Tag Archives: Anglo American

Resourcing Tomorrow

Major miners join Resourcing Tomorrow lineup

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Representatives from the world’s largest mining companies Anglo American, BHP, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Vale have confirmed their attendance for this year’s Resourcing Tomorrow event, in London, event organisers say.

These attendees will join other leading mining companies including AngloGold Ashanti, Antofagasta Minerals, Barrick, B2 Gold, Eldorado Gold, Endeavour Mining, Freeport-McMoRan, Newmont, Sibanye-Stillwater and Teck Resources.

As Europe’s largest mining event, Resourcing Tomorrow: Accelerating the Energy Transition takes place in London on November 28-30 and is poised to be yet another agenda-setting edition for the industry, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange among professionals in the field, event organisers say.

Resourcing Tomorrow unites all stakeholders in the mining industry, including global mining and energy companies, investors, government delegations, researchers, educators, regulators, suppliers and operators. The conference program will provide 100-plus sessions in which all of the aforementioned miners will participate, giving attendees the opportunity to engage and network with leaders and industry specialists from around the world.

The event will draw participants from more than 100 countries, including Australia, USA, UK, Canada, India, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, Chile, Nigeria, Peru and Germany, demonstrating its international appeal and the global significance of the mining industry, organisers say.

With the increasing pace of change and emerging technologies in the mining industry, Resourcing Tomorrow will focus on the future of our industry and presents a unique opportunity for international representatives of the world’s leading resource economies to meet, find new partners, discuss current challenges, and share the latest research, technology and best practice.

International Mining is a media sponsor of Resourcing Tomorrow.

AngloAmerican-copper

Anglo American, Mitsubishi Materials to address copper supply chain traceability

Base metals, Environmental, Mining industry recognition, Sustainable mining, , ,

Anglo American has signed a memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation to collaborate on the creation of a copper product offering that, it says, responds to growing demand for metals with demonstrably strong provenance credentials.

The collaboration will focus on driving traceability across copper’s fragmented value chain, with the aim of identifying and measuring sustainability indicators that industry stakeholders and end customers deem most relevant and valuable, Anglo American says. By using technology-driven traceability solutions, the two companies will work together to provide such stakeholders with secure access to relevant product provenance information.

Anglo American and Mitsubishi Materials, a global manufacturer of copper and other non-ferrous metal materials, cemented carbide tools, and electronic components, will also explore decarbonisation opportunities to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the metal provided to customers.

Paul Ward, Executive Head of Base Metals Marketing at Anglo American, said: “We are forging long-term collaborations with customers across key geographies, building on well-established commercial relationships to extend the impact of our commitment to create ethical value chains for our products beyond our own mining operations.

“Consumers around the world are increasingly asking that their purchases come with greater assurance of sustainable production. Our work with Mitsubishi Materials aims to accelerate efforts to increase provenance visibility for materials used in some of the key technologies for modern life and to improve living standards for a growing global population through sustainable socio-economic development.”

Woodsmith-MTS-Anglo

Anglo American lays out 5 Mt/y Woodsmith polyhalite plan ahead of full design review

Automation, Energy minerals, Explosives and blasting, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This week, Anglo American hosted an investor and analyst day at its in-development Woodsmith project, in the UK, with several key technology takeaways cropping up from an in-depth presentation from Tom McCulley, CEO, Crop Nutrients.

In reviewing progress and the past, McCulley stated that Anglo has decided to start Woodsmith as a 5 Mt/y operation, with a staged ramp-up planned to the 13 Mt/y rate. The plan to sink 1,600 m production and service shafts, establish a mechanised mine, construct the 37-km-long underground tunnel and build a materials handling facility with priority access export facilities remain part of this. The potential to phase ventilation & production level development within the underground mine, potential to phase conveyor upgrades in the underground tunnel and the potential to carry out a phased expansion as required for the export facilities are all options for the 13 Mt/y blueprint.

This change has required some of the scope to go back to study phase – hence the reason why Anglo has been mooting detailed design reviews and non-critical path studies – looking at how to optimise investment and modularise the construction to get maximum value from each phase, McCulley said.

“I feel far more comfortable today about how we are setting up the project for the long-term success but managing in a capital efficient way,” McCulley said during his presentation.

Some of the elements keen observers have been watching at Woodsmith are related to mechanised underground development – both vertical (via shaft sinking) and horizontally (via tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for the 37-km-long tunnel).

