On July 1, Zambia time, good news came from the production system of NFC Africa Mining PLC, the southeast ore body completed the task of meeting the production and standard issued by China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd., the production of the main and west ore bodies was stable, the recovery rate of the quarry, depletion rate and other indicators reached the world class, the Company completed the task for the first half of the year, with the best operating results in the history of the same period, and the objectives for the "14th Five-Year" were initially achieved.
Major leaders took the lead in solving problems on site
At the beginning of 2021, the biggest problem faced by NFC Africa Mining PLC was the extreme shortage of personnel on site due to the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, "those who went home on holiday could not return and those who should have gone on holiday could not go back", representatives of many equipment manufacturers could not come to the site to participate in the commissioning of equipment, while the supply of materials was difficult and the price of bulk materials increased. The newly built southeast ore body system also faced difficulties in production organization coordination and integration between production control sub-systems. "There are always more solutions than difficulties", the Company's leadership team issued a "mobilization order", calling on "70% of the site staff to play a 100% role", fully mobilizing and relying closely on all employees. They were of one heart and one mind, followed and implemented their established objectives with dedication, made a pledge and set up a supervision system for key management items to ensure the southeast ore body to reach the target, the administration departments improved their management and served employees at the production line to ensure the realization of production targets. Faced with the ideological fluctuations brought about by the epidemic to the Zambian employees, the main leader personally took on the role of "a combatant" and led shifts at the production line every day, while all members of the leadership team and key personnel went to the production line to overcome difficulties in production. The Company achieved the goal of "no infection of Chinese staff and no gathering epidemic", and the quality of economic operation reached a new level. In the first half of the year, NFC Africa Mining PLC achieved 101.9% of the production plan for copper in concentrate, achieving the best ever performance for copper in concentrate and net profit.
The Company's on-site enforcement team carried out regular inspections for epidemic prevention & control and safety enforcement in the mine
"Main mine upgrade and capacity compliance" was the "roadblock" that plagued the initial production, some manufacturers' personnel could not come to the site to commission the equipment, NFC Africa Mining PLC organized other manufacturers and relevant professional technical personnel of the Company to form an operation team, repeatedly communicated through the internet, formulated a commissioning plan, and completed the weight and speed upgrade test; the Company also set up an on-site safety enforcement team to carry out daily itinerant on-site supervision and inspection tests, insisting on special safety checks on "roof support", "blasting equipment", "electrical safety", and "mechanical and electrical equipment", resolutely implemented "the same rules and management" for outsourcing units, and all outsourcing units were fully equipped with professional safety management personnel against the occurrence of "three violations". In the face of the large number of simultaneous operating panels and complex systems in the southeast ore body, the production control center of the ore body focused on summarizing experience and rules, prepared reasonable production plans according to the production capacity of each unit, and strictly assessed them to ensure a balance of mining and exploration, mining and backfilling while steadily increasing the production capacity, so as to ensure sustainable production; in April and May 2021, the southeast ore body achieved the production and cost targets for two consecutive months, and there were no safety, environmental protection, quality accidents or other major risk incidents, thus completing the target tasks issued by China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. ahead of schedule.
"Stabilizing production, expanding production and revitalizing resource reserves" are the core tasks for the main and west ore bodies in the year. In order to further expand production and improve efficiency, and to ensure the capacity and quality of paste filling, the Company organized and implemented the installation and commissioning of the second set of deep cone thickener; to further exploit the production potential of the new panel area, the Company comprehensively promotes the implementation and application of the "MES" App for production process management. At present, it is possible to query instant information such as BT, CT, M2C, ST equipment handover, operation plan, production execution process, equipment operation operation information, etc. Via the system, which obviously improves the efficiency of production management in the pit and analysis on equipment operation management data. In order to revitalize the stock of resources in the main ore body, the Company has co-ordinated the comprehensive development of the main and west ore bodies, organized and implemented the re-creation of the artificial environment by curtain grouting in response to unfavourable mining conditions such as broken rocks and heavy water, and introduced for the first time the downward layered filling mining process. The research results will be tested in July to summarize the experience for the mining of the remaining resources, and the next step will be to release more than 10 million tonnes of resources through deep resource mining below 878mL in the main ore body, effectively extending the mining life of the main and west ore bodies. In the first half of the year, the main and west orebodies started from "mining method optimization" and vigorously promoted the transformation of the results of digital upgrading and renovation. Through the introduction of advanced technologies such as paste filling, efficient and precise rock drilling and blasting, safe and rapid support, etc., the world-wide problems of difficult mining and poor index of the slowly inclined and broken medium-thick orebodies were solved and the recovery rate of the mining zone reached 75%, and the depletion rate was controlled within 8%, realizing safe, efficient and low-cost mining in large panel areas, long distances and large cross-sections.
"The effort of epidemic prevention and control is not diminished, the pressure of production management is not reduced, and the momentum to overcome difficulties is not loose." The success in the first half of the year has further stimulated the confidence and fighting spirit of all employees of NFC Africa Mining PLC. At present, the production of southeast ore bodies and main and west ore bodies is still maintaining the momentum of stable and increased production.
