GROUND SUPPORT
flagship resin that increases safety, significantly
improves efficiency, and decreases material waste.
CarboThix is a two-component silicate resin that
instantly cures when pumping is stopped.
Compared to traditional cement-based grouts,
which require 24-48 hours to develop initial
strength, bolts that use CarboThix can be loaded
within minutes. Unlike polyurethane grouts,
CarboThix works in the presence of water,
allowing for flexible utilisation, regardless of the
moisture conditions found in the mine.
CarboThix products are specially designed for
installation of rock-bolts into strata and for
consolidation injection works in disrupted strata.
Minova offers a variety of CarboThix options to
cater to the changing ambient mine temperatures
ranging from 5°C up to 50°C, providing the
required flexibility. Benefits of the hollow bolt and
resin grout installation include:
n Immediate loading capacity
n Improved operator safety
n Full encapsulation of anchors
n Consolidation of fractured boreholes
n Reduction of material waste
n Consistent grout quality
n Water resistant
Assinder concludes: “By leveraging their Hollow
Bolts portfolio and CarboThix resin options,
Minova is providing a one-stop shop solution to
their customers in the hard rock mining industry.
With proven laboratory and large-scale field tests,
Minova’s UniPass Technology aims to cater to
operators who are looking for high quality, reliable
products, that are already successfully utilised in
mines. By offering the complete solution,
customers have one point of contact for their
bolting needs, decreasing the amount of time
spent interfacing with multiple suppliers. Minova’s
experienced mining engineers are present on the
mine at the start of each UniPass technology
introduction to provide support and make sure the
correct bolt, drill bit, resin formula, static mixer
and flushing grease combination is provided to
each mine.”
With new automation technologies entering the
mining market, Minova’s UniPass bolting
technology enables mining companies to integrate
automation into their rock bolting cycle, reducing
worker exposure to harmful and hazardous
situations, and decreasing installation time
thereby reducing overall cycle times. “Such a
value proposition is revolutionary to the ground
support sector. UniPass technology has now
commenced operation in mines in Europe and
North America, with increasing interest on every
continent.”
Normet RBG encapsulating a Normet D-bolt
recent years, especially with the introduction of
automated resin bolting machines. Automation is
a significant leap forward in technology and in
turn changed how some mining organisations
approach their bolting practice. The continued
advance in resin technology now offers high
specification materials that when combined with
automation, improves productivity in broken
ground but equally importantly, creates an instant
safe working environment compared to
conventional cement-based technology.
Over the past four years, Normet told IM that it
has worked in close collaboration with Sandvik HQ
in Tampere, Finland in developing a fast set Rock
Bolt Grout (RBG) grade to compliment the Sandvik
Boltimore Self Drilling Anchor (SDA) machines'
performance. The combination of automated SDA
drilling and resin injection along with the reaction
speed of the RBG, provides an effective and fast
installation process. In fact, bolts pull tested after
only two minutes following installation yielded in
excess of 25 t. This clearly shows the advantages
of RBG in creating an instant safe working
environment.
Sandvik’s Boltimore machine was sent to the
Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in November/
December last year and both Sandvik and Normet
managed to undertake one round of commissioning
in early 2020 which was successful, before COVID-19
saw restrictions put in place. Continuation of the
commissioning is due to take place later this year
when the situation improves.
Resin development has also kept pace with ever
changing industry requirements. Originally
designed for standard length SDA grouting in
broken ground along with manual injection for
solid bolts, the pumpable resin offering has
extended to cable bolting along with longer
connectable SDAs and Normet’s connectable
SDDBs (self-drilling dynamic bolts), either
delivered through an automated or manual
process. Over the past few years, Normet has
worked to develop pumpable resin to OEM
requirements and for use with extended hollow
bolts taking into consideration the longer resin
open time requirement, delivery process and
varying ambient conditions. These products now
compliment the full range of ground improvement
resins that Normet offers.
Weber perfecting pumpable resin for
hard rock
Pumpable resins have actually been used in the
mining industry for a nunmber of years.
Traditionally, pumpable resins have been utilised
in deep level longwall coal mining applications,
where the use of resins has been adopted as a
part of the mining sequence when mining through
tough geological conditions.
Weber Mining says it has spent several years
developing strategies for using pumpable resins
with hard rock mining applications. Typical
applications have been for ground consolidation
Normet’s RBG solution gaining
ground
The use of pumpable resin materials for mining
and tunnelling applications has accelerated in
Adit supported using Weber Mining Marisil E Resin, Self Drilling Anchors and Marisil Thixo
48 International Mining | JULY/AUGUST 2020