In Mongolia, a country of very limited underground

Oyu Tolgoi
Deep in the Gobi Desert,
gers in the original
construction camp
I
n Mongolia, a country of very limited
underground mining, until now, it is
remarkable to be 1,300 m below the surface
of the Gobi Desert and witness the work going
on to develop what will be one of the world’s
great block cave operations. The Oyu Tolgoi
(OT) story is both fascinating and full of
technological achievements, with many more
of those to come. When it moves into full
production, it will be one of the world's top
three copper-gold mines.
Under the Investment Agreement with the
Government of Mongolia, OT will extract a
maximum of 86 Mt/y, and a minimum of 26
Mt/y of ore. In the next 65 years it will extract
2,801 Mt of material from the open pit and
2,170 Mt from underground. There will be a
five-year ramp up to full expected annual
production of 450,000 t of copper and
330,000 oz of gold.
Construction of the copper-gold
concentrator is underway and the project is
ahead of schedule. Production of the first
concentrate is now expected in late 2012, with
a build up to the start of commercial
production in 2013. Over its currently planned
life, it will produce a total of 78 Mt of
concentrate containing of 22.7 Mt of copper,
26 Moz of gold, 170 Mt of silver and 58,566 t
of molybdenum. OT will begin operating at 35
Mt/y for the five-years (Phase I).
From the sixth year (Phase II), it will be able
to haul concentrate by rail to market and will
expand the concentrator’s production capacity
to 58 Mt/y of ore. Lying just 80 km north of
the Chinese border, and with another great
industrial powerhouse, Russia, to the north, its
products should be in strong demand.
On December 13, Ivanhoe Mines announced
the approval of a $2.3 billion budget for 2011,
which is to be the peak year of activity on the
first phase of construction. Construction then
was already 13% complete toward initial
production in 2012. The work just approved
includes measures to facilitate a future 60%
expansion of production capacity to up to
160,000 t/d from the initial 100,000 t/d.
John Macken, Ivanhoe Mines President said:
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
John Chadwick visited a developing
copper/gold complex in the South Gobi
Desert that includes one of the most
advanced underground mines in the world.
In this is the first of a two-part article he
examines the peak construction year – 2011
“Our ramp-up to full-scale construction during
2010 was so successful that we now are
targeting to deliver the first ore to the
concentrator up to six months earlier than
previously projected. OyuTolgoi should be
making its first sales of copper and gold in
concentrate produced from ore from the
Southern Oyu open pit during the fourth
quarter of 2012.
“Outstanding work by our project team,
which currently includes 3,000 Mongolian men
and women, means that the accelerated
development program will generate earlier
revenues, while we also are maintaining the
pace of development of the future
underground block-cave mine at the copper-
rich Hugo Dummett deposit.”
Principal elements of the 2011 construction
program include:
■ $561 million for the concentrator, which will
see complete enclosure of the building,
completion of steel work for the overland
ore conveyor, installation of one of four ball
mills and installation of all material-handling
equipment in the pebble crusher
■ $186 million to purchase the initial mining
fleet of trucks, shovels and ancillary
equipment, and to start pre-stripping of the
Southern Oyu open pit
■ $713 million for project infrastructure and
electrical power, including completion of the
central substation, completion of the
process-water supply, completion of the
truck maintenance workshop and phases
one and two of the operations camp
■ $211 million for ongoing underground mine
development at Hugo North, construction of
the headframe on Shaft #2 and further
sinking of Shaft #2, which are critical to
development of the block-cave mine
planned to begin production in 2015.
Bloomberg recently reported Sumitomo won
a $132 million order for “trucks, six large
Komatsu bulldozers and other mining
machines.” The order includes 27 930E-SE
trucks from the Peoria factory. This electricdrive truck is powered by the Komatsu
SSDA18V170 diesel engine developing gross
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
waste – a 12% increase over an earlier plan.
Pre-stripping of the open-pit mine will begin in
2011 to ensure that planned production levels
can be achieved.
