Posted on August 08, 2018
The Klipspruit Colliery was extremely exciting as the BE1570W Dragline was on maintenance and the students had the opportunity to stand very close to the huge earth moving monster. During onsite discussions the students were also made aware of some of the challenges the mine and the industry as a whole is currently facing.
During the second visit, GoldOne Modder-East operations (in the Springs area) hosted the students and the visit focused on conventional stope pillar extraction and a mechanised room and pillar operation. The students were presented with the opportunity to see a unique way of mining in the gold industry, as very few gold mine practice room and pillar mining methods.
Petra’s Diamond Mine in Cullinan accommodated the group of students with a very interesting underground visit. Accommodating staff members provided the students with holistic block caving and sublevel caving, mining cycle exposure as well as an environment that fosters experiential learning.
To end of the first week, the students visited Sibanye Stillwater’s Bathopele Mine. Upon arrival at the mine, the students were divided into 3 groups after which (escorted by mine personnel) visited various underground sections. The mining cycle was seen including all the activities in the stopes and the moving of grizzles as the stopes progress during mining.
The first week was well received by the students and the excitement and enthusiasm was overwhelming.
The second week of the tour started with a visit to the Mine Rescue Services (MRS) in Welkom. A very interesting presentation was made to the students on the operations and the involvement of the MRS during mine emergencies. The selection and training of proto team members was explained and demonstrated. Many questions were asked and thoroughly answered.
Examples of older generation re-breather equipment used during mine rescues.
Tuesday saw half the students visit Harmony’s Joel Operation near Theunissen. The students were exposed to a trackless decline being developed using conventional drill and blast methodologies.
Joel visitors – 10 July 2018
The remainder of the students visited Harmony’s Target Mine and were exposed to massive mining methods where huge cavities are created underground to extract the gold ore. The students were transported with pickup vehicles to the areas where the cavities were mined.
During Wednesday all the students visited the Sibanye Stillwater Beatrix operations. Again the students were split into smaller groups and were accommodated at 1 shaft and 3 shaft respectively, visiting a decline and stoping area where benching is practised.
On Thursday 12 July 2018 we were hosted by the Association of Mine Managers of South Africa at the Welkom regional monthly meeting. The students were warmly received and were involved during the presentation and discussions. As the future mining engineers / mine managers of the industry the exposure to the AMMSA meeting was significant in that the students were made aware of the challenges and opportunities the industry is currently facing, appropriate to end a very successful mining tour.
On behalf of the Department of Mining Engineering from the University of Pretoria we would like to extend a huge thank you to all the mining companies and organizations for hosting and accommodating the students. The professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication of the personnel involved was visible from the onset and is highly appreciated to have made the tour a very memorable and educational learning experience.
Copyright © University of Pretoria 2024. All rights reserved.
Virtual Campus
Get Social With Us
Download the UP Mobile App