Gold mining and exploration company Harmony Gold reported a 4% improvement in its lost time injury frequency rate (per million hours) to 6.16 in the nine months ended March 31, this year, compared with 6.43 for the nine months ended March 31, 2018.

This is according to an operational update released on May 2.

Unfortunately, on May 30, Mining Weekly reported the death of a Harmony employee owing to an engineering-related accident at the company’s Nyala hoisting shaft, near its Phakisa operation, in the Free State, on May 29.

At the time, the company noted that an investigation into the accident was under way.

“We are extremely saddened by the fatality at one of our operations,” said Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp.

Production Results

Total gold production for the period under review increased by 29% to 33 673 kg, or 1.08-million ounces, with underground recovered grade 6% higher compared with the nine months to March 2018.

This is owing to the acquisition of Moab Khotsong, in South Africa, from gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, effective March 1, 2018, and build-up in production from Papua New Guinea-based Hidden Valley, which reached commercial levels of production in June 2018.

Seasonally, the March quarter performance of Harmony’s South African operations was influenced by slower production startup after the December holiday period and saw Stage 4 load-shedding implemented by State-owned power utility Eskom at the end of the quarter.

This disruption in power supply mainly impacted on production from surface operations, while ore milling and hoisting scheduling arrangements implemented to reduce electricity consumption impacted on the continuity of ore processing.

During the quarter, management’s focus at Tshepong, in the Free State, about 250 km from Johannesburg, saw an improvement in flexibility (face length development and availability). Harmony notes that flexibility and mining discipline continue to be a key focus in delivering improved operational performance.

At Moab Khotsong, near the towns of Orkney and Klerksdorp, about 180 km south-west of Johannesburg, lower recovered grade performance is noted for the quarter, owing to an increase in higher grade tonnes locked up underground. “Mining crews and plans have been implemented to address the lock-up tonnes which will be processed in the June quarter this year,” says Harmony.

At its openpit Hidden Valley gold and silver mine, in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe province, a planned materials handling and processing facility maintenance shutdown was successfully conducted, with Harmony on track to deliver on its yearly production guidance.