Ground Support at Craigmont

A. J. PETRINA, Mine Manager,

Craigmont Mines Limited, Merritt, B.C.

ABSTRACT
At Craigmont Mines Limited, Merritt, B.C., tests were
begun in March, 1965 to evalua~e the use of shotcre!e as
a method of ground support m development h~admgs;
previously, ail drifts had. required suppo~t, wh1ch was
accomplished mainly by tJmber and occasiOnally by the
use of rockbolts. The tests demonstrated conclusively the
effectiveness of shotcrete for supporting Craigmont's
ground. Gradually, the use of timber for ground support
was virtually eliminated in favour of shotcrete.
This paper describes the equipment used, the operation
of the equipment, pertinent cast data and opera ting details.
Also discussed are other uses developed for the shotcreting equipment, the use of reinforcing bar rockbolts,
and a method used at Craigmont for lining long vertical
ore passes with steel plate and concrete as part of the
raising cycle.

DEFINITION OF SHOTCRETE
SHOTCRETE MA Y BE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

Mortar or concrete that bas been conveyed (by regulated air pressure or by a positive-displacement
pump or screw) through a bose and discharged
through a nozzle at high velocity onto a suitably prepared inflexible surface; the product, which bas been
premixed either dry (water added at the nozzle) or
wet (water added prior to entry into the bose) , is
sufficiently stiff at impaction to support itself without sagging from an overhead surface or sloughing
from a vertical surface.
Rebound is the mixture of spent shotcrete material,

leaner and coarser than the original mixture, that has

bounced off the surface during impaction; it is usually expressed as a percentage of the original mixture.
There are a number of proprietary terms such as
Truecrete, Blastcrete, Blocrete, Gunite, Guncrete, Jetcrete, Spraycrete, etc. used to describe shotcrete; they
are appropriate when the proprietary method or
equipment is involved.
The term gunite in Canadian mining practice commonly refers to that shotcreting process in which premixed dry sand and cement is conveyed pneumatically
through a bose, with water added at the nozzle. The
term shotcrete, as used henceforth in this paper, refers to the practice of premixing aggregate, cement
and water before conveying through a bose.

DESCRIPTION OF GROUND ,CONDITIONS

The main rock types encountered in underground
development at Craigmont are altered limy sediments
(greywacke and skarn), volcanics (andesite ) and intrusives (diorite ) . There is not much evidence of
pressure or squeezing in mine openings; support is
required because of the high degree of faulting, fracturing and jointing which affects all of the rock
types to a greater or lesser extent - ranging from
20-ft-plus zones of clayey fault gouge to "blocky"
ground with hairline fractures a foot or more apart.
Sorne ground seems to deteriorate slowly with prolonged exposure to air.

A. J. PETRINA, born in Sudbury,

Ontario, started out in mining at
MacLeod-Cockshutt Gold Mines Ltd.
in 1951 and worked for various Ont ::trio mines and contractors prior to
bein'l: admitted to Queen's University
in 1956. He graduated from Queen's
in 1959 with a B.Sc. in mining engineer in t;, spent fifteen months at Willroy Mines Ltd. and then joined Craigmont Mines Limited in 1960. He was
a.ppointed mine superintendent at
Cr aigmont in 1965, and mine manager
in May of 1968.
THE P AFER W AS PRESENTED: at the 70th Annual
General Meeting of the lnstitute, Vancouver, April, 1968.
KEYWORDS IN THIS P APER: Ground support, Craigmont Mines Ltd. , Shotcrete, Rockbolting, Drifting, Ore
passes, Concr eting, Steel lining.

(CIM) Bulletin for December, 1968

Trackless

shotcretiJ~g

equipment in travelling position.

