Plans have been revealed for limestone to be extracted from a new deposit in South Africa’s Northern Cape by AfriSam.
The new deposit at the relocated quarry will supply AfriSam’s Ulco cement plant for around 40 years with around two million tonnes to be supplied per year according to the company.
“Mining is expected to begin in the second half of 2024, with an unusual topography in which the quarry will be mined into an escarpment,” AfriSam cemenitious executive Hannes Meyer said.
“Transportation of mined material is therefore mainly downhill. With the gradient of the haul road slopes limited to 5 degrees, AfriSam’s truck-trailer combinations have been designed to be much more energy efficient than conventional off-road dump trucks.”
AfriSam has conducted a series of extensive works to get the new quarry site operational. The company commissioned several specialist studies to assess environmental impact as well as the civil and infrastructure works.
“After conducting a number of wide-spaced prospecting campaigns – as well as close-spaced drilling across 100 hectares – we identified the best limestone reserves on our mining right on the opposite side of the R31 national road, which runs between the new site and the plant,” AfriSam strategic projects manager Gavin Venter said.
“This means it is necessary to construct tunnels under the road to facilitate safe access between the new quarry site and the existing plant. Adding to the complexity is that the large Gamagara water pipeline runs parallel to the road.”
The R31 road between Kimberley and Postmasburg carries high volumes of large ore trucks and abnormal load mining equipment. It will be diverted in early 2024 to accommodate this traffic for about six months while extensive excavation and civil engineering work is undertaken to construct the tunnel underpass system.
According to the copmpany, the five-by-five metre wide tunnels will be excavated to 12 metres below the R31 road level, and constructed as large culverts with steel reinforced in-situ cast concrete.
The design work ensured a tunnel alignment to suit the future possibility of an in-pit crusher and conveyer belt. If such an option was financially justified in future, it would provide an alternative method to feed crushed material to the existing pre-blending stockpiles.
“In compliance with the road authority’s requirements, the tunnels will traverse the full 32 metre width of the road reserve – to allow for future road widening, in addition to the pipeline servitude,” Venter said.
“The two tunnels themselves will be over 50 metres in length, and will be separated to enhance safety as there will be counterflow traffic to and from the plant.”
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