Mine excursion
Mining has a fleet active in Sishen’s satellite pit,
between the mine and Assmang’s iron ore mine.
Improving processing efficiencies
Mandlakazi Semane, plant technical
services manager at Kumba.
The haul roads at Sishen are in an impeccable condition. The
mine implemented a safety strategy whereby LDVs and HDVs do
not drive on the same haul roads.
[16] MINING MIRROR AUGUST 2018
After loading in the pit, the ore is hauled to one of three
plants (the DMS, JIG, and modular plant). “The DMS
plant, built in 1975, processes the higher-grade ore and
still achieves high yields and good efficiencies,” says
Mobwano. The JIG plant was constructed in 2007, with
the aim of improving the quality of the product to 63%
iron (Fe), while the new ultra-high-density plant will
recover ore from the JIG discards.
Sishen’s DMS plant has a capacity to process 22Mt
of product in the range of 64–65% Fe. The DMS plant
consists of three crushing stages: the primary crusher,
the secondary crushers underneath, and the tertiary
crusher stage. The feed into the DMS primary crusher
is a minus 1.2m of rock, which is the run of mine
(ROM). There are two secondary crushers. From the
last secondary crusher, the ore reports via conveyor belt
to the tertiary crushing circuit.
The material emitted by the tertiary crusher circuit
(minus 90mm) is stacked underneath the primary
stockpile, from where it is discharged to the tailings
dams. Meanwhile, there are 10 feeders that feed the
ROM to the washing and screening plant, where the
material is separated into five different sizes.
The product exiting the separation plant is stacked
into internal ROM stockpiles of five different
fractions. There are two lumpy fractions that get