IMPALA 16 SHAFT

April 2011

Wade Walker Secures Surface Electrical Works Contract at Implats No.16 Shaft

Wade Walker has been awarded a significant contract to complete the surface electrical works for Impala Platinum’s No 16 Shaft project situated on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex.

The sinking on the No 16 Shaft Project has been substantially completed and the project is now in the permanent infrastructural equipping and construction phase, explains Wade Walkers’ construction manager Michael Hanna.

Whilst the shaft barrel is almost complete and the underground works is in the construction phase the surface works, including finishing of the headgear and infrastructure, still have to be completed.

The scope of Wade Walker’s contract includes all lighting and small power installations for the main offices, workshops, lamp room and crush, headgear and other infrastructure related buildings.

Hanna elaborates that the year long contract was awarded in December 2010 and is expected to be completed in January 2012.

“The contract has been spread across 52 weeks owing to the fact that access to each site is limited. This will pose a challenge to productivity as it means that potentially there will be periods when our team will have very limited work. However with tight supervision, a lean on-site team and good communication between ourselves and the EPCM, we will be able to keep the workforce busy on other aspects of the project,” Hanna continues.

“Although we have a small team on site and we tendered competitively against locally based contractors, we did not compromise neither our client’s nor our own safety values by trimming site safety complements or standards. It is imperative to Wade Walker, as the appointed contractor, not to have a single injury, and at the end of the day to actually improve our client’s safety statistics.”

Although Wade Walker has completed a number of contracts for Impala Platinum in the past, this is the first project that Wade Walker is undertaking for Impala under project management and design service specialist Read, Swatman and Voigt (RSV). RSV was appointed the EPCM contractor for the implementation phase of the No 16 Shaft project in 2004.

Wade Walker prides itself on building open and honest relationships with its clients and Hanna states that this project is an excellent opportunity to build a rapport with RSV. “There is a strong expectation that we will complete the project injury free and be able to successfully manage within the contract budget, which is quite tight, in order to maintain a good relationship with RSV.”

Wade Walker has a long standing reputation for engaging closely with clients thanks to its own people-centric policies which place a high value on its workforce.

Relatively small teams facilitate working together enhancing levels of caring and personal interaction which, without doubt, contributes to safe outcomes, higher productivity, less rework and successful projects. Wade Walker is known for its integrity, transparency, flexibility and strong work ethic.

While the contract is due to be completed in January 2012, Hanna believes that there is potential to secure additional contracts in the future.