Redpath showcases full service at Indaba
WORLD PROSPECTS
integrated supply chain network links through multiple transportation modes, including air and express delivery services, freight rail and truck transport. For example, in addition to DFW International Airport, there are three other airports in the Dallas area. Both Fedex and UPS have depots next door.
The factory area itself is 40,000 ft 2, which equals to 4,000 m 2. The non-factory area includes 11 open office desks, two offices, a meeting room, training room and receptionist desk. Halco is a pioneer brand in Down-The-Hole
( DTH) drilling with the brand name originating from Halifax Tool Co in the UK in 1948. Both
Halco companies were owned by Regent, a private equity company from California. Regent acquired Halco from Caterpillar in 2014. Prior to the sale in 2014, Caterpillar invested heavily in the facilities and machinery.
Robit Group is a rapidly growing company in the drilling consumable market segment. It has 19 sales and service points worldwide and five manufacturing companies in the USA, Australia, South Korea, the UK and Finland. Robit Plc is listed in Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd’ s First North Finland marketplace. www. robit. fi
New vibration monitoring app from Schenck
With the new vibe2know™ from Schenck Process, anyone can determine a vibrating screening machine’ s current performance. The user simply inserts a smartphone into the specially designed mount and attaches it to the equipment. The app then immediately measures vibratory amplitude, frequency, oscillating angle and operating speed, and enables the user to visualise the vibrating machine’ s motion pattern.
By getting a quick indication of these key parameters, operators can avoid a sudden production outage and plan a timely screen maintenance intervention. vibe2know™ is already available via app stores for iOS, Android and Windows. It is highly intuitive to use and includes a brief tutorial. The mount can be obtained directly from Schenck Process.“ Easily attached to equipment by means of a magnet on its reverse side, it is robust and dust-tight, specially designed to withstand the accelerations of a vibrating machine and any environmental conditions.”
The idea for vibe2know™ came from a Schenck Process employee in the company’ s in-house R & D department, which was taken up and implemented by the future lab.“ Schenck Process’ s many years of experience in vibration analysis, combined with the agility of future lab, provided the optimum framework for bringing the idea to market in just two months.”
Schenck Process also broke new ground in coming up with the brand name vibe2know. Employees worldwide were invited to contribute their ideas. Jan Krall, who heads up the Schenck
Process future lab, commented:“ we were overwhelmed by the keen participation of our colleagues around the world.”
Andreas Evertz, President & CEO, Schenck Process, added:“ I am thrilled with vibe2know™, it is a good example of how our established development team and future lab complement one another within our company. Our speed in achieving this project and getting a product to market is exactly why we set up our future lab. This sets a great precedent for future projects.” The patent-pending app rounds off the Schenck Process Group product portfolio for condition monitoring. www. schenckprocess. com
Redpath showcases full service at Indaba
Redpath Mining Africa is set to showcase its full-service capability offered to the contract mining industry, including its latest raiseboring technology, and two recently-completed key projects, at Investing in African Mining Indaba 2017, February 6-9 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
One of these projects was a world-first decline sand tunnel for Gem Diamonds at its Ghaghoo diamond mine, near the southeast border of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a remote area characterised by its expansive and up to 80 m of deep sand cover( see the article in International Mining, September 2014).
The scope of work involved a 6 m diameter decline tunnel development to 112 m below surface through shifting Kalahari sand at an 8 ° inclination. Phase 1 saw a 25 m deep, 171 m long box cut in the Kalahari sand to provide safe and secure access to the underground mine.
This was followed by excavation work using an open face tunnel shield( OFTS) for the concretelined segmented sand tunnel, of which 403 m was in pure sand, and 121 m transitioning from sand to basalt.
The 95 t OFTS acted as a cylindrical shield to protect workers and equipment underground, and also provided the necessary support to install the required 845 concrete segments for the tunnel. While such technology or methodology is not new, it had never been used in a decline before.
Within South Africa, Redpath Mining Africa has also achieved great success rehabilitating the Phakisa Number 3 Ventilation Shaft for Harmony Gold. Ashale band about 80 m thick( starting from 120 m from surface) had swollen, and broken out the shaft lining into the shaft cavity, causing a serious reduction and restriction in the ventilation flow within the workings. The fast-track rehabilitation of the collapsed vent shaft barrel was critical to sustain production output.
The rehabilitation method saw inflatable lightweight balloon-type bags lowered into the shaft-equipped compartments to a depth of about 210 m from surface. The bags, guided by a camera, formed a plug in the shaft barrel just below the damaged area.
After the plug in the shaft was established, the shaft barrel and cavity were filled with aerated foam cement. This stabilised the area, and enabled the team to mine through the aerated cement and pour a new lining to stabilise the shaft. The project was completed without a single injury, achieving 504 accident-free days.
“ These two projects highlight our innovative solutions and expertise in developing custom solutions for our clients’ specific needs,” Redpath Mining Africa Marketing and Business Infrastructure Manager Davlin Richardson comments.
“ We want to reach out to all of the key players and stakeholders who will be present at Mining Indaba 2017, with the message that we can play a
critical role in developing cost-effective and safe solutions to help unlock the continent’ s mining potential,” Richardson explains.
In addition to scale models of both the Phakisa and Ghaghoo projects, the Redpath Mining Africa stand will also feature scale models of the Redbore 100 and Redbore 50 raise drill machines. The former is the most powerful, largest-capacity proven raise drilling system ever manufactured by the Canadian parent company. It can bore raises of up to 8 m in diameter and to depths of 1,000 m. www. redpathmining. com
8 International Mining | FEBRUARY 2017