The Mancala Miner - The Mancala Group

THE MANCALA MINER
December 2012
The
Mancala
Miner
Fossey Portal
CHRISTMAS EDITION
IN THIS ISSUE
Christmas message from the CEO
by Martin Kyne
Every year about this time I reflect on what
the past twelve months has been for
Mancala. Well, you can’t say it is ever dull!
Your company has certainly had some great
highs and unfortunately one low over the last
year.
The low being the premature closure of the
Fossey mine and the layoff of a number of
great employees. Thanks to all who
participated in that project, which I believe
covers just about everyone in the company.
To undertake what you did, under some of
the harshest conditions imaginable, without
a LTI (lost time injury), is commendable.
The highs have been vast and cover a
number of the company’s services.
From the successful trial of our new MVM
(Mancala Vertical Miner), through the
expansion of our capacity to refurbish
equipment like new (two 61R’s as an
example), our ever expanding capacity to
supply specilised mining labour, raise boring
and shafts, to our technical ability to deliver
tenders, coupled with our ability to now
understand our costs (Pronto), every one of
you reading this Christmas message has
contributed.
To you all, thanks for making it all happen.
2013 is shaping up to be another good year
for Mancala. However, with the news from
our media advising of mine closures or new
mines being delayed, we only see more
opportunities for our business, as mines
move more to contracting some of their
services.
Your directors have not stopped, with
looking to expand the business. Ordering
two more MVM’s and a new Atlas 91R raise
bore machine together with venturing into
tendering contract mine development , can
only see our business grow.
National Collegiate
Mining Games
The Mancala team did us proud at the annual
Ballarat Mining Games this year, skill and team
work showed through and we came first, second
and tied for first place! Confusing I know, so you’ll
have to read on to see where they really came and
what actually happened!
Page 6
To everyone, we hope you have enjoyed the
last twelve months at Mancala and trust you
all will enjoy the next. Be safe over the
Christmas period and enjoy that time with
family and friends.
Austar Coal Mine
Mancala achieved a milestone with the drilling of
one of its longest ever holes at the Austar Coal
Mine in New South Wales.
Regards,
CEO & fellow directors - Martin, Bill &Tim
Page 2
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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Technical
Innovations
Part 1
by Diego Barua – Technical Services Manager
The team in the Technical Services division
has had a remarkable year. One in which we
have delivered over 80 formal tenders (on
average this works out to about 7 per
month). Of these, we have reaped more than
13 major projects in 2012. This volume of
work is unprecedented and has been made
possible only through the continued
dedication of our engineering and
administration staff.
In addition to our tendering work, we have
also had our thinking caps on as our clients
have thrown some hefty challenges our
way. I would like to spend a bit of time on
two in particular. These are as follows:
Location: Lady Loretta Mine – Central
Queensland.
Requirement: Supply a fully compliant 138m
egress ladder system which will include 2 x
168mm schedule 40 water mains PLUS 2 x
150mm compressed air poly pipes and
include cable trays for electrical reticulation.
Challenge: Design and complete a structural
review for a ladder that would not only
require hoops for ladders but needed to be
fully enclosed in mesh as it is to be lowered
into a 6.1m diameter steel lined shaft.
This has turned out to be Mancala’s heaviest
ladder order. For those who remember, in
2009 we installed a 245m egress ladder in a
large diameter surface shaft for a second
means of egress at Cadia East. This ladder
was longer than the Lady Loretta ladder but
was a lighter design. The Cadia ladder
weighed in at 36.8 tonnes of steel
delivered. The new Lady Loretta ladder
weighs in at 49.2 tonnes. Even though a lot
of this is in the pipes, the big challenge was in
getting the structural review to give the OK
to manufacture. The review recommended a
350 x 350 channel across
the main span and similar
size beams under the
chairing beam, both of
which will support the
entire weight of the
ladders as they are
lowered into position.
After the ladder is
installed, it will be
welded to the steel wall
of the shaft as an added
safety measure. The
structure not only has to
allow for the weight of
steel, it also needs to
cater for the poly pipe,
the weight of water being pumped and a
dynamic load for men that may be using the
ladder. This ladderway is due for completion
in early December and is presently under
construction as shown on attached photos.
FOR MORE ON TECH SERVICES
0B
See Part 2 - page 3
Length and Accuracy
Demonstrated at Austar
Coal Mine
by Tim Akerman – Business Development Manager
Mancala achieved a milestone this
September with the drilling of one of its
longest ever holes at the Austar Coal Mine in
New South Wales.