TBM-led tunnel transformation

In terms of the latter, Anglo American is soon expecting to set a World Record for the longest TBM tunnel developed by a single TBM. This is currently set at 25.8 km, with the Woodsmith team having already reached the 25-km (25.3 km) mark.

“Beyond this we will pass our next intermediate shaft at Ladycross, where we will take a 3-4 month maintenance pause as we set up the TBM for the final push to 37 km, and we expect to reach the Woodsmith mine in late 2026,” McCulley said.

The machine used at Woodsmith is a Herrenknecht hard-rock TBM that, McCulley says, works similarly to the Shaft Boring Roadheaders (SBRs) being used for shaft sinking (more on that soon) in that it cuts the soils, without blasting, and the material is transported through the machine and out of the tunnel via a conveyor that is part of the TBM.

“In addition to excavating the material, the TBM also simultaneously lines the tunnel via pre-cast concrete segments (six segments make up a ring around the circumference of the tunnel); these concrete segments are fabricated at the Teesside port by a project dedicated facility,” McCulley said.

He said in every measure the tunnelling on the project to date has been an amazing success, aided by a solid team performance. This team is made up of contractors from Strabag, Herrenknecht and Anglo’s in-house personnel.

Progress has been aided by consistent ground conditions across the tunnel within what is called Mudstone strata, McCulley said.

“These conditions are very predictable and cutting is easy for the machine which minimises the bearing wear, which is a key risk area for the TBM,” he said. “This consistent strata has allowed us to switch our strategy from three TBMs to one TBM for the entire 37 km, which means we will not only pass the World Record, but we will also smash it when we reach Woodsmith in late 2026. This reduction in TBMs had a knock-on impact of saving significant capital over what was originally planned.”

Anglo is consistently seeing average rates increase to over 20 m/d and trending closer to 25 m/d, which compares favourably with about 16-17 m/d in late 2021.

Tom McCulley-Anglo American
Tom McCulley, CEO, Crop Nutrients

SBRs on the up

Mine development via TBMs is relatively proven when compared with the use of Herrenknecht SBRs for shaft sinking in mining, with Woodsmith representing only the third deployment of the technology in mining following Jansen (BHP) and Nezhinsky (Slavkaliy).

Anglo has two SBRs on site at Woodsmith, sinking the production and service shafts at the project. Redpath, which carried out the shaft sinking work at Nezhinsky, is steering developments at these two shafts, in addition to the material transport system shaft. Only the much deeper production and service shafts are being sunk via mechanised means with the SBRs.

Overseeing this and all developments at the operation is Worley as an engineering, procurement and construction management contractor.

Sinking of the service shaft began in September-October 2022, followed some six months later with activities at the production shaft. McCulley said these two were now around 550-m deep and 340-m deep, respectively.

“We typically see more daily meters from the production shaft due to the service shaft lessons being applied to the production shaft, so I’m excited as I think we may have a race to polyhalite!” he said. “We are very pleased with the progress made on both shafts since Redpath started sinking in 2022.”

On the advantages associated with using SBRs, McCulley said: “Some of the primary benefits of these machines is they are inherently safer than traditional sinking. They also eliminate the need for explosives, which is a huge benefit to us with the community as we don’t encounter noise complaints experienced in other mines. I expect these machines to be the future of shaft sinking. They are just safer, quicker and more predictable.”

The SBR is generally working in autonomous mode for most of the time following a program with pre-set parameters for cutting, according to McCulley, who said the company is expecting an average rate of 1 m/d in each shaft over the full 1,600-m length of the shafts.

“This 1 m/d includes all routine maintenance and what we call non-routine work, like installing water cubbies for pumping water out of the shafts, probe drilling, tubbing and grouting,” he said.

“Ultimately, this is the right machine for the job at Woodsmith and the cutting rates we achieve are 1.5-2 times what we would do with traditional methods.”

Looking at current sinking progress and plans to hit the orebody in 2027 in the service shaft (with the production shaft being six months behind that), McCulley pointed out a 250-m section of sinking in Sherwood Sandstone, which the company expects to reach next year.

“This 250 m of strata will see our rates reduced from our 1 m/d to something between 0.5 m and 0.75 m a day, and this will impact us for most of next year and early 2025,” McCulley said. “Once through that strata, we do not expect any further issues with the ground conditions significantly impacting production.”

The Sherwood Sandstone is characterised as a strata of highly competent rock, about 120 Mpa, according to McCulley, which is at the top end of the SBR rock hardness capacity given by Herrenknecht.

