The Kalagadi Manganese Mine
The mine is situated West of Hotazel, off the R31 Road, Northern Cape. The mine is constituted out of three contiguous farms namely, Umtu 281, Olive Pan 282 and Gama 283, making a total area of 6300ha. It is a mechanised trackless board and pillar mine. This mine complex comprises the shaft complex, the ore preparation plant, sinter plant and bulk infrastructure. The mine has the capacity to produce 3million tonnes of manganese ore at a grade of 36-38% manganese and sinter at a grade of 44% - 48%.
Infrastructure
Key buildings on the mine complex above the shafts which serve mining operations and underground plant are:
Administration building, substations, workshops, refuge bays, conveyor belts, water pumps, winder gear, etc. The mine shaft winder house (machinery control room) containing cables, sinter plant / furnace, ore preparation plant, explosive storage, railway operations (the mine has 23km of its own track), power line of 132kV (property of Eskom) / substation of 40MVA, administration office building, 9 x 800KW Generators, multiple transformers, staff canteen, 2 x 60000L diesel tanks, water reservoir of 17 million liters, a maintenance workshops, sprinkler pump house, the staff accommodation and canteen block and the main security office at the front gate.
The Underground Mine
The shaft complex consists of two vertical shafts, the main shaft and the ventilation shaft. The main shaft is 9m in diameter, reaching a depth of 350m below surface. The ventilation shaft is 6m in diameter, reaching a depth of 317m. The two shafts are joined at the production level (281m) and the loading level (317m). The shallow depth means that there is lower seismic risk and lower rock temperatures that do not require refrigerated ventilation.
The main function of the shaft is the hoisting of workers, material and ore. The ventilation shaft is used for return ventilation and serves as an emergency exit.
Ore Processing Plant (the largest Mn sintering plant in the world)
The ore is processed through the ore preparation plant preparing the feed for the sinter plant. The ore is fed from the Ore Preparation plant through conveyor belts.
Sinter Plant
Kalagadi beneficiate the ore to produce 2.4 million tonnes of sintered manganese at a grade of 44-48% manganese. The difference between the sintered output tonnage and the 3 million tons of ROM ore is essentially the CO2 and moisture that is driven off from the Manganese Ore, which upgrades the Manganese content of the Ore.
Kalagadi sells its sinter product on both the South African and International market.
Roads and the Railway load out station
The site has a constructed 9.5km access road linking to the R31 main road, a Rapid Rail Load Out station and an electrified rail spur to ensure the efficient loading of bulk load trains and access to the main Hotazel Port Elizabeth Rail Corridor.
Other infrastructure
The mine has a 2 x 132kV Power Line from Sishen to the Umtu Complex and the Sub-station, and an 11km water pipeline to the Sishen / Blackrock / Sedibeng water supply line. We have a 6km rolled out fibre network.
The mine started production of the Manganese Ore in March 2018 with the plant being operated 24/7 throughout the week, with written permission to operate on Sundays. It is capacitated through a team of just over 960 Kalagadi permanent staff members.