Name and Location
Styldrift 1 expansion project, North West, South Africa.

Client
Royal Bafokeng Platinum (67%) (RBPlat) and Anglo American Platinum (33%) (Amplats).

Project Description
The Styldrift project area is adjacent to the existing Boschkoppie mining area and is located about 5.5 km from the existing Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine (BRPM).

The project will exploit one of the last major Merensky mining blocks on the Western Bushveld.

Styldrift 1 will deliver an underground operation, which will be accessed through a twin vertical shaft system, with the main shaft being sunk to 758 m and the services shaft to 723 m.

The configuration of the main shaft will allow for a single-deck personnel-and-material cage compartment, with capacity to transport 185 people; a cage counterweight compartment; two Merensky reef skip compartments, each designed to accommodate a 22 t skip; and two future upper group two skip compartments, each accommodating a 13 t skip.

The services shaft will comprise a personnel and equipment cage compartment, with the capacity to transport 22 people, and a cage counterweight compartment.

Four winders will be used during the project construction phase and three during the production phase. The height of the main shaft headgear is 58.6 m and the service shaft 41.3 m.

Concentrator capacity will be 2.76-million tonnes a year.

Initially production will be conducted through wide-reef trackless mining methods and later through narrow-reef conventional mining methods.

The mine will process 230 000 t/m of Merensky reef and 20 000 t/m of waste at steady state.

Value
R11-billion.

Duration
The project was approved by the boards of Amplats and Royal Bafokeng Holdings in the third quarter of 2008.

Production ramp-up is expected to start in July 2015 and steady state at 230 000 t/m in July 2018.

Latest Developments
As a result of the deteriorating platinum-group metals (PGMs) pricing environment and associated industry-cost escalations, a detailed strategic review by RBPlat of its operating activities and long-term capital expenditure (capex) commitments has led the miner to reduce its overall capex budget for its platinum projects by R750-million.

The miner reduced the budgeted capex for the Styldrift I project from R11.4-billion to R11-billion and reduced the Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine joint venture (BRPM JV) capex budget by R350-million, resulting in the combined reduction of R750-million. 

This followed an announcement by the platinum developer in June that it had introduced cash preservation measures in response to the difficult market conditions, characterised at the time by softening PGM prices as a result of weaker demand for the precious metals, particularly from Europe and local cost pressures.

Meanwhile, in recognition of its long-term objective of Styldrift being an owner-operated operation, RBPlat has initiated a local skills development programme in partnership with the Sandvik training academy, in Rustenburg, to train 360 local community members in operator and maintenance skills. 

During ramp-up, management experts that there will be significant pressure to rapidly deploy a large number of skilled and experienced teams, owing to the mechanised nature of the mine and the aggressive ramp-up schedule.

The miner notes that contract mining during ramp-up will provide a higher degree of certainty with regard to performance and costs and an improvement on the efficiencies of the project. Consequently, the company has elected to employ a contractor-operated model for mining and construction activities during the ramp-up phase at Styldrift.

The use of contractors in the mine development and stoping environment is expected to not only afford the mine the best opportunity to meet its ramp-up schedule but also to develop its own long-term skills and systems, while still meeting the ramp-up requirements.

As a result, RBPlat has selected Aveng Mining Shafts and Underground, a division of Aveng Africa, as the preferred mining contractor for the Styldrift project for a 36-month contract.

Final contract negotiations and the conclusion of legal agreements are expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2014, with ongoing project optimisation prior to mining operations to start in July 2015.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
TWP Projects (main project engineering, procurement and construction management contractor); Anglo technical division (mine shaft design); Mining & Engineering Technical Services (Mets − services shaft headgears); Shaft Sinkers (main and services shafts and associated works); Louwill Engineering (main and services shafts’ headgears and winder house structural manufacturing and erection); FLSmidth Minerals (main shaft personnel and material winder mechanical portion); Actom (formerly Alstom Industry − main shaft personnel and material winder electrical portion); Coilmech (service winder mechanical and electrical portions); Stefanutti Stocks Civils Wramatshe joint venture (civils Phase 2 contract – main bulk surface civils); Sarens (cranes); DRA Mineral Projects (concentrator study) and Sandvik Mining (underground production trackless equipment).

On Budget and on Time?
During the first half of 2013 RBPlats concluded the approval of the optimisation study completed in 2012, resulting in the project budget being reduced from the original R11.8-billion to R11.39 billion and the project schedule being extended by 13 months.

The extension in the project schedule is attributable to the ramp-up to steady state being increased from 27 to 36 months, the inclusion of an additional shaft and underground infrastructure.

Contact Details for Project Information
RBPlat communications manager Kea Kalebe, tel +27 14 573 1487, fax +27 86 219 5131 or email kkalebe@bafokengplatinum.co.za.
TWP Projects, tel +27 11 218 3000.
Mets, tel +61 8 9421 9000 or fax +61 8 9325 8311.
Shaft Sinkers, tel +27 11 445 4300.
Louwill Engineering, tel +27 11 818 5186, fax +27 11 818 5185 or email mail@louwill.co.za.
FLSmidth Minerals, tel +45 36 18 10 00, fax +45 36 44 11 46 or email info@flsmidth.com.
Actom, tel +27 11 820 5111 or fax +27 11 820 5100.
Coilmech, tel +27 11 452 4063, fax +27 11 452 6104 or email info@coilmech.co.za.
Stefanutti Stocks, tel +27 11 571 4300, fax +27 11 571 4370 or email holdings@stefstocks.com.
Sarens, tel +27 11 861 3800, fax +27 11 861 3899 or email info@sarenssa.co.za.
Dowding, Reynard & Associates, tel +27 11 202 8600 or email info@drasa.co.za .
Sandvik Mining business development manager, EMEA, Bjorn Gohre, tel +27 11 570 9676.