1445

ORIGINAL ME1'HODS OF SUPPORT

Prior to the introduction of shotcrete, nearly all
of the underground development was supported by
timber sets or, on rare occasions, by rockbolts. Ordinary rockbolts were generally unsatisfactory for permanent support, because the fractured ground would
gradually deteriorate around the plate or else it would
be difficult t o get the expanding shell to anchor properly.
Drift sizes were 8 by 9 ft inside timber on secondary levels, and 10 by 9 ft inside timber on the main
haulage leve!; the timber sizes used were 3 by 8 ins.,
10 by 10 ins. and 12 by 12 ins., with 2 or 3 ins. of
rough lumber lagging. Set spacing varied, according
to ground conditions, from 10 or 12 feet to nil. In
many instances, the sets were little more than a
" shed" over the drift, and were required because the
fractured grou nd could not be scaled to solid; in other
cases, the ground would gradually, but steadily, slough
away so that good sturdy sets at close spacing were
required simply to support the weight of the caved
mate rial.
The timber sets had major disadvantages:
(i ) rock openings had to be 40 to 50 percent larger
than the act ua! clearances required;
(ii ) the back could not be arched;
( iii ) timber sets provided only point support;
(iv ) timber sets would not prevent slough, but
would only stop it from blocking the drift; in a great
many cases, sloughing eventually caused sets to yield
to the point where extensive retimbering Wft S necessary;
( v) timber sets deteriorated badly due to dry rot,
a lthough cuprinol treatment proved effective in delaying this;
( vi ) g ood timbermen are few and far between.

INTRODUCTION OF SHOTCRETE
Shotcrete was first used at Craigmont in March,
1965. It was proposed to first try a wet-mix machine
( water added in mixer ) rather than a dry-mix machine (water added at nozzle ) for these reasons:
(i ) better qu ality control; nozzlema n's guesswork is
eliminated; wet pre-mixing ens ures uniform
product to nozzle;
( ii ) sand does not have to be perfectly dry;

NOZZLE
A IR

VALVE

,_"'e:::
Figure 1.-Schematic view of the True Gun -all machine.

1446

( iii ) Jess dusting at nozzle;

(iv ) coarser aggregate can be used ;
(v ) lower air cons umption;
(vi ) easy to train operators.
The machine chosen for the first trials (and which
subsequently became the standard basic shotcreting
unit ) was the True Gun-all Mode! H pneumatic concrete machine. This unit consists of a 30-inch-diameter
mixing chamber ( 11 ft 3 ) , complete with mixing paddles rotated by air-motor drive, a batching hopper, a
water measuring deviee, a 2-inch material bose and
a nozzle ( F i gur e 1 ).

OPE.RATION
Craigmont is fortunate in having an ample deposit
of good sandy grave! a few hundred yards from one
of the main portais. It was found that by simply
screening the run-of-bank material through a 7/ 16inch screen, the sand which res ulted would produce,
when used in the True Gun-all machine, shotcrete with
a compressive strength ranging from 6,000 to 7,000
psi. This screened sand is taken into the mine in
Granby cars and dumped into lined raises (shotcreted ) , from where it is drawn as required.
A typical screen analysis of the sand is as follows:
Weight % On

Screen Number
4 . . .. .

8 .. .
14.. .. ..
28 ... . .. .... . . . .. . . .
48 ............. ..
. ....
100 ................. .
200 ... . . . .. .. . . . .. . . . .. . .. .
Pan ... . .... . .. . . . . . . . ... ..... . . .. . . . .

16.3
14.4
16.7
17.9
17.2
12.4
3.4
1.7

100.0
To apply shotcrete using the Mode! H True Gun-all
machine, screened sand is shovelled into the measuring hopper along with one bag of ordinary Portland
cement. When full, the hopper contains 41/2 cubic feet
of sand and one bag of cement, t o make one-sixth of
a yard of shotcrete. Opening an air-cylinder-operated
guillotine gate allows the material t o faU directly into
the mixing chamber, which, after closing the gate, is
pressurized t o a bout 60 psi. Once the gate is closed,
the next batch can be shovelled into the hopper. Along
the axis of the mixing chamber is a rotating shaft
with severa! paddles attached; the rotation of the
shaft causes rubber blades on the ends of the paddles
to wipe the entire inner surface of the drum, as weil
as mix the ingredients.
A measured amount of water (3 t o 4 gallons, depending on the moisture content of the sand ) is introduced into the tank, and, after a minute or so of
mixing, the material valve is opened, permitting the
con crete to flow along the bose to the nozzle; more
compressed air is introduced at the nozzle through a
separate air line to give the material added velocity.
The action of the rotating paddles forces alternating
"slugs" of air and concrete into the bose in such a
way that a very thick mix can be pushed through up
to 250 feet of 2-in. bose. The nozzleman tries to keep
the spray normal to the surface being gunned, and
at a distance of 3 to 6 feet, to minimize rebound
!osses. Cycle time per batch is usually five minutes or
Jess.
The concrete produced by the True Gun-all process
is, by virtue of its low water content, no-slump concrete. It adheres weil to almost any rock surface and

The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical

Replacing timber sets with shotcrete.

