Nornickel's Polar Division to Acquire Rock Bolting Equipment

News
1 October 2019
In 2020, the mining facilities of Nornickel’s Polar Division will receive 42 units of Sandvik and Epiroc rock bolting machinery, including 21 self-propelled roof bolters, four fully mechanised cable bolting drill rigs and 17 units of ancillary equipment. The Company will spend RUB 2.5 bn on the acquisition.

Epiroc’s cable bolting rigs are a combination of ergonomics, productivity, versatility, safety and mobility. It also allows for automatic mixing for the cement grout. The machine has 500 kg of dry cement and approximately 775 m of 15.2 mm diameter bolting cable storage capacity. With a hole diameter range of 51–76 mm and 20 m mechanised drilling hole depth, the device can also be used as a secondary production drill rig.

The mining machinery purchase is planned in accordance with the Concept for Upgrading the Rock Bolting Systems in Underground Mines, which is aimed at lowering workplace injury rates, eliminating manual labour in unsupported areas of the

mine
, reducing the time required to complete a shaft sinking cycle and the mine idling period, as well as cutting the number of self-propelled equipment units and speeding up the delivery of solution to the production site. All the equipment was constructed in line with the design and technical specifications developed by engineers of Polar Division with due account for the local mining requirements based on their extensive hands-on experience of operating similar machines. Nornickel’s Polar Division facilities currently use 19 Sandvik and Epiroc roof bolters.