INTASOL Tailings provides a multi-pronged hydro mining solution at Sibanye Gold’s Randfontein tailings complex on the West Rand of Johannesburg. We employ different methods of hydro mining on three operations in the complex, aimed at providing the client with 400 000 tons of gold tailings per month.
Our know-how and culture of ownership is standing us in good stead at the complex, as each operation presents its own challenges.
At the Dam 20 operation, we are providing the client with an inventive and cost-effective solution for cleaning the dam floor. Dam 20 is a historical hydro mining area built on a former wetland. It contains a valuable gold tailings resource that is being hydro mined in a way that enables rehabilitation of the ecologically sensitive area.
INTASOL Tailings has proved that it can innovate by introducing equipment not commonly used in hydro mining to build windrows with the remaining tailings. The stacking of the tailings at different points on the dam floor allows them to be hydro mined at a lower cost per ton. This also ensures that the dam floor is cleared to the natural ground level, which allows for the site to be rehabilitated.
Our team faces the challenge of having to hydro mine material that is often sandy, wet and clay like. But they are overcoming this hurdle through their characteristic teamwork and determination.
At the Lindum dam, the INTASOL team is taking a two tiered approach of hydraulically cutting off the top, sterile section of the dam in order to hydro mine the gold tailings below.
Meticulous planning and co-ordination ensures that we remove and pump the top sections to a pit area, while we efficiently hydro mine the lower sections that have been exposed. Our team ensures that we provide the processing plant with 70 000 tons of gold tailings per month and team members are proud of the immaculate dam they are sculpting.