Rail-mounted shotcreting equipment in the travelling

position - note the self-unloading sand car.

can be applied up to 2 inches thick on a vertical wall

and up to 1 1f2 inch es thick on a drift back. The rock
requires no preparation ( other than scaling) before
gunning; the shotcrete will adhere to a dry dusty
surface or a clean wet one as long as the surface is
not making water.
When a quick set is required, calcium chloride,
amounting to 2 per cent of the weight of the cement,
is added to the mix. This gives a fair set in an hour,
and after two hours a nail cannat be driven into the
shotcrete. The thickness applied depends on ground
conditions; the more fractured and friable the ground,
the thicker the shotcrete application. Generally, a first
coat would not be much more than an inch thick, with
additional thicknesses built up by additional coats.
The shift boss or shift foreman decides how thick the
shotcrete is to be applied, and whether or not standard rockbolts or re-bar rockbolts are necessary in addition to the shotcrete. The range of thickness would
be from Jess than an inch to 3 or 4 inches.

Severa! short raises in very bad ground were shotcreted to a height of about 50 feet. The main difficulty
in gunning small raises was in getting the nozzle far
enough away from the surface to be gunned. There
was a!so a problem in communications between the
nozzleman and mixer operator.
The No. 1 ore body service winze, a vertical opening
about 17 by 17 feet and 570 feet high, was supported
by shotcrete during the sinking process. The procedure was to set up a Mode! FSM True Gun-all machine
in the deepest completed station, and, with the material hose suspended in the pipe compartment, gun the
walls after each bench was blasted; upon sinking to
the next station, 90 feet lower, the Gun-all machine
would be moved down. Sand was brought to the appropriate station by passing it down from the top deck
through a 6-inch pipeline, which later became the drain
li ne.

Ground Support after Removal of

Deteriorated Timber
VARIOUS APPLICATIONS OF SHOTCRETING
Ground Support in New Development
After the initial test work commenced in March of
1965, additional shotcrete machines were put into use
until finally the use of timber for ground support in
drifting was virtually eliminated.
Shotcreting was incorporated into the drifting cycle in three ways, depending on grou nd conditions:
(a ) After blasting a round, the new back would be
gunned before mucking out; after mucking out,
the walls would be gunned and the back regunned.
(b) After mucking out a newly blasted round, the
walls and back would be gunned before drilling,
with perhaps a second coat on the preceding
round.
(c) Severa! rounds would be advanced before applying any shotcrete at ali. Even when shotcrete is
carried right to the face, back-break from blasting the next round is not significant.
When trackless development was undertaken on a
large scale, the practice was adopted of drilling perimeter holes not more than 2 feet apart and blasting
them with Xactex, thereby reducing scaling time and
generally improving conditions prior to shotcreting.

(CIM) Bulletin for December, 1968

Where timber has begun to fail through dry-rot or

excessive weight of slough in the main adits (which
were driven prior to 1961), most of the repair work is
now done with shotcrete. Faulty sets are toppled by
pulling them over with a locomotive. Generally, a considerable amount of rubble collapses with the timber,
and ali exposed rock surfaces are gunned before removing the debris; after clean-up, the walls are
gunned right down to the floor.

Construction of Ventilation Bulkheads,

Seals and Doors
Shotcreting has proved to be an ideal way to construct ventilation bulkheads. The bulkhead is first
constructed of 2-inch rough lagging and 4- by 6-in.
posts, and then gunned with 2 or 3 inches of shotcrete
to make a perfectly air-tight seal. The shotcrete adheres weil to wood.
The procedure in building a large door is to first
construct a light wood wall across the opening, place
the channel iron door frame against the wall and gun
around the frame until the shotcrete is as deep as the
channel. If desired, reinforcing rods can be placed in
the wet shotcrete during the gunning process.

1447

Whitewashing
By substituting an appropriate whitewash mixture
for sand and cement, a fast and efficient job of wliitewashing can be done with the shotcreting equipment.

