WORLD PROSPECTS
North Mara steps up a gear
Barrick ’ s North Mara gold mine is located in north-west Tanzania in the Tarime district of the Mara region . It is around 100 km east of Lake Victoria and 20 km south of the Kenyan border . North Mara started commercial production in 2002 . The mine is a combined open pit and underground operation from two deposits , Gokona ( underground ) and Nyabirama ( open pit ). The process plant has the capacity to process an average of 8,000 t of ore per day .
In an announcement on January 25 , the global gold and copper miner said that along with its other Tanzania mine , Bulyanhulu , output had risen to 547,000 oz in 2022 , “ another step towards their potential Tier One status in the group ’ s asset portfolio as a combined complex .” It added : “ At the same time , exploration is continuing to deliver opportunities to grow the mineral reserves net of depletion at both mines .” North Mara ’ s share of this was over 310,000 oz . Both mines come under Tanzania company Twiga Minerals , in which the Tanzanian government holds a 16 % stake and Barrick 84 %.
Barrick President and Chief Executive Mark Bristow : “ Last year North Mara was officially recognised as Tanzania ’ s largest taxpayer and Bulyanhulu was awarded the Best Compliant Employer prize by the National Social Security
Fund … they ’ ve both come a very long way and we look forward to continuing that journey through our Twiga partnership with the government .”
Technology is an important part of this progress . At North Mara , the company said in a media briefing that underground mining continues to benefit from a new mining fleet with record total tonnes mined for the year of 1.747 Mt . The North Mara fleet includes Sandvik
North Mara ' s fleet includes the Sandvik TH663i
TH540 , TH551i and TH663i trucks and Caterpillar 2900G LHDs plus Sandvik production and development drills .
Barrick also stated : “ Technological advancements at North Mara continue to lead the way with the Multi-Lite project at our
underground mine which increases productivity and improves reliability .” Sandvik says with AutoMine ® Multi-Lite each piece of equipment completes automated missions in its own dedicated production area . The OEM adds that the solution “ provides a powerful way to take advantage of the full machine performance through automation , and offers substantial benefits of increased productivity , safety and cost efficiency in mining operations .”
It is described as suitable for large mining operations with several production areas . It is an ideal package particularly for mining operations which require repeatable and consistently high performance as well as multimachine control . Transparency of the loading and hauling process through fleet reporting capabilities of the system serve as an enabler to optimise operations .
Moving on to North Mara open pit mining , a successful transition of open cast mining from contractor to owner miner has been completed , with a resulting ramp up in production and significant cost reduction expected . Ten new Cat 777 trucks were commissioned in Q4 2022 . Continued investment enabled achievement of record tonnes mined in the open pit in 2022 of 3.7 Mt . Construction of a new crushing plant is on track , aimed at producing better crush size to reduce the milling power required and increase throughput . Commissioning is planned for Q4 2023 . www . barrick . com
L9 collision avoidance mandated in South Africa
After years of uncertainty as to when it note from the Mine Health and Safety Council might actually be mandated – South ( MHSC ), a statutory body that advises the Africa ’ s Department of Mineral Resources Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and Energy ( DMRE ) has brought into law the ( DMRE ), which was submitted to the Minister for Chapter 8 clauses of the Mine Health and Safety consideration and as he deemed it fit , he duly Act Regulations relating to Level 9 vehicle published the gazette . It states : “ I Samson intervention for collision avoidance in trackless Gwede Mantashe , Minister of Mineral Resources mobile machinery , both surface and and Energy , under section 98 ( 1 )( h ) of the Mine underground .
Health and Safety Act , 1996 ( act No . 29 of 1996 ) The gazette was published December 21 , 2022 and after consultation with the Council , hereby meaning it is now law . IM understands that the determine the date of publication of this notice in mines that are not compliant ( which is most of the government gazette as the date on which them ) have to now apply for an exemption sub-regulations 8.10.1.2 ( b ) and 8.10.2.1 ( b ) in including detailed timelines with milestones and Chapter 8 of the regulations to the Mine Health deliverables . While the gazette did not mention and Safety Act , 1996 shall come into operation .” the exemptions , this is an issue which the Chief All underground diesel powered trackless Inspector of Mines had alluded to in discussions mobile machines must be provided with means : with the Chairperson of the CEO Zero Harm to automatically detect the presence of any Forum of the Minerals Council of South Africa . pedestrian within its vicinity . Upon detecting the The gazetting process began with an advisory presence of a pedestrian , the operator of the
diesel powered trackless mobile machine and the pedestrian shall be warned of each other ’ s presence by means of an effective warning ; and then 8.10.1.2 ( b ) states : “ in the event where no action is taken to prevent potential collision , further means shall be provided to retard the diesel powered trackless mobile machine to a safe speed where after the brakes of the diesel powered trackless mobile machine are automatically applied . The prevent potential collision system on the diesel powered trackless mobile machine must fail to safe without human
Picture courtesy Strata Worldwide s
4 International Mining | FEBRUARY 2023