Transporting platinum ore across difficult terrain

Louise Davis

The South African mining company Booysendal Platinum (Pty) Limited, a subsidiary of Northam Platinum Limited, accesses the Booysendal South ore deposit as part of its expansion of the mining capacities at the Booysendal concession.

The mined ore is to be taken to an existing processing plant. In September 2016, Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH, headquartered in Austria and a subsidiary of the Doppelmayr group, the world's leading manufacturer of ropeways, was awarded the contract to build a RopeCon system to transport the mined ore to the processing plant.

In view of the difficult topographical situation the belt conveyor, which runs on ropes, proved to be the ideal solution to transport almost 500,000 tons of material per month safely and easily over a distance of approximately 4.9km and a difference in elevation of 530m. The conveyor is due to be in operation by the end of 2018.

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