Impala’s biggest Zim mine collapses

Zimplats Bimha mine in Zimbabwe.Photo Tawanda Karombo

Zimplats Bimha mine in Zimbabwe.Photo Tawanda Karombo

Published Jul 21, 2014

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Harare - Impala Platinum’s unit in Zimbabwe, Zimplats, had lost half of the production from its largest mine in the country after it collapsed on Friday, leading to fears that Zimplats’ intentions to raise output will suffer a setback, and attracting the anger of mineworkers who have raised concerns over safety.

No casualties have been reported.

The collapse of the Bimha mine would see the company lose about 45 000 ounces of platinum group metals (PGMs), Zimplats chief executive Alex Mhembere said.

Although the company was set to meet its target of 140 000 ounces for the year that ended last month, mining executives said future production could fail to reach growth targets.

Zimplats is the biggest mining house in Zimbabwe and is reviving its refinery in Selous to treat its own ore into final PGM products.

During the quarter to December last year, it extracted 1 387 000 tons of platinum ore from its four mines, a 7 percent increase on the contrasting period a year earlier.

Walter Chidhakwa, the Zimbabwean Mines and Mining Development Minister, saidt on Friday that he was yet to be informed of the incident, although he said that the mining environment in the country was “generally” safe.

“It is generally safe. There may be accidents and incidences but our mining environment is safe as our mining engineers are always up to the task,” he said.

However, at the Golden Valley mine last month, seven miners plunged to their deaths in a mine hoist accident and 11 others were injured.

A mineworker at Bimha said it had been anticipated that the ground had become unsafe. This had seen the company evacuate workers and remove machinery and equipment.

Mining sources and mineworkers’ representatives, however, said on Friday that there were issues with the safety procedures at most of the mines in the country, and were pushing for unions to have access to investigations on the safety of the mining environment generally.

“We have issues with management and the practicality of mining safety in the country. They are too focused on making profits and sometimes leave safety measures compromised,” Sylvester Mushaike, the general secretary of the National Mineworkers Union of Zimbabwe, said in a telephone interview.

Zimplats uses the room and pillar mining method for its underground operations. Mushaike said it was important for management to follow the advice of the engineers. He, however, conceded that the mining method was safe.

A company statement said that the collapse had been “triggered by the accelerated deterioration of ground conditions” associated with a major geographical shear. Interestingly, the shear and related problems it could occasion were first identified in 2011, Zimplats said.

Mhembere said that problems with the ground that collapsed had been identified in 2011 and added that the company had invested about $6 million (R64m) in enhancing the safety of mining on the ground. The conditions had, however, worsened this year, culminating in the collapse.

“The fault was first identified in 2011 but has become more problematic over the last year both along the declines and within the stopping footprint of the Bimha mine. Significant and accelerated ground deterioration was observed from May this year,” he said.

Zimplats had anticipated to address the fault-line but it would now take more than a year to bring back the affected part of the mine into full production, it said.

“As a result, production from the Bimha mine has been downscaled by 50 percent, equating to 45 000 ounces of platinum in matte production. Preliminary estimates indicate that it will take 15 months (two on twin decline development) to reach full production of eight fleets and 50 months to reconnect to current declines (FY19),” added Mhembere.

Two of Zimplats’s existing mines were already nearing depletion and the company was developing a new mine, the P2, which would have capacity to produce 2.2 million tons of replacement ore.

The mine would be completed by about 2019 when the other two mines exhausted their resource.

Zimplats said in its December quarter that it was mining at a grade of 3.28g/ton while the recovery rate has remained stable at 81.7 percent.

Zimbabwe is home to the world’s biggest platinum mining houses, where Anglo American Platinum and Aquarius Platinum also have operations.

A new platinum operation, owned by Chinese investors, was also set to come into operation, mining executives said, after Zimplats released 36 percent of its mining ground to new investors over the past few years.

Global Platinum Resources was also said to be developing a massive mining operation.

Impala Platinum shares fell 2.90 percent on the JSE to close at R103.90 on Friday.

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