Filling Forms
The use of the True Gun-al! machine in filling forms
in awkward places was tested by using the material
hose instead of conventional wheel-barrow transport.
Results were totally unsatisfactory due to air pockets
and accumulations of loose rebound material.

VARIATIONS TO EQUIPMENT
F or different applications, the True Gun-all Mode!
H blower is used in various combinations with other
equipment:
( i ) Track-mounted blower; hopper filling by hand;
n ozzle held by hand; sand in Granbys or big
flat-cars; transported by locomotives; three-man
crew.
( ii ) Track-mounted blower; nozzle mounted on fully
articulated hydraulic boom; hopper filled by
screw conveyor out of self-unloading cars; transported by locomotives; two-man crew.
( iii ) Rubber-tire-mounted blower; towed behind diesel truck; sand and cement on truck; nozzle held
by hand; hopper filled by hand; three-man crew.
( iv ) Rubber-tire-mounted blower; towed behind specially built truck; nozzle mounted on fully arti- cu lated hydraulic boom; hopper filled by screw
conveyor out of truck box; two-man cre w.

True- Gun-all ~Repair

and Maintenance for 68,817 batches,

Shotcreting \in~Trackless

Development (12 x 12) Shotcreting labour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.32

Repair and maintenance on Gun-all
machines... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.51
Repair and!maintenance on remaining shotf creting equipment. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.63
Supplies (cement, calcium chloride , etc.)
1.67
Sand .. . .. .. ..........................
.21

>:

12'

1964 Costs for 8 x 9 Timbered Drift ttrack), based on 6,496

feet of drift
Direct labour and bonus ...... . .... . ... . $21.14 per foot
Drills ............... . . . ... . .. . . . .. .
3.32
4.48
Blasting ................ . .... . .. .. .. . .
Mucking (Eimco 21) . . . . . .. . . .. . .... .. .
1.30
8.97
Timber ............. .... . ............ .
Rockbolting ........ . ... ... ..... . . . . . . .
.84
Track ..... . . . .. . . . . .. . ... . . ... .
3.25
Haulage (to ore or waste pass) . . .. . ...... .
1.06
$44.36 per foot
In the above, roughly 25 per cent of the labour can
be attributed to timbering, and the cost of timbering
per foot of drift would then be $14.25 (see F igure 2).
1967 Costs for 12 x 12 Shotcreted Drift (trackless), based on
11,144feet
Direct labour and bonus (except
shotcreting) ... . ............... . .. . . . . $11.53 per foot
Drilling . . ............................ . 10.45
. . . .... .
8.88
Blasting.... .. . . ...........
Mucking (Wagner ST4A) ...... .. . ... .. .
5.62
Rockbolting ..... . . .... ... . . .. . . .. .. .. .
.93
Shotcreting (labour included) . ........... . 15.62
$53.03 per foot

*1968 Costs for 12 x 12 Shotcreted Drift (trackless), based

on 5,658 feet
Drilling (labour included) ........ . ... .. . $ 9.80 per foot
Blasting (labour included) . ... ... .
13.28
6.39
Mucking (labour included) .... .
Shotcreting (labour included) . .......... .
15.61
Miscellaneous (rock bol ting, timber, etc. ).
2.65
$47.73 per foot
*Costing system changed

$5.34 per batch

12'

COST COMPARISON

Haulage to the ore or waste pass is included in the

mucking costs (see F igure 2).

COST OF SHOTCRETING
$0.51 per batch,

Approximately 2.9 batches are used per foot of 12

by 12 trackless drift; theoretically, this should resuit in more than a 4-in. thickness of shotcrete on ali
rock surfaces. In practice, the rebound !osses are from
20 to 30 per cent, the measuring hoppers are never
quite filled and extra gunning jobs are included in the
drifting statistics (vent doors and bulkheads, repair
gunning ), with the result that the average thickness
of shotcrete on drift surfaces is from 1lj2 to 2 inches.

Haulage costs to the ore or waste pass in trackless

drifts are included in the ST4A mucking costs.
Theoretical Cost of 12- by 12-ft Timbered Drift (trackless)
This comparison is based on current cost s for wages,
timber and other materials and makes the following assumptions:
(i) 12 by 12 ft inside timber is big enough for trackless equipment;
(ii) rock opening must be 15 by 13 72 ft to get 12 by 12
ft inside timber;
(iii) 15-ft-wide drift can be supported by timber.