In addition to the hardness, this strata has the potential for some water fissures (ie cracks in the rock with high pressure water), according to McCulley.

“The good news for us is we hit a 2.5-m layer of this material a few weeks ago and we learned from this that we need to make some adjustments to our cutter heads and cutting picks, and now we are far more prepared than we would have been otherwise,” he said. “We are also prepared with alternative plans, including potential use of lasers, plasma blasting and/or microwaves if needed, but we expect our updated cutter head and next generation picks, developed by Element 6 of De Beers, will cut through the rock at the rates I previously mentioned. In addition, to the hard rock, this strata has a risk of high-water flows in small sections of the strata so we will need to seal the shaft via grout from the shaft. This means as we come across water, we will inject chemical grout into the fractures to block water bearing cavities and control water inflow.”

Adding to McCulley’s confidence is the fact that the nearby Boulby mine encountered the same strata some time ago, which that team progressed through via the same exact grouting technique Woodsmith is planning today.

In terms of priorities for 2023, McCulley said the team expected the service shaft to be between 650-700 m at the end of the year, versus the current circa-550 metres today, whereas the production shaft could reach 450 m by this point.

“Both shafts, if they hit the numbers noted will exceed our planned targets for the year,” he said.

“The MTS shaft and Ladycross shafts are both sunk, and we are working to fit them out during the remainder of the year. In the tunnel we have driven 4.3 km this year, we are at 25.3 km and we expect to reach 27 km, which is our stretch target for the year.”

For 2024, while Anglo continues to work through the studies, it doesn’t see any changes to its plans right now and still expects to be around the $1 billon capex number for the next few years.

McCulley added: “Our vision at Woodsmith with regards to technology is to ultimately develop a peopleless underground mine, where operations and maintenance are all controlled from the surface. This is a journey, but many technologies are already out there, we just need to put the system in place and the wherewithal to help the vendors take the next step. This will not happen from the start, but with our vision and with the team we have in place, I have no doubt that in the future this vision will become a reality.”

When at full production, Woodsmith will be a FutureSmart Mine with all the modern technologies, according to McCulley, with these characteristics ensuring the company has a low cost, high volume mine for many years to come. Continuous miners are expected to be used in a room & pillar mining application, combined with mine cars, shuttle cars or conveyors.

“On top of the mining/processing technology, I see some interesting parallels with the farming industry. They are rapidly adopting technologies, and we are very well placed to support this transition in areas like sensing, scanning, AI, etc. I think with our Anglo American Woodsmith project experience in technology we are uniquely positioned to help support this transition in farming and this is something that will have added value to our product for years to come.”

First of its kind Net Zero Standard devised for diversified mining sector

Environmental, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

Climate Action 100+, which calls itself the world’s largest investor engagement initiative on climate change, has released a first of its kind “Net Zero Standard” for diversified mining companies such as Anglo American, BHP, Glencore, Rio Tinto, South32, Teck Resources and Vale.

The new standard aims to help investors assess the progress of diversified mining companies as they move towards net zero, providing them with robust tools to independently and consistently assess these companies’ transition plans, in order to understand their transition risk and support their engagement efforts.

Designed to complement the sector-neutral Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Company Benchmark, the standard will provide a transparent, systematic and evidence-backed engagement tool, giving Climate Action 100+ signatories and the wider investor landscape the metrics most specific to this important, but complex, sector, the organisation says.

“The Net Zero Standard for Diversified Mining reflects the outcome of extensive consultation with investors, mining companies themselves and other key stakeholders,” it said, adding that a final consultation on a draft of the standard was conducted in the June quarter before the final release.

As part of this development, the organisation has devised a set of metrics that diversified mining companies engaged with under Climate Action 100+ will be assessed against, and the scoring methodology that will be used. These metrics are additional to the Climate Action 100+ Net Zero Company Benchmark.

Additionally, a document called Investor Expectations for Diversified Mining has been published that, the organisation says, fleshes out the standard with background and rationale behind the metrics found in the standard itself.

The metrics laid out in both documents will now be piloted by assessing selected miners with the objective of testing their practicality. Feedback from these pilots will be used to further refine the metrics into a final list, with which it is expected public assessments will be made. These assessment results (as well as the narrative and context provided in the Investor Expectations) will bring impactful insights to engagement conversations, the organisation says.

The list of Climate Action 100+ companies that will be assessed with the standard include Anglo American, ANTAM, BHP, Glencore, Grupo México, Rio Tinto, South32, Teck Resources, Vale, Vedanta.