Initial throughput will be 100,000 t/d of ore
mined in the Southern Oyu open pit to provide
feed for the commissioning of the
concentrator. Next there will be an 85,000 t/d
underground block-cave mine at Hugo North,
with initial production expected to begin in
2015. Underground mine development is
already stockpiling development ore on
surface. The throughput capacity of the
concentrator plant is expected to be expanded
when the underground mine begins
production.
A vast resource
power of 2,611 kW @ 1,900 rpm. The
standard body holds 171 m3 struck and 211
m3 (2:1 heap) – maximum gross vehicle
weight, 505.8 t.
Total capital required for phase one from
January 1, 2011, to the start of commissioning
of the ore processing plant, which is planned
for the second half of 2012, is projected to be
$3.5 billion. This includes approximately $2.9
billion to complete construction of the
Southern Oyu open pit, processing plant and
essential infrastructure, including electricity,
water, roads, a paved airport runway and
Mongolian-designed passenger terminal; it also
includes taxes and continued underground
development of the phase-two Hugo North
mine.
The commissioning will be followed later in
2012 by initial phase-one production, and then
commercial production is expected during the
first half of 2013. Capital required from
January 1, 2011, through to completion of
phase-one is expected to total some $4.5
billion. This estimate makes no allowance for
potential revenues from the sale of coppergold concentrate produced from the milling of
a projected 9 Mt of stockpiled ore in the
weeks of initial production in 2012.
One key is the ongoing construction of the
31-storey-high Shaft #2 headframe and sinking
of the 10-m diameter, concrete-lined shaft (IM,
January 2011). Shaft #2 is the first production
shaft and the key personnel and materials
shaft for the Hugo North block-cave mine,
which is the biggest value driver for the OT
project. Phase-one capital costs also cover the
underground lateral development program,
geotechnical program and mine planning and
expansion studies through to mid-2012. Final
design of the underground mine is set for
68 International Mining APRIL 2011
2012, when decisions will be made about its
optimum production rates. Capital spending to
the end of 2010 will have included $337
million spent on underground-mine
development off Shaft #1.
Macken said that the engineering and
construction stages will accommodate a major
increase in ore processing capacity in the
future while minimising potential disruption to
operations that will be underway at the time.
“Wherever possible, we have taken the
opportunity to allow for expansion with
minimal impact on operations. Our plans call
for initial production of 100,000 t/d of ore and
we expect to move to between 150,000 and
160,000 t/d when ore from underground
becomes available. To facilitate this expansion,
we are building a third reclaim tunnel that will
increase the capacity to feed ore to the
concentrator by 50% to 60% over our initial
rate of production. To cater to future increased
production, we have installed a pipeline that,
with minor modifications, can supply water for
processing up to 160,000 t/d. We’ve allowed
for expansion in the
concentrator by adding space in
the flotation area and installing
other equipment to handle
higher production. We also
have on-going studies
examining options to process
additional underground ore and
stockpiled open-pit ore.”
In another development, the
Oyu Tolgoi Technical Committee
has decided to increase the
capacity of the mining fleet’s
trucks, opting for 290-t units
that will help to move an
estimated 112 Mt/y of ore and
The Investment Agreement created a
partnership between the Mongolian
Government – which will acquire a 34%
interest in the project – and Ivanhoe Mines,
which will retain a controlling 66% interest in
Oyu Tolgoi LLC. Rio Tinto joined Ivanhoe Mines
as a strategic partner three years prior to the
signing of the agreement.
In December last year Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe
signed a new agreement under which Rio
Tinto has assumed direct management of the
project and will provide a comprehensive
financial package to Ivanhoe that is expected
to help secure the development of the project
approximately six months ahead of schedule in
late 2012. Rio Tinto will provide the project
with a comprehensive financing package,
including a $1.8 billion interim loan facility,
whilst Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe work together to
complete project financing; exercising Rio
Tinto’s remaining warrants for common shares
in Ivanhoe and participating fully in Ivanhoe’s
$1.2 billion rights offering. Rio will secure its
right to increase its ownership in Ivanhoe
Mines to 49% through acquiring a total of 20
million shares at current market prices.
