Kolomela set new record with big blast
04 August, 2014
Kumba Iron Ore’s Kolomela mine in Postmasburg set a new record for a single blast at the mine on Monday, 4 August 2014. The blast, in the Kapstevel operational area, took place under strict safety supervision and freed up more than two million tonnes of waste material for removal. About 940 tonnes of explosives was set off in a timed sequence over 3.5 seconds. The blast area covered 4.6 hectares.
Kolomela set new record with big blast
Staking started on 12 June 2014 and took just over seven hours to complete, followed by the drilling of 2,542 holes to an average depth of 17.45 m. The charging of the holes started on 20 June 2014.
An average single blast at the mine produces about 400,000 tonnes of material, with the previous biggest blast producing 1.6 million tonnes.
“This blast contributes towards our targets set in our mine execution plan and to our good production performance for the mine,” said Aart van den Brink, General Manager Kolomela mine.
Kolomela mine produces direct shipping ore for the export market. The mine has an annual production capacity of 10 million tonnes. Production in the first half of 2014 was up 4% to 5.5 million tonnes for the six months till end June.
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