Safety key to Gugulethu Operations

Gugulethu Mine Manager, Corne Vlok  

With health and safety as a focal point, Gugulethu Colliery has managed to maintain an impressive lost-time-injury-free (LTI) and fatality-free record. “We have over 839 days of LTI days free since we started the mine. That is a major milestone,” says Mine Manager Corne Vlok. The team at Gugulethu ensures that strict safety protocols are observed, while health and safety campaigns reinforce important messages related to GBV and HIV/AIDS. . “Safety is foundational to everything we do at the mine, and we hope to keep the momentum going,” Vlok adds.  

When it comes to production, the mine’s Central Pit remains in steady state, producing 120,000 tonnes of run-of-mine (RoM) of coal per month, while the target for North Pit is 80,000 tonnes RoM per month. Vlok says since January the mine ramped up production to consistently produce its 200,000 tonnes RoM monthly target between March and April this year.  

Although there was a slight decline in production for May, the team has put measures in place to ramp up output, including making improvements and adjustments to the processing plant. The team is also doing backfilling in Central Pit, in preparation for a rehabilitation project set to start within the next two months. This is crucial to the mine’s environmental efforts, which entail rehabilitating the areas as mining unfolds.  

Vlok says maintaining steady state production is key to making sure the mine reaches its developmental goals in the next few years. “We want to mine the areas we are supposed to mine and get to the point where we start opening South Pit, so we can start developing the underground operation in the next three years,” he concludes.