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
At the time of the agreement signing, Bret
Clayton, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto's Copper
and Diamonds group, confirmed that OT is
consistent with Rio Tinto's strategy of investing
in large, long life, low cost orebodies. "While
the size and grade of the existing Oyu Tolgoi
ore reserves and mineral resources are already
world class, we are also excited by significant
exploration upside that still remains," he said.
"We plan to be a partner here in Mongolia for
decades to come."
Decades for sure: the Ivanhoe Mines licence
has a strike length of 12.4 km, as the diagram
shows. North and south of the Ivanhoe licence
is the Ivanhoe-Entrée licence, including most of
the Heruga deposit, and then there is the
anticipated mineralised zone between the
developing open pit and Heruga, which is
subject to ongoing exploration. At current
resources, Heruga alone contains over 9,000
Mlb of copper and over 14 Moz of gold. It is a
worldclass, gold-rich copper porphyry deposit
with elevated molybdenum content. Oyu
Tolgoi LLC holds (as a participant) an 80%
interest in the Entrée-Ivanhoe Joint Venture.
Currently planning assumes processing of
1,400 Mt of ore over a 27 year period, mined
NORMET
APRIL 2011 International Mining 69
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
infrastructure to China is being upgraded and
an additional rail line is planned.
The property ranges in elevation from 1,140
m to 1,215 m above sea level and has a
relatively flat undulating topography with less
than 50 m of relief. It is located on a desert
steppe with desert vegetation and consists of
gravel covered plains, with low hills along its
northern and eastern borders. Ephemeral
streams are present which cross the area and
flow for a few short periods in an average
summer. Temperatures at Oyu Tolgoi range
from ~ 36°C to ~ -25°C. Total precipitation is
~ 100 mm per year and for the most part falls
as rain in late spring and summer.
Bret Clayton, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto's Copper
and Diamonds group: “We are excited by significant
exploration upside that still remains.” Major drilling is
doing a lot of work
from the Southern Oyu open pit and the first
lift in the Hugo North underground block cave.
In its technical report of June 2010 (IDP10)
AmecMinproc notes the Life of Mine
(Sensitivity) Case extends the mine inventory to
include inferred material and assumes
processing of 3,010 Mt over 60 years. In this
case, resources from the planned second lift in
Hugo North, Hugo South and the Heruga
deposit are added to the mining inventory.
These are not just vast tonnages, they are
reasonable grades also. Just referring to the
Hugo North sections, the first block cave will
be of +2% copper equivalent (CuEq) ore. And
deeper, the Hugo North Gold Zone is +3% CuEq.
In total, the Southern Oyu Measured +
Indicated resources amount to 567.23 Mt at
0.62% Cu and 0.55 g/t Au(0.97% CuEq), with
a further 88.5 Mt Inferred at 0.73% CuEq.
Ivanhoe’s Hugo North Indicated resource totals
703.2 Mt at 2.07% CuEq with 722.8 Mt at
1.17% CuEq Inferred. Then
there is the Indicated
ShiveeTolgoi (the JV with
Entrée Gold) resource of 117
Mt at 2.19% CuEq and 95.5
Mt at 1.35% CuEq Inferred.
Bringing in Hugo South and
Heruga, the total Oyu Tolgoi
Measured + Indicated
resource is 1,387.43 Mt at
1.33% Cu and 0.47 g/t
Au(1.63% CuEq)with
another 2,367.13 Mt at
0.78% Cu and 0.33 g/t Au
(1.02% CuEq).
