Medusa Mining Ltd, through its Philippine affiliate, Philsaga Mining Corp (PMC), advises of good progress on the construction of the Service Shaft to Level 8 at the Co-O mine which commenced in April 2015. The picture schematically illustrates the description and progress of the service shaft. The Alimak (2 m x 2 m) raise has completed 250 m of the 350 m from Level 8 up to Level 3 and a new Alimak nest is now being excavated at Level 3, and will continue for 100 m to Level 1.

The second concrete pour out of seven for the collar of the service shaft is complete and once the collar is fully formed, a blind sink of 33 m to Level 1 will be undertaken using a crane and kibble.

The shaft head frame, main winder and sinking equipment are scheduled to arrive during the last quarter of 2015 and once installed, a sinking stage will be used to widen the shaft to its final dimensions (3.2 m x 3.65 m) from Level 1 to Level 8. Installation of ground support to the walls and equipping the level accesses between Levels 3 to 8 will be done simultaneously. The rope guided man-cage is scheduled to be installed in the second quarter 2016.

On commissioning, all men and material movement will be transferred to the service shaft from the L8 shaft, and the latter will then be used exclusively to hoist ore, to attain its planned capacity of 1,700 t/d. Geoff Davis, CEO of Medusa, commented: “The construction of the service shaft has got off to a great start and should be completed within the estimated timelines with all long lead times items ordered and being manufactured.”

The final shaft dimension has been chosen to allow a loco/mine car to be lowered intact, where currently they need to be dis-assembled to be lowered down the L8 shaft.