation, strategically and operationally. “Previously, operational disruptions presented challenges, precipitating this new strategic and operational drive towards business improvement. The implementation of the strategic turnaround plan is well underway, showing a resilience backed by early signs of progress

Minergy’s strategic turnaround plan showing early signs of resilience.

November 2024 | www.modernminingmagazine.co.za  MODERN MINING  5