L-R - Kereama Anderson, Daniel
Miller and Kurt Fuller
Using the recently re-built Robbins 61R and a
coal compliant power pack, the pilot hole
was directionally drilled, breaking through
some 22cm off target after 476m of drilling.
The hole was reamed to 1.5m diameter
without the need for cutter changes or any
other substantive delay. After installing a
steel liner, Mancala will use this hole to
hoist raise drill cuttings from the
underground workings.
These cuttings will be generated when
Mancala rise bores a 3.5m diameter shaft
adjacent to the 1.5m shaft.
Completion of the 1.5m diameter shaft is not
only a significant milestone in the Austar
project but also in Mancala raise boring and
gives testament to the skill and persistence
of all the personnel involved in the project.
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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NOTES
1B
Mancala Website
The new website is now up and running and we have
received some great feedback about it. And don’t
forget the Staff Resources section – this section is for
you! We’ll be adding to it over the next few months,
so let us know if there’s anything you would like to see
go into it. http://intranet.mancala.com.au/
Delivery and installation of liners
Technical Innovations
Part 2
by Diego Barua – Technical Services Manager
Location: Austar Coal Mine – Hunter Valley,
NSW.
Requirement: We needed to steel line a
474m long x 1.5m diameter shaft so that we
could run a hoisting kibble with our Borehole
Hoist Headframe.
Fossey 900 Days LTI Free
th
On Friday 13 July 2012 Fossey achieved the milestone
of 900 Days LTI Free – a great achievement to all
personnel connected to Fossey.
FUN FACTS – XMAS & MINING!
2B
One of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, found in a cave in
Israel is made of copper. This unique scroll does not
contain religious writings, but rather the clues to an
undiscovered treasure of gold and silver.
From VCS Mining
Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nikolas of
Myra (also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker,
Bishop Saint Nicholas of Smyrna, and Nikolaos of Bari),
who lived during the fourth century. Born in Patara (in
modern-day Turkey), he is the world’s most popular
non-Biblical saint, and artists have portrayed him more
often than any other saint except Mary. He is the patron
saint of banking, pawnbroking, pirating, butchery,
sailing, thievery, orphans, royalty, and New York City.
From facts.randomhistory.com
The chemical symbol for gold is Au, from the Latin
aurum, which means ‘shining dawn’. Aurora was the
Roman goddess of dawn which links to the warm, yellow
colour of gold. The word gold comes from the old
English word ‘gelo’, meaning yellow.
From VCS Mining
Challenge: Design and complete a structural
review for a steel liner that is seamless inside,
so that the kibble can run inside on wheels.
All joins and flanges on the outside.
What we have delivered to site is the
HEAVIEST single structure supplied for any
one single project by Mancala. Given the
length of this liner, we have chosen to break
down the design into six different
specifications – this logic is based on the fact
that the bottom liners need a much lighter
construction than the top ones; since the
bottom ones have nothing hanging off the
bottom while the top ones have all the liners
hanging off them! Total weight for the
installation is a whopping 103 tonnes! As
shown in the photos, the liners have flanges
on the outside to provide a smooth running
surface for the borehole hoist kibble (which
will run on rubber wheels on the inside of the
liner). All the flanges are stiffened with
gussets and there are 24 bolts pre flange.
Each module is assembled by joining two half
segments supplied from the factory. There
are a total of 39 x 11.9m modules that will
need to be joined together in the assembly
process. The liners were delivered to Austar
in early November and were fully assembled
before the end of November. Final liner
installation is taking place as we go to press
and the finishing touch will be injecting grout
(from the bottom up) into the gap between
the 1.5m raiseborer shaft (which incidentally
is also the longest single raiseborer shaft
drilled by Mancala) and the outside of the
liner. This backfill will consist of over 250
cubic metres of grout and gravel that are
placed in bands to allow water to drain from
the surrounding water table into the liner.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
all the staff who were involved in the design,
logistical support, assembly, installation, and
all those who spend endless hours taking
these projects from a bright idea to a reality.
I would also like to pause and wish you all a
restful Christmas and a productive new year.
Delivery and installation
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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Mancala Contract Mining
Part 1
by David Sheahen – Regional Operations Manager - Mining
Mancala contract mining has
operating projects from the West
Coast of Tasmania up the east coast
of Australia to North Queensland.
Unity Mining Henty - Tasmania
Henty Gold Mine - Mancala provides trade
labour hire and specialised mining crews.
