On a cold Highveld morning a dedicated Pragma engineer sets out at 03:00 from Johannesburg. The quest: an AMIP assessment at Aquarius Platinum Everest Mine. Arriving at 07:00 at the mine, the frost is still thick on the ground and he is just in time to catch the morning production meeting. Thereafter there is a series of interviews and then a consensus mapping in the afternoon. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it… It is made a little easier by the fact that Everest Mine is situated in some of the most beautiful countryside in South Africa, close to Lydenburg, Mpumalanga.
The AMIP is part of the ACC implementation at Aquarius Platinum. Aquarius is the fourth largest platinum producer in South Africa and has four mines (with eight shafts and four concentrator plants) situated in the North West province (Kroondal and Marikana) and Mpumalanga/Limpopo (Everest and Blue Ridge).
The implementation started in May and we are busy with the AMIP assessment and the setting up of the Asset Management Charter. The plan is that Pragma will help define a set of common asset management standards and maintenance plans across all the mines.
The AC Engineer will be working full time based from the Kroondal site and he took up residence on the 1st of June. The planned go-live dates are phased from August to November this year at the various mines.