Five deposits have been
identified in OyuTolgoi’s
mineral resource –
70 International Mining APRIL 2011
Southwest and Central, Hugo South, Hugo
North and Heruga. Southwest and Central
comprise the Southern Oyu deposit and Hugo
South and Hugo North comprise the Hugo
Dummett deposit. For mine planning purposes,
the nine open pit stages at Southern Oyu and
one block cave at Hugo North have been
identified for the mineral reserve. In addition to
these, long term mine planning has identified
potential for another block cave lift at Hugo
North, open pit or block caving at Hugo South
and two block caving scenarios at Heruga.
Mine planning work undertaken to date
suggests the following relative ranking for
overall return from each deposit, from highest
value to lowest:
■ Hugo North
■ Southwest
■ Central
■ Hugo South or Heruga.
The OT complex at Omnogovi Aimag lies
some 570 km south of the capital city of
Ulaanbaatar. Access from Ulaanbaatar is
possible by an unpaved road, via Mandalgovi,
or by air. A 2,000 m long gravel airstrip was
constructed at the site and is well used. Road
Leading Mongolia
underground
Going underground at Shaft #1 you are in an
extremely modern underground mine. As
noted in the shafts article in the January issue,
Andre Zeelie, OT’s Deputy Director of Mining,
believes Mongolia will become a world leader
in underground mining. Certainly both Shafts
#1 and #2 are impressive and innovative
developments, as noted in that article.
Redpath is the shaft sinking contractor on
site and is the principal mining and
construction contractor. Redpath undertakes a
lot of this sort of work at Freeport Indonesia
(IM, January 2010, pp12-24 and February
2010, pp10-18) and Damian Rogers, OT’s
General Manager Underground, explains that
there are a lot of Freeport veterans in the
Redpath team in Mongolia, “leveraging that
experience.”
OT is a leader both globally and nationally.
Mongolia has little underground mining and
while regulations and standards do exist, they
need bringing up to date. So, OT is leading the
Mongolian mining industry underground and
helping establish worldclass standards. Rogers
explains that there is often
a shortage of prescriptive
Sandvik 517 LHD
mining and construction
standards and the policy at
the mine, if no Mongolian
standard exists, is to refer
to the more prescriptive
Ontario standards.
There is a great deal of
Canadian and Australian
influence – two of the
bastions of the best in
underground mining.
Rogers and his team also
have a great deal of respect
for the technologies,
methods and achievements
of El Teniente in Chile.
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
Normet delivery
Looking even farther forward, Rio Tinto is
working with the University of BC and the
Mongolian University of Science and
Technology (MUST) to add a block cave unit to
the country’s mining engineering degree.
As yet there is no real skill pool for
underground mining in Mongolia but Rogers
says there are many intelligent, hard working
Mongolians ready to take on the jobs at OT.
It’s a “big credit to Redpath,” he explains that
Mongolians make up 78% of the underground
construction workforce. The success of the
training of Mongolian nationals to work
underground can, Rogers says, be judged by
the safety record.
To the end of the third quarter of 2010,
Redpath had achieved 566 days Lost Time
Accident Free, compared with 86 days for all
contractors. Shaft #1 uses the Redpath safety
system (Safety – First, Last and Always) which
incorporates the following concepts:
■ Five-point safety system
■ Internal responsibility system
■ Good management not good luck
■ Loss management
■ Continuous improvement
■ Employee improvement
■ Visible management commitment
■ Simplicity
■ Due diligence
■ Measuring criteria.
A key activity for all OT’s contractors is to
train Mongolian nationals. Qualified and
experienced expatriate trainers are employed.
All new employees receive a two-week
classroom induction. When placed on the job,
each one is assigned a mentor to train and
monitor them. Task specific specialty training is
provided with all underground employees
assessed and accredited to Canadian
Underground Hard Rock Common Core
Competencies.
In an evolving mega-mine project like this it
is important to keep everyone up to date. For
that reason re-inductions are mandatory for all
national and expatriate employees upon return
from their roster break to review any policy
and procedural changes instituted while they
were off site.
