Mining and Technical Exhibitions (MTE) has launched its 2024 calendar. “With 27 expos behind us in 2023, we expect the expo success-trend to continue in 2024,” noted Andrew Macnamara, MTE’s operations director. “Our new MTE 2024 calendar promises to take the exhibitor to the heart of the mines and other industries too, in key areas in SADC with 25 well thought-out and co-ordinated destinations.”
What’s new in 2024?
February 2024 will start with a new and exciting addition to the calendar. This expo will take place on mine premises at Harmony’s Moab Khotsong operation in the Free State. Moab Khotsong is a deep-level mine near the towns of Orkney and Klerksdorp, some 180km south-west of Johannesburg. The mine, which began production in 2003, was acquired from AngloGold Ashanti Limited in March 2018.
Here, mining is based on a scattered mining method, together with an integrated backfill support system that incorporates bracket pillars. The geology at Moab Khotsong is structurally complex, with large fault-loss areas between the three mining areas (top mine – Great Noligwa, middle mine and lower mine – growth project and Zaaiplaats project in execution phase). The mine exploits the Vaal Reef as its primary orebody. The economic reef horizons are mined between 1 791m and 3 052m below surface. Ore mined is processed at the Great Noligwa gold plant. The plant uses the reverse gold leach method, with gold and uranium recoveries achieved by gold cyanide and acid uranium leaching.
May 2024 will see two new locations in 2024 – an old favourite, Amandelbult and the new Siyanda Bakgatla expo in Limpopo – both with a focus on platinum mining solutions. Siyanda Bakgatla Platinum Mine (Union Mine) is a PGM Producing Mine located in Swartklip. The mine was acquired from Anglo American Platinum, effective from 1 February 2018 by Siyanda Resources and the Bakgatla-Ba-Kgafela Joint Venture.
©MTE
New over-border expeditions
MTE has added a new over-border tour to its traditionally well-attended combo shows in Botswana and Zambia, in March and September respectively. Zimbabwe will see the MTE crew in July and August 2024 – for the first time since 2015. An MTE tradeshow in Gweru will target Unki mine, which is an underground mine located in the centre of Zimbabwe in Midlands Province. Unki represents one of the largest platinum reserves in Zimbabwe, with estimated reserves of 34 million oz of platinum. The mine produces around 6 000oz of platinum annually. The PGM Mimosa Mine decision makers will also be invited to this expo, among other additional gold and chrome operations in the area.
The second show of the tour will stop off in Selous where PGMs are the order of the day. ZimPlats and the surrounding operations will be the focus of MTE’s marketing in this area. There are a number of exciting projects on the go in this area. In FY2022, Zimplats obtained a 185MW power generation licence and by the end of the quarter, a cumulative USD1.1-million had been spent on the first phase of a solar project – a 35MW solar plant at the Selous Metallurgical Complex – and USD35.4-million had been committed, against a budget of USD37-million. The first of the project’s four implementation phases is progressing as planned, with the final phase scheduled for completion in FY2027, at a total project cost estimate of USD201-million.1
“If 2023 is anything to go by, 2024 promises to be a bumper business year – the industry has exploded with new local and global innovation, technology and value-add services, particularly in the realm of digitalisation. Our expos are ready to showcase these to our end-user visitors who are eager to improve safety, maintain uptime and increase production levels,” concludes Macnamara.
If you are a supplier of digital solutions, contact Macnamara on +27 (0) 82 720 0083.
Reference:
- (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.zimplats.com/data/2023/08/2583730.pdf)