Volume 8, Issue 02

February 2012

AND THE RAIN CAME…AND THE RAIN CAME…AND THE RAIN CAME…AND THE RAIN CAME…

CRUSH!CRUSH!CRUSH!CRUSH!

Following heavy rains that fell

from 10-11 January, significant

flooding was experienced across

the province and scenes of

devastation were witnessed from

Hoedspruit into Mpumalanga.

The areas around Phalaborwa

experienced localised flooding,

caused largely by the swelling of the Salati

and Olifants rivers. Both Palabora Mining

Company and Foskor mines experienced

flooding and production on all LA Crush-

ers’ sites was halted.

At our south pit Mining site in Foskor the

loading area was under some 3 metres of

water. Access roads were impassable. At

LAC’s PMC Magnetite site the East load

out platform and stockpiles were saturated

and machines could not enter the area. At

the bottom of the Lo-Ti and Hi-Ti ramps

material had built up to a height of 1.5 me-

tres. Dozens of roads were washed away

by the torrential and sustained rainfalls.

Damage to the PMC Magnetite site

Above & below: Foskor Mining Site

Right: Salati River

Below: PMC

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LOST TIME INJURY-FREE HOURS

LAC has recorded 797,819 lost-time injury-free hours to 15 January

2012. By maintaining alert and responsible behaviour at all times

this tally can soon reach the one million LTI-free hours target.

WELCOME! To the following employees

who have recently joined LAC:

CN Chawane JL Vorster

SC Thobela NW Leukes

KP Magopane D Mongwe

MM Mashile PM Makgola

KT Sedibe T Mkhari

JP van der Westhuizen

WF van Loggerenberg

LAC ENSURES RAPID SITE RE-ESTABLISHMENT

Once the flood waters had receded and conditions had regularised sufficiently to allow safe operation of the

machinery, LAC sites swung into action re-building roads, safety berms and ramps so that production could

re-start with the minimum possible delay.

The roads and ramps at LAC’s Magnetite site were particu-

larly badly affected, with some wash-aways in the ramp road

surface reaching 2 metres deep. Repairs were slowed

because the material had to be brought in from the back of

Hi-Ti and trucks had to

reverse down ramps to tip

and fill the washed-away

areas alongside the

berms. In addition, a few

thousand tons of material

had accumulated at the

base of the ramps and

needed to be removed.

The first area to be

repaired was the truck

loading station and

Magnetite trucks running

through Bushbuckridge to

Maputo re-started by the

afternoon of Saturday 14 January.

SUGGESTION BOX SCHEME

Don’t forget that there are cash

prizes for useful suggestions. Jot

down your thoughts and place them

in the boxes on site to win!

Page 3 CRUSH!CRUSH!CRUSH!CRUSH!

KT Sedibe T Mkhari

Operations Director’s Trophy This trophy is awarded to the employee who demonstrates

individual outstanding achievement throughout the period.

For this quarter the trophy was awarded to

David Mahomane, Safety Officer at Magnetite.

David joined LA Crushers as a Mobile Crusher Assistant in

2002. It was apparent that David had the drive and commit-

ment to excel and he was promoted to Spotter, where his leader-

ship skills and aptitude for safety were recognised. He became

a trainee Safety Officer and has recently passed his SAMTRAC

courses and assumed the full range of Safety Officer duties.

David’s drive and skill set, his use of initiative and common-

sense and his diligence and commitment to the company made

him a clear winner of the Operations Director’s trophy for this

quarter. We wish David well as he continues on his career path

and urge others to

follow David’s example

of producing excellent

work each and every

day. Employees of this

calibre will be recog-

nised and a varied and

satisfying career lies

ahead for them.

Congratulations David

on a job well done!

Managing Director’s Trophy This trophy is awarded to the

department which is judged to have

given the best over-all performance

in the previous quarter.