SHOTCRETEO

CRIFT

r
"'

The comparison then becomes:

Drilling ..
Blasting ..
Mucking . . . .
Shotcreting ..... .
Timbering .. . .
Miscellaneous . . ..

Shotcreted Drift
(actual costs)

Timbered Drift
(estima ted costs)

$ 9.80 per ft
13.28
6.39
15.61

$13.20 per ft
17.90
9.90

2.65
$47.73 per ft

Figure 2.-Comparison of an 8- by 9-ft timbered drift

with a 12- by 12-ft shotcreted drift.

1448

24.00
$65.00 per ft

The estimated cost of using timber support is 36

per cent higher than the cost of using shotcrete.

The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical

SUMMARY AND RE-MARKS

(1)
It is apparent from the preceding cost data
that substantial savings have been effected at Craigmont through the use of shotcrete in lieu of timber in
development work. In addition to the direct saving,
there is also a considerable cost advantage in being
able to make the shotcreted opening much smaller
than the timbered opening to get the same final clearance. Resistance factors for ventilation are lower in
shotcreted drifts; experience to date has shown that
the cost of maintaining a shotcreted drift will be substantially Jess than that of a timbered drift.
(2)
Not all ground can be supported by shotcrete.
Ordinary shotcrete will not adhere to ground that is
making water; sorne of the ground at Craigmont was
so incompetent that the weight of the freshly blown
shotcrete would pull off a layer of back. Badly squeezing ground can only be supported to a limited extent
by shotcrete, as evidenced in drifts along the wall of
the Craigmont open pit. Quite often, it is necessary
to use, in addition to shotcrete, standard rockbolts, or
reinforcing bar rockbolts, particularly when drifting
through strong flat-lying slips.
(3)
Failure of shotcrete rarely occurs without
warning; small hairline cracks will appear days before
a piece will actually drop off. The appearance of cracks
does not necessarily augur a fall of grou nd; the failures usually occur in very friable ground when the
layer of shotcrete is not thick enough. If the appearance of cracks is considered to be a warning of failure,
or if a failure has already occurred, the area is rescaled and regunned and is usually as good as new.
( 4)
Surprisingly little resistance was evident at
Craigmont with the introduction of shotcreting as a
means of ground support. Both supervisors and workers seemed to recognize very soon the superiority of
shotcreting in the particular conditions they had to
deal with, and before long there was a decided resistance to timbering for support. Training shotcrete
operators is relatively easy, as no special skills are required; a man can be taught to opera te the machine
in a few hours, and can become quite proficient in a
few days.

Literature on Shotcrete
The writer recommends the paper "The New Austrian Tunnelling Method," by Prof. L. V. Rabcewicz,
Water Power, November, 1964, and "Engineering
Properties of Shotcrete," by William R. Lorman, May,
1966, Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information. The latter publication contains an
extensive bibliography on information published on
shotcreting.

RE-BAR ROGKBOLTING
In particularly bad ground or under special circumstances, reinforcing bar rockbolts are used for extra
support in addition to the shotcrete. The boit consists
of ordinary % -inch-diameter deformed reinforcing bar
eut into 5- or 8-ft lengths.

(CIM) Bulletin for December, 1968

Figure 3.-A re-bar "pig."

When ground is bad enough to require re-bar bolts,

no bolting is undertaken until the area has been weil
shotcreted. The procedure followed is to drill the required length of 1% -in.-diam. hole, fill the hole with
mortar (consisting of half mortar sand, half cement
and water) and emplace the re-bar boit either with a
sledge hammer or a rockdrill. A small concrete placer
(known locally as a "cement pig," Figure 3), with a
length of l-in. flexible polythene pipe, is used to place
the mortar in the hales; usual practice is to drill ali
the holes before setting up the placer, and then set
all the bolts without interruption. Calcium chloride is
often added to the mortar to speed up setting time.
Performance on installing re-bar rockbolts is 6.53
bolts per manshift. In the trackless development, bolting amounts to an average of one re-bar per 15 feet
of drift and one conventional boit per 2.7 feet of drift.
Re-bar bolts continue to provide support even if the
material around the collar of the hole sloughs away,
whereas a conventional rockbolt is useless once the
ground against the plate deteriorates. It is for this
reason that the re-bar bolts are used at Craigmont in
extremely friable ground, or to make a "tie" across a
strong slip plane.
Numerous pull-out tests conducted on installed rebar bolts showed that the boit would break before the
concrete bond would fail. Chemically grouted bolts
also have this property, but are considerably more expensive than the re-bar system.

