WINNING
this plant no longer falls under the quarry
manager’s responsibility, other than to ensure
it has sufficient material to keep it constantly
busy. If there is no new material from the
quarry, the staff and saws stand idle to the
detriment of the quarry’s production targets.
It is a just-in-time production methodology,
with each day’s material processed in full by
the plant with no stockpile maintained, he
explains. The only completed blocks on the
site are those awaiting loading to Richard’s
Bay for export. The substantial processing
plant cuts blocks to size and otherwise
prepares it for transport and sale.
Equipment
Apart from the equipment for drilling and
blasting, the additional equipment used in
the pit is seven front-end loaders (988Fs
Komatsu) and one Terex Bell dumper on
each. Every machine has a number of quick-
hitch attachments, including a 9m-long
boom or rake, a fork, and a bucket, used
respectively for shifting blocks too high
to reach as well as taking away blocks and
waste. “This is very rapidly done — it’s only
two levers.”
www.quarryonline.co.za
“Springbok’s dimension
stone quality is among
the highest in Rustenburg
– a quality renowned
throughout the world.”
Gerard Smit, Springbok Quarry
acting manager
The pit averages approximately 20 000
tonnes gross of material a month for a net
4 000–5 000 tonnes of product a month. “To
load a block takes about five minutes, and
it’s equally quick to cover the three to four
kilometres to the processing plant. Where
most time is lost is in offloading the blocks
at the processing plant, where currently only
one of the two cranes is functional — and
this can take as much as three hours,” Smit
says. There is a close relationship between the
quarry and the plant, and when a bottleneck
is developing with no blocks readily available
to cut — a frequent occurrence when
working at full capacity — the quarry will
send a loader from the pit to the plant to
speed up offloading.
“This situation only occurs because
the second crane is undergoing vital
maintenance, and it will be relieved in
the future,” says Smit. Fixing the crane
requires Chinese mechanics, which in turn
requires work permits — one of the quarry’s
challenges.
The challenges
The biggest challenges faced by the quarry
match its biggest expenses, which are 40%
labour costs, 30% diesel, and 10–15%
maintenance of equipment. Anything that
can hamper labour and production is a risk.
“Every day is different. The daily challenges
consist of the variables and the negative
characteristics in the rock itself. The defects
in the rock are the single biggest issue for
us. One day you will be working on a bench
which looks the same as the one adjacent and
you are ready for a day’s production, but we
can never predict what the rock is actually
like beforehand because we don’t know what
is in the back.
QUARRY SA | MARCH/APRIL 2019_19