Finsch Diamond Mine, South Africa

The Finsch diamond mine, located near Lime Acres, 160km northwest of Kimberley, is one of seven operations managed by De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), formed in July 2004 as the wholly owned South African mining subsidiary of Luxembourg-based DB Investments / De Beers SA. This restructuring created a company that can be empowered under the terms of South Africa’s Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act. Discovered in 1961 during exploration for asbestos, the deposit was first developed as an open pit. Since 1991, production has come from the underground mine beneath the old pit. Production in 2005 totalled 2.22Mct – 15% of DBCM’s total output – from 5.94Mt of kimberlite ore, giving a recovered grade of 37.3 carats per 100t of ore. Employees numbered 1,319 at the year-end. GEOLOGY Finsch is a classic diamondiferous kimberlite pipe, which has a surface expression of around 17.9ha. The country rocks consist of banded ironstones overlying dolomites and limestones, the pipe itself consisting of weathered kimberlite (yellow ground) to a depth of around 100m with unweathered material (blue ground) beneath. Reserves at Finsch are sufficient to maintain mining at current rates for a further 27 years. MINING The underground mine is accessed via a spiral decline from surface to the 680m level and a 9m-diameter, 763m-deep shaft equipped with three automatic Koepe hoists and capable of handling 5Mt/y of ore. Underground development began in 1978 and the shaft was commissioned in 1982. The upper levels of the underground mine use a sub-level open stoping system. The ore and waste is moved from the production levels via vertical ore passes that feed the material to the crushers. The ore is then transported by belt conveyor to the shaft systems for hoisting to the surface. Production from the open-stope blocks 2 and 3 on the 430m and 510m levels below surface is being replaced by a block-caving system in block 4 on the 630m level that will reach full production of 3.8Mt/y of ore between 2007 and 2011. This will be depleted by 2015, with block 5 beneath following it into production in 2014. Stope development utilises ore passes raise-bored to 2.9m diameter, then opened out to 6m diameter using a sliping rig that fits within the ore pass to drill the full profile. Semi-automated Tamrock drill rigs are used for drilling production rings in the open stopes. Rings consist of 102mm-diameter holes up to 45m long, through a full 360°. Dry drilling is used because of the weathering characteristics of the kimberlite. "In November 2005, Finsch started using an automated ore-transport system underground, costing US$18.5m to install." Finsch makes use of specially developed, repumpable emulsion explosives, blended from components mixed underground and placed using dedicated transport and charging vehicles. The emulsion is sufficiently viscous to be pumped up 102mm vertical holes and to remain in position, and is inert until primed during charging. Benefits of this system include reduced carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emissions after blasting, and reduced explosive usage in fewer holes per ring. Detonation is controlled from the blasting cubicle in the underground production centre, with precise timing achieved by individually programmed microchip detonators. 12t-capacity LHDs dump broken ore into Finsch’s eight ore passes, each of which has a capacity of 10,000t. MMD sizers reduce the kimberlite to –300mm for transport to the shafts and hoisting to surface. In November 2005, Finsch started using an automated ore-transport system underground, costing US$18.5m to install. Centred on a specially built, high-speed, high-strength concrete road, 630m below surface, this marked a world first for underground mining in relation to fully automated trucking. COMMUNICATIONS Since 1988, Finsch has used an underground vehicle management and communication system. This was upgraded in 1995 to an El-Equip MultiCom radio-controlled data transfer system based on leaky feeder technology. The system permits multi-channel voice and data transmission. The position of LHDs underground is monitored using Modular Mining Systems’ dispatch system, the controller on surface instructing the individual machines where to load and dump through the mine-wide communications network. DIAMOND RECOVERY Run-of-mine ore is crushed and screened, while –18mm and –3mm material is processed separately. Dense-medium separation is used for the coarser ore, while the fine material is processed through a pan plant and by high-intensity magnetic separation. The concentrates are retreated in cyclones to reduce the volume further, then combined and dried to form the feed for X-ray fluorescence sorting to recover the diamonds. Tailings are passed over grease belts to retain any residual stones. Between February 2005 and end-September 2006, the engineering firm, Bateman, carried out a major upgrade of the technology, also increasing the feed rate to the plant to 900t/h. From : Mining- Technology.com		The open pit at Finsch diamond mine.
		A semi-automated Tamrock production drill rig is used in the drill rigs and blasting areas.
		An LHD in operation. Each has the capacity for 10,000t of material.
		The process and treatment plant.
		The treatment recovery control centre.
		The existing main ventilation fans and the new booster fans will be monitored continuously by PLCs.
		Vehicle dispatch schematic.