Jowsey believes there is much to be gained from miners exchanging ideas and information with their civil engineering friends. An excellent opportunity to do just that is coming up next September when the Tunnelling Association and the National Research Council host the International Congress on Progress and Innovation in Tunnelling, in Toronto, Ont.
Jowsey was a mine engineer and supervisor for Inco Ltd. in Sudbury for many years. During that time, he visited numerous research facilities around the world where advanced mining research is being done. His grasp of the global context of mining technology is exemplary, having commissioned several studies by experts in various fields to determine (and, in some cases, just to confirm) what the state of the art is in those fields. One area which has a common application in both tunnelling and mining is the mechanical excavation of hard rock, a method which has several distinct advantages over conventional drilling and blasting techniques.
Advances in tunnel-boring machines (TBMs), used extensively for civil engineering projects, have been moving in a direction toward more thrust, and therefore the trend is towards heavier machines, weighing up to 300 tons (see Continuous Mining in our May, 1988 issue). For mining applications, where machines have to be transported underground in existing shafts or declines, TBMs are inappropriate, Jowsey points out. But developing a mechanical means of cutting hard rock is still extremely desirable for mining companies. The cost of ground support alone, if eliminated by mechanical excavation, could reduce overall mining costs by as much as 50%-80%. This could possibly be accomplished by using mechanical mining machines together with shotcreting machines which have improved dramatically in recent years. Other advantages of mechanical excavation over drill and blast include: lower ventilation requirements, greater operator safety and continuous operation. So, to the major mining companies involved in HDRK (Inco Ltd., Falconbridge Ltd., Noranda Inc., and, this month, lac Minerals), the expenditure of research dollars in this area is well worthwhile
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