Africa and the Middle East

Assmang Manganese Mines
Assmang's manganese mines are in the north of South Africa's Northern Cape province.	The new personnel shaft at Nchwaning.	One of the new Atlas Copco combined face-and-rockbolting rigs at Nchwaning.
The new inclined shaft at Nchwaning.	One of the Atlas Copco rigs emerging from the new incline shaft.	Nchwaning's hoisting shaft.

Benguérir Phosphates Mine
Location of OCP's phosphate operations.	One of the Marion 7500 walking draglines used for stripping overburden at Benguérir.	Overburden dumps at Benguérir.
Run-of-mine phosphate rock is screened before being sent for further processing at Youssoufia or Safi.	Phosphate processing plant at one of OCP's other operations, Phosboucraa.	Phosboucraa rock is hauled to Laâyoune by a 98.3km conveyor system.
Stockpiles at Bourcraâ, which adds 2.4Mt/y to OCP's output. Total OCP phosphate rock output in 1997 was 22.8Mt.

Blue Ridge PGE Project
The Blue Ridge project is situated about 30km south-east of Groblersdal, South Africa.	The Blue Ridge project is a 50:50 joint venture between Ridge Mining and BEE partner Imbani.	Ridge Mining started exploration work on the project in 2001 and completed a feasibility study at the end of 2005.

Blyvoor Gold Mine
Since 1997 the mine has been owned and operated by DRDGOLD.	The mine was expected to last until 2030 although, due to its widespread reserve base, Blyvoor should continue production beyond that.	The mine contains an estimated 25.85mt of proven ore reserves.
Blyvoor has received the Minister of Minerals and Energy's Safety Flag.

CBG Bauxite (Aluminium Ore)
CBG’s operations are centred on the town of Boké, 150km north west of Guinea’s capital, Conakry.	Exploration drilling at Bidikoum. CBG is continuing its exploration programmes, both in its existing pits and elsewhere on its lease areas.	One of the mine’s Demag H185 hydraulic excavators, two of which are in face shovels and two, like this, as backhoes.
CBG has a programme of fitting ‘greedy boards’ to its older Cat 777B trucks to increase their capacity to that of the 777Ds.	The wagon tip at Kamsar, where a new control system has reduced the tip time per car from four to three minutes.	One of three drying kilns, used to reduce the moisture content of the bauxite to 6.7% for shipping.
A Panamax-sized ship offshore the loading jetty at Kamsar.

Debswana Diamond Mines
A P&H 250XP blasthole drill, as used at both the Orapa and Letlhakane mines.	Trucks hauling waste rock at Jwaneng.	The Orapa open pit.
A Bateman semi-mobile crusher at Jwaneng. The machine weighs 1,500t and can handle up to 2,400t/h of kimberlite.	One of the recrushing plants at Jwaneng, which takes primary crushed ore and prepares it for diamond recovery.	The fully integrated sorting house at Jwaneng.

Doornkop South Reef
Head-gear at Doornkop No 1 shaft – an 8m diameter, dual-purpose personnel and rock hoisting shaft.	Winding gear. The main shaft is a dual-purpose personnel and rock hoisting shaft with a monthly hoisting capacity of 120,000t.	In addition to deepening the main shaft, the project also calls for four new working levels and associated infrastructure to be put in place.
At full production, the project will offer employment for 2,798 workers. Harmony takes a positive approach to creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged South Africans.

Driefontein
Driefontein lies near the town of Carletonville in South Africa’s Far West Rand goldfield.	One of the slimes dams, used to retain the tailings from the concentrator.	The No.5 shaft at Driefontein with the Leeurdoorn and Kloof No.3 shafts in the background.
The settling ponds at Driefontein provide a wetland environment in the otherwise dry landscape.	There are limited opportunities for workplace mechanisation at Driefontein.

Elandsrand
The Elandsrand project has required an entirely new mine to be equipped beneath the existing infrastructure which has been operating continuously, seven-days-a-week throughout.	The project involved deepening the sub-shafts, installing new rock hoisting facilities and sinking two settling dams.	Schematic of the Elandsrand mine. The mine is being built below the existing infrastructure and will add 18 years to the workings life.
The project has made good progress towards its anticipated 2010 completion. Full production is expected in 2014.

Equinox Minerals Lumwana Copper Mine
The Lumwana mine is reported to be Africa's largest copper mine.	Construction of the Lumwana mine began in late 2006, employing around 4,700 local workers.	Equinox now has complete ownership of the Lumwana mine.
Equinox will mine an average of 20 million tonnes per year to produce an average of 122,000t of copper per year.