Mancala tradesmen cover supervisory roles
to shift break downs coverage and provide
specialised mine services personnel and rise
mining services.
Well-done to David Leedham and the
Mancala team on site at Henty. The
maintenance team of Brett Gardam, Aaron
Groenewold, Heath Calvert , Ashley Walsh
and Brodie Whiteley, the mining team of
Andrew Farrelly, Dean Hinds, Clint Ling and
Matthew Diprose and the mining team of
Barry Coates and Craig McKay.
Mancala raise drilling has just completed a
vent shaft at Henty. Good job, on time,
with no incidents. Dennis Bond, Clint Ling
and David Boon shared a new experience
and assisted the raise drill team to complete
the hole.
Mancala Somerset – Tasmania
This is the home office for our West Coast
operations and currently houses our
management team and training
department. The facility provides a roomy
training facility where Marcus Taylor
conducts TIMI inductions and industry
training competencies that meets the
national standards.
The facility also houses the best part of
Mancala’s mining and mobile plant and
equipment mostly from the Fossey project
that closed mid-year.
The new Toro 203 is a small scale
underground loader and whereas most
motor vehicles have come down in price, it
is not the case for mining equipment. The
Toro 203 cost around $550,000 compared to
a normal surface loader of the same
capacity which would cost around $180,000.
The second machine in the picture is a Cat
12H underground grader. This is much the
same as a surface grader but has had
around $60,000 worth of extras fitted for
underground use.
The Somerset office also supports a full
fleet of surface and underground vehicles
for different projects with around 16 light
vehicles needed to keep the current
projects running. Thanks to all the boys for
keeping the equipment and vehicles in top
condition. David Boon has become the
polishing king armed with his buffing
machine.
Bluestone Tin at Renison Bell Mine Tasmania
Mancala has had a long running relationship
with Bluestone Tin at Renison and provide a
regular mining team in Michael Brown and
Barry Coates to excavate the hand held slot
rises for production. This is a very
challenging role and credit to Mick and
Barry for a fantastic safety performance.
MMG Rosebery - Tasmania
Mancala Mine Services has provided a
10,000 metre short term contract for
production drilling in W and K- Lens
underground, with the L6C production drill.
Well done to the whole team to pull this
project together at such short notice.
Thanks to Tim Gough, Nathan Sheahen and
Justin Bakes. Good effort by the drillers and
fitters, Heath Hardy, Tony Preston, Phillip
Page, Cory Phillips and Nic Walker. Fitters
Aaron Groenwold, Brodie Whiteley, Josh
Hinds, Dean White and Pete Willis for
electrical support. Thanks also to Atlas for
tunning the rig to the ground conditions at
Rosebery.
1 level surface works - Tim Gough along
with their small team of Derek Parker and
David Boon have completed the
preparation work for a new small scale
decline opportunity at the top of the old
open cut. The current resource is being
accessed with a potential start in midJanuary 2013.
The Somerset office
FOR MORE ON OPERATIONS
See part 2 – page 9
2nd 1 level
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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EXPOS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
A Year’s Worth of Drilling
by John Kerr – Divisional Manager
2012 has been a very exciting year for the
raisebore department. We have had a rapid
growth in staff and taken on larger and more
numerous projects. In January we started
with 27 staff and now currently have 42 staff
and are continuing to grow. To support this
growth, Mancala has commissioned three
additional rigs into our fleet, the 61R backed
by a flameproof powerpack (FPPP), a second
61R – coupled to an Atlas Copco 34 R power
pack and the recently arrived and most
powerful addition to our fleet – The SBM800.
The fleet of drills now numbers eight with a
further three to arrive next year. Across the
fleet a total of 3562 metres were piloted and
2062 meters reamed for the year. To back
up the new rigs we have purchased 500
metres of 11 ¼” pipe, 500 metres of 12 7/8
pipe and have 200 metres of 10” pipe on
order.
RIGS
450 Undertook holes at Fossey, CMT,
Renison and Cobar, completing 850 pilot
metres and 400 reamed metres for the year.
The 450 will be making its way back to Peru
for an upgrade in 2013.
