SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT TUNNEL VISION
Martijn-K Mannot-Russell explores the use of mechanised tunnel boring machines within the mining industry
M
ining and tunnelling have as much in common as they have diff erences. Historically, one associates mining predominantly with harder
rock formations, with the exceptions of potash, softer coal seams and extensively weathered shear/fracture zones. T e realm of the tunnellers was mainly at relatively shallower depths (10 to 100m) through a variety of geological formations such as chalk and clays; although a mention must be made for the alpine brethren excavating drives with up to 3.5km overburden in squeezing rock conditions. First uses of the tunnel boring machine
(TBM) methods in mines are mentioned in several papers indicating use of TBMs in mines in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s; with use of a TBM in the UK coal mines in the 1980s at the Selby coalfi eld to link several coal mines. Advantages were the production rates and excavation method without the use of explosives. T e cons were the limitations with respect to
driving small radius curves, high relative cost of the machines at that time, and challenges with use of refurbished machines designed for more specifi c ground formations.
The path of progress In the USA in the early 1990s TBMs were used at several mines with great success. T e TBM development further progressed with companies designing and manufacturing machines in the UK, Germany, France, USA, Canada and Japan. From the USA came the development of the hard rock TBM with cutter discs. Similar machines were developed and manufactured in Germany and Japan, later in South Korea and China. T e Japanese manufacturers tended to make TBMs for a specifi c project due to urban constraints and the bubble economy; whereas the Europeans and North Americans tended to focus on a more solid long-term view. T ere are many examples of TBMs being reused, either by refurbishment and/or slight modifi cations with
It’s time for the use of tunnel boring machines (TBMs) in mining to be revisited
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