Namibia

Contruction of diaphragm wall to support the open-pit mining access in Namdeb´s Bogenfels diamond mine.

The Namdeb´s Bogenfels Mine 1 is located 180 km noth of the town of Oranjemund in southern Namibia in the "Sperrgebiet" along the Atlantic coast. The ground features marine terraces with permeable geological formations, therefore work conditions and open-pit mining operations below sea water level are affected by incoming seawater. BAUER Technologies South Africa, through it´s wholly owned subsidiary, MBS Namibia, was contracted to build a 4 km long Diaphragm Wall with Hydraulic grab units type GB 60 and GB 50 with a crew of 12 employees constructing the underground barrier in a two shift operation.
Apart from excavating the diaphragm wall, the Hydraulic Grab is also used to gain 1.2 x 2.8 m bulk samples. These are taken at depths up to 20 m. The samples are used to evaluate the distribution, size und quality of diamonds in the ground for mining studies.

Bulk sampling at the Namdeb´s MA1 Mine

MBS Namibia is further involved with Namdeb by taking bulk samples for production control in Mining Area 1 near Oranjemund. Sampling Operation is done with a BG 36 Kelly drilling rig and a drill team of 10 employees for bulk sampling, with a drilling diameter of 2.5 meters, at depths up to 25 meters.