61R-1144 with the FPPP was successfully
commissioned and completed holes at Angus
Place, Mount Wright and Austar. The
machine was purchased out of Canada as
part of a pair and fully rebuilt and
modernised at our workshop. The
underground coal compliant powerpack was
built in conjunction with UGM and gives us
the opportunity to work in underground coal
– a relatively untapped market. Mancla has
the only underground coal capable raisebore
in Australia. This machine completed 667
metres of pilot drilling and 625 metres of
reaming for 2012
The 61R-1154 with the 34R power pack was
also successfully commissioned at Fosterville
following a similar rebuild to its sister model
mentioned above. We purchased an Atlas
Copco 34R powerpack to run this machine
and it has completed holes at Fosterville and
Henty. So far this machine is up to 176
metres of pilot drilling and 162 metres of
reaming.
The SBM600 spent a large portion of the
year sitting in a holding yard in Lae PNG. A
700 metre contract commenced in October
2012 and we are currently 180 pilot metres
and five reamed metres into it.
The SBM71R was at Jundee for the first part
of 2012 where it successfully completed 3, 3.5
metre diameter holes in hard ground – some
of it +300 MPA. The 71R has now moved onto
Grass Trees for a bigger hole (4.5 metres in
diameter) in softer formation where we have
undertaken the contract to bog our own
cuttings in a coal mine. The 71 has
completed 752 metres of pilot drilling and
725 metres of reaming so far in 2012.
MINExpo International – Las Vegas
MINExpo INTERNATIONAL® is the largest show of
its kind in the world and draws a truly international
audience representing all major mining regions of
the world. Mancala was there to see all the latest
products and services being offered and to see one
our latest additions to the fleet, the SBM800, which
has now arrived in Australia.
The SBM900 completed holes at Renison
and Oaky Creek– totalling 330 metres of pilot
drilling and 332 metres of reaming. The
limited drill metres resulted from continued
rain delays while working in Queensland.
The MVM1100 Mancala’s Vertical Miner was
developed in conjunction with Herrenknect
from Germany. It started working onsite in
September 2011 at Cadia, completing 45 box
holes, totalling 750 metres. The MVM1100
then moved to Perilya in September 2012
and has currently completed a further 200
metres, with plenty more to do. This rig is
the first of its type in the world and has
generated enough interest for Mancala to
purchase two more. Both of these are to
arrive by mid 2013. This rig makes drilling
boxholes easy, with significant time savings
and a large safety advantage over traditional
boxholing methods. The rig can be set up in
around three hours – not requiring a concrete
pad, and has delivered a complete box hole
of 16 metres within 24 hours. That is – drive
to site, set up, drill, de-rig and demobilise site
all within 24 hours.
2013 is already scheduled for excitement
with the arrival of a 91R – Mancala’s biggest
raisebore due in June. If that is not enough,
two more MVM machines are due in May.
May the fun continue – happy drilling.
GME - Kalgoorlie
With Mancala’s push into Western Australia, we
made the trip across to Kalgoorlie and the Gold
Fields Mining Expo - GME. Numbers were down a
little on previous years, but we made some good
contacts which are being followed up on.
WAMEX - Perth
Following GME, we made our way across to Perth to
feature at the Western Australian Mining Expo
(WAMEX). Again, numbers were down, but it
reinforced our name and it was great to see some of
our equipment out on display thanks to Luke and his
team at Bendigo.
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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Home Sweet Orphanage
Fundraiser
by Ben West & Megan Bury
The children of the Home
Sweet Orphanage
Mancala helped to support Ben and
Megan with their trip to the Home
Sweet Orphanage in Uganda, here’s
an excerpt from their experience.
‘We were staying in a suburb called New
Kumbu, which was considered one of the
wealthier places in Masaka, so our house was
one of the best you could get! With concrete
floors and walls, a western toilet which we had
to turn off at the wall as it leaked from the
cistern, a hand held (cold) shower, the pipes
and taps of which had to be wrapped up with
plastic bags to avoid leakage. Our home was
also home to about 300 cute little bats living in
the ceiling whom we were able to watch as they
flew out every evening at dusk.’
‘Many of the days we had at the orphanage
were spent playing with the children,
teaching them different games they could
play using the soccer balls and down balls
which we had given them, we taught them to
use an Aussie football which one of the girls
got the hang of really quickly and Ben made
a cricket bat for them using a hunk of wood
and his pocket knife.’
‘One weekend Bree decided to come and
spend a day with us at the orphanage, we
spent the day looking around the dorm room
assessing how we could set up mosquito nets
for the children’s beds. We decided to buy 20
mosquito nets and some rope and then we
spent the Monday setting them up. It was
tough and dirty work as I don’t think the
children’s bedding gets washed very often
and there are generally three children to
each bed (who also don’t wash very often).
