Rock Engineers:

Injection Resins will Rock your World

by Bryce Nhlapho

Bryce is a Project Manager for Minova Africa, where he started as a Laboratory Superintendent and devoted 100 percent of his practice to R&D, raw material testing and finished goods for five years. He then moved to the Projects Department conducting product demonstrations, training and product development. This helped acquire extensive experience in product knowledge and usage.

He was later promoted to a Project Manager Africa, managing, and seeking new projects for Minova Africa, far and wide both locally in South Africa and further north outside South African borders. Bryce has successfully conducted projects in water sealing, void filling chemical injection and in training mine personnel on product applications. He has attended training in Germany and Switzerland for chemical ground consolidation, water sealing void filling.

Injection resins offer the advantages of penetrating finer cracks, faster setting, better resistance to wash-out and flexibility of application.

Unconsolidated rock represents a major issue in tunneling and mining operations all around the world. Entire mining operations can therefore be at risk, putting not just the structures and machinery, but also the people in severe jeopardy. Unconsolidated ground within fault zones and the ore-body are frequently responsible for costly delays and downtime. Cavities and voids must be filled to prevent further collapses. Injection resin are used to consolidate the fractured strata, stabilise the ground, stop water inflows fill cavities to ensure faster and safer development. Rock reinforcement becomes more challenging as mines operate at deeper levels, with higher rock stresses affecting the stability of the strata.

Minova pioneered the use of pumpable resins for strata consolidation, stopping inflow of water and gas, void filling and rock bolting. Pumpable resins have been used all over the world, solving problems ranging from consolidating weak ground, sealing against gas and water inflows to cavity filling.

A suite of one and two component resins is used to tackle the wide range of strata control challenges encountered in underground excavations.

The most recent innovation extends the use of pumpable resins into rock bolting. Pumpable resins for rock bolting and cable anchoring are making a large impact and may cut months from development schedules, allowing production to start sooner.

Rock Bolting Challenges in Deep Mining Installation

In deep mining operations, traditional rock bolt solutions can have drawbacks for long-term rock reinforcement. The bolts can be difficult to install, especially in poor ground. This leads to quality concerns and longer installation times, creating bottlenecks in mining operations.

The Benefits Of Pumpable Resins

Pumpable resin offers significant benefits over traditional bolt fixing methods, saving time and reducing the risk of bolt failures during their expected lifetime.

As more mines experienced the problems outlined above, the need to improve the effectiveness of current resin and capsule cement grouts became apparent. Pumpable resins offered the solution. These resins are fast-acting, strong, stable and perform predictably across a range of temperatures. Pumpable resins can be used with cable bolts, as well as with hollow bolts, known asor self-drilling anchors. Open times can be adjusted to suit the application and the resins can be optimised to work in temperature ranges from 5°C upwards.

Pumpable resins ensure faster installation cycles, increased quality assurance and offer a lower lifetime cost. Apart from being easier to work with, they are safer too. Pumpable resin systems use automation which improves safety. There is no need to approach the rock face – the operator controls the whole installation from the safety of the cabin of the machine.

Minova is a leading supplier to the mining, tunnelling, civil and energy sectors. With sound and proven capabilities, Minova offers solutions for these sectors, based on continuous research and development.