Gap851 Final Report Main Body
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Mr David DieringCurrent position: Head of Mining, SA Operations, Anglogold Ashanti Qualifications: B Eng (Mining) Mine Managers Certificate
DD has 30 years experience in production and senior management in deep-level gold mining. He is currently head of mining for Anglogold-Ashanti’s SA operations, which consists of 6 mines producing about 90 tonnes of gold per annum. His responsibilities include the rock engineering function. Anglogold Ashanti SA operations had an underground workforce of about 30,000 in 2004 and suffered 31 fatalities, of which 18 were rock-related. DD has given leadership to many research organizations. For example:
Date of interview: 20 January 2005 STATUS REPORT 1. FAMILIARITY WITH ROCK-RELATED RESEARCH WORK 1.1 How many reports have you read? Which have had the greatest impact on your work? DD has read virtually all the DeepMine reports and is familiar with the findings of many SIMRAC projects relevant to deep level gold mining. 1.2 How many workshops and conferences have you attended? DD has attended many SANIRE and SAIMM meetings, as well as international technical meetings. 1.3 Have you supplied researchers with information? Researchers on many SIMRAC, DeepMine and FutureMine projects have been provided with information by Anglogold Ashanti employees. 1.4 Have you hosted projects on your mine(s)? Many SIMRAC, DeepMine and FutureMine projects have been hosted on Anglogold Ashanti mines. 1.5 N/A 1.6 Have you been a mine/industry champion for a project? DD championed projects when a section manager on a mine (walking barricade?) and has championed entire research programmes such as DeepMine and FutureMine, not just for Anglogold but also for the gold mining sector. 1.7 Have you implemented research knowledge and technology? There have been many efforts to implement knowledge and technology on Anglogold Ashanti mines. Some efforts have been spectacularly successful e.g. the introduction of backfill on Tautona mine and preconditioning at Mponeng and Savuka. DD attributed the success to the fact that the placing of backfill required relatively little effort once the infrastructure is in place, and the benefit was immediately seen and felt. Other attempts to implement technology had been unsuccessful e.g. drill rigs. DD attributed this to the fact that the perceived benefits were less than the effort required. Anglogold Ashanti had invested R70 million in Projek Katleho on Kopanang mine, where they had attempted to implement and integrate a whole suite of new technologies (drill rigs, support units and systems, tramming, etc) in a dedicated section to maximize synergy. This was abandoned a few years ago. DD went on to describe the Fall of Ground Management System (FOGM) that had been introduced in Anglogold Ashanti over the last two years (since 2003). It was based on a conceptual model of a continuum of rock mass behaviour, developed by Alan Naismith.
FOGM has been implemented through training days and workshops. Attendees have included production managers and shift bosses as well as in-stope workers. In some cases, requiring trainees to write examinations has checked the learning. FOGM is now entrenched. In 2004, there was a significant drop in the number of fatal accidents. DD emphasized that FOGM is a proactive system, and that it required diligence, drive and tenacity to implement, e.g. to ensure that an optimal face shape is created and maintained, or that the face orientation is changed to traverse a geological structure. DD said that consultants had remarked that this was the first time that they had seen such an integrated and holistic approach to managing falls of ground. 1.8 Have you personally performed research work? DD has championed research work, presented papers at local and international conferences (e.g. Mining at Ultra Depths in the 21st Century, CIM Conference, Montreal, 1998), and published papers (e.g. Regional Support at Western Deep Levels Limited, Association of Mine Managers of South Africa Circular No. 2/87, pp. 1-74). Anglogold had run its own internal mining research organization, AMT (previously TDS). AMT / TDS had investigated many technologies e.g. raise boring, drilling rigs and had had some successes. Companies such a GMSI (now part of AST Mining and the builder of software for mine design, planning and control) and ISSI (Integrated Seismic Systems International) had originated from AMT / TDS. AMT had recently been closed.
Anglogold Ashanti staff had actively participated in SIMRAC structures and proposed research projects, but had found it very difficult to get meaningful research in the SIMRAC system. 1.10 Have you evaluated research proposals? In his capacity as a member of SIMRAC, DD had evaluated research strategy. In his capacity as chairman of the DeepMine Technical Management Committee, DD had evaluated all research proposals. 1.11 Have you evaluated research progress and outputs? In his capacity as chairman of the DeepMine Technical Management Committee, DD had monitored progress and evaluated the output of all research projects and tasks. 1.12 How could the SIMRAC research program be improved? DD expressed that view that SIMRAC is “big, broad, clumsy, bureaucratic, unstoppable”. He had become involved in SIMRAC hoping to help it become relevant and focused. He felt that he had not succeeded. DD had decided to step down from the SIMRAC committee at the end of 2004, but will continue to be interested in the rock engineering component of the research. DD commented that Anglogold Ashanti was not very happy with the recent changes in the rock engineering committee structure. DD said that SIMRAC’s job is to carry out research that will improve health and safety, not to keep research going for its own sake. 2. IMPACT OF ROCK-RELATED RESEARCH WORK 2.1 Has research work enabled you to do your work better? DD said that research conducted from the 1960s to 1980s and the technology developed had made a huge contribution to industries ability to mine gold in narrow tabular reefs at deep levels. DD mentioned technologies such as backfill, elongates, preconditioning and gully roofbolts. Without these technologies, the mines of the West Witwatersrand would have shut down. DD said that he believed that the contribution made by research had tapered off in the 1990s, and that there was minimal need for any further research work, apart from mine seismology. DD said that he did not subscribe to the point of view that further research work was required because the gold mines continued to have accidents that killed and injured people. DD said, despite continuing difficulties, that operators of deep gold mines are “armed with an awesome arsenal of knowledge and technology”. DD maintained that any further research would have, at best, a minor impact on safety. DD said that the “rules of the game” are well known for longwall and sequential grid mining, and when the game is played by the rules, things generally go very well. By way of example, DD said that face ejections due to small events (magnitude < 1) were regularly causing