BOSCHKOPPIE MINE

From exploration to development

While the presence of the Merensky Reef on the Boschkoppie Farm was known from the 1920s, drilling only started in 1950, with 20 boreholes being drilled. Mining operations on the Merensky Reef started in the early 1950s, but were abandoned in 1956. During that year, Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co. Ltd (JCI) undertook additional exploration campaigns at Boschkoppie and intersected UG2 mineralisation in the same year. Between 1993 and 1996, significant drilling campaigns were undertaken, with 57 boreholes drilled, and between 1997 and 2001, during which period more than 120 boreholes were drilled to delineate the UG2 orebody for opencast mining. From 2001 onwards, exploration campaigns focused on the Merensky Reef at Boschkoppie and, in 2002, a JV drilling programme (under the joint direction of RBH and Anglo Platinum) started and has continued to date. In 2008 and 2009, drilling programmes focused predominantly on North Shaft Phase III.

Operations at Boschkoppie

In November 1997 construction of BRPM commenced at a capital cost of R1.4 billion under the management of Anglo Platinum. The first opencast blast took place in January 1998, with underground mining commencing in December 1998 with the mine scheduled to reach full production in January 2002, after a 15-month build-up period. This date was brought forward by the exploitation of some 2.2 million tonnes of surface material on Boschkoppie from the Merensky and UG2 opencast mines. The Merensky opencast mine was operational from December 1998 to October 2002, and the UG2 opencast mine was operational from January 2000 to April 2004. First concentrate was produced from the oxidised ores in December 1999.

Boschkoppie comprises the twin decline shaft complexes – the North and South shafts (as well as a smaller, now defunct South-D shaft, in the south of the property). Historically, the operation has focused exclusively on the mining of the Merensky Reef, but currently access development is focusing on the opening up of UG2 reserves.

Replacement at Boschkoppie – BRPM Phases II and III

The BRPM Phase II Project started in 2003 and, when complete, will extend shaft infrastructure by an additional five levels (Level 6 to Level 10). The Phase II Project was completed in August 2011 at North Shaft, and is expected to be completed by September 2012 at South Shaft. Phase III, on which capital construction began in November 2010, will focus exclusively on North Shaft, from Level 11 to Level 15, and will address future Merensky Reef replacement. Phase III is expected to reach completion by 2017.

BRPM Concentrator and WCC journey

The BRPM Boskoppie Concentrator receives ore from the two decline shafts, and has a design capacity of 200 000 tons per months. The plant predominantly treats Merensky ore. It operates with a permanent workforce of ca. 190 employees and operates on a 24hr, 365 day basis.

The process follows a traditional MF2 process and includes a conventional 3 stage crushing process prior to milling and flotation.

The flotation process produces a platinum rich concentrate which is collected and sold as a final product of BRPM for further processing and refining.

In essence the concentrator produces 2.7 tons of saleable product from every 100 tons of virgin rock processed.

The concentrator can be described as a robust maintenance intensive environment which makes the ability to maximize plant availability a key operational gearing tactic.

The Boskoppie concentrator embarked on a World Class Concentrator (WCC) Journey in May 2010, at the back of a challenging 2009. Through its continuous improvement management system, the systematic elimination of loss and waste, the Journey has yielded a return on investment of 1400% by September 2011.

The underlying premise for the undertaking was the notion of synchronous manufacturing, which refers to the entire production process working in harmony to achieve the profit goal of BRPM.

Application of constraint management principles during 2009 and 2010 revealed its relevance. The over arching strategy at the concentrator follows constraint management, continuous improvement and ultimately re-engineering.

The process undertaken by the concentrator incorporates such operational excellence tools such as TQM, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma into an integrated solution.

The continuous improvement management system implementation methodology ensures that all the building blocks are in place, starting with Leading and Managing Change. After shared understanding had been reached and implementation structures were in place the concentrator embarked on the implementation actions that supported teamwork, cleaning and discipline, visual performance measurement, focused improvement and asset care.

Due to the multifaceted nature of the implementation an operational management consultant was engaged to facilitated implementation of the World Class Concentrator journey.

During 2012, the concentrator will continue to drive value through the WCC Journey with a vision of being the benchmark in the industry.

For further information, please see the operational performance (PDF - 109KB) from Report 2011.