The construction of Shaft 2 at the Oyu Tolgoi mine, in Mongolia, has been declared complete.
Shaft 2 – a 10-m-diameter shaft sunk to about 1.3 km below the surface – would accelerate the underground development of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, Rio Tinto-controlled Turquoise Hill said on Monday.
The miner noted that the shaft used the world's largest production hoist motor and could carry 300 people in the service hoist and lift 60 t skips in the production hoist. When operating at maximum capacity, the production hoist has the ability to lift 35 000 t of material to the surface daily.
“With the construction of Shaft 2 complete, and the service hoist operating permit being granted, the service hoist now allows us to transport 300 people per cage cycle versus a maximum of 60 people per cage cycle through Shaft 1. The 48-t capacity cage can now be used to support logistics, transporting supplies and components for development of the mine,” the TSX- and NYSE-listed company said.
Commissioning of the production hoist continued with more than 2 700 t of rock successfully hoisted to surface, and Turquoise Hill said that it continued to work with the regulatory agencies to finalise the permitting.
Shaft 2 was constructed using almost 5 000 t of steel and more than 300 km of electrical cabling.
Oyu Tolgoi is jointly owned by the government of Mongolia (34%) and Turquoise Hill (66%, of which Rio Tinto owns 51%).
Turquoise Hill's stock gained more than 3% on Monday, closing at C$0.58 apiece in Toronto and $0.45 a share in New York.