accidents. Preconditioning was instituted on a mine-wide. Backfilling standards were enforced. If the backfill was not close enough to the face there was no blast! The entrenchment of the new culture resulted in a significant improvement in safety. DD said that the success that Mponeng had achieved in improving safety was not due to behaviour alone. Technology (science and engineering) also had a role to play. DD then posed the question: “If we have the knowledge and technology, why do we continue to kill people?” DD reiterated that there is not a lack of knowledge and technologies, but a lack in the application of the knowledge and technologies. “We hurt people because of slack discipline. The responsibility for this lies with the supervisors and managers, not the workers. The problem is a lack of adherence to standards. Another textbook or R20 million spent on research will not make a difference. SIMRAC can’t force miners to comply. Only mine managers and inspectors can do this.” 2.2 / 2.3 Has research work produced knowledge and technology that have improved safety in the SA mining industry? / on your mines? See 2.1 above. 2.4 How would you describe the research work carried out by SIMRAC? Not discussed. 2.5 Are research products effectively transferred to practitioners? See 2.1 above. 2.6 Are practitioners able to effectively implement the research? DD said that Anglogold Ashanti SA operations conducted rigorous in-house investigations to determine the root cause of all fatal accidents on their mines. Back-analyses were performed to establish where things had gone wrong. DD said that in nine out of ten cases the cause of the seismic event could be determined. In most cases, the accident was attributed to the fact that a responsible person lacked knowledge or had failed to apply it. Very rarely could an accident be attributed to a knowledge gap that could only be filled by further research. 2.7 Have SIMRAC funds been well spent? Not discussed. In the past yes – going forward, doubtful. FORESIGHT REPORT 3. What changes do you predict will affect the SA mining industry during the next decade? DD predicted the following changes:
4. What advances could significantly address the above-mentioned changes? DD made the following comments: Anglogold Ashanti will drill, blast, scrape and tram in 99 per cent of their panels for the next 15 years. Megabucks have been spent fruitlessly on attempts to mechanize, and they have not even been able to get in-stope drilling rigs to work. Layouts impose fundamental limitations on the tonnes that can be cleaned in a shift. Crosscuts can only handle a certain throughput of ore. Anglogold Ashanti’s objective is a continuous improvement in the basic processes, viz. drill, blast, scrape, and tram. AngloGold Ashanti will not support mining of in-site stabilizing pillars. 5. What advances could significantly reduce rock-related safety risks? DD proposed a project where the DME fatality reports for the last few years be analyzed by experts to determine the root cause of accidents, whether they were the result of a knowledge gap or the failure to apply knowledge. 6. What factors could improve rock-related safety? The inspectorate should be strengthened. DD said that the inspectorate is too weak and lacks the knowledge and experience to analyse situations. He described a rockburst investigation where an inspector concluded that all the support units “had failed”, when in fact they had yielded as they were designed to do. The DME should issue “red cards” (i.e. impose penalties) more often, but for sound technical reasons, not to make a political point. DD said that he believed the major reasons for accidents had to do with company culture and the failure to acquire and apply existing knowledge. He felt that there was very little that technical research could contribute to the solution of ongoing problems on Anglogold Ashanti SA operations. The solution depended on senior management having iron will and passion, backed by competent rock engineers with the will to stand up to management. DD said that Anglogold Ashanti had trouble in recruiting and retaining rock engineering practitioners. It is vitally important to get the right kind of people for the job. One problem is the lack of a career path as rock engineers reach a ceiling at a relatively young age. 7. NEED FOR ROCK-RELATED RESEARCH 7.1 Should research work continue in SA DD agreed that there was scope for research work addressing the platinum mining industry, particularly as the depth of mining increases. DD did not agree that there was a need for any further technical research for the gold mining industry, apart from mine seismology. In response to a question by the interviewer, DD agreed that each mine has unique, specific problems that required focused research to find solutions. DD said that SIMRAC was not the right vehicle to address these issues as the project cycle was too slow, and projects had to be approved by a cumbersome committee system where the members sometimes had conflicting agendas. Anglogold Ashanti would rather employ consultants than work through the SIMRAC system. DD emphasized the need for focus. DeepMine’s research needs had been clearly defined, FutureMine’s were quite diffuse, while SIMRAC lacked coherence.
DD commented that the new funding system introduced by SIMRAC, where the research needs and contributions are assessed on sectoral basis, might actually lead to a reduction in the funding for research. DD predicted that the sectors might argue that there is no need for any research work at all. 7.3 Do we have the research competency? The interviewer described the decrease in the research competency and capacity since 1995. DD commented that perhaps the current capacity was appropriate to the research needs of the industry - there is no point keeping research capacity when there is no need for it. DD commented that Anglogold Ashanti had given bursaries to well over 100 mining engineering students during the past decade, but very few (less than 10) had succeeded in creating careers in the company. DD said that he would like to know what had become of all these bursars. Trainees who had followed the mine official route rather than the university route were far more successful.
See 7.3 above. 7.5 Do we have the research facilities? Not discussed. 7.6 Should the focus be on implementation rather than on more research? With regard to the gold mining industry, DD was of the opinion that there was a great need to transfer knowledge and technology to practitioners, and to implement it effectively. This requires drive and diligence. Anglogold’s FOGM was an example of successful implementation. 7.7 Should research work be abandoned? With regard to the gold mining industry, DD only supported research on the topic of seismicity. DD saw the need for research work to address platinum mining issues.
With regard to the gold mining industry, DD strongly supported better enforcement. He was skeptical that further research would deliver any benefit. Yüklə 2,78 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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