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Svea North is located some 40 km from the main town of Longyearbyen. The mine produced an output of nearly 2. Million t from its single longwall face in 2003. Average output per miner of 75 t / shift makes it one of the most efficient underground coal mines in the world.
Svea North is located some 40 km from the main town of Longyearbyen. The mine produced an output of nearly 2. Million t from its single longwall face in 2003. Average output per miner of 75 t / shift makes it one of the most efficient underground coal mines in the world.
Svea North is located some 40 km from the main town of Longyearbyen. The mine produced an output of nearly 2. Million t from its single longwall face in 2003. Average output per miner of 75 t / shift makes it one of the most efficient underground coal mines in the world.
Spitsbergens main town of Longyearbyen, and there is a fully-functioning mine encampment at the site. There is no road, and the only access is by boat in summer, snowmobile in winter, or by the daily flights into the airstrip. Despite its remote location, Svea North produced an output of nearly 2.7 million t from its single longwall face in 2003. Indeed, in October, 2003, the mine pro- duced a creditable 460,000 t, taking it to the number one position in Europe. Average output per miner of 75 t/shift makes it one of the most efficient under- ground coal mines in the world. The seam averages 3.8 m thick, with few geological faults, and good overall conditions. It lies under 400 m of rock and 200 m of ice at its deepest, while at its shallowest point, there is just 50 m of rock between the coal seam and the glacier. The estimated coal reserve is 40 million t, of which SNSK expects to mine something like 32 million t. It is a very marketable product at 32 MJ/kg, with a low ash content of 5%, and a low sulphur content at 0.6%. Svea North is accessed by simply driving into the drift in a conventional four-wheel drive vehicle. SPITSBERGEN, NORWAY FACE DRILLING 43 Tunnelling Beneath a Glacier Record Performance Spitsbergen, a Norwegian archipel- ago located in the Arctic ocean some 12 degrees south of the North Pole, was first mapped officially by Dutch sailor Willem Barents in the late 16th century. Russian geologist, VA Rusanov, discovered extensive coal deposits in 1912, which are currently exploited under an international treaty. Svea North mine, developed in 1999, is located beneath a glacier, over which owner SNSK has had to haul its output along an ice road to the port area. The solution was to drive a tunnel beneath the glacier and replace trucks with conveyor. In this remote and harsh location, con- tractor Leonhard Nilsen & Sonner (LNS) needed reliable equipment with good manufacturer support. They chose an Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer L2 C drillrig, and not only completed on time, but also broke a few tunnelling records along the way! Svea North is accessed by sea during the summer. Charging the face from the rig basket. FD3/15 p43-45 29/3/04 7:27 am Page 43 Since production commenced, a com- bination of on-off highway trucks and ADTs has hauled the coal the 6 km or so from the stockyard at the pit entrance to the port area, making up to 50,000 journeys/year. As the fjord freezes during winter, the coal is kept in a 1.6 million t-capacity stockpile beside the port until the ships can again make their way to the dock. Keeping an ice road open in such a climate is not easy, with around NKr 5 mil- lion/year spent on grading alone, to main- tain the required capacity of 16,000 t/day. The wear and tear on trucks and loading equipment added greatly to this bill, making it imperative that an alternative solution be found. SNSK decided to replace the ice road with a tunnel under the glacier. The 2.6% dipping tunnel alignment lies beneath the production seam, and it is designed to house both a conveyor system, and a channel to drain ground water percolating through the mine from a lake beneath the glacier. The mine has suffered problems with excessive water, despite its powerful installed pump station and lengthy pipelines. Water ingress is greater in summer because of the thaw, evidenced by the longwall being put out of action by flooding for much of July and August, 2002. Tunnel Drivage LNS was awarded the contract for the 5.6 km-long x 38 sq m tunnel, and started its development in November, 2002, using a new Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer L2 C drillrig. Planned advance of 100 m/week was easily exceeded, with a world drill/blast record of 150 m being achieved in the best week. This rate of advance is normally achieved using TBMs, and is extremely significant for a drill and blast operation because of the dramatic difference in capi- tal employed. Rock conditions are