STEEL-LINED RAISES
The Need for Lined Raises
Experience at Craigmont has shown that an unlined
raise, after passing 200,000 tons or Jess of ore or
waste, will deteriorate to the point where it can no
longer be used. Renee, an important part of the conversion to underground mining was the installation
of lined ore passes able to withstand the abrasion and
impact of large tonnages.
It was decided to provide circular vertical ore
passes, lined with 1h-in.-thick CHT 360 steel plate and

1449

Steel-Lined Ra ise Costs, 1966-1967

$ 8.23 per foot

Pilot hole - 8-in. diameter . .. . . .. . . ... .

Po~:u~ing concrete (labour included) ..... .
Rrusmg ................ . ..........
Steel plates (materi al only) ............ .
Mise. shop hardware ............... . . .
Preparation for raising (7 alimak set-ups)

46.00

53.20
104.30
6.92

4.42
$223.07 per foot

Not included -

access drifts and raise cut-outs

haulage leve! chutes
chain controls, transfer points, etc.
mine services

with approximately 9 inches of concrete backing to

the rock. The inside diameter was to be approximately
7 feet, with the circle being made up of sixteen plates,
16 inches wide (Figure 4) . The plates are 2 metres
high, weigh about 180 pounds each and have eight
% -inch Nelson stud anchors on the concrete side.
Three mild steel lugs welded to the bottom of each
plate serve to anchor the plate during the concrete
pou ring cycle (Figure 5 ) . One plate in sixteen bas
two holes drilled near the top to provide a means of
anchoring the Alimak monorails, which are also 2 metres high.

Description of Raising Method

The job was accomplished as follows: On the main
haulage leve!, a permanent concrete and steel chute
was constructed in the raise eut-out in such a way
as to permit the Alimak raise climber to enter and
leave the raise through the chute and yet permit the
tramming of the raise muck out of the chute. From
the leve! above, a 4-in.-diam. pilot hole was drilled
down the center of the raise and reamed to an 8-in.
diameter.
A 4-in.-i.d. heavy-duty pipe was suspended in the
hole with a tugger at the top to raise and lower the
pipe; the pipe itself was in 2-metre lengths, with
threaded couplings. To start the steel and concrete
lining, a 2-ft-high base ring was installed in the raise
just above the chute and concreted in. The base ring
bas sixteen sides and in plan view is identical to the
final raise configuration. At this point, the normal
raising cycle was commenced.
The cycle is as follows:
A-Shift - Assuming that a round bas been blasted
on the previous shift ( Figure 6 ) , A-Shift trams
the muck out of the raise and lowers the 4-in.diam. concrete pipe into the raise by adding 2metre lengths of pipe to the top end. The two-man
raise crew climbs the raise with a 2-metre Alimak monorail section, and installs it (Figure 7 ) .
Then they dismantle the blasting ring, taking it
down the raise, and attach the portable tugger to
the Alimak deck. One man goes up with sixteen
angle brackets and one stays below and sends up
the first liner plate (the one with the two holes ) .
The first plate is installed and bolted to the monorail. The remaining fifteen plates are sent up
and installed one at a time, using the angle clips
and working outward from the first plate. After
al! plates are installed, the raiseman descends to
get his partner, sorne blocking, the concrete bose
( "elephant trunk") and the center support ring.
They then install the above items, descend the
raise and remove the tugger from the platform

------------- ~

Figure 4.-Plan of a vertical steel-Jined ore pass.

(Figu1e 8).

fx ,~ NELSON~
SHEAR

CONNECTOR '

rr

rr

=
fABRICATEO

'1

FROM

C H.T.

STEEL

0i~
...'lj.r

or::

,. ... ~

s'.sf-

Figure 5.-0re-pass liner plate.

