Shaft construction at Gubkin Mine

Work has been completed at KMAruda Works to choose a construction company to sink and construct a skip shaft at the Gubkin mine. Following a tender and discussions with five applicant firms, OAO Shakhtspetsstroi Trust was selected. An agreement was signed between the works and this organization concerning the performance of design work to sink and construct a skip shaft, namely: specialized work, surface outfitting and developing non-standard equipment, determining parameters and choosing the tubing and concrete supports for the shaft, organizing work to sink and reinforce the shaft. The shaft will be sunk using a special method: artificially freezing the stone. The shaft will have a diameter of 8 meters, while as of now the largest is 7 meters, at shaft No. 6. The new shaft will be equipped with four skips with a lifting capacity of 25 tonnes each. Presently, two skips with a capacity of 14.5 tonnes are operating at the works at shaft 3, and two 4-tonne skips at shaft 2. Thus, the capacity of the four new skips will meet the joint lifting capacity of the four existing skips. The new shaft will have a depth of 516.5 meters and will reach a horizon of 250 meters, which will be sunk simultaneously with the shaft. This work is the first stage in building a new mine, and the first step to fulfilling this task is to reach annual production of 7 million tonnes of quartzite.