Rebecca Mikula-Wright, Chief Executive Officer, Investor Group on Climate Change, says: “The world’s leading miners are already shifting their businesses to help the world decarbonise, but some are just making claims that aren’t backed by reality. This new standard will help investors and governments separate the greenwashers from the companies that will have sustainable businesses in a net zero world.”

Laura Hillis, Church of England Pensions Board, added: “Investors often have exposure not only to the mining sector, but to many other sectors that are underpinned and enabled by mining. For example, the autos, property, steel and manufacturing sectors are highly dependent on the commodities produced by miners. By focusing on the strategic role of mining in the net zero transition, we can boost the resilience of our overall portfolio. This standard provides an ambitious but credible framework for investors and mining companies to ensure this critical sector supports a just and orderly transition to net-zero, and it raises the bar at a crucial time in this essential global economic transformation.”

IMDEX aims for directional drilling growth following Devico takeover

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Following the acquisition of Devico, IMDEX says it is looking to grow the market for Directional Core Drilling (DCD) technology.

The technology is billed as delivering sustainable mining operations through more focused and efficient exploration with decreased costs and lower environmental impact, including reduced water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions when compared with conventional drilling.

Devico was acquired by IMDEX earlier this year.

IMDEX Chief Operating Officer, Shaun Southwell, said the transition to directional core drilling was inevitable as exploration costs increased in the search for mineral deposits that are deeper and in more remote and unexplored regions.

“Resource companies need to take every advantage available to them so having the capacity to hit more targets with less exploration drilling delivers real quantifiable savings,” he said. “Directional core drilling is one of the fastest growing markets as companies seek precision in their drilling programs.”

Time and cost savings from 20-50% are typical compared with conventional drilling, according to IMDEX.

The technology is well-suited in the search for geologically complex critical minerals, particularly with the capacity to drill multiple secondary drill holes from an initial mother hole and/or overcome natural deviation to hit intended targets.

IMDEX General Manager, Europe, Erlend Olso, said that while directional core drilling added some short-term costs, resource companies were recognising the greater overall savings.

“Using directional core drilling provides precision and efficiency in exploration; you can hit more targets with a lot less metres drilled,” Olso said. “Resource companies save money in the exploration phase but also know that they can hit the targets and prove up the resource in a better, faster way. There are a lot of added benefits.

“A lot of drilling companies realise they can get ahead by working with us.

“The more widespread the technology is becoming, the more the resource companies are looking for drilling companies who can work with us in the most efficient way.”

Olso said resource companies in Canada had been early adopters of the directional core drilling technology followed by Nordic countries, with South America over the past five to 10 years and more recently Africa.

Devico and IMDEX are planning to expand the directional core drilling market in Australia.

Anglo American Principal Geology and Resource Estimator, Janne Siikaluoma, credited Devico’s directional core drilling technology with delivering results that would not otherwise have been possible at its Sakatti copper, nickel and PGE deposit in Finland, 150km from the Arctic Circle.

“AA Sakatti Mining Oy has used Devico’s services in the Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE project since 2017,” Siikaluoma said. “Devico’s services and, especially directional core drilling, has been an important factor to be able to conduct accurate diamond drilling programs in deep and complex deposits located in environmentally sensitive areas like Sakatti.

“The Sakatti winter season 2022-2023 metallurgical drilling program with several multi-branch DCD-guided holes was completed on time with high technical quality.

“This enabled AA Sakatti Mining Oy to collect the metallurgical samples from the Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE deposit by means of core drilling which was the priority one objective and very important for the future progress of the Sakatti project.

“Additionally, the successful drilling program enabled us to achieve a constant 25 m drilling pattern in certain key areas of the deposit with the required 5m target precision (up to 800 m depth) which would have not been possible by any other practical means.”

IMDEX joins Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct, plans for Dirt Lab

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IMDEX says it has become a major industry partner of the new Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct in Perth, Western Australia.

The partnership with the state government-owned precinct will allow IMDEX to accelerate testing and demonstration of technology including its BLAST DOG™ at a site close to its Balcatta headquarters

IMDEX BLAST DOG is a commodity-agnostic blasthole sensing and physical measurement technology that provides near real-time blasthole physicals and orebody knowledge, and a 3D view into the bench.

The 51 ha automation and robotics precinct 40 km north of the Perth Central Business District was purpose-built for testing, research and development, and training in autonomous, remote operations, and robotic systems and equipment.

