BHP Jansen Final Mine Shaft Liner

Ledcor and partners Thyssen Mining and Redpath (TRL) built permanent concrete and steel liners for two potash mine shafts, each about 8 m wide and 1 km deep. The service and production shafts feature a ½” outside welded steel plate liner, 70 MPA steel fibre reinforced concrete (200–900 mm thick), a 65 mm inner welded liner, and grout 50–200 mm thick. Work included shaft equipping, temporary hoisting facilities, utilities, and designing and fabricating construction aids like the Galloway, slip form, ropes, and sheaves. Approximately 28,000 m³ of concrete and 6,700 MT of steel were used for the liners.

In addition, our scope of work comprised the modification, operation, and maintenance of the construction plant, including temporary hoisting facilities, headframe adjustments for lining and/or equipping, temporary ventilation systems, work platforms, storage areas, offices, winches, formwork, concrete buckets, pumps, pipework, cranes, and tools. The scope also covered the provision, installation, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of a wet concrete batching plant, as well as the alteration, operation, and upkeep of all plant facilities associated with the project’s works, structures, and systems. This included freeze plants, the collar house, hoist house, backup diesel generators, transformers, switchgear, mechanical and electrical workshops, working stages, hoists, winches, compressor buildings, compressors, headframe, steel plate preparation building, chillers, heaters, ventilation systems, ground support, in-shaft instrumentation, permanent materials, forms, equipment, tools, and primary liners forms, equipment, tools, and primary liners for each shaft.

TRL also provided Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) services for this project, the scope of which included planning the construction and equipping of the watertight lining system for the two shafts to meet design requirements. It also included the engineering and procurement of the necessary construction plant, equipment, and systems to complete the work and planning to support the operation and maintenance of surface and underground infrastructure and systems during construction.

Innovation on Project

Our team at Jansen used Monday.com to streamline data sharing between shaft operations and surface support teams. This digital platform replaced paper-based planning, enabling real-time updates and more accurate reporting through mobile or desktop devices. It also enhanced daily production reviews, allowing for quick resolution of construction issues, and improved communication about material readiness, permit requirements, task schedules, and documentation tracking. Overall, the system helped to reduce project delays and costs by providing immediate project status visibility to all stakeholders.

Achievements and Awards

Based on our continuous efforts to make safety our utmost priority at TRL, our onsite TRIF decreased considerably from 2.54 in 2019 to 0 in 2020.