Groundbreaking technique used to remove raisebore head
An innovative method used to remove a raisebore was successfully applied by specialist shaft sinking and mining contractor Murray & Roberts Cementation.
At the end of the raiseboring, or reaming, stage for Shaft 2 of Ivanplats’ Platreef project in South Africa’s Limpopo province, a solution was needed to remove the reaming head and avoid costly standing time.
Murray & Roberts Cementation senior project manager Fred Durand explained that an acceleration of the build plan at Shaft 2 had seen construction underway on the shaft’s headgear in 2024 – before the completion of raiseboring.
“When a reaming head reaches the surface at the end of a raiseboring process, we normally use a mobile crane from surface to help us dismantle the machine and to load it onto trucks for removal from site,” said Durand. “With the acceleration of the mine’s plan for Shaft 2 readiness, however, the construction of the headgear had been brought forward – so it was no longer feasible to position a crane in that area to remove the raisebore machine.”
The concept was to make use of a reeve block, or pulley block, system and winch which could be secured with limited steel work at the bank elevation.
“We prepared a proposal which described how reeve blocks could be secured to the sinking sheave wheel floor steel work by means of slings and beam clamps,” Durand continues. “We would then use an eight-tonne electrical winch, secured to the bank, to operate the reeve block system.”
The technical team were able to strip the raisebore machine and hoist it to the bank area and it was finally lifted onto the laydown area for removal.
Durand concludes that Murray & Roberts Cementation’s approach ensured that this engineering solution was applied safely and efficiently within a tight timeframe.
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