Haulage drift is completed at NWPC underground mine
At the beginning of 2021, NWPC (a member of the Acron Group) started excavation of a haulage drift at a depth of 100 metres at its underground mine and recently has connected it with the auxiliary shaft 1.
The main purpose of this engineering solution is to supply air to the underground mine using the 700 m3/s ventilation and heating unit 2 located on the surface of the auxiliary shaft 1 at the Oleniy Ruchey mine.
Upon implementation of this project, the mine will reach a capacity of 6 mtpa of ore. The haulage drift will serve for transportation of personnel to and from the underground mine, as well as delivery of materials for mining operations. In addition, the connection between the haulage drift and the auxiliary shaft 1 will be used to install a temporary water-pumping system for mining operations at lower levels until the main water-pumping unit at a depth of 200 metres is commissioned.
‘We have come a long way to reach this milestone. In total, we have tunnelled over 1,200 meters, have removed over 100,000 tonnes of rock, have drilled 6,050 boreholes to relieve stress in the rock mass, and constructed three ventilation chambers to install booster fans for underground excavation operations’.
