MI 320

MINE DEVELOPMENT

Section 2: Underground Mine

Development

Lecture 13. Shaft Sinking Methods

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 •Unit 11-Underground Mine access
1. Main access opening
2. Shaft sinking
3. Methods of shaft sinking
4. Ground support during shaft sinking
5. Tunnelling and Level interval
6. Decline design

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11.3 Methods of shaft sinking
• There are two main methods used in shaft sinking. These
are
1. The conventional drill and blast and
2. The boring methods

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11.3.1 Conventional Drill and Blast
The conventional shaft sinking methods involve the
following processes:
1. Drilling
2. Charging and Blasting
3. Mucking and Hoisting
4. Support or shaft lining
5. Auxiliary operations:
a) Dewatering
b) Ventilation
c) Lighting or illumination
d) Shaft centering

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 1. Drilling
• A shaft is constructed by drilling holes and filling them with
explosives.
• Using this method, drilling and blasting can sink around 5-10
metres in one blast.
• This is very labour-intensive, unsafe and has high running costs.
• The method is the most viable alternative for shafts that go up to
100m in length.
• Commonly used machine in drilling is a Jumbo drill rig of
diameter ranging from 40 – 55 mm. The length of the hole can
go up to 5 – 10 m.
• The number of holes depends on the diameter of the hole, shaft
diameter, type of strata.
• The shape of the drill bit depends on strength of rock.
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 2. Charging and Blasting
• High density water resistant explosive such as Nitro-glycerin based
explosive, aluminum based water gel explosive, water gel slurries,
emulsion explosives with boosters and NONEL detonators are used in
shaft sinking.
• The weight of explosives per cubic meter of rock blasted depends on:
1. the nature of rock,
2. strength of explosive,
3. degree of fragmentation required,
4. depth of pull and
5. water or sand clay mixture as stemming.
• Stemming used is normally in the ratio 3:1 sand clay mixture for dry
shaft or sand alone in wet shafts.
• The timing uses both series and parallel connections.
• The blasting cable extends to the surface and the main shot firing cable
suspended from surface. The cable must be able to support its own
weight.
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 3. Mucking and hoisting
• Mucking is the operation of loading broken rock by hand or
machine, usually in shafts or tunnels.
• Usually this would require some skip-hoisting, bucket-hoisting or
clam-shell-grab equipment.
• Figure 1 shows some of the common pieces of equipment used
in mucking. Sometimes mucking is done using hoists (2).

• Mucking efficiency is dependent on:-

1. The degree of fragmentation
2. Height of the bucket

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Types of Muckers
1. Scrapers which are used in rectangular shafts and very large diameter
shafts
2. Cryderman muckers
3. Cactus grabs
4. Overshot loaders on caterpillars (e.g. Elimco 360).
Detailed description and review, refer to the attached journal article (T.J.
Frangakis, 2018).

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 Figure 2. Cactus grab

Figure 1. Hand lashing into a

bucket

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Figure 3. Elimco 360 mucker

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Fig.5. Lowering men down the shaft

video

3/17/2021 Fig. 6. Hoisting material out of the shaft using11a bucket

MI 320. Eng. Stephen Chanda
 11.3.2. Boring Methods (Blind Method)
• This is usually carried out with heavy percussive compressed air
hammer drills with hollow bore rods.
• Holes are drilled from within the perimeter of the shaft on a
circle more or less concentric with it.
• First series of holes are drilled from dry ground, if possible.
Some of the holes should be drilled inclined radially and
tangentially so as to ensure interception of all fissures throughout
the length.
• A tunnel boring machine (shaft boring machine) such as one in
Figure 7 is very common in shaft sinking.
• Each hole is lined with a stand pipe, grouted with cement. Above
the top of the hole, the TBM is fitted with stop valve to control
water given off during boring.
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 Boring Methods (Blind Method) cont`

Fig. 7. Tunnel boring machine

• Boring is continued through valves and stand pipes. As soon as

the hole reaches decided depth or encounters fissure containing
water, bore rods are withdrawn and stop valves closed.
• Hole is then coupled with flexible hose to cement pipe range and
injected with cement.
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 Boring Methods (Blind Method) cont`

