UNDERGROUND MINING

	Palabora Mining Company operates a highly successful underground block-cave mine, producing 30’000 tons per day of copper ore. This department is headed by the “manager mining operations” with four superintendents reporting into this position.  The Mining Operations department is responsible for consistently delivering planned tonnages to the concentrator stockpiles for downstream beneficiation of copper.  We have an awesome mine.  A very mature and highly skilled underground workforce using state-of-the-art technologies and equipment is able to deliver safe and cost-efficient tonnages to the concentrator. Our safety culture stands testament to the benefits of an open working relationship between the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), mine leadership, teams and trade unions.  Employees are directly responsible for ensuring they can complete each and every task without exposing themselves to injury.  Teams have developed a high-care attitude to their members.  The operations teams have been successful in reducing their number of lost-time injuries from 7 in 2004 to 2 in 2005.  Our employees do reasonably expect to return home from work each day in a fit and healthy state. The construction and development of the underground mine was completed in October 2004 when the 20th cross-cut was brought into full production.  Palabora is a benchmark design; no other block cave mine has been put into as competent an orebody.  The block height of the cave is also a world record at 450m in the centre increasing up to 700m on the periphery.  The integrated design put Palabora as a world-class 30’000 ton per day mine.
The Palabora Mining Underground Project was successfully completed when the mine was able to achieve a consistent 30’000 ton per day average for a month.  This was achieved for the first time in May 2005, giving Palabora’s block cave one of the fastest ramp-ups to full production in the world. The production footprint is geographically very small, measuring 650m long by 200m wide.  It is through this footprint, consisting of 20 production cross-cuts and 320 drawpoints, that we break and load 30’000 tons of ore per day.  With the coarse fragmentation of our orebody, a high degree of secondary breaking activities is required to treat hang-ups and oversize and keep ore flowing through the drawpoints for the loaders to haul.
Our fleet of LHD’s tip 3’000 buckets per day into 4 jaw crushers on the northern side of the footprint.  Ore is reduced to less than 220mm and fed onto a high capacity conveyor system up to the shaft complex for hoisting to surface. Palabora uses current best practices in production scheduling and reconciliation, rehabilitation and maintenance of the footprint, roadway construction, oversize and hang-up treatment, loader efficiencies and dust suppression systems.  The mine has full calendar operations, working 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. We utilize 3 by 8 hour shifts per day, keeping the underground alive with a buzz of focused activity at all times.  Production, maintenance and service activities need to be scheduled carefully to obtain maximum benefit from the footprint, fixed plant, production machinery and people. We are proud of our mine, our people and our achievements.  We are proud to have been able to achieve what we have so far.