Modern Mining October 2020

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Underground refuge chambers and While legislation in South Africa requires emergency refuge chambers at underground mines, the safety guidelines are vague and lack specifications for adequate life support systems. MineARC

Systems, a manufacturer and supplier of emergency refuge chambers for underground mining, among others, is calling for more detailed guidelines to be implemented by governing bodies. By Mark Botha .

W hile South Africa has a compulsory minimum standard in place for refuge chambers in mines, the requirements for what consti- tutes a refuge chamber are ambiguous, which is why MineARC follows its own best-practice standard. “This might not necessarily be enforced by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy or the regulatory bodies, although it should be,” says MineARC sales manager (Africa) Jason van Niekerk. He notes the irony that, while South Africa has the most underground mines on the continent, MineARC does significantly more business within the rest of Africa where there is a “better understanding and acceptance” of best practice standards. “We probably supply most of the top five mines at African operations excluding South Africa.” To that effect, the company has assisted some African countries with the Western Australian, Turkish and US guidelines on emergency safe ref- uge systems. These guidelines include minimum requirements and stipulate redundancies for primary systems. “For example, active compressed-air lines are a requirement at underground mines. While the Western Australian guidelines require these too,

Jason van Niekerk, MineARC sales manager (Africa).

they go a step further and demand redundancies for compressed-air and power,” says Van Niekerk. “Should the compressed-air supply be compro- mised during an emergency, you switch over to the redundancy – oxygen cylinders and a scrubbing system to supply breathable air for as long as is required by the standards of the host country which, in some cases, could be up to 36 hours. Should the trapped personnel not be rescued in that time, an oxygen candle in the rescue chamber would provide an additional 2 600 ℓ pure oxygen – a redundancy on the redundancy.” “We receive much positive interaction from coun- tries including Botswana, Burkina Faso, DRC, Ghana, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe – the key countries focusing on safety systems. Some sites in these countries are aware of MineARC’s products and opt for higher safety specifications than currently required by their respective host governments.” MineARC manufactures its rescue chamber units

Left to right: The MineSAFE refuge chamber is designed for tight mining confines. MineARC manufactures its rescue chamber units locally and equips them to its own minimum standards.

MineARC’s refuge chambers underground.

Rear view of a rescue chamber showing the UPS and cooling systems.

26  MODERN MINING  October 2020