Mogalakwena mine is a priority asset and a flagship operation in our Platinum portfolio. Why? It’s a prime example of how advancements in the mining sector help to create shared value for our investors and South Africa as a whole.
Let’s take a closer look at Mogalakwena and the growing success behind its operations.
Bringing shared value to life at mogalakwena mine
Established in 1993, Mogalakwena has a life of mine of 26 years and is located near the town of Mokopane in Limpopo. Our approach to the mine centres on three aspects that benefit our investors, our employees and our host community. They are:
Greater efficiency through innovative technology:
Efficiency is an essential part of maintaining a successful mine. Our efforts involve increasing the effectiveness of the mine’s drills, explosives, diesel, shovels and mining trucks. This has resulted in significant improvements, including a 36% increase in drill penetration, and a 15% increase in the efficient use of mining trucks.
Protecting our people:
Our employees are an essential part of our business. We take responsibility for their safety and are consistently developing new ways to provide a safe working environment. Our intensified safety programme in 2014 has delivered significant results with a 47% decrease in injuries compared to 2013. The lost-time injury-frequency rate decreased to 0.12 per 200,000 hours worked. In July 2014, no lives were lost over a period of one million shifts, while the frequency of equipment damage decreased by 37% during the year.
Empowering our communities:
93% of the people who work at Mogalakwena mine come from communities in the area. As part of our commitment to creating shared value, we developed a number of community projects aimed at supporting and developing these areas. One of these includes the development of the Groenfontein community farm. This farm is supported by a multi-purpose environmental training centre that is also used to host external events, an eco-schools programme, and catering and cooking courses.
Moving forward
In addition to improving operational performance at Mogalakwena mine in the short term, we plan to maximise returns over the longer term as well. We’ve carefully restructured a strategic mining plan that reduces total tonnage mined by more than 85 million tonnes per year, against the previous plan of over 200 million tonnes per year. This is estimated to save the company close to $3 billion over the next 20 years. Our goal is to improve safety even further, and production is expected to remain at approximately 360 000 ounces per year.
Mogalakwena mine is a strong example of how innovation and strategic planning can make a real difference to return on investment and capital growth. In our ongoing commitment to creating shared value, we will continue to build on these achievements and do our part in developing South Africa’s future economic success.
You can find out more about our platinum operations on the Anglo American Platinum website.