A review of the high performance rock-bolting method and Its application in a Nordic mine

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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Master's thesis
Date
2018-12-10
Department
Major/Subject
European Mining Course
Mcode
ENG3077
Degree programme
European Mining, Minerals and Environmental Programme (EMMEP)
Language
en
Pages
97+1
Series
Abstract
Installing rock reinforcement in underground mines is one of the most time-consuming process steps. Rock-bolts are one of the most common methods of rock reinforcement. Rock bolts are increasingly installed by fully mechanized rock-bolting equipment. Commonly used bolting methods are rebar bolts with resin cartridges or cement as grout. These methods are compared with the newly developed ‘High Performance’ method from Epiroc. The ‘High Performance’ method uses self-drilling hollow bolts with a fast curing epoxy resin as grout. The aim of the case study is to determine if Boliden should switch to the ‘High Performance’ method. For this, the rock-bolting productivity of the current and ‘High Performance’ methods was estimated. In order to estimate this observations and time studies were conducted. The operational capacity of the current rock bolting operation at Kristineberg is believed to be 7.8 bolts per hour. With the ‘High Performance’ method this could increase to 9.4 bolts per hour. The calculation methods showed an improvement in the range of 3% to 9%. This while productivity of the ‘High performance’ method is believed to be 20% faster than the current method. The financial analysis has shown that if the price of the bolts doubles a 6% increase in production is necessary. If the price increase per bolt is below the limit set by the production increase than it is advised to invest in the ‘High Performance’ rock-bolter.
Description
Supervisor
Rinne, Mikael
Thesis advisor
Buxton, Mike
Keywords
rock-bolting, mine productivity, one-step bolting, pumpable resin, high performance
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Citation