Launched in October 2021, the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct currently provides extensive test beds, freehold lots and an onsite office for industry use. It is being developed into a facility for innovation, with a state-of-the-art Common User Facility operation building, research and development facilities such as laboratories and design co-labs, and advanced test beds with multiple areas and roadways for physical testing.

IMDEX has signed on as an industry partner for an initial period of two years and will build and maintain a common user drill pad as a critical part of a 22 ha Dirt Lab, which will enable various commercial and collaborative opportunities as an innovation mine test and development site.

IMDEX Chief Executive Officer, Paul House (pictured on the right with IMDEX Chief Strategy Officer, Michelle Carey (centre) and Stuart Nahajski, DevelopmentWA General Manager Regional (left)), said having a purpose-built, robotics research and development site so close to the company’s headquarters was ideal.

“While we operate globally and have an unrivalled presence on all major mining operations, Western Australia is home to some of the world’s major mining companies so having the opportunity to develop and promote our technology locally is an additional benefit,” House said.

“BLAST DOG won’t be the only technology we will test at the site. We have plans for testing a range of IMDEX tools and technology developed by our research and development team.”

IMDEX has recently signed deals with two tier-one mining companies for further commercial testing of BLAST DOG.

The company achieved its first commercial contract with BLAST DOG in August 2022, at Iron Bridge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with the agreement providing for the staged use of up to three units together with associated products, software, data analysis, reporting and support.

Six commercial prototype trials were planned for the 2023 financial year under the first phase of BLAST DOG development.

BLAST DOG has been developed in collaboration with Universal Field Robots and IMDEX industry partners Teck Resources and Anglo American.

Anglo American captures BAMIN Pedra de Ferro iron ore offtake

Mine operation news, Steel and iron ore, , ,

BAMIN, the wholly-owned Brazil-based subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group, has signed an agreement with Anglo American that guarantees the acquisition of the full export volumes of BAMIN’s Pedra de Ferro mine for 2023.

The Pedra de Ferro open-pit iron ore mine, in the city of Caetite, State of Bahia, has been in production since late 2020, supplying both domestic and export markets with direct shipping ore. In 2022, this averaged 65.5-66% Fe direct shipping ore fines. Pedra de Ferro has a current production capacity of up to 1 Mt/y.

With this latest agreement with Anglo American, the miner will exclusively purchase all of BAMIN’s export iron ore for the year of 2023.

Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, said: “The signing of this contract builds on previous sales agreements between Anglo American and BAMIN for standalone exports and once again demonstrates BAMIN’s position as a high-quality supplier of iron ore. We look forward to having a successful relationship with Anglo American.”

Anglo American assembles Queensland’s first ever all-female Mines Rescue Team

Coal technology, Mine operation news, Mining industry recognition, Mining safety, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , ,

Queensland’s first ever all-female Mines Rescue Team has been formed at Anglo American’s Capcoal Open Cut Mine, near Middlemount, and is set to join the state’s competitive Mines Rescue Open Cut Circuit.

Known as the Women of Steel, the team is made up of seven women who are now in training for the QMRS Mines Rescue Challenge later this year.

Team captain and Capcoal Open Cut’s Emergency Response Team Coordinator, Kiri Blanch, says she has been looking to put together an all-female team for some time.

“Our team is a dedicated group of women who really gel together, and we’re proud to be the first Anglo American and Queensland-based all-women team in the Queensland competition,” she said. “Everyone has been very supportive, especially our male counterparts. It’s a reflection of the culture at our site that continues to both support mines rescue and empower the women we work with.

“This has inspired our team to commit to the challenge, improve our health and fitness and achieve the best results possible whilst representing women in mining. We will train closely with the Capcoal Open Cut men’s team and support each other during competitions.”

CEO of Anglo American in Australia, Dan van der Westhuizen, said the team had the backing of all their colleagues across the company.

“We’re so pleased to support this outstanding group of women as they get set to make a real mark on Queensland’s mines rescue circuit,” van der Westhuizen said. “Although we still have further to go, it’s a strong example of how our industry and our operations are moving towards achieving equal representation and equality.

“At Anglo American, we have a strong history of supporting our highly competitive mines rescue teams across both our open cut and underground operations, so it’s particularly pleasing that that our Women of Steel are now Queensland’s first all-female team. Our mines rescue teams play a critical role in any incident response or rescue, and these competitions help ensure their skills are well honed, if called upon to undertake a rescue.”