Simulators will play an important role in
underground machine operator training. Atlas
Copco’s Boomer M2 Cs will be important
development jumbos and the mine already has
an Atlas Copco simulator for these machines.
ThoroughTec Simulation delivered two
CYBERMINE4 underground mining simulator
base units to the mine in 2011. The
CYBERMINE4 range is ThoroughTec’s fourth
generation of mining simulators and is
upgraded with many new features including a
full 360° panoramic display, enhanced
reporting software, and two HD instructor
screens in an improved classroom-like design.
In addition to purchasing the two
containerised simulator base units, OT also
purchased plug-and-play simulator cabs for: an
Atlas Copco Boltec MC, a Sandvik Toro 40D, a
Sandvik LH517 and a shotcrete sprayer to be
based on the Normet Spraymec 1050. The
specified cabs have been purposely chosen to
cover the main development activities at the
mine and will afford all employees valuable
training experience following their classroom
induction.
ThoroughTec notes that although OT has
purchased underground mining simulator base
units, for open-pit operator training it “will still
be able to purchase surface mining cabs in the
future and operate them on the underground
simulator base unit with a unique crossplatform adaptor kit and surface mine world,
significantly lowering the total cost of
ownership.”
To increase the training experience gains
from the simulator, ThoroughTec will be
developing a custom CYBERMINE World which
will accurately replicate the tunnel geometry
and operating conditions of Hugo North mine.
Students can therefore be familiar with its
underground mining environment before
venturing underground.
It was 2004 when Redpath was first
contracted by Ivanhoe Mines Mongolia to
assist with the construction of OT. There were
challenging conditions from day one, requiring
an extremely steep learning curve with respect
to moving equipment and people into one of
the most remote regions in the world. Lack of
infrastructure required early and unique
planning. Redpath Mongolia was established in
the capital of Ulaanbaatar due to the need for:
a large, local workforce; local and regional
procurement and to become a tax paying
corporate citizen of Mongolia.
Redpath mobilised the first crews to the
Gobi desert to complete a bulk sample shaft
Shaft #2
Main Station
APRIL 2011 International Mining 71
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
for metallurgical purposes. This team was
challenged to bring with them every nut and
bolt required to execute the program.
Instructing an extremely hard working
Mongolian workforce, the job was completed
successfully with a very small expatriate
contingent. Lessons learned were used in the
planning of the 6.7 m diameter by 1,385 m
deep Shaft #1, which was in the engineering
stage during this time period.
Complex issues encountered included:
design and engineering codes; logistics of
moving the sinking equipment across the Gobi
desert, void of real roads; and fabrication of
the various plant components. The Shaft #1
AUSTMINE
72 International Mining APRIL 2011
sinking plant construction was completed from
ground breaking to start of shaft sinking in ten
months. Challenges with this construction
program are many, including the climatic
difficulties of sustained 125 km/h winds,
sandstorms, minus-40°C temperatures in the
winter and plus 40°C temperatures in the
summer.
Shaft #2 will be a 10m diameter by 1,400m
deep concrete-lined production shaft, designed
to hoist 25,000 t/d and equipped with a 38 t
cage for the movement of miners and large
equipment. At 3 m wide by 8.75 m long, the
cage is sized to allow fixed and mobile
equipment to be hoisted with minimal
A new Sandvik
truck ready
to go
underground
disassembly.
Lateral development commenced from the
1300 level station in March 2008. Rogers
stresses the high quality of the underground
development work. The project started off
with “high standards in safety and quality from
day one,” he explains. Quality assurance (QA)
and quality control (QC) systems are in place to
measure all activities from ventilation to
overbreak. They also ensure regulatory
compliance in all construction and
maintenance activities. OT and Redpath have
developed engineered standards for drilling
and loading patterns as well as the installation
of services.
The QA/QC philosophy is of course very
important to the success of a block cave.
Drawing on Rio Tinto’s great experience in
caving mines, and from other major players
like Grasberg and El Teniente, there is great
confidence in OT’s attributes for caving.
