Improving bord and pillar average face advance

Project management intervention and optimization

  • Customer : Northam Platinum Pty Ltd |
  • Pain point : Optimize your blasts |
  • Market segment : Underground & Tunnel |
  • Solution : Project management complete solution |
  • Location : Burgersfort | South Africa |
Situation

Maximizing Efficiency

The Booysendal mine, an underground mine located at Burgersfort, South Africa, faced challenges related to blast face advancements. With a Life of Mine (LoM) span of 25 years and a significant 105.1Moz orebody primarily yielding platinum, maximizing efficiency was crucial. Extraction of the orebody is mainly conducted utilizing the bord and pillar mining method.

Challenge

Post-blasting, the face advancements weren’t meeting the desired standards. This led to increased input costs every time platinum was blasted, extracted, and processed, resulting in decreasing profit margins for Northam. The base case conducted revealed that on an average drilled hole length of 3,15m only 2,53m advance was obtained. This resulted in an 80% advance achieved.

Customer Testimonial

“I have verified improvements in face advances and communication channels.”

Cor Nel,
Mine Explosives Coordinator – Northam Platinum

Solution

Blasting Techniques for Enhanced Face Advancements

Acknowledging Northam’s challenges, Enaex Africa rolled out the “Back to Basics” project to evaluate and enhance face advancements. The primary solution was a combination of finding the correct blast design coupled with drilling and charging basics. The following methodology was employed:

Key features
Results

Improved Face Advancement

Post Enaex’s solution implementation:

The face advance of one of the designs with a four 102mm reamer cut yielded the best results.



Estimated Platinum yield blasting 500 boards per month would yield 15 680 additional tons broken.

Stronger Bonds

Through its various departments (EMTS, mining services, marketing, and sales), Enaex fostered stronger bonds with Northam. Communication channels were opened, with the client actively communicating limitations and discussing potential solutions. With its expertise and Devex™ solution, Enaex Africa not just addressed a pivotal technical issue for Northam but also fortified its client relationship, ensuring a lasting partnership.

About Us

At Enaex, our purpose is to humanise mining by having a positive impact on all aspects of the blasting process.

We know that life is the most precious thing on the planet. That’s why we put people first to ensure the well-being of our teams, our broader communities, and the environment.

With a proven track record of providing the global mining industry with flexible, tailor-made blasting solutions, Enaex is the preferred blasting solutions partner.