Anglo American operates five steelmaking coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, and has additional joint venture interests in steel-making coal and manganese, as well as copper exploration projects underway in Queensland and Western Australia.

Anglo American increases Woodsmith polyhalite scale as shaft sinking progresses

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Anglo American is upping the ante at its Woodsmith polyhalite project in the UK, increasing its planned spend while expanding its production scope following detailed design reviews and non-critical path studies.

In the company’s 2022 results release today, it said these reviews and studies had led to a number of areas being modified to align with Anglo American’s standards and its aim to optimise value for the long term.

The outcome is an enhanced project configuration to ensure the company delivers maximum commercial returns from Woodsmith over the expected multi-decade asset life, Anglo said. Included within this is an increase in the capacity of the shafts and other infrastructure to accommodate higher production volumes and more efficient and scalable mining methods over time.

More specifically, this has seen the company plan for a circa-13 Mt/y operation instead of the previous 10 Mt/y operation it had endorsed, subject to studies and approval.

“In light of these changes, Anglo now expects first product to market in 2027, with an annual capital investment of around $1 billion,” the company said.

Spending of $800 million is approved for 2023, with the bulk of initial spend on the shaft sinking and tunnel boring activities. As usual in developing underground mines, the schedule will largely be determined by the ground conditions encountered as sinking activities progress.

The Woodsmith project is located on the North Yorkshire coast, just south of Whitby, where polyhalite ore will be extracted via 1.6-km-deep mine shafts and transported to Teesside via an underground conveyor belt in a 37 km tunnel, thereby minimising any environmental impact on the surface. It will then be granulated at a materials handling facility to produce a low carbon fertiliser – known as POLY4 – that will then be exported from its port facility, where it has priority access, to a network of customers around the world.

During 2022, as part of the mentioned construction review, contracts were awarded for the shaft sinking operations, program management services and construction management to ensure the project can be executed in line with Anglo American’s stringent requirements. These contracts were awarded to Redpath (shaft sinking) and Worley (program management services and construction management).

With the award of these contracts and other infrastructure improvements, activities at the deep shafts have progressed. The service shaft is now more than 360 m deep, while shaft sinking began 120 m below the surface for the production shaft in January 2023, as planned. Both of these shafts are being sunk using Herrenknecht’s Shaft Boring Roadheader technology.

Three intermediate shafts will provide both ventilation and additional access to the mineral transport system (MTS) tunnel. The Lockwood Beck intermediate access shaft was successfully completed in 2022 and is fully lined and connected to the tunnel. Work on the MTS shaft at the mine head progressed through 2022 and is 85% complete, and the excavation at the final intermediate access shaft at the Ladycross site commenced in early 2023.

Following a planned maintenance pause in mid-2022 to refurbish the tunnel boring machine and allow the connection with the Lockwood Beck shaft, the MTS tunnel is now past the 21-km point and is more than 56% complete, progressing at rates not seen since the start of the tunnelling activities, Anglo said.

Anglo American concluded: “We believe that the changes we have made to the project have had a materially positive impact on the project’s long-term attractiveness and prospects. However, for accounting purposes at this early stage of the project’s development, we have recognised an impairment of $1.7 billion to the carrying value of the asset within special items and remeasurements, reflecting the extension of the development schedule and capital budget.”

FLANDERS completes ARDVARC conversion of fourth Sandvik DR410i for Anglo’s Mogalakwena

Automation, Explosives and blasting, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , ,

A fourth Sandvik DR410i rotary blasthole drill set for Anglo American Platinum’s Mogalakwena mine, in South Africa, has now been converted to an ARDVARC drill control system at FLANDERS’ Middelburg facility, in South Africa, ready to be shipped to the mine for commissioning, FLANDERS says.

The ARDVARC solution improves drill productivity by up to 30%, FLANDERS claims, and provides a significantly safer working environment for workers operating in complex or hazardous conditions. With its autonomous operating technology, FLANDERS helps its customers proactively optimise drilling and increase plant availability, it added.

Anglo’s Mogalakwena mine is, according to FLANDERS, the first to standardise its drill fleet, and is about to receive its fourth Sandvik 410i drill.

The FLANDERS team is working with Anglo to plan the conversion of its existing fleet, with the ongoing partnership helping accelerate Anglo’s adoption of drilling automation technologies.

FLANDERS previously signed a deal with Anglo to incorporate ARDVARC on all new and existing drills at the Mogalakwena mine, including the recently purchased Sandvik DR410i blasthole drills.