Northparkes tunnelling trial

Panorama

Publishing Date: 07 Oct 2010 12:23pm GMT
Author: Paul Moore

Drilling & Blasting

Rio Tinto has announced that the first of three new underground excavation systems is now ready for full scale performance verification trials at the Northparkes copper and gold mine in New South Wales, Australia, in 2012.

The first system to be trialled is from Aker Wirth, and is based on the company's extensive experience in underground hard rock mining and tunnelling. The Aker Wirth machinery combines the flexibility of a road header operation with the robustness of a TBM and builds on a previous design developed in the early 1990s.

Aker Wirth, along with Herrenknecht and Atlas Copco, is one of three partners with whom Rio Tinto is working to develop new equipment and systems for the rapid construction of deep underground mines.

Aker Wirth CEO Christoph Kleuters said: "We are proud to have been selected by Rio Tinto as partner in this ambitious project. This system confirms Aker Wirth's commitment to maintain our position as technology leader in hard rock excavation for the underground mining and tunnelling industry."