In what ended up being a gathering of the great and the good in global underground mining technology, Rapid Development 2014, organised by IM Events and held earlier this week in Krakow, Poland, once again gave the industry a unique focussed opportunity to exchange ideas and put key users in contact with key suppliers and contractors. From the latest on Herrenknecht’s range of mine shaft sinking solutions to Master Drilling’s innovative approaches to large diameter raise boring and updates on continuous hard rock projects from Caterpillar and Sandvik; the program offered a wide range of high quality presentations from the key players.
Being presented in depth for the first time was Caterpillar’s new CAT Rock Straight System, a hard rock longwall system developed with partner KGHM for the production mining of seam type hard rock deposits. The audience heard from both Caterpillar itself and from KGHM, who had a delegation at the meeting. Caterpillar also gave a presentation on the CAT Rock Header, a new hard rock cutting machine for flexible and high performance mine development. An article on both these technologies will appear in a future edition of International Mining.
In addition to the CAT Rock Straight project, KGHM Corporate Adviser, Henryk Karaś, discussed other technology areas that it has been testing and utilising. These include projects using the Sandvik MH620 roadheader, of which there are now three working at the Sieroszowice-Polkowice mine carrying out hard rock development. KGHM also discussed recent projects in the area of autonomous mining that were introduced during a recent euRobotics Topic Group meeting in Budapest. Sandvik itself talked about the latest version of its Hard Rock Cutting Test Rig (RCTR) in Zeltweg, Austria. The previous rig mainly tested soft and medium hardness rocks but the new machine is adapted specifically to hard rock. It forms a key tool in a market where miners are asking for progress in rapid and mechanised excavation methods in harder rock. The company also gave a number of case studies highlighting what it has been able to achieve with the MH620 and MT720 models in mines and civil tunnelling projects worldwide.
Other interesting presentations included DMT’s review of innovations in rapid and safe shaft inspection technology, such as its LIDAR Cage-Based-Shaft-Survey-System. MineTronics discussed modern mining networks for process optimisation and increased underground safety in the context of rapid development; while Poland’s Kopex outlined some new design developments that have been implemented on its latest KTW-200 roadheader models, including remote control options and the operator being able to see cutting progress on a screen in the cabin. Norway’s Nussir copper project was outlined in detail, with potential there to apply new technology given the large tunnelling distances that will need to be excavated once production starts in 2018.