Klipspruit Mine Expansion
Extending the life of a mine
The Klipspruit Extension Project (KPSX) will extend the lifespan of the existing Klipspruit Colliery (KPS) by at least 20 years by unlocking approximately 616 Mt of resource at the Klipspruit South and Weltevreden coal deposits in Mpumalanga, approximately 110 km east of Johannesburg.
The owners at the time, South32 Limited, approved the KPSX at South Africa Energy Coal. Zutari was appointed in 2017 for the detailed design and execution of the project, which includes the design and construction management of non-process infrastructure and bulk materials handling (BMH) facilities.
Major items in the BMH scope included the full detailed design and construction of an approximately 8.5 km overland conveyor system consisting of two transfer towers, two 500 t bins, a 6.3 km horizontal-curve overland conveyor, and two conveyor overpass bridges over National Route 12 (N12) and the R545 provincial road.
Significant challenges of the project were:
- Designing the overland conveyor system to cross a national and a provincial road
- Obtaining statutory approvals, as the terrain had wetlands and other properties
- Managing and coordinating the interfacing and relations with a wide range of external stakeholders
- Labour-related challenges, including unavailability of suitably qualified and competent local personnel, as well as incidents of community unrest
- The Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the national lockdown affecting construction work on the BMH system.
Zutari, in collaboration with the client and the contractors, coordinated appropriate mitigation plans to get the project back on track despite these challenges. To achieve this, videos, 360 images and virtual reality (VR) tools were used to capture the construction progress and provide input for future designs.
Zutari employed skilled and technical personnel from the local communities and executed its enterprise supplier development (ESD) and corporate social initiative (CSI) plans as an extension to our commitment to collaborate and work together with the communities.
The success of the KPSX project was ultimately due to cooperation with our client, the community and the contractors.
Our services extended beyond our contractual obligations and included forming an integrated management team with South32. Zutari employed skilled and technical personnel from the local communities and executed its enterprise supplier development (ESD) and corporate social initiative (CSI) plans as an extension to our commitment to collaborate and work together with the communities. This included employing local labour as far as possible and allocating some work to exempt micro enterprises (EMEs) and qualifying small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the local communities.
The project also allowed Zutari’s young engineers to gain invaluable experience in design and construction management and demonstrated our ability to deliver large multidisciplinary projects.
“The success of the KPSX project was ultimately due to cooperation with our client, the community and the contractors. In addition to skillfully overcoming the technical challenges, we are proud that the project will help in developing highly needed engineering skills, creating employment opportunities and developing businesses in the communities,” says Egbert le Roux, Zutari Senior Bulk Material Handling Engineer.
*The Aurecon Africa business has been officially renamed Zutari as at 21 July 2020. Zutari acquired Aurecon Middle East on 20 November 2020.
