BLG Mining · Operations
Every stage, in our own hands.
From the first blast hole to the last tonne on the weighbridge, the whole chain runs in-house. No contractors between us and the orebody, and no one else to blame when a number moves.
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Overview
An operator, not a contractor.
The drill rigs, the explosives licences, the excavators and dump trucks, the surveyors, the geologists and the metallurgists all sit inside BLG Mining, which means a decision taken in the morning is on the bench by the afternoon.
That integration is also what makes the numbers defensible. The people who model the resource are the people who grade-control it, mine it and reconcile it against the plant. Nothing is handed over a fence, so nothing gets lost over one.
The same discipline runs through the paperwork. Monthly volumetric surveys carry the payment certificates, plant reconciliation closes the loop on the resource model, and one management line answers for tonnes, grade and safety alike.
Mining
Opencast and underground.
Opencast
Truck-and-shovel and strip mining across both operations, from box cut through to concurrent rehabilitation behind the advancing face.
Underground
Development and production supported by experienced shift crews and modern equipment, at 150 m/month per crew.
Drilling & Blasting
Full in-house drill and blast: ANFO, emulsion and electronic detonation, designed to the fragmentation the plant actually wants.
Loading & Hauling
A GPS-dispatched fleet run on match-factor optimisation, operated by our own trained crews.
Technical
The numbers have to survive scrutiny.
Geology & Resources
JORC and SAMREC compliant resource definition with Competent Person reports, Leapfrog Geo and Datamine modelling, RC grade-control drilling on a 50 m × 50 m pattern, and full QAQC protocols.
Surveying
Thirty years of opencast and underground survey experience, UAV drone mapping and monthly volumetric surveys that carry the payment certificates.
Mine Planning
Mine design through Surpac, Minesched and Whittle pit optimisation, so the schedule the plant is fed against is the schedule we mine to.
Metallurgy & Processing
Copper leach and coal washability handled by in-house metallurgy across both commodities, from bench-scale testwork to plant reconciliation.
Processing
We finish what we mine.
Both operations process on site. At Kamanjab, ROM copper is crushed and taken through agitated leach and electrowinning to cathode, holding 85% recovery in circuit. At Vryheid, anthracite is crushed, screened and washed through dense-media separation to a saleable product at 65% yield.
Processing in-house means the mine plan and the plant are tuned to each other. Fragmentation, blend and feed rate are decisions we make once, across the whole chain, rather than negotiating them across a contract boundary.
It also means nothing leaves either site as raw material. Kamanjab ships copper cathode; Vryheid ships washed anthracite. The value added by processing stays inside the operation that mined it.
Equipment
The fleet behind the mines.
Loading and hauling runs on DEVELON and Doosan excavators and articulated dump trucks, managed through BLG Machinery, the Group’s heavy equipment division. When a machine stops, the workshop that fixes it and the dispatcher who reroutes around it work for the same company, so utilisation stays up and unit cost stays explainable.
Speak with BLG Mining.
Project partnerships, offtake, operational opportunities, safety and compliance work across sub-Saharan Africa, or the USA expansion: tell us what you are looking at and we’ll come back to you within one business day.