Case Study – Blind Shaft Sinking for BHP Jansen Project

2019

Steffen Dube, Herrenknecht; Patrick Rennkamp, Herrenknecht; Andy Fearn, BHP Billiton; Wolf-Dieter Trodel, DMC Mining Services

In 2011, Herrenknecht developed the Shaft Sinking Roadheader (SBR), a shaft-sinking machine suitable for applications in frozen ground and medium soft rock of up to 120 MPa for BHP Billiton’s Jansen Mine Project in Saskatchewan. The machines were manufactured and assembled at the Herrenknecht headquarter in Schwanau/Germany during 2012 after a pre-design phase. August 2018 marks the successful completion of both ~1000 m deep shafts by DMC Mining Services utilizing the SBR technology. This paper shall give an insight to the machine set-up and technology, an overview of its assembly and a review of project success and challenges related to the SBR at the Jansen Mine. In addition the enhanced safety for personnel working on such a machine will be outlined which is a significant benefit of the SBR. The machine is divided in three main areas being the infrastructural platforms, the area of rock support and the core machine. Due to the machine set-up workers will not be exposed to the unsupported shaft wall during regular operation. Sinking is achieved by performing the three main tasks simultaneously, which are the partial face excavation, mucking of cuttings and application of primary rock support. The development of a pneumatic mucking system solved the problem of removing cut material from the bottom of the shaft and its vertical transportation through the machine to a discharge point on one of the machine’s work decks.

Keywords: shaft sinking, safety, sbr, Jansen mine, Herrenknecht, dmc, bhpb