After working for half the day we had finally
erected 17 nets across the room, I asked one
of the older girls to please help the children
to look after the nets and to tell them “no
sticks in bed!”’.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
SPONSORING
4B
Contact: [email protected]
National Collegiate Mining
Games 2012
by Matt Moran – Mine Engineer
L-R - Tim Powell, Matt
Moran, Tim Gough and
Brett Nevill
The National Collegiate Mining Games
were held in Ballarat on 5th and 6th of
October this year at the University of
Ballarat (UB), a place where Mancala
has sourced all its Graduate Engineers.
Therefore we thought it appropriate to
sponsor the event and we sent a team
to compete in the Men’s division.
Our team consisted of Tim Gough, Brett
Nevill, Tim Powell and I, with all of us
studying engineering at UB. The team
was filled out with Donovan Sutton and
Joe Powell.
The events were based around mining
activities and included engineering,
geology, survey and processing. The
first event we completed was the
Mancala sponsored Ventilation
Challenge. This event involved
connecting a vent bag to a fan, turning
the fan on, then packing the vent bag up
again. Unfortunately we weren’t able to
th
win this event finishing 5 , but from
here the momentum started to build.
The next few events, Magnetic
Separation, Blast Face Tie-In and the
Airleg Drilling went really well, even
without our expert driller Tim Gough
showing us how it’s done.
Gold Panning followed and the water was
freezing cold. Then as we were lining up
to do the Swede Saw the rain started. We
continued through the rain and
completed the Rail Set, Hand Mucking
and Surveying. Cold and wet we headed
inside to the Rock Identification beside
the heaters, where we finished the day.
The games were then concluded by the
Black Tie Ball where the results were
announced. This was held at Sovereign
Hill, a theme park of the gold rush scene
in Ballarat when people first settled there.
TO CONTINUE READING
Go to page 9
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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Mining Projects
by Tim Akerman – Business Development
Pat Ball, Mick Rawlings and Peter Newport
preparing the final plug below stockpile 1 for
mine closure at Fossey
Manager
The start of 2012 saw Mancala with some 100
personnel operating at the Fossey Mine on
the West Coast of Tasmania. Unfortunately
due to circumstances beyond our control, in
mid-January the mine was placed in a wind
down to closure mode despite remaining
reserves and a fantastic operating history.
From January to June, when the mine
officially closed, all operational targets were
either achieved or exceeded and on closure
the site had maintained its enviable record
of LTI (Lost Time Incident) free status for the
entire mine life (see story and photo on
page 3).
Along with the closure, unfortunately came
the loss of employee’s jobs which for every
individual involved, is a devastating event.
Mancala has managed to retain a small
number of mining personnel on the West
Coast involved mainly in mine contracting
activities. These employees will form the
nucleus of our next West Coast operation.
Which operation and when? We are in the
hands of governmental approval process and
the vagaries of contract negotiations. Either
way the New Year will see Mancala back on
the West Coast, hopefully at the scale of, or
larger than Fossey, to which we hope to
attract back some of the original Fossey
team.
Further afield, Mancala is in active
negotiations to commence mining
operations in NSW, WA, QLD and even in
South East Asia. The process of commencing
a mining project is long and at times
frustrating, but as with Fossey and prior to
that Que River, well worth the effort.
MMG Rosebery 2 level in the open pit Tim Akerman and Geoff Newling - looking at the old
workings in the open pit for potential mining
opportunities
Mancala – the Name & the Game
by Tina Boon – Marketing & Technical Services Officer
The origin of well-known company names
like Coles (founded by George Coles) or
SPC (Shepparton Preserving Company) are
pretty easy to work out. But what about
our company name - Mancala?
Mancala is a game in which chance or
probability play no part; it is fundamentally
about strategy and mathematical ability. It
seems simple in concept, but it is complex in
its execution’.
While on trip to Africa many years ago, Bill,
one of our founding directors, observed
some local children playing a game. They
were digging a series of holes in the sand
and moving stones between the holes. The
winner was determined by the player who
collected the most stones in their home
Kala. The game was Mancala. Bill thought
he would have a mining company that
collected the most stones. Thus the
Mancala name and logo was born.
I recently discovered this complexity and
decided it suits ‘left-brainers’, who are
logical, analytical and objective. As a ‘right
brainer’, I just found it to be an addictive and
fun game, which can change direction very
quickly. Have a look at the rules (page 9),
grab a board and settle in for some fun!