1450

One rais eman ascends the rai se; the other,

with two labourers, goes to the top of the pilot
hole to pour concrete. They pour concrete to within 3 inches of the top of the plates, using an airpowered vibrator to distribute the concrete, and
moving the "elephant trunk" whenever necessary.
The center support ring prevents deflection of
the plates due to the pressure of the concrete .
Then, the man on the raise climber removes the
"elephant trunk" and descends the raise. The crew
on top cleans the mixer, flushes the pipe and
hoists the concrete pipe three lengths out of the
hole.

B-Shift -

The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical

u
4" ID

PIPE

n
-

SM OIAM

PILOT

HOLE

li

ll
ROUND
BLASTEO

BLASTING

RING

MONORAIL

SECT~
APPROX

15' TO 17'

~:. 1

LOOSE

MUCK

... ,

F"' .~

'~

' !~

..:t;t

:.C:.,'f,

~-

,- ~

-;-::".-:-:

.~i~
~:

~(~

'"tr

11 '1

~r
. .. m

-{}-

'

.. ... r,l

::

~;

::. i

....

.,

.'
'

Figure 6.-(1) Showing

conditions immedia;tel'y
after blasting a round. ASHIFT (2 men) starts the
cycle by drawing the
broken muck out of the
ra ise.

Figure 7.- (2) A-Shift

(2 men) adds one 2-metre
length of concrete pi pe.
(3) Enters raise with 2metre monorail section.
(4) Scales raise, cleans
loose muck from top of
concrete, and removes
blasting header and blasting ring. (5) Installs
monorail section. (6) Descends raise with blasting
ring. (7) Mounts Pikrose
tugger with Alimak; one
man goes up with angle
brackets, one stays down
and sends up first liner
plate. (8) Installs first
liner plate, attaching to
monorail.

Two raise miners ascend the raise, drill

off a raise round at !east 2 metres long ( Figure
9) , remove the center support ring and install
the blasting header and the blasting ring which
protects the top of the plate; they th en load and
blast the round.

C-Shift -

In arder that the raise round may be blasted 9 feet

away from eight-hour-old concrete, Sikacrete is used;
this is a liquid accelerator which is added in the cement mixer in a ratio of about three gallons to the
yard. In over 1,600 feet of raise, there were only two
instances in which plates were dislodged from the
fresh concrete by blasting.
One lap of a raise was driven 365 feet from the
same Alimak set-up by leaving a window in the lining
at a leve! halfway up and servicing from that point;
the Alimak went below the window only when blasting.

(CIM) Bulletin for Oecember, 1968

Figure 8.-(9) Still on AShift, the remaining fifteen liner plates are sent
up and are installed. (Ht)
Go down for center support ring, sorne block and
concrete hose. (11) Hang
center support ring, hook
up concrete hose, block
plates into final position,
taping wide joints if necessary, and remove tugger from Alimak platf o r m. This completes
A-Shift's work.

Figure 9.- (12) On BSHIFT, one raise man ascends the raise; the other
raise man, with two labourera, goes to the top
of the pilot hole to pour
concrete. (13) Pour concrete to within 3 inches of
the top of the plate, using
the air vibrator. (14) Remove concrete hose. (15)
Remove two 2-metre
lengths of 4-inch concrete
pipe. This completes BShift's work. (16) CSHIFT (2 men) ascends
the raise and drills off
the round. (17) Remove
center support ring, install the blasting ring and
blasting header, and blast
the round. This completes
C-Shift's work.

Drilling Pilot Holes

Access to the raises was available from existing
Jevels at vertical intervals not grea ter than 190 feet;
it was from these levels that the pilot hales we're drilled, so that the longest pilot hale was 190 feet. The
pilot hales were ali dawn holes, collared on the center
of the raise, and in ali cases, except one, broke through
within the 9-ft-diam. raise opening. A Gardner-Denver
133 rockdrill mounted on an Air Trac drilled the pilot
holes using 10-foot Series 1800 hex-rods, with a 4inch T.C. four-wing bit on the first pass and an 8-inch
T.C. four-wing bit on the second pass.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer thanks those who assisted in the preparation of this paper, and also the management and directors of Craigmont Mines Limited for the opportunity to present the paper and for their encouragement
in the development of the ideas described herein.

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