WINNING
While well hidden from traffic and
neighbours, the pit is vast.
SHAKING UP
MIDRAND
By Eamonn Ryan
On average 175 000 vehicles
pass daily within sight of
AfriSam’s Jukskei Quarry,
which is one of the busiest
sections of freeway in the
entire country; few people
spare a glance at the massive
granite quarry as seven lanes
from three highways converge
into four
18_QUARRY SA| JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
B
ecause of its location (close to the
convergence of the M1, N3 and N1
highways), AfriSam’s Jukskei Quarry
is one of the busiest plants in the AfriSam
group. At the helm, keeping it running and
meeting customer demand, is AfriSam
works manager, Daneel Celliers.
While many quarries are today located
in built up areas, few are quite as built up as
Jukskei Quarry’s neighbourhood. Looming
over its periphery fence, are the Midrand
offices of several major JSE-listed companies.
It wasn’t like that when Jukskei started
operations over 65 years ago, and Midrand
scarcely existed. The mine was established
early in the 1950s and the surrounding areas
only later started to develop around the mine.
The mine is extremely well situated near
the fast-developing nodes of Midrand,
Sandton and Fourways. It is one of only a
few well-established commercial aggregate
supply quarries in the area. Its prime
location has made it the logical supplier to
many iconic projects in the area, including
the Mall of Africa.
Jukskei is a large site and its activities
are largely invisible to the neighbours.
Nonetheless, some of those neighbours
are within a 500m radius – the safety
line heavily promoted by the DMR – and
rigorous safety control measures are
implemented when blasting, with great
emphasis on the stemming length and
powder factor to mitigate fly rock. Due to