FOR MORE ON THE MANCALA GAME
Visit www.mancala.com.au/about-us/mancalathe-game
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
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expo (see page 5).
The SBM800 is
drilling its first hole
as you are
SBM800
Mancala Mine Services
reading this at the
Austar site coupled
up with the new 11
inch drill pipe.
by Luke Calvert – Engineering Manager
MMS 2012 – Another year down and
where did it go? It’s been a busy 12
moths for MMS with lots going on.
New structure, new starters, new
office, new machines, rebuilds,
labour hire and the list goes on….
Equipment rental
has seen a steady
pace throughout
the year with
machines in Queensland, South Australia,
Victoria and Tasmania. All machines have
run well over the 12 months with a total of
nine machines out on constant hire.
Tasmania
Nathan Sheahen’s group of guys migrated
across to MMS after the Fossey
demobilisation was complete to start an
active labour hire business, supplying skilled
mechanical labour to the Tasmanian West
Coast mining industry. This has been a
successful venture with a continual four to
five personnel hired on a full time basis at the
Unity Mining Henty site. Well done to all of
those who have been involved as we have a
very happy client who is a great supporter of
Mancala.
New Bendigo office
Bendigo
Bendigo has seen a few major changes this
year with the implantation of the equipment
management group into a new office
complex. The complex houses a total of
around 15 people on a daily basis including
the Raise Bore Management team. The new
office means all of us are housed together
and we were able to send back the portable
offices that surrounded the workshop, which
gave us the opportunity to expand even
more areas!
Besides a couple of quite months in August
and September the workshop has being
going flat out, with total numbers now at 21.
And there is never a dull moment. Many of
the guys have travelled throughout the year
to internal and external projects, with a
special mention to Jason and Tom for all of
those weeks in PNG on the SBM600 - job
well done guys!
This extra space allowed the workshop some
breathing space for Glen Tamihere and the
crew to run the workshop as it’s meant to be.
And, it freed up some much needed
workshop and office space for the leading
hands to finally have some where to work
from!
Labour hire
The group also has some minor service
contracts with other clients in the North
West region and a few of them have
ventured over to the northern island to assist
in other internal projects within Mancala.
The guys have also been cleaning up all the
equipment and compiling an inventory stock
take of all the parts and consumables that
remain after the Fossey project. A job which
is tedious and time consuming to say the
least, but all involved have done a great job
to keep the yard clean and tidy.
A total of 11 work out of the Burnie office.
We started with seven in April and have
grown to include an additional four in the
seven months the group has been active.
Raise bore machines have been the flavour of
the year in 2012 and we had the pleasure of
rebuilding two 1969 model raise bore rigs
and making them state of the art 2012
models with all of the mod cons. The two
61R rigs came from Canada and were put
through the shop, being stripped down to
bare shells and starting from scratch. The
MRB03 was matched up to the Flame Proof
Power Pack and the MRB04 was
commissioned with a new Atlas Copco 34R
fully Can-bus operated power pack. A job
well done to everyone involved.
The year saw every rig come through the
shop for various repairs, rebuilds and updates
so it’s been a busy twelve months on the
raise bore rig front, with the new arrival of
the SBM800 from SBI in Peru. On its way to
Bendigo, the rig had a quick stop over in Las
Vegas for the MINExpo International mining
61R MRB04
We have had
a mix of both internal and external work,
shuffling the yard for more space as
machines come in and out and battling the
ups and downs in the weather cycle of
Bendigo. This makes for an interesting yet
rewarding place to work.
We are very fortunate to house a great team
of highly skilled personnel both at Bendigo
and Tasmania. 2013 looks to be a great year
and I can’t wait to be involved with this and
with each and every one of you.
Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New
Year to you all from the MMS Team.
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
9
National Collegiate Mining
Games 2012
Continued - from page 6
Mancala did quite well at the games. We won
four events, the Blast Face Tie-In, Swede
Saw, Rail Set and Rock Id. A prize was given
to us for winning the Rock Id, but the team
decided to present this to the winning mixed
team. This led us to coming equal first on the
night, but were given second place after a
count back, only to be told a week later that
due to a clerical error we actually won
outright. As Mancala was a sponsor of the
event we declined first place and kept second
place.
The Mining Games were a huge success.
Before the games everyone we spoke to had
no idea what Mancala was, but through our
presence and efforts at Ballarat we changed
that. We are now looking forward to
Brisbane next year.
