Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
- PGM
- Gold
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Rhodium
- Nickel
- Copper
|
Mining Method |
- Breast stoping with strike pillars
- ULP / XLP
|
Mine Life | 2034 |
Tumela mine is a part of the Amandelbult Complex.
Tumela mine is planned to be expanded and mechanized: * Tumela 1 Sub Shaft * Tumela 15E Extension. |
Source:
p. 105
Company | Interest | Ownership |
Anglo American plc.
|
76.99 %
|
Indirect
|
Rustenburg Platinum Mines Ltd.
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
Anglo American plc. through its subsidiary Rustenburg Platinum Mines owns 76.99% of the Amandelbult complex.
Contractors
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Summary:
Amplats’ Mineral Resources of Platinum Group Metals (PGM) occur exclusively within southern Africa and are hosted by two distinct layered intrusions: the Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.
The mines Tumela and Dishaba are forms part of the Amandelbult section and fully developed situated on the north-western limb of the Bushveld Complex.The mining occurs on both the Merensky Reef and the UG2 Reef horizons.
THE BUSHVELD COMPLEX
Formed over 2 billion years ago from multiple injections of magma into the earth’s crust many kilometres below the surface, the Bushveld Complex is geologically unique due to its size, uniformity of its layering and extent of known mineral content. This saucer-shaped intrusion is over 350km wide, 250km long and up to 12km thick. Over time, the rim of the intrusion has been exposed by erosion, revealing three separate main segments known as the Western, Eastern and Northern Limbs. The Western Limb is split into two lobes (north-western and south- western) by the Pilanesberg complex, a remnant of an alkaline volcanic plug intruded into the Bushveld Complex about 1,250 million years ago. The Eastern Limb is split into two lobes (north-eastern and south-eastern) by the north- east trending Steelpoort fault. The exposed segments exhibit layering of pyroxenites, norites, gabbros, anorthosites and chromitites and this layering occurs across the entire extent of the complex. Within the layers, minerali ........
Mining Methods
- Breast stoping with strike pillars
- ULP / XLP
Summary:
The primary mining method at Amandelbult is scattered breast mining for both Dishaba and Tumela mines and has been used since mining began in 1973.
Conventional scattered breast mining is preceded by haulage development below reef, parallel to strike. Access to the reef horizon is developed via south or north cross-cuts. On-reef true dip raises or winzes connect to cross-cuts on different levels via step overs and travelling ways. The ore passes are generally done by inverse drilling from the reef horizon down to the cross-cut. Roll-out of modernised equipment on the stoping horizon is ongoing to address safety and efficiency concerns, including the introduction of cycle mining, split panels using throw blasting and water-jet cleaning to eliminate the use of scraper winches.
Extra-low profile (XLP) mechanised mining method is being implemented at the 15E dropdown project area since inception in 2019. The XLP mechanised mining is an underground mining method designed to exploit narrow reef orebodies (1.2m to 1.7m width) with a dip less than 22°. It maximises reef extraction by placing the primary development (main infrastructure) on reef. A constant production is achieved by coordinating XLP and low profile (LP) equipment to continuously feed the conveyor belt system.
Current working infrastructure includes five vertical and seven decline shaft systems to transport rock, employees and material, with mining on the Merensky and UG2 Reef horizons. ........
Flow Sheet:
Source:
Slag Milling
The granulated six-in-line and SCF slag are separated from the bulk of the granulating water by rake classifiers. Classifier product is conveyed to the horizontal dewatering screens, and the dewatered slag stored in the slag mill silo, while classifier overflows are pumped to dedicated thickeners for further treatment.
Slag is fed from the silo to a ball mill with a closed-circuit cyclone to achieve a tank cell flotation feed with a particle size of 60 to 75% passing 75 µm. The design mill feed rate is 100 t/h, resulting in a residence time of approximately 13 minutes in the flotation circuit. The current feed rate varies from 60 to 70 t/h.
Mainstream inert grinding (MIG) and Ultra-fine grinding (UFG) concentrate regrind mills:
MIG - 4 x IsaMill™M10000
UFG - 1 x IsaMill™M3000
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Pipelines and Water Supply
Source:
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Combined production numbers are reported under
Amandelbult Complex
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
Ore tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 3.62 Mt | 3.72 Mt |
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Reserves at December 31, 2023:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
26.8 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
4.64 g/t
|
4 M oz
|
Probable
|
0.4 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
3.36 g/t
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
27.3 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
4.56 g/t
|
4 M oz
|
Measured
|
99.4 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.66 g/t
|
18.1 M oz
|
Indicated
|
117 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
6.11 g/t
|
23 M oz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
216.3 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
5.9 g/t
|
41.1 M oz
|
Inferred
|
92.5 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
6.35 g/t
|
18.9 M oz
|
Total Resource
|
308.8 Mt
|
4E (Pt, Pd, Rh, Au)
|
6.04 g/t
|
60 M oz
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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