Tunnel development
Conventional and mechanised development for mines and hydro power schemes, supported and serviced by our own crews.
Overview
Development, conventional or mechanised
ShaftCon develops tunnels for mining and for hydro power projects, using conventional drill-and-blast or mechanised methods depending on the ground, the profile and the programme. High-speed development, both conventional and mechanised, is one of the services we offer under single-point responsibility.
Development runs deep in the company’s history. Our founder and CEO, Wynand Lourens, was part of the team that achieved Anglo American’s 190 m single-face development using conventional hand-held drilling and blasting, and his experience covers high-speed development in both trackless and conventional mining.
Recent and past work includes developing a new level for the new underground museum at Gold Reef City in 2015, maintaining all the trackless machines for the C-cut development at Cullinan Diamond Mine in 2016, and rehabilitating the Comossa hydro power tunnel in Brazil with tunnel arches made in our own workshop.
Every development contract is run on the same principles: a safe working environment, crews trained to identify hazards and work safely around them, and the authority for anyone to stop the work when a risk appears. Where local people can be trained into the work, we do it — on-the-job training is part of how ShaftCon operates in every country.
What the work covers
- Conventional drill-and-blast development
- Mechanised (trackless) development
- High-speed development
- Secondary support: wet-crete, mesh lacing and long anchors
- Tunnel rehabilitation in adverse ground
- Tunnel development for hydro power projects
What goes into a development contract
Conventional development
Hand-held drilling and blasting where the profile, access or ground make it the right method — the method used for Anglo American’s 190 m single-face development, which our CEO helped to achieve.
Mechanised development
Trackless drill rigs, loaders and support equipment for higher advance rates in larger profiles.
Support as you go
Support follows the face: mesh, anchors and wet-crete as the ground calls for, so the tunnel is left in a safe, finished condition.
Trackless fleet care
We have maintained and kept up a mine’s entire trackless fleet for its development, as for the C-cut at Cullinan Diamond Mine.
Hydro power tunnels
Tunnel work for hydro power schemes, including the rehabilitation of the Comossa hydro power tunnel in Brazil.
Rehabilitation
Old or damaged development made safe and re-supported, so it can be returned to service.
Projects
Development and tunnel projects
From the field
Related services
Box cuts and decline shafts for new mines.
Tunnel arches and rehabilitation in hydro tunnels.
Underground chambers, bulk excavations and bulkheads.
Contract mining for gold, diamond, coal and platinum.
Planning a shaft, decline or tunnel?
Tell us about the project. We reply from our Beestekraal head office, and we can put you in touch with our teams in Namibia, Tanzania, Mali and the USA.