Ezulwini Uranium and Gold Mine
The project is a conventional underground mine with breasting of the Upper and Middle Elsburg reefs.	The project lies within the Witwatersrand Basin, an Archean (about 2.7 billion year-old) sedimentary basin that contains a stratigraphic sequence about 6km thick.	Existing infrastructure at the site includes two shaft headframes and four hoists, fans, compressors, generators, and underground equipment, as well as the necessary surface freehold required to operate the mine.

Finsch
The open pit at Finsch diamond mine.	A semi-automated Tamrock production drill rig is used in the drill rigs and blasting areas.	An LHD in operation. Each has the capacity for 10,000t of material.
The process and treatment plant.	The treatment recovery control centre.	The existing main ventilation fans and the new booster fans will be monitored continuously by PLCs.
Vehicle dispatch schematic.

Freda Rebecca Mine
Freda Rebecca gold mine has proven reserves of 2.4mt.	Phase two of the refurbishment will develop the mine further and expand the mine fleet.	Ore is excavated and delivered via dump trucks to the plant site.
The minerals are hosted largely within Prince of Wales diorite and Bindura granodiorite.	At the surface the mine has 270,000t of minerals.

Gaoua Project
The Auger Drilling programme between the Dienemera and Gongondy deposits was initiated to identify potential copper gold porphyry targets.	Drilling at Mt Biri is at early stage.	The project area lies within the Boromo greenstone belt.

Geita Gold Mine
Geita open pit	Geita open pit operation	Ariel view if Geita mine

Goldplat Kilimapesa Gold Project
By the end of March 2009 Goldplat achieved 70m of mine development.	The company is engaged in a development programme to enable bulk sampling in adit.	The mine has milled around 400t of development ore.

Great Noligwa Gold Mine
A view of the twin shafts at the mine.	The gold plant situated next to the mine.

Hajar
Hajar is located at an elevation of some 800m.	Outokumpu tank flotation cells.	One of the mine’s drilling jumbos.
Outokumpu Electronics Courier 30 online analyser.	The concentrator control room.	One of the Larox pressure filters.
The tailings disposal area has been carefully engineered.

Isambara Gold Mine
Simplified sketch-map of the anomaly; it was identified initially by soil geochemistry and further investigated by gradient induced polarisation and drill surveys.	The Isambara landscape; the mine lies within the Simba licence, some 28km north of Tulawaka.	Map of Tanzania.

Kalgold Gold Mine
Lalgold is located in the north-west of South Africa.	The hills around Mafikeng have Archaean meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary rock.	Kalgold is an open pit gold mine.

Kayelekera Uranium Mine
The Kayelekera mine is Paladin's second-largest uranium mine.	The Kayelekera project has faced strong community opposition, particularly over its environmental effects.

Kendal Coal Mine,
The Kendal plant will recycle as much of the processing water as possible, after around 40% of coal is washed before delivery.	The Kendal plant is designed to handle about 6,000t of coal per day.	Production at the Kendal plant will begin as soon as the commissioning of the crushing, screening and washing facilities is complete.
Around 74% of the Kendal project is owned by Homeland Energy Group.

Kloof
The Kloof gold mine lies approximately 60km southwest of Johannesburg and 20km from Carletonville, in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Wholly owned by Goldfields Ltd, it consists of three divisions: Kloof, Libanon and Leeudoorn.	The main shaft complex at Leeudoorn. The three divisions operate six shaft systems and currently include three shaft-sinking operations.	The Libanon mine complex comprises worker accommodation as well as the No.4 shaft (behind) and concentrator (right).
The No.4 shaft at Kloof with the mine’s main shaft in the background.

Koffiefontein Mine
Koffiefontein mine is the largest kimberlite diamond mine in the world by average value per carat.	The Koffiefontein mine neighbours some of Kimberley's famous mines.	The Koffiefontein mine has an estimated life up to 2013.
The mine holds 17.66mt of proven and 18.48mt of probable reserves.	The mine produces high-value diamonds.	The mine is a typical underground operation developed using front cave mining methods.

Langer Heinrich Uranium Mine
The mine was re-launched for operations in 2007 after remaining unused for almost seven years.	A stage-two expansion programme was completed in June 2009.	The mine lies within a 15km-long tertiary paleo-drainage system that contains seven contiguous mineralised zones.
The mine can produce up to 1,180t of uranium oxide concentrate from 1.5mt of calcrete-hosted ores per year.	Stage three-expansion started at the end of 2009.

Mayoko Iron Ore Project
The Mayoka iron ore project is located within the south-west region of the Republic of Congo.	The mine's iron is hosted within highly weathered iron-rich metamorphic rocks referred to as 'Chapeau de Fer' or hats of iron.	The Mayoko project is easily accessible with sufficient railways, roads, water supply and ports in close proximity.