relatively soft, competent and not generally abrasive, although there is some quartzite intrusion. LNS used 48 mm bits with three holes in front and ballistic buttons, which lasted from 300-500 m before regrinding. For each round, the blastholes were drilled to depths of 5 m and took around 1.5-3 min- utes apiece, with 75-76 holes required for a full pattern. Productivity was kept at a high average rate, with LNS achieving 3-4 rounds/day, and sometimes five. In the worst conditions, this dropped to two rounds/day. For charging the upper holes and the cut, the Rocket Boomer was equipped with a Dyno hose charger mounted in the basket. With this device it was possible to regulate the volume of explosives injected into each hole. A second hose was used manually for charging the holes in the lower part of the face, without the option to regulate the volume of explosives injected. A standard emulsion explosive was used, mixed in the hole and detonated using Nonel. Emulsion explosives are more expensive than ANFO, but their much-reduced blasting fumes allow opera- tors to return to the face quicker after each blast. Another advantage is that emulsion components can be transported under the flammable material rules, and are not classified as explosive until they are in the hole. The mucking operation took around 1.5-2 h for around 380 t of blasted rock. A conventional loader was used, with a fleet of six trucks, with a grader keeping the roadway clear and smooth. A face crew of six was sufficient for each of the two SPITSBERGEN, NORWAY 44 FACE DRILLING Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer L2 C at the face. FD3/15 p43-45 29/3/04 7:27 am Page 44 shifts/day, while the total LNS crew on this project was 52. The tunnel was started in permafrost, with a 400-500 m transition zone at each end to reach solid rock. In these zones, melting ice caused problems with the shot- crete application. LNS employed an accel- erant in the shotcrete mix, and reinforced it with steel fibres. Two rockbolts were gen- erally required for each metre advance, but problems with rock pressures sometimes necessitated more extensive bolting, and use of a hydraulic scaler. Polyester roof- bolts were replaced by 2.4 m and 3 m Swellex Manganese bolts in some of the more difficult areas. The drill and blast portion of the tunnel project is now complete. Fitting out, and installation of the ventilation and conveyor systems, should be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2004. Equipment Modifications The Rocket Boomer L2 C drillrig was fitted with Atlas Copcos ABC Regular control package, which indicates the hole positions, but does not include full-function automatic boom movement. The contractor has had experience using a computerized Rocket Boomer XL3 C on the Norwegian mainland, but it was still a major decision to send an RCS drillrig to a remote location like Spitsbergen. During commissioning, Atlas Copco provided three or four days of basic training at site to the new operators. The instructor then remained in support for another three weeks, and returned some months later for a week of follow-up training. The contrac- tor has taken care of maintenance and operation of the rig during the entire pro- ject using his own people, without the need of outside assistance. In the transition zone between the per- mafrost and the rock, it was found that the conventional anti-jamming system fitted to the drillrig did not give sufficient warning of jamming, resulting in some rod damage. Atlas Copco suggested an alternative pro- gram, which suited the conditions better by simultaneously monitoring rotation, feed rate and water flow. This resolved the problem, and there were no more instances of rod damage caused by jamming. By agreement with LNS, Atlas Copco evolved a package of spares suited to the remoteness of the operation. However, reliability was good, and only the usual service parts such as filters and hoses were required. The SNSK mine also has an Atlas Copco Swell bolter, originally supplied in 1986. This rig was rebuilt in 2001 and equipped with the new HBU bolting unit with a COP 1028 hydraulic rock drill. This bolting unit is used in parts of the mine with hard sandstone layers, where rotary drilling cannot be used. Svea Norths future looks good. The mine has a projected life until 2013, and there are another two deposits of 3.5 and 2.7 million t nearby that SNSK may wish to develop. The company is also car- rying out exploration work elsewhere on Spitzbergen. I Acknowledgements Atlas Copco is grateful to SNSK and LNS for permission to publish this article, which is derived from a site report written by Mike Woof, editor of World Mining Equipment magazine. SPITSBERGEN, NORWAY FACE DRILLING 45 Rockbolts and shotcrete provide the main support. FD3/15 p43-45 29/3/04 7:27 am Page 45