The average rock strength is 100-120 MPa.
CSIRO HI Cell rock stress instrumentation is
widely used to monitor rock stress (3D stress
determination). This provides monitoring of
triaxial stress and provides a complete 3D
stress tensor from one measurement. It
features fully encapsulated electronics.
The underground characterisation drift
transects the orebody at about 1,300 m below
surface and is providing valuable information
for the geotechnical assessment and analyses.
The Hugo North Lift 1 mineralisation plunges
to the northeast. The caving shape is expected
to be nearly 2 km long by 150-300 m wide by
100-500 m high. The resource dimensions are
considered suitable for block caving.Based on
current data, a hydraulic radius of some 20-22
m is required to sustain caving of the rock
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
mass.
In IDP10 AmecMinproc stated:
“fragmentation for most of the Hugo North
orebody could be classified as fine to average
(80% of materials are between a fragment size
of approximately 0.3 to 0.8 m). In the context
of the proposed mining, the fragmentation
would suggest typical drawpoint spacing of
14-15 m to ensure sufficient drawpoint
interaction. Although some hang-ups and
oversize could be expected from dykes and
strong granite units, according to analysis
almost 100% should be passing 2 m2.” As
fragmentation is one of the critical parameters
for the mine design, the report recommended
that “rock block strength is defined with
higher certainty using, for example, synthetic
rock mass (SRM) techniques. Re-interpretation
of the rock block defects (such as microfracturing) from the core and laboratory
samples will also improve confidence in
fragmentation analyses.”
Block cave leader
OT has commissioned AMEC to undertake the
feasibility study for Lift 1 of Hugo North. Up to
the end of 2012, AMEC will work with OT’s
engineering team to develop designs,
specifications, cost estimates and a
construction schedule for an 85,000 t/d block
cave operation.
At the time this news
was released, Matt Gili,
COO for OT said: “The
high grades of the
underground mine make
its design a crucial part
of realising the value
from the project over the
long-term, for all
stakeholders. We look
forward to working with
AMEC and its partners in
delivering this value.”
To support in the
delivery of this complex
project, AMEC has
partnered with RSV of
South Africa for shaft engineering, AC-Tek for
dynamic simulation of underground conveyors
and Analytical Laboratory Consultants for
laboratory service design.
While this engineering and mine planning
work goes on development is proceeding
apace. Lift 1 will require 45 km of preproduction development – much of it at large
cross sections – and over 145 km of total
development. At the time IM visited the mine,
there were just two development crews,
advancing at 450 m/month.
Typical of the focus on safety, even at this early stage
of development there are five MineArc HRM
chambers installed underground – three 20-person
and two 12-person chambers
Sandvik put the first development machines
into the mine. That fleet includedtwo LHDs – a
TORO 6 and a TORO 7, one Axera 7-240 twoboom jumbo and one EJC 530 truck. The fleet
was complimented by a fleet of Normet utility
vehicles. The first consignment of the machines
was delivered to the site in April 2007.
WEIHA HAIWANG
APRIL 2011 International Mining 73
OPERATION FOCUS – Mongolia
Mongolian mining engineers undertaking time and
motions studies
Sandvik made a strong service and support
undertaking at that early stage to back up the
equipment and to demonstrate its
commitment to the customer and the entire
OT project. There was also a strong emphasis
on training and trouble-shooting, especially for
the local workforce, as well as general
maintenance of the machines.
In early February 2007, a delegation from
Redpath visited the Sandvik facilities in
Tampere and Turku, Finland. Sandvik says “the
factory tours and introductions resulted in
confidence and assertiveness that Sandvik is
the right partner.”
“We work with the customer to create
solutions specific to the customer’s business.