Modikwa Platinum Mine
Accessing the UG2 reef is achieved via two primary declines from the ground.	The Modikwa mine is 450m deep with an average density of 3.72t/m³.	The mine is an underground operation extending over an area of 14,278ha.
ROM processing is carried out at the Modikwa concentrator.

Mowana
African Copper's mine has been formally named the Mowana Mine in honour of the Baobab tree ('Mowana tree' in the local language) that stands near the entrance to the property.	Minerals are separated through an oxide flotation process.	The Mowana mine already has a full shovel fleet and 14 haul trucks are on site.
The raw water dam receives water from the well field and supplies process water to the Mowana plant.	A number of areas of archaeological interest have been uncovered through the mining process.

Mponeng
On-reef development and thus the start of production, are scheduled for 2013 with full production due in 2015.	Some 5126 people were employed full time at Mponeng in 2007 with 435 contractors.	Mponeng is one of the world’s deepest and richest gold mines with grades at over 8 g/t.

Mumbwa Copper Gold Mine
The Geology of Zambia; the Mumbwa project lies within known mineralised iron oxide copper-gold terrain.	Mumbwa location map.	1890s historical relief map of the Katanga mines; most of the area around Mumbwa lies above sediments of the Katanga sequence.

Munali Nickel Project
Ore from the Munali mine is processed through a conventional flotation concentrator, with a crushing circuit.	As well as nickel, the Munali mine also contains deposits of cobalt, copper and PGMs.	Annual production of the Munali mine is expected to reach full capacity by early 2009.

Ngezi
Hartley has an integrated processing plant, consisting of a mill, concentrator, smelter and converter, base metal refinery and on-site laboratories.	The Great Dyke location map. The initial operation has been designed to produce 2.16Mt/y of ore.	Schematic of the underground access system. The dip and narrowness of the orebody preclude extensive mechanisation.
Drilling in a production stope underground at Hartley Platinum.	Hartley plant flowsheet. The plant currently has a capacity of 180,000t of ore per month.	Pouring matte from the smelter at Hartley Platinum. Final matte contains 44% nickel, 33% copper, 21% sulphur, less than 1% iron and 1,500g/t platinum-group metals.

Obuasi
Overview of the Obuasi mine, central Ghana.	During the time that Obuasi mined surface ores, AGC operated an impressive fleet of trucks and loaders.	The level 41 rail system.
Open-pit operations at Obuasi, which came to an end during 2000.	Ashanti Goldfields has invested in new facilities for gold ore processing and gold recovery at Obuasi.	Environmental water sampling at Obuasi.
The Hydrafill plant at Obuasi's Kwesi Mensah shaft.

Orezone Essakane Gold Mine
A sample of gold, taken from Orezone's Essakan property, which contains about 1,000g (35oz) of gold.	Burkina Faso's arid, flat, accessible terrain helps Orezone to minimise mineral exploration costs.	Orezone's local contractors contribute to the discovery of Burkina Faso's wealth.
Orezone geologists use PDA to record sampling analysis.

Palabora
Palabora is situated in north-eastern South Africa, next to the Kruger national park.	The Palabora open pit. The very competent rock allows the pit walls to be cut much steeper than is normal in open-pit mining.	Loading in the open pit, the bottom of which is now over 230m below sea level.
One of the haul trucks fitted with a pantograph for the trolley-assist system, which uses electric power from the main grid to move the trucks up the steep pit ramps.	The smelter complex at Palabora.	Copper smelting to produce anodes for subsequent refining to high-purity copper metal.
Construction of the twin headframes for the underground mine at Palabora.	Underground development, using a twin-boom jumbo to drill the marked-out face.

Platmin Platinum Mine, Pilanesberg
One of three crushed-ore storage silos being built at the Pilanesberg site. Each silo will hold about 5,000t of crushed ore.	The laying of foundations for the mills; the processing plant at the Pilanesberg site will use Metso mills and crushers.	The Pilanesberg mining operation will recover all six platinum group elements, as well as gold, nickel and copper which are present in the ores.

Rössing Uranium Project
The Rössing Uranium mine, open pit expansion.	A Komatsu hydraulic shovel loading a haul truck with ore.	A view from above the processing plant with the lip of the open pit in the far background.

Sabodala Gold Project
The Sabodala gold mine deposits lie within the west Birimian province, home to some of the world's largest gold deposits.	Proven plus probable mineral reserves for the two deposits set to supply the Sabodola project total 18.3Mt.	The Sabodala mine is expected to produce about 150,000oz of gold annually over its scheduled ten-year life.