L-R - Brett Nevill, Tim Powell, Joe Powell,
Donovan Sutton, Matt Moran and Tim Gough
Mancala – How to Play
Continued - from page 7
Getting Started
Place any three stones in each of the 6 small
pits along your side of the board. (In
Mancala, the colour of the stones doesn’t
matter). The object of the game is to
accumulate the most stones in your home
store. The game is over when one player has
emptied all the stones in his/her pits into the
home store or beyond.
The Play
Either player may elect to go first. A move is
made when you pick up all the stones (or
stone, if it’s later in the game and there is
only one) from any one of the 6 pits on your
side. Then, moving to the right (counterclockwise), put one stone in each pit you
come to (your pits, or your opponent’s pits;
use them all). If you hit your store, put a
single stone in it. If you hit your opponent’s
store, skip it.
Free Turn
If your last stone ends up in your own store,
you get a free turn (each time you finish
there).
Capturing
If your last stone ends up in an empty pit on
your side of the board, you have captured all
the stones in the pit directly opposite. Collect
them and put them in your store along with
the single stone of yours that made the
capture.
Your Turn is Over When
You make a capture, or
You land your last stone in one of your
opponent’s pits, or
You land your last stone in a pit on your side
that does not permit a capture.
Player 2
Repeat all the above, beginning by picking up
all the stones in one pit on your side.
To Determine the Winner
The game is over when all 6 pits on one side
are empty. The player with stones remaining
places them in his/her home store. (Note
that because of this, it is not usually in your
best interest to be the player who first
empties his/her pits).
Scoring
Count the number of stones in your store.
That becomes your score. If you are playing a
single round, whoever has the most stones in
their store at the end of the round, wins. If
you are playing multiple rounds, at the end of
each round, award a point for each stone
beyond 18. Total up these ‘over 18’ points at
the end of a set number of rounds for the
match winner.
Variations (decided before each game)
The player who clears his/her side of the
board is awarded the opponent’s left-over
stones.
Players add extra stones to the pits to make
the game more challenging (eg 4 stones).
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
10
Mancala Contract Mining
Part 2
by David Sheahen – Regional Operations Manager - Mining
CSA Mine Cobar - NSW
Our specialised mining team on site lead by
Dean McKay (Project Manager), Gavan
Cheesman and Mark Gunnulson (Project
Coordinators) has just complete shaft No 6.
The conditions at CSA are a challenge to say
the least with heat, dust and bad ground
conditions in all the shafts completed to
date. Travel time from the surface to our
work area takes around one hour each way.
A great effort and safety performance by the
four crews - John Grist, Ian Hogan, Matt
Bailey and Manuel Moreno (Stratacrete), Rob
McDonald, Brandon Gunnulson, Tyler
Alderson and Rob Borwick (Stratacrete),
Steve Hobbs, Kowa Timbol, Luke McKay and
Joe Ryan (Stratacrete), Ben Green, Shaun
Mariner, Tim Gent and Shayne Evans
(Stratacrete). These crews were backed up
by Glen Newson and Tony Anderson.
While we wait for shaft No 7 to be prepared,
the crews (less the Stratacrete boys) are
engaged in check scaling the decline from
the Portal to 9 level. This is a huge
undertaking and already the crews have
identified a number of areas that will need
rehabilitation.
The short term contract for the leading hand
service crew has now finished, and a big
thanks to all those involved, namely Simon
Cowan, Nick Henley, Peter Newport and
Martin Bruinewoud.
Special thanks from all at Cobar to Simone
and Carol at Head Office for their help and
assistance with flights and pays.
Cobar
Glennies Creek - NSW
Well done to all the Mancala mining team
involved with this exciting new challenge.
This is our first hand held decline mining
project in coal. Coal mining is a completely
different world than hard rock mining, the
two supervisors Peter Grady and Peter Ray
have done an excellent job of adapting the
crews into this new world of coal mining. It
certainly has been an eye opener for our
management team and especially for Dean
McKay whom has worn the majority of
problem solving. Well done to Dean and the
rest of the team.
The great effort and safety performance by
the four crews lead by the two Peters has
been well appreciated by Mancala and UGM
– the client. The individual crew makeup is:
Nathan Hicks, Paul Foster, Nathan Burnes
Andrew Hanna, Rob Sappiatzer and Dene
Murphy. Wayne Williams, Ben Hunt, Robert
Dickson Ron Pyke, Mick Nowacki and Jason
King. Also recently inducted were Matt Deen
and Josh Burnes who will cover leave.
