[miningmx.com] — ROCKWELL Diamonds said on Friday the alluvial mining operations in the Northern Cape Province have been affected by the recent heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding.
The company said in an operational update that following the recent heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding in the Northern Cape and North West provinces, the Holpan and Klipdam operations have experienced minor infrastructure damage, but mining roadway infrastructure remains intact. The most significant impact of the heavy rains has been on mining activities with the loss of five days’ production.
The company said the rainfall at the Holpan and Klipdam operations, which are situated north of Kimberly at Barkley West, have experienced 342mm or 75% of the average annual rainfall of 450mm for the region in the past six days. In particular, precipitation during the night of Sunday January 23, 2011 exceeded 100mm.
Repairs and recovery operations were initiated immediately and mining operations resumed on Wednesday January 25. Damp gravels will affect production at the mines for several more days until they dry out fully, but damage to the municipal infrastructure, including roads and railways, has not affected operations.
The Saxendrift operation, located on the Middle Orange River region, experienced sporadic rainfall measuring 189mm – more than half of the average rainfall for this area during the two week period to Sunday January 23. While no flooding or damage occurred, the heavy rainfall has negatively affected production volumes with the loss of three mining days. Saxendrift is now once again operating at full production.
At the Tirisano Mine north of Ventersdorp in the North West Province, construction has been slightly delayed due to the heavy rainfall. Sufficient drainage systems were planned and commissioned into the initial layouts to prevent flooding.
Chief operating officer, Graham Chamberlain commented: “Our mine management teams have done a great job in minimising the impact of these abnormal rains and its comforting to see how quickly the operations have responded.
We have a great set of assets and a very dedicated and passionate team and our focus is now to see what we can do to recover the lost time and strive to meet our targets despite the interruptions. Also it has been a learning opportunity whereby we can ensure we engineer our new projects to mitigate against similar events.”
