MINE HOISTS
Winding down
Paul Moore looks at news in hoisting and winding projects,
from a series of major potash installations to synthetic fibre
mine ropes entering the market
he largest and most complex mine hoist
projects seem to be dominated by potash
currently, from Canada to Belarus to the
UK. At Sirius Minerals’ Woodsmith polyhalite
mining project in the UK, Thyssen
Schachtbau company OLKO-Maschinentechnik
GmbH is supplying two Blair multi-rope
machines (BMR) with the electrical equipment
coming from Siemens. One hoist will work as a
so-called production winder for material
hoisting, one as a service winder for personal
transport, with a hoisting capacity of 35 t
payload. The polyhalite is hosted from
approximately 1,450 m below sea level to the
surface at a hoisting speed of 18 m per second
(m/s). The delivery includes a medium-voltage
synchronous motor with an output of 9.3 MW
and a torque of 1,550 kilonewton metres (kNm)
for each machine which are powered directly
from a medium-voltage Sinamics SM150 (PWM)
frequency converter. Both winders are fitted
with a COBRA01 multi-channel brake system
which is a joint development between OLKO and
Siemens.
The latest news at Woodsmith is that service
shaft works are on target to complete the
construction of the foreshafts by year end to
enable commencement of excavation of the
main shaft using the Herrenknecht shaft boring
roadheader (SBR). The company's first SBR
recently passed its Factory Acceptance Test and
is due to commence arrival at the Woodsmith
mine site in August 2019. The SBR will then be
erected on-site. Assembly of the SBR and
installation into the foreshaft is scheduled to be
completed in December 2019. The excavation of
the 35 m diameter service shaft foreshaft to 45
m was completed in the first quarter of 2019,
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10 International Mining | AUGUST 2019
enabling commencement of the excavation of
the inner-main shaft, which will be excavated to
a total depth of approximately 120 m. The main
shaft has now been excavated to approximately
85 m below ground level, using conventional
excavation techniques.
The service shaft temporary winder building
foundations have been completed. Erection of
the temporary and permanent winder buildings,
which will house the service shaft hoists, and
installation of the temporary and permanent
winders is in progress and on schedule.
Production shaft works are on target to
complete the construction of the foreshaft and
excavation of the main shaft to 120 m by year
end. The 32 m diameter production shaft
foreshaft, which will be excavated to a depth of
45 m from surface, had been excavated to
approximately 9 m below ground level by end
Q2 2019. The production shaft differs from the
service shaft in that it already has diaphragm
walls installed to a depth of 120 m in the inner-
The control station for the SIEMAG TECBERG
six-rope Koepe double-drum winder at the new
Mosaic Esterhazy K3 potash mine
main shaft. Once the larger diameter foreshaft
has been excavated to a depth of 45 m and the
floor installed, the inner-main shafts will be
excavated to a depth of 120 m using
conventional methods inside the existing
diaphragm walls. This is expected to be
completed in December 2019. The Herrenknecht
SBR for the production shaft is due to
commence arriving on-site in October 2019. The
SBR for the production shaft is currently erected
in Germany and will be undertaking various
cutting optimisation tests prior to being
dismantled and shipped to the Woodsmith mine.
In Canada, using a six-rope Koepe double-
drum winder by SIEMAG TECBERG, on 18
December 2018 the first load of potash ore from
the new Mosaic Esterhazy K3-Mine in Canada
was brought to the surface and sent for further
processing. This is a major step in this project,
which was started seven years ago.
In 2011 SIEMAG TECBERG received an order
from Mosaic for the delivery of a one-rope-drum
Blair winding machine for the service shaft and
The main production headframe
under construction at Slavkaliy
potash mine in Belarus