50 years in mining: The Legend of 'Jan King' Part III

In part three, Jan King takes us through the evolution of mining technologies and best practices whilst also touching on how can gold mining companies harness the process of extraction to meet the planned recovery rate and reach their mine call factor (MCF).

Digging Deep: Mining technologies and best practices have evolved over your illustrious career. Is there a scope to further improve extractive methodologies towards more environmentally friendly practices? What would be the cost-benefits of such methodologies?

Jan King: Although technology has a life of its own, and keeps on reinventing itself, the mining industry remains a dinosaur, and change seldom takes place without external force. There will always be the naysayers who will provide you with hundreds of reasons why something will NOT work. The real pioneers are very rare. I think the biggest obstacle in the mining industry is the size. In South Africa for instance are two institutions where you can study mining. This means that everyone is taught the same things from a common curriculum. The recipients of degrees used to have an accelerated process to the top, which means that very little hands-on experience is gained.?

Before the first strike action in 1987, Anglo had a very different approach to training and selling itself as a preferred employer. You were almost indoctrinated into believing in them being the best employer. I suppose the same happened at the other mines. I did not travel between employers, but in my contracting days, I picked up the difference in culture in different mining companies. The first people who were retrenched after the 1987 strikes, were the old-timers who trained new employees returning from leave, this together with the outcomes-based education system changed the dynamics of training. Rockdrill operators became skilled through attending training, writing tests, and not through practical hands-on operational skills. The quality of drilling declined rapidly.

A cost-benefit can only be derived if a reduction in cost can be accomplished. This is where the biggest problem lies. The implementation of technology usually requires changes in standards and layouts. Because of the lack of firsthand knowledge, the decision-makers find it difficult to contemplate and visualize these required changes. The introduction of software packages that could not really represent the layouts previously done by using a pencil, ruler, and protractor complicated the issue. Nowadays, it is possible to study layouts from all the available angles, but if you do not understand the practical dynamics, it is all in vain.

?I do believe that the Research and Development work done for undersea and space mining could yield some interesting results which could make a difference. AI and robots could become the miners of the future. I just do not know how you will teach a robot to roll through a couple of faults intersecting your working place. I can just imagine how those robots sit there looking for the orebody, contemplating whether it is above or below. Beedy, beedy, beedy. The LKAB operation was controlled remotely at the time of my visit and most probably a lot improved since then. It could be worthwhile doing a follow-up visit.

Digging Deep: Going Back to Basics means that you need to know the basics! How can gold mining companies harness the process of extraction to meet the planned recovery rate and reach their mine call factor (MCF)?

Jan King: I don’t go around digging into the financial reports of mining companies unless I have some purpose to do that. I followed the development of Ivanhoe’s Kamua-Kakula mine in the DRC with some interest. I found it interesting that they could build a huge mine going right through covid and in a supposedly poor investment destination ahead of schedule. (Three months to be exact). To achieve this, prove a lot of in-depth detailed planning and scheduling. But despite this, they still had to go through a process of debottlenecking their processing operation. So, they are not perfect.

With this as a background statement, I looked at the financial reports of two mines that went bankrupt at the same time. Covid hit the final nail in their respective coffins. The thing that struck me was that in the case of the one mine (Copper), they had over $80 million worth of Cobalt stuck in their process. This was reported every quarter and it grew. Granted they were focused on copper as their main commodity. The mine used heap leach to extract the copper.

Now if a simple equation tells you that you need 5000 tons of copper per quarter to make a profit, why is it acceptable to make a public announcement that there is only 3000 tons of copper contained in the ore spread on your leach pad? Obviously, it was not stated like that. It was a long sentence stating the tons, the grade, the acid-soluble grade, and the recovery rate you had to find inside the report. Tons multiplied by ASCu multiplied by the planned recovery percentage gives you planned tons of Copper. If the answer is 3000 and you need 5000 why did nobody pick it up? This went on for three years and the penny did not drop. The top financiers even put their own representatives on the board.

Then there was a gold mine. Same story, 80 Koz on the heap leach pads. Planned recovery is 89%, and the actual average for three years is 75%. In this case, the guys saved themselves from bankruptcy. A brand new plant and to save on cost the scrubber and later the tertiary crusher was removed from the circuit. Who made the suggestion, how was it justified and why did nobody realize it was a silly idea? If you heap leach, you need to control your particle size according to the specification. The acid must reach all the surface area available. Well, as they say, the rest is history, the mine has a new owner, the shareholders got a stipend and hopefully the creditors will not lose too much.

Lookout for Part IV of 50 Years in Mining: The Legend of 'Jan King' as we conclude our 4-part series in conversation with the veteran miner and entrepreneur.

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