Samancor Chrome Mines
Location of Samancor Chrome operations: 1 - Eastern Chrome Mines; 2 - Western Chrome Mines; 1-5 - Ferrochrome operations.	Drilling underground in one of the chromite seams.	Ore-handling underground at WCM using a load-haul-dump machine.
A stockpile of cleaned chromite ore.	Samancor Chrome’s Witbank ferrochrome plant.	Molten ferrochrome at one of Samancor’s plants.
Tipping rail cars at the port of Richards Bay - through which Samancor Chrome exports both chromite and ferrochrome.

Siguiri Gold Mine
Production was up nine percent to 280,000oz compared with 256,000oz the previous year.

Skorpion Zinc Mine
Exploration drilling at Skorpion, undertaken by Reunion Mining.	A cross-section through the ore zone. Unusually, there is no primary sulphide mineralisation beneath the orebody.	Caterpillar equipment in the Skorpion open pit.
Inside the 93m-diameter, 30m-high Bateman / Schade dust-proof ore-storage dome, equipped with an internal stacker-reclaimer.	The 66/11kV step-down switchyard. Skorpion has increased Namibia's power demand by 25%.

SNIM
SNIM’s operations are located in the north of Mauritania and are connected to the port of Nouadhibou by a 700km-long railway.	Open-pit mining: ore and waste have to be drilled and blasted before loading into 200t-capacity LeTourneau haul trucks.	A P&H shovel equipped with a 26m³ bucket loading a 200t-capacity haul truck with iron ore at Guelb Rhein.
Trains from the mines to the port are hauled by multiple General Electric diesel locomotives.	The train unloader at SNIM’s port facilities: the unit has recently been upgraded to handle 70 wagons per hour.	The screening and crushing plants at Point Central, where ore is sized for shipment.
One of the stackers at Nouadhibou, where ore is stockpiled to await shipment.

Southern Ashanti Gold Project
Drilling at the project site was successfully completed in 2008.	The Southern Ashanti Gold Project is located 280km west of Accra, Ghana.	The estimated capital cost of the project will be $80m-$95m.

Target Gold Mine
A twin-boom Tamrock development jumbo, used for sinking the main access declines and for opening up the new stoping areas.	The declines from the Loraine shaft infrastructure have been equipped with Walter-Becker monorails for materials handling.	A schematic layout, showing how Target is being developed from the old Loraine mine, and the potential for further reserves in the Target North and Sun South areas.
Harmony is continuing with its surface exploration drilling programme to the north of Target, with the aim of defining additional ore reserves.	One of the mine’s Tamrock Solo long-hole drill rigs, used for bulk mining of the orebodies - a rarity in South Africa’s gold mines.	The underground crusher station, commissioned in 2000, crushed run-of-mine ore to a size that can be handled safely on the decline conveyors.

TauTona, Anglo Gold
Mining operations are conducted at depths ranging from 1.8km down to 3.9km following the recent expansion.	Air conditioning equipment is used to cool the mine from 55°C down to a more tolerable 28°C.	TauTona I now the world’s deepest mine.

Trekkopje Uranium Mine
The Trekkopje mine is a uranium mine located in western Namibia.	The mine will process 100,000t of ore per day.	Uranium oxide

Twistdraai
Twistdraai comprises the central, west and east Twistraai mine areas.	One of Twistdraai’s three main shafts.	The conveyor drift at Tristdraai West.
One of the mine’s Joy HM-series continuous miners.	Men and materials use the shafts; coal is transported out of the mine by conveyor.	The washing system at Twistdraai.
The secondary washing plant (foreground).	Twistdraai has stockpiling areas for both raw coal blending and for washed export product.

Vele Colliery Project
The Vele colliery project is located on the northern border of South Africa's Limpopo province.	View of the mining area from Dongola Kopje.

Venetia
Drilling at night in the open pit. Venetia is situated near Messina in South Africa's Northern Province.	The plant at dusk. Venetia is the first diamond mine to achieve certification of the internationally recognised quality management system, ISO 9002.	Lights have been placed strategically and kept to a minimum to prevent disturbances to game.
After the surrounding earth and rock have been removed to expose the kimberlite, the ore is blasted and loaded into trucks.	Inside the treatment plant, the kimberlite is further crushed, washed and screened into different sizes.	The Venetia Process Plant incorporating Bateman machinery. Diamond mining and recovery is a clean operation. Processing of the ore uses no toxic chemicals and produces no chemical pollutants.

Voorspoed Mine
Kimberlite core samples.	The Voorspoed mine is located 30km north-east of Kroonstad.	The mine separates diamonds from the Kimberlite through inter-particle crushing.

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