HIGH PROFILE
JS: The independent audit consists of both a desktop review, which has
already commenced, and a site visit, which will take place later this year.
Following that, a detailed report will be produced, including Unki’s
certification level.
IM: What additional measures outside of the IRMA standards does the
company think its mines need to have in place to be categorised as
‘responsible’ operations?
JS: As part of our commitment to be a leader in responsible mining, we
developed an innovation-led approach to sustainable mining, FutureSmart
Mining™, which applies innovative thinking and technological advances to
address mining’s major sustainability challenges.
Our Sustainable Mining Plan, which is integral to FutureSmart Mining, has
been designed to foster innovation and deliver step change results across the
entire mining value chain, from mineral discovery right through to marketing.
It will ensure that we deliver outstanding sustained business results across
all seven of our pillars of value, without compromise – safety, environment,
social, people, production, cost/margin, and returns/financial. Sustainability
is at the heart of our decision-making – it is how we do business. IM
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Unki uncovered
The Unki platinum mine is located in the southern half of Zimbabwe’s
Great Dyke geological formation – widely recognised as the second
largest resource of PGMs in the world.
Anglo American Platinum’s association with Zimbabwe started in 2008
with the decision to build Unki. The mine development and concentrator
construction were completed at the end of 2010, soon followed by the
building of employee housing.
The mine is a mechanised, trackless, bord-and-pillar underground
operation. A twin-decline shaft system provides access to underground
workings for men and material, as well as ore conveyance. Both shafts
are around 2,250 m from the portal on surface. As of the end of 2018, 21
mining sections had been established, 16 of which were fully equipped
and have strikes belts for transferring ore directly to the main incline
shaft conveyor.
Run-of-mine ore is processed at the 120,000 t/mth concentrator plant
on site. Since commissioning the concentrator plant at the beginning of
2011, ongoing debottlenecking has enabled it to treat up to 170,000
t/mth.
The mine has 1,137 employees and 1,089 contractors working on site,
in addition to the 73 new employees that came with a recently
commissioned smelter. This $62 million custom-designed, cost-efficient
smelter is sized to meet Unki’s current production and retains the
capability for later upgrades to meet future increased mine production,
according to Anglo. The scope of the facility is the primary smelting of
Unki concentrate to produce a furnace matte which is crushed on site and
transported to the Anglo American Platinum Converter process facility in
Rustenburg, South Africa, for further processing.
The furnace heat-up at the smelter started in early-August 2018 and it
has been ramping up with the first production of matte at the end of
September 2018. The export of crushed matte commenced in mid-
November 2018 and the official opening took place in May of this year.
Unki mine was recently awarded top honours in the Operation
Excellence category of the Anglo American Applaud Awards. This internal
recognition program celebrates the best of the best in Anglo American
globally.
The mine produced 85,900 oz (troy) of platinum and 75,500 oz (troy) of
palladium in 2018, up from 74,600 oz (troy) and 64,400 oz, respectively,
in 2017. It also achieved a record 93,000 oz (troy) of PGM and gold
production in the first half of 2019.
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