At present the team is working in two drifts
(coal for decline). The first drift is the Man &
Materials drift, it is a 1:8 down and the other
is the Conveyor drift which is a 1:6 down
drift. Both drift are 6m wide and 2.6m high
and are drilled using a wedge, fired using low
impact explosives and milli second electric
detonators, the reason being that the blast
has to take place quickly so there is no time
for mine gases to ignite.
Mancala has a further 140m in the Man &
Materials drift and 213m in the Conveyor
drift to develop until we intersect the
Hebden coal seam. To date Mancala has
achieved 139m in the Man & Material drift
and 93m in the Conveyor drift.
Lady Loretta - Queensland
The project is progressing well under Peter
Sinclair and Kevin Smith. Currently the No 1
shaft is dewatered to the 430 metre level,
and all the redundant pipework and vent has
been removed. A 130 metre ladderway has
also been installed in the No 2 shaft.
Well done to all the crews involved, namely
Dennis Newson, Ricky Lee, Dean White,
Dave Blakey, Kim Burt, Noel Hooley, Laurie
Renton, Phillip Ohlsen, Frank Taylor and
Hank Quadt.
Rock Drilling –
Rosebery
Rosebery Christmas Carnival
The Rosebery Athletic Carnival, which has
been running for over 50 years, will be held
nd
on the 22 of December this year. The
program consists of running, cycling,
woodchopping and something unique to
Rosebery - rock drilling.
Mancala is once again entering the
competitions with representation in
both the singles and the teams
events.
We wish David and his team good luck –
I’m sure you’ll do us proud!
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
11
Staff News
Staff Q&A – In every issue of the
newsletter we bring you an insight into one
of our staff members. This edition’s lucky
staff member is:
Mike Botting
Chief Operations Officer
What is in your refrigerator right now?
Healthy stuff, thanks to my wife
If you could trade places with any other
person for a week, famous or not famous,
living or dead, real or fictional, with whom
would it be?
Mick Jagger
When did you start working at Mancala?
August 2012
What scares you the most?
Extreme sports – where if you stuff up, you
die
What do you like best about your
job/working at Mancala?
The people
What is your favourite movie?
Kite Runner
If you weren’t doing the job you are doing
now, what would you be instead?
Professional holiday resort tester
What is your favourite meal?
Rack of lamb
If you were going to be stranded on an
island without any equipment to get off,
what three things would you want to
have with you?
Wine, fishing rod, bucket
How would you describe yourself in
three words?
Rational, fairly direct, mostly calm
What TV Show do you dislike the most?
Big Brother
If you could be any character in
fiction/superhero, who would you want
to be?
Leisure Suit Larry
Photo Gallery
Austar
The L6C production drill
Austar installation
Newmont chopper at MINExpo
Last week of operation at Fossey
Austar crew
THE MANCALA MINER
| Issue 1
12
Who’s New at Mancala?
Colin Yong - We would like to welcome
Colin Yong to our Technical Services
office in Glen Waverley.
Colin is a mechanical engineer from the
petrochemical and utilities industry.
He brings with him some experience in
pumping and water chemistry which is a
starting point for him as we turn his
experience towards a mining focus.
Donovan Sutton - Also would like to
welcome Donovan Sutton. Donovan is a
full time student in the Civil Engineering
Faculty at Swinburne University. As such,
Donovan is working part time for us in
Technical Services, and is presently
focusing on sorting out our filing systems
and assisting with a variety of projects.
We hope to turn Donovan’s experience
and focus towards mining too!
King Hii – King is a chartered accountant
with a professional service background in
the areas of business services and audit.
King joined Mancala in May 2012 as a
Treasury Manager, focusing on cash flow
management.
And a BIG
welcome to
any other new
staff members
who have
joined us in
the last 12
months since
the Mancala
Miner was
previously
published
Mike Botting – Mike is a mining engineer
and comes to Mancala with a 27 year
history in the industry. He takes his
extensive experience from working in
senior mine management positions with
mining companies, mining contractors
and has worked as a mining
consultant. Mike has an understanding of
both project and contract management
including
contractual
issues
and
estimation of rates for underground and
open pit operations. He is now our Chief
Operating Officer.
The
Mancala
Miner
19a Hampshire Road
Glen Waverley VIC 3150
Please email all photos and contributions to [email protected].
This newsletter is intended for Mancala staff and remains the property of Mancala Pty Ltd at all times.
For further information please contact Tina Boon on 03 6334 7034