For the period October to December

2011, the Managing Director was

pleased to award the trophy to Foskor

Materials Handling. FMH achieved a

record turnover in December 2011 and

continued to prove their versatility and

flexibility by being prepared to cheer-

fully and productively assist other

sites at incredibly short notice. Their

adherence and commitment to safety

standards is excellent. We congratu-

late all members of FMH on their sus-

tained hard work and positive attitude

and commend them on a job consis-

tently well done.

CERTIFICATES OF ACHIEVEMENT

Congratulations to the following employees who have been

awarded certificates of achievement for outstanding

performance:

Thomas Mnisi (Civils) John Khoza (Workshop)

Solly Malatsi (Civils) Rox Mongwe (Civils)

Sus Visser (Finance) Maurice Mahlaule (BP)

Sophy Moiana (HR) Ina van Zyl (HR)

Leptious Matshaba (Workshop)

Lourence Mathebula (Magnetite)

Linette Sauer (Finance)

Thompson Baloyi (Mining)

Landy Shikwambana (BP)

Phineas Kgatla (Procurement)

Johannes (Workshop)

Sidwell Mathebula (PMC MH)

Above: FMH Manager Dave Millar being

presented with the MD’s trophy by

Divisional Manager Wikus Erasmus

LONG SERVICE AWARDS

Congratulations and thank you to the

following employees for their loyal

service to LAC:

5 years

Thomas Dzava (Mining)

Robert Raofa (Mining)

Bethuel Sekgobela (Mining)

Smily Ndzuna (FMH)

Sus Visser (Finance, HO)

10 years

Andre du

Plessis (Workshop,

pictured )

Above: David Mahomane was presented with his trophy by Finance

and Administration Manager Liesl Nienaber

CONGRATULATIONS!

� to James Mabaso, on the birth of

his beautiful daughter; and

� to Abram and Constance Mathebula

on the birth of

their daughter

Bokamoso,

pictured here,

who was born at

08:30 on 23

January, weigh-

ing 3.4 kg. What

a beautiful baby!

Page 4 CRUSH!CRUSH!CRUSH!CRUSH!

IN SYMPATHY:

On behalf of all at LAC, we would like

to extend the company’s condolences

to the following employees who have

lost family members:

♦ Rolly Mashale, whose baby daugh-

ter tragically passed away at birth;

♦ Smaky Malatji, whose grandmother

passed away.

“A journey of a

thousand miles

starts with a

single step”

Mao Tse Tung

We welcome newsletter contributions from staff members on any matter of interest to those in LAC. Please let us have your ideas, or drop them in the suggestion boxes at sites. Let’s hear from you! Contributions should be sent to: Alyson Claire Erasmus, Ext 5332,

alysonc@lacrushers.co.za

FORGOT VALENTINE’S DAY…….? Chances are

you’ll be in (big) trouble. Here’s a quick fix - donate to

a charity in your loved one’s name. If they’re the kind of

person who cares for others then they will certainly

appreciate the thought. More importantly, you will both

genuinely be helping someone less fortunate - and that is

an unbeatably meaningful Valentine’s gift.

LAC JOINS HOEDSPRUIT RELIEF EFFORT

As those of us based here know, the Hoedspruit area was devas-

tated by the rains in mid January. The municipality struggled to

provide water and well into February the water from the taps in

Hoedspruit was brown and muddy with frequent complete stop-

pages. LA Crushers decided to intervene when the water was

again cut off completely on 07 February and the water tanks

placed at various locations around Hoedspruit were threatening

to run dry. LAC

loaded a 10,000

litre water tank

full of drinking

water and made

the trip through to

Hoedspruit, led by

Corporate Strategy

Director Mampiti

Matsabu. Mampiti

over-saw the filling

of water tanks at

the Pick ‘n’ Pay

Centre, Spar, the

police station and

the taxi rank. She

also met with the

Red Cross and

Acting Municipal

Manager to discuss

the crisis.