HEALTH AND SAFETY •
assessment to find an alternative to compressed air . One immediate win is the first woman employed at Impala Rustenburg as a rock drill operator ( RDO ), says Kabelo Lefifi , Head : Best Practice at Impala . “ It ’ s a great milestone for us .”
The six-month trial by two suppliers at two half-levels with 17 crews at different shafts was due to end in June 2023 ( at the time of writing ), but already the results were encouraging in March as Impala continued to explore ways to remove operators from the face . Remote in-stope drilling using a rig , stations / keeps the RDO under netting . The Impala Rustenburg mine layouts and more remote working spaces meant there was insufficient compressed air for conventional drills , so the company started searching for alternative drilling technology in 2020 . “ This is not a new technology . It has been around for some time , but in our business , it is new . To be successful , the technology must be accepted by operators who are using it daily in the workplace ,” said Lefifi .
Impala set 25 key performance metrics , including : 1 . Remote drilling and a safer environment for RDOs : a move from conventional handheld to rig drilling , 1m from the face versus 2m and now under a net , respectively . 2 . Noise reduction to comply with the Mine Health and Safety Act – Impala undergoes the process change , more benefits in hydro versus conventional compressed air are experienced . 3 . Improved drilling speed and increased penetration rates . 4 . Drilling accuracy and improved drilling discipline .
Benefits include improved safety with minimised human exposure to high-risk zones with the removal of RDOs from the face ; less physical effort is required and the drill is easy to operate ( allowing for women RDOs , current RDOs are aging and with this new technology there is ease of handling ); noise and vibration exposure is reduced ; reduction in water and energy usage allows for higher ESG compliance and a reduced footprint ; non-polluting and aligned with Impala ’ s sustainability goals ; increased production and lower all-in sustaining costs per ton mined ; precision drilling improves blast efficiency and advance rates increasing yields . The solution replaces inefficient , expensive and slow compressed air with proven water hydraulics .
Quick wins in illumination for Sibanye-Stillwater “ Every day we send people down into an ever-changing , hazardous environment ,” said Eric Cilliers , engineering manager at Sibanye . “ For us as leaders to enable our employees to identify hazards to the best of their ability is the way forward . This will assist with operational excellence and will become industry best practice .”
Sibanye has met with quick wins in illuminating underground areas used by trackless mobile machinery in development ends , travelling ways and cross cuts , which can use a higher voltage than is safe in a conventional stope , explained Cilliers . The immediate limitation of low-voltage LED strips is that their performance is reduced by the length of face as well as distance to an electrical outlet . Sibanye is working in partnership with suppliers to raise the voltage of LED cables .
Adwoa Issaka of the Minerals Council ’ s MOSH FOG Team said in workfaces and ancillary excavations , employees rely only on their cap lamps for illumination . Cap lamps are inadequate for proper rockfall hazard identification . In 2021 , when the FOGAP was adopted by the CEO Zero Harm Forum , workface visibility was identified as a quick-win project . MOSH approved Improved
www . africanmining . co . za African Mining Publication African Mining African Mining • July 2023 • 31