OPERATION FOCUS
Belaruskali timeline
1939: One of the discoverers of the Starobin potash deposit and the author of the geological map of the Belarus bedrock is Gerasim Bogomolov. In 1939 he founded and headed the world’ s first Research Institute of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology. 1949: In the spring the Starobin deposit of potash salts is discovered and in May the drilling of the first exploratory well is started. In July the first core of sylvinite crystals is hoisted from a depth of 349 m and geologists start the first drill rig. 1958: Based on the Decree of the Head of Glass and Chemical Industry Administration No. 174, Order No. 1 to start up the Starobin Potash Plant is issued. Oleg Timofeyev is appointed the Director of SPP, with June 21, 1958 considered to be the date of establishment of the enterprise. The first stone is laid as a symbol of the beginning of the City of Soligorsk construction. 1960: April 25 sees the first pithead above shaft No 2 completed and on April 30 the mineable level of potash salts is tapped at a depth of 414 m in shaft No 2 and the first bucket of sylvinite hoisted. This first sylvinite was mined by the shaft sinkers from Nikolay Gerasimenya’ s crew. On July 26 the first underground blasting saw the start of the first horizontal mining workings. 1961: First raw material delivered to the temporary mill. 1962: At Mine No 2 the installation of the pithead above shaft No 1 is completed; plus the start of shaft sinking in shaft No 3 1964: Council of Ministers of the BSSR adopted a resolution on the construction of PU 3 and scheduled shaft sinking. Layout of axes of the shaft No 1 at PU 3. PU 3 sinking of the shaft collar in its shaft No 1. 1965: PU 2 pithead construction. The State Commission accepted and put into operation the first stage of the Production Unit. 1967: The State Commission put into operation the second stage of PU 2. On December 24 the Processing Plant produced the first concentrate of potash fertilisers. 1969: First stage of PU 3 is commissioned. 1971: PU 3 pilot tests of bench mining complexes of model KMK-97k at a depth of 420 m. At PU 2 the crew of L. Kalinin with a roadheader PK-8( built by Yasinovatskiy Machine Building Plant JSC in Kazakhstan) set a mining record( 3,815 lateral metres) and mined 64,000 t of ore. The crew of S. Kazakevich then set another record as within 31 working days another roadheader PK-8 mined 4,551 lateral metres and the crew hoisted 76,000 t of ore. Beginning of construction of PU 4 near the village Zelyony Mokh between the Soligorsk and Luban districts. The first crew of workers arrived at the building yard and made preparations necessary to sink the pit and construct the drilling mud building. The reserves of the 4th mining field( the biggest one) of the Starobin deposit was to be used as the main mineral resource base and covers 220 square miles. 2009: Krasnoslobodsky( Mine No 5) goes into production 2010: Construction of a covered 10.4 km belt conveyor between Berezovsky mine and PU 1. In October for the first time in world mine development practice the horizontal workings( mining field of PU 4) and a vertical shaft( Berezovsky mine) are holed through. 2012: July sees opening ceremony of Berezovsky mine headed by the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Minsk Region B. Batura and the Director General of JSC Belaruskali V. Kirienko. The certificate of commissioning of the 1st stage of Berezovsky mine is signed on June 29th, 2012. The company also started construction of the Petrikov mining and processing plant. 2013: JSC Belaruskali commissions NPK plant to manufacture complex NPK-fertilisers. 2014: Commissioning of chemical plant for complex processing of chlorine-containing mineral raw material operations after the design dimensions are reached. The ice wall serves as a temporary waterproof lining, which ensures safe conditions for mining and construction works. The ice wall is kept in the frozen condition until the construction of a substructure is completed. After the substructure construction is finished the ice wall is removed. The work involves well drilling; installation of the freezing pipes and brine network; and construction of the ice wall with required dimensions( active freezing).
In recent years Belaruskali has upgraded the processing factories and replaced outdated equipment with new more efficient and costeffective machinery, changed the manufacturing flow-sheets to be more efficient and improved the production lines. Each of the four‘ Production Units’ consists of a mine to extract the potash ore( Production Units 2 and 4 include two mines each) and the factory to process the mined mineral and manufacture potash fertilisers. Additionally each Production Unit has a repair-building workshop, boiler department( except for PU 1 served by a combined heat and power station) and public catering facilities. Production Unit 1 also has an underground healthcare facility – the Republican Speleotherapy Hospital, which provides treatment to members of the public as well as mine staff and their families. The processing plant of PU 1 includes among other departments a department for the production of edible, fodder and technical types of salt and dry blended fertilisers. Production Unit 3 includes a shop for production of depressant reagents and a compound fertilisers plant. Production Unit 4 includes a technical salt dispatch department. JSC Belaruskali traces its history back to 1958, with the attached timeline summarising some key milestones. The company states:“ Throughout the course of its development history the mines and processing plants of JSC Belaruskali quickly commissioned new production capacities, continuously and dynamically ramped up production, actively installed new types of equipment and introduced new mining and processing technologies, as well as expanded the range of products, and improved the quality and enduser performance of products.”
Photo from 1960 when the first pithead above shaft No 2 was completed
Also from 1960, a patriotic parade with N. Gerasimenya holding the first potash rock produced
Mining overview
The seams which are being mined today are the seams of the 2nd and 3rd potash levels( seams II and III). The potash seam of the 1st level at PU 1 has been mined since 2004. The potash seam of the 4th level is considered part of the reserves projected to be mined in the future.
Mining methods that have been used include firstly, so-called chamber mining, which was used a lot in the initial deposit development.
12 International Mining | AUGUST 2017