In South Australia the Western Mining Corporation operates the underground copper and uranium mine, Olympic Dam. The deposits concerned are enourmous (approximately 570 million tons) and have been mined since 1988. At the end of 1996, Western Mining decided to increase the capacity of Olympic Dam from 85,000 t.p.a. to 200,000 t.p.a.
This paper describes the planning and design of the shaft hoisting system required to meet the project objectives.
