| Rustenburg Section (managed – 100% owned) (continued) |
| Projects |
| Rustenburg Section |
| Project teams at Rustenburg Section had 15 lost-time
injuries on both green- and brownfields projects,
resulting in a LTIFR of 0.85. To address safety, major
emphasis has been placed on leadership, safe planning
and the Anglo Safety Way to achieve zero harm. There
are areas of excellence, with Waterval Phase 2
progressing for three years and eight months without a
lost-time injury. |
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| Rustenburg UG2 Phase 2 project |
This project was initially approved in 2002. Changing
global economic conditions required a scope change,
which was approved in February 2006 with a reduction
in output from 400,000 to 275,000 tonnes per month.
The Townlands and Frank sections of the project have
been completed and successfully ramped up to steadystate
production levels. The Boschfontein West capital
footprint has been completed with only construction of
the surface ventilation remaining, scheduled for
completion in early 2008.
To enable continued mining at Boschfontein, pre-feasibility
study work on the 10 to 14 level ore replacement
project has been completed. The pre-feasibility report is
being evaluated to determine the viability of this project. |
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| Paardekraal Merensky Replacement project |
The Paardekraal No 2 shaft project is designed to restore
Merensky reef output at Paardekraal, in line with the
overall Rustenburg mining strategy. The aim is to mine
Merensky reef as the base operating horizon, due to its
higher unit value, to ensure sustained profitability. The
UG2 horizon would be used to fill spare shaft-hoisting
capacity, but not at the expense of Merensky production.
The medium-term Rustenburg mining profile is
predicated on a series of phased decline extension
projects to existing shafts. Between 2014 and 2020,
the production profile will be maintained by using either
two or three intermediate vertical shafts. The Paardekraal
2 (PK2) shaft is the first of these vertical shafts.
The first blast for construction of the ventilation shaft
took place in September 2006 while construction of
the man-and-materials shaft began in September 2007.
Steady-state production from this shaft will reach
120,000 platinum ounces per annum in 2015. |
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| Other Rustenburg section replacement
projects |
Replacing ore reserves on both the Merensky and UG2
reef horizons has necessitated the deepening of existing
mine infrastructure at Frank, Paardekraal, Townlands
and Turffontein on the Merensky horizon, and Waterval
on the UG2 horizon.
A pre-feasibility study was conducted for a deep Merensky
shaft north of the existing Frank and Turffontein shafts, to
exploit deeper Merensky reserves and sustain Merensky
production at Rustenburg Section. The study unfortunately
concluded that a deep-shaft approach, addressing the entire orebody, is not presently viable based on the
prevailing long-term outlook. A concept study has thus
been initiated to incorporate further options.
The Merensky ore reserve replacement projects for
Frank and Turffontein shafts were approved in 2005 and
are nearing completion. The Turffontein project is being
handed over to mining operations while the final
handover of the Frank project has started and will be
completed in the second quarter of 2008. Pre-feasibility
study work on the Frank and Turffontein UG2 projects
has been concluded and a feasibility study is planned to
take place in 2008.
The Waterval Phase 3 project was approved in December
2006 and development is progressing satisfactorily. This
project will contribute 52,000 ounces of platinum
production at steady-state in 2009. The Waterval Phase
4 and 5 replacement studies are under way.
The Townlands ore replacement project aims to replace
diminishing Merensky Reef output at that shaft by
extending the existing decline shaft. Final approval was
granted in February 2007 and the project is now in
execution phase and progressing well towards achieving
its steady-state output of 70,000 platinum ounces per
annum by 2014. |
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| Tom van der Nest |
Tom van den Berg |
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