As part of her provincial outreach last week to engage with community members and private sector stakeholders, the Premier of the Northern Cape, Ms Sylvia Lucas, visited the Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) Black Mountain Mine (BMM) complex in Aggeneys on Thursday, and specifically the USD 400 million investment Gamsberg Project. Here she was able to take a detailed look at the progress of the Gamsberg project’s construction activities. The Premier is no stranger to this project, as she inaugurated the start of the project - the first blast and sod turning ceremony - on the 27th July 2015.
Taking the Premier through the project briefing was, Satish Kumar, VZI’s Vice President (VP) Projects and BMM General Manager, Andre Trytsman. The Premier was impressed and overwhelmed by the progress made by the company since the sod turning, especially the fact that the construction work has been fatality free since the start of the project in July 2015. More than 3000 people are currently employed at the project site, which is on target for commissioning in the middle of 2018.
“I am very impressed that most of the professionals on the project are young people and that the majority of the employees are either from the Khai Ma municipal area or the surrounding areas in the Province”, stated the Premier.
Gamsberg is the largest mining project, currently in execution in South Africa. It is based on an ore resource of 214 Million tonnes (Mt), which is to be extracted from an open pit at an annual rate of 4Mt. The mine development started in July 2015 with excavation of the V-cut and overburden removal to give access to the ore-body and since then, more than 60Mt of rock have been pre-stripped. The plant and infrastructure construction activities commenced in the first half of CY 2017. The Premier was shown the progress on the mining and metallurgy plant as well as the USD 35 million water infrastructure developments in Pella which formed part of the Gamsberg Project construction package.
The Premier met members of the project team, with whom she engaged regarding their role in the construction of the Gamsberg project. Young professionals from Khai-Ma, Namakwa District and the greater Northern Cape central to the project development, noted the privilege it is to be part of such a big development that will change the mining and industrial landscape in the Northern Cape. The Premier also visited the company’s housing construction site where she had a closer look at some of the 109 newly-built houses which formed part of the 1st phase housing development plan, as part of the wider project. She took part in discussions regarding further housing development plans for employee housing in Pofadder, Pella and Aggeneys. She was also briefed about the company’s social investment activities, such as the proposed empowerment programme named the Broad-Based Livelihood (BBL) Programme that BMM plans to roll-out in Khai-Ma, aimed at creating pathways out of poverty, enabling participants to be independent providers for their families, through becoming entrepreneurs and eventually job creators themselves.
VP Projects Satish Kumar expressed his appreciation for the visit and interest shown by the Premier and her team.
Ms Lucas also expressed her heartfelt congratulations to Ms Deshnee Naidoo, who was recently appointed the CEO for Africa Base metals responsible for international businesses Zinc International, KCM in Zambia and CMT in Australia. Ms Naidoo serves as an example to women and young people alike that through discipline, education and hard work there should be no limit to what you can achieve.
Jointly released by Vedanta Zinc International and the Office of the Premier
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