Mine excursion
Although South Africa hosts the biggest platinum group metal( PGM) deposits on earth, it is not always an easy task getting it to surface. Most of the country’ s platinum mines are renowned for their difficult working conditions. Narrow veins, uneven surfaces, tricky geology, and at times atrocious ground conditions, await miners as they venture into the marrow of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, a geological phenomenon if ever there was one. However, Sibanye-Stillwater’ s Bathopele Mine, close to Rustenburg in the North West Province, is an exception. The mine is fully mechanised, and it is arguably the most advanced platinum mine in the industry.
To enter an underground platinum mine with a shuttle car via a decline shaft compared to descending a 3km-deep gold mine in an overcrowded cage, is like comparing first class with economy class. Although the drive down Bathopele’ s shaft could be regarded as luxurious in terms of accessing underground mines, it is still an experience worth remembering. To lie on your back, caged in next to two colleagues, watching the hanging wall flash by millimetres from your nose and from the front end of your hard hat, makes for an exhilarating adventure.
The rumble of a powerful diesel engine descending a steep slope, and its distinct fumes, clogs your ability to comprehend the intricate geology of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, even while you are staring at it. Trying to find the best position to negotiate the bumps, and at the same time attempting not to bump your head in the process, is the best way to describe the state of affairs on the way to chief mine overseer Herman Steyn’ s Section 10E, in East Shaft. Sibanye-Stillwater’ s management team will be familiar with this conundrum as the number of challenges that now confront this mining giant mounts, but at the same time, more opportunities present itself.
Benefits of mechanisation
Nevertheless, Sibanye-Stillwater has done a sterling job at Bathopele since taking over the operation from Anglo Platinum( AngloPlat). Bathopele forms part of what was once AngloPlats’ Rustenburg operations. Sibanye-Stillwater acquired the Rustenburg mines from AngloPlats in 2016 in a deal worth more than R4.5-billion.
The Rustenburg operations are north-east of Rustenburg and Kroondal, 123km west of Pretoria, and just more than 150km north-west of Johannesburg. The lease area covers about 360km ²( 30km from east to west and 12km from north to south). The Rustenburg complex consists of three operating vertical shafts: Siphumelele, Khuseleka and Thembelani, which use conventional mining methods, and Bathopele, which is a mechanised operation. Bathopele started producing PGMs in late 2000.
At a time when the mining industry is desperately trying to modernise, Bathopele is a good case study of a mechanised platinum mine, which many pundits believe is not possible in South Africa, considering the
Bathopele has a vibrating feeder grizzly on its tip with an aperture of about 30cm. The LHD dumps the material after a blast, and the fines( referred to as‘ stof’), which is normally the reef, will fall through the grizzly onto the pan, while the big rocks( the waste) will remain on the grizzly.
[ 20 ] MINING MIRROR SEPTEMBER 2018