Photo: Morupule Colliery underground enterance
MORUPULE: Relaxed, and with a reassuring smile, Robert Mmutle explains the rules observed to go underground. They apply to everyone – Morupule Colliery workers and visitors alike.
On this morning, Mmutle – the Acting General Engineering Supervisor – is taking the Phatsimo team through a short, but thorough orientation because the Managing Editor has given clear instructions that he wants us to go under the belly of the earth and come back to tell it like it is.
“You have to have your underground gear, which includes a pair of overalls, gumboots, eye protection goggles, cap lamp, ear plugs, and rescue pack,” Mmutle explains.
Rescue pack? That jolts. Reality check! Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong will go wrong – rushes through the mind.
Sensing an unsettled mind, Mmutle tells us that the rescue pack is to be used only in an emergency – such as an explosion – that makes the air underground unsafe to breathe. At the touch of a pin, the pack dissembles in seconds to allow a miner underground to breathe into it while arrangements are made for evacuation. It’s mandatory to carry it whenever one goes underground, and it is to be used when an instruction is issued by the team leader.
Nothing is left to chance here. There are routine reminders on how to use the pack. Mmutle says this is meant to avoid exposing workers to avoidable dangers. Incidentally, this is a recent innovation in coal mining. Mmutle points out that when he started working at Morupule Colliery in 1987, there were no rescue packs because at the time the dangers associated with coal dust were not fully defined.
The primary product of Morupule, coal, is associated with gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide – and that’s why the Mine bars anything that can cause flame from ever being taken underground. Matches, lighters, and torch batteries are banned. The only exception is the friction-type lighter used mainly by boilermakers. This is because some machines used underground are so big that they cannot be always brought above- ground for welding. But even then, before the lighter gets down there, a special request must be made to the Department of Mines.
It’s tough on the smokers. If one goes in at 0700 Hours, they have to wait until 1600 Hours, when the shift ends, to have a cigarette. Once the shift starts, no-one comes out – not even for lunch. At 1130 Hours, the underground bakkie delivers food to minimise disruption to the production. This is a continuous operation.
0700 Hours. Everyone is geared for the day’s work, as the shift begins. The Underground Foreman and the Shift Overseer give their crew a brief talk on safety. The process will be repeated a short while later when the team gets underground. They huddle together for a 5 – 10 minutes talk on safety. The Shift Overseer then inspects the mine – looking at the conditions of floors, roof, and side walls. There is constant monitoring of the level of methane to ensure that it is kept at acceptable levels. As every coal miner would vouch, methane is one of the dangers of working in a coal mine. It is said methane has cost more lives in coal mines the world over than roof fall. At Morupule, if it reaches 1.2 percent, production must stop promptly.
“Methane is constantly present, so we have to fight to keep its level low,” says Mmutle. ”To keep those guys down there alive, we need to pump enough air through the fans. The trick is to always ensure that ventilation is up to date. Coal dust is one of the major hazards in an underground environment because it can burn. So we always make sure that the floor is wet by watering it. It’s better to be muddy, than dusty.”
The underground machines have been designed so that their electrical parts are flame-proof. One of the key rules of the engineering personnel around here is to keep the machines flame-proof – always.
Morupule Colliery has three underground shifts – day, afternoon, and night. The day, and afternoon shifts are for production, while the night shift is for maintenance.
Mmutle has seen the Morupule operation evolve over the years. For instance, when he started, the underground teams walked in and out of the mine. As years went by, bicycles were introduced. The bicycles were discontinued in less than a year as a safety consideration because people were falling off. All the mine’s bicycles were sold after an incident involving one miner who attempted to enter the underground tunnel at high speed, but lost balance and the bicycle threw him off. He was in hospital for up to two months. It was back to walking, until a few years later when underground buses were introduced. Today the shift goes to work in a 36-seater bus.
The system has been perfected further. There are now underground bakkies. Since the bakkies are not flame-proof, they cannot go beyond 200 metres from a working phase, while the buses are allowed to go up to 160 metres, but cannot exceed that because the diesel they run on is flammable.
1121 Hours. The Phatsimo team is attired in the underground gear. Cellphones, cameras, cigarette lighters have all been stored in Mmutle’s office.
1140 Hours. We sign the Daily Record Sheet, which everyone who goes through here does.
With Moemedi William, the Underground Electrical Foreman, as our driver and guide we begin the gradual slope. At the entrance, an information board tells that the mine was sunk in 1973, and the depth is 45.7 metres. He points out two extractor fans that remove air from the mine. It feels awkwardly cold down here.
William leads us to the Refuge Bay. In case of an accident, this is where the entire team is supposed to assemble and wait for assistance from outside. A pipe borrowed through the earth leads to the surface, and it is through this orifice that trapped miners are lifted outside.
Someone flags their cap lamp up and down. William stops for him, explaining that such is the medium of communication underground. After some pleasantries and a hearty laugh, they agree to catch up later above-ground. The production line is fairly simple. A machine known as the Continuous Miner scrapes the coal from the mining face. It then cuts and loads it into a 20-tonne shuttle car that is electronically operated. The car drives around the bend to a stationery machine – the Feeder-breaker. Primary crushing takes place here. The Feeder-breaker has a pair of chains that pulls the coal to the crusher proper – the Breaker-drum. As coal is crushed, it is deposited into a conveyor belt which is in front of the Feeder-breaker. The second belt feeds into the Surge Bin. Underneath the Bin is the T11 belt, which is the longest, that feeds into the T10 belt. The last belt transports coal to the plant for crashing and screening.
The coal is crashed and screened to different sizes ranging from -16 mm to 110mm, and nothing is discarded. Everything that comes through these four belts goes to the market. Since it is sold raw, no treatment takes place.
Introduced in 2004, the Continuous Miner has completely phased out the conventional way of mining that entailed drilling, blasting and cutting. The machine is faster, which ensures more output, and it can go to any height. Its operator is out of danger since it is remotely controlled.
William introduces us to one of the youngest members of the shift – and a female for that matter! Twenty-two year old Keneilwe Orapeleng is a Learner Official (Mining). An employee of Morupule Colliery since August, she completed a Diploma in Mining at University of Botswana in May.
1325 Hours. We are back at the lamp-room office, and sign the Daily Record Sheet. We hand back the rescue packs, without having had to press that magic pin. What relief!
As we confess our jittery down there, William laughs that there was no need for butterflies. Morupule Colliery is one of the safest coal mines in the world, he says.