Every assignment is a learning experience,
teaching us how to develop our services and
machines further,” said Christian Blunck, the
company’s representative in Mongolia at the
time. Since then, Sandvik has established an
office in Ulaanbaatar and Geoffry Heather has
taken over as Managing Director. Jan-Erik
Assinen, Service Technician from Finland leads
the Sandvik team on site. He and his two
Mongolian assistants work closely with the
Redpath crews to ensure the availability of
these machines, undertaking all the major
servicing of the machines.
Today, there are two jumbos, the Axera and
one Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer M2 C. There
is also a big LHD, the Sandvik LH517, a 50 t
truck, the Sandvik TH550 and a Sandvik DS310-26 bolter. There is one Atlas Copco cable
bolter and from Normet, two Spraymec 1050
WPCs, three Transmixers and one Charmec
1610 BE, equipped with Orica's emulsion
charging system. The Charmec has a basket
boom with lifting capacity of 500 kg and
offers a vertical working reach up to 7.4 m and
8.4 m horizontally.
74 International Mining APRIL 2011
Rogers, and the
operators, are all
very pleased with
the LH517 – “it
really moves the
dirt,” he says. This
is a high capacity
LHD that features a
6.5-8.6 m³ bucket
that is loaded in
one pass. Its
tramming capacity
is 17.2 t, breakout
force; lift is 343 kN
and tilt 289 kN.
However, OT is
considering purchasing LH621s in the future.
This is a monster machine with a tramming
capacity of 21 t, breakout force, lift 378 kN
and tilt 344 kN. Its bucket range (SAE 2:1) is
8.0-10.7 m³.
Rogers feels the reduced number of buckets
to muck out a round that will be possible with
the large LHD will have a significant effect on
the speed and efficiency of developing large
cross-section drifts like those for the conveyor
drive.
The next stage will be to increase the
number of development crews to four. They
will use three M2 Cs, two Axeras, an
additional three Atlas Copco Boltechs and two
more cable bolters, another TH550 truck and
two more Sandvik LH517s. The Normet fleet
will increase to four Spraymecs, five
Transmixers and three Charmecs.
The 1050 WPCs are equipped with a
hydraulic scaling system to remove loose rocks
and other materials from the walls and back of
the drifts using a high-pressure water jet.
There is a high-pressure water pump fitted on
the Spraymec carrier; maximum water flow is
50 litres/min at 470 bar. Water is taken from
the mine water lines and passes through a
filtering system on
the machine to
ensure that dirt in
the water does
not damage the
pump and/or
block the nozzle.
The scaling nozzle
is mounted on the
spraying nozzle
frame and
therefore it can be
moved the same
way as the
Normet Spraymec
underground
concrete spraying nozzle (rotation 360° and tilt
105°).
OT is leveraging its proximity to China and
purchasing as much as possible from there.
Rogers explains that the operation purchases
very good quality electrical equipment from
China, and the three batch plants all came
from Shanghai S-Couvrot in China. More
recently good suppliers of rock bolts (2.4 m
resin bolts), cable bolts and resin have been
identified.
Block caves require significant underground
infrastructure development. In addition to the
Normet fleet, Manitou is supplying five units in
2011 – one Maniaccess AJT 180, two MHT
10120s and two M50.4 Masted Trucks. Grant
Coad, Engineering Superintendent, says that
the units are standard Manitou equipment.
However, he explains, “through our Fit For
Purpose inspections and specifications we
endeavour to customise within what Manitou
can provide, this is for safety related and
production related issues. We customise the
feel of the machines so that operators have
common colour coding for common things
and use common parts, etc. Each machine has
a specific use, mainly related to the
underground work.”
Maniaccess AJT 180 is a small high lift work
platform used for small construction tasks and
repair work like light changes. MHT 10120 is
high capacity forklift type machine which can
lift people or materials to 9.5 m in height. Its
lifting capacity is 12 t, and “will do most of
our materials handling and installations in the
roof of our development,” Coad adds.
The M50.4 Masted Truck is an all-terrain
forklift for materials movement around the
shaft both on 1300 Level and at surface. IM
The second part of this article will appear
in the May issue.