Cementation
• High pressure double acting ram pumps driven by compressed air
or electricity used to inject cement.
• Cement mixing tank, silicate storage tank, sulphate dissolving and
storage tank and pipe ranges are required for the cementation
operation.
Injection
• For small fissures one injection of cementation may be sufficient.
For large fissures, certain amount of cement is injected and
cementation is suspended for few hours to allow setting of
cement.
• Hole is then cleaned by boring and injection repeated until cavity
is completely closed. Percentage of cement in mixture varies
from 2-50%.
• video
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References
• [Link]
• [Link]
operation-in-conventional-shaft-sinking/
• [Link]
onstruction/[Link]
• T.J. Frangakis, 2018. A review of lashing methods used in shaft sinking,
The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2018. ISSN
2225-6253, pp 297-308.
• [Link]
• [Link]
• [Link]
• [Link] (shaft boring)
• Hartman, H.L. (2002) Introductory Mining Engineering, 2nd Edition,
New Jersey, Canada.
• [Link]

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 MI 320
MINE DEVELOPMENT

Section 2: Underground Mine

Development

Lecture 14. Ground support

during shaft sinking
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 •Unit 11-Underground Mine access
1. Main access opening
2. Shaft sinking
3. Methods of shaft sinking
4. Ground support during shaft sinking
5. Level interval
6. Decline design

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 11.3.3. Ground Support during Shaft Sinking
• Support of shaft walls is very important for the safety of the
mines and for the shaft to stand a taste of time as it’s the access
for men, air, service water, ore and waste. Support is also
important for economic reasons.
Wall support methods
1. Rock bolting and meshing
• A wire mesh is fastened to the walls with evenly spaced rock
bolts. Rock bolting is a commonly used, cheap method.
• The rock-bolts increase normal stresses on joints so that shear
failure along joints becomes more difficult.
• Often rock bolts and mesh are used as a basis for shotcreting.
Water in-flow during shotcreting severely reduces the quality of
shotcrete
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Fig. 1. Rock bolting and meshing

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 Wall support methods cont`

Cast-in-place lining
• It is possible to cast concrete rings as the shaft sink progresses.
This method provides a smooth, watertight and permanent lining
for the shaft.
• The casing can be reinforced to cope with horizontal stresses (i.e.
ring-shaped reinforcement) making the casing elements more
economical.

Fig. 2. Cast-in-
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 Wall support methods cont`

Pre-cast lining segments

• In sands, mudstone and sandstone, steel, pre-stressed concrete or
composite liners with a smaller diameter than the shaft are
lowered after drilling out the hole.
• Concrete can then be poured behind the walls to create the lining.

Fig. 3. Pre-cast lining segments

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 Dewatering in shaft sinking
• Dewatering is the term for the control of groundwater by
pumping.
• The process of dewatering can be defined as – pumping from
wells or sumps to temporarily lower groundwater levels, to allow
excavations to be made in dry and stable conditions below natural
groundwater level.
• Dewatering can be performed during construction and after
construction of the shaft.
• Basically, the purposes of dewatering at construction stage are:
1. Provide a dry excavation for shaft sinking to progress efficiently.
2. Improve supporting characteristics of the support materials
used e.g. concrete linings.
3. Stabilize bottom conditions and prevent heaving.
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 Methods of dewatering
• The following are the methods of dewatering that enhances
ground support;
1. Rock kibbles loaded with water
2. Face pumps that are driven by compressed air and can
accommodate particulate laden water.
3. Hanging pumps are installed which are suspended in the
shaft so that they can be raised during firing. These pumps
can handle a greater inflow of water into the shaft.
4. Sump Pumping
When the soil profile where the tunnel is to be installed is stable
or either impermeable or above the water table, simple sumps
can be used to control perched water, seepage water and rain
water. Usually, electric submersible pumps are chosen because
of their simplicity and compactness.
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 Methods of dewatering cont`
5. Deep Well System
• These are used when the soils around the tunnel shafts are
permeable, and the permeable soil extends 4.6m or more below
the shafts and tunnel, deep wells do a fine job.

Figure 4: Deep Well System

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