The Nezhinsky mining and processing factory has extracted its first salt, operator IOOO Slavkaliy has announced in a statement. The report says Slavkaliy continues active mine construction work at the Nezhinsky mining and processing complex with the shaft boring roadheaders (SBR machines) Ulyana and Olga being now 567 m below the surface and having encountered the first horizons of potassium salt. IOOO Slavkaliy is part of Mikhail Gutseriyev’s SAFMAR Group.
The SBR machines were made in Germany by Herrenknecht. The technology is unparalleled in Europe and replaces manual labour in a mine, does not require explosives, is highly effective and environmentally friendly. In July 2019 when the SBR machine Ulyana (the cage shaft) and the SBR machine Olga (the skip shaft) went past water-bearing formations to reach 327 m below the surface, construction workers installed a tubing column and carried out contact grouting work where under pressure holes are injected with a mixture of cement, water and sodium silicate, which penetrates into rock cracks and reduces the flow of groundwater to the shaft lining. In January 2020 work to ensure this secure lining of the mine shafts was finished and the SBR machines resumed work with quoted speeds of up to 5.3 metres per day for the SBR according to Slavkaliy. This was backed up by information from contractor Redpath Deilmann Belarus which says in March 2020, Shaft 1 sunk 107 m, with a best daily advance rate of 5.3 m and best weekly advance rate of 4,2 m/d. Shaft 2 sunk 101 m, with a best daily advance rate of 4.9 m and best weekly advance rate of 4.3 m/d.
The Nezhinsky mining and processing factory based on the Starobinskoye potash salts deposit will be the second enterprise in Belarus to mine potash salts and make potash fertilisers after the world famous JSC Belaruskali. It will be able to make up to 2 Mt of potassium chloride per annum. The project includes the mine in addition to a processing plant, a gas turbine power plant, railway infrastructure, new roads, housing and other infrastructure. The construction of the Nezhinsky mining and processing factory began in 2017.
