Szkoła Eksploatacji Podziemnej

Vertical shaft sinking for underground transportation purposes is a very demanding technological process in mining and geotechnology which requires specific and specially designed technological equipment. At the same time it is a technological process that humanity deals with from its beginning, since mining is one of the oldest industries in the world.
The aim of the article “Vertical shaft sinking for underground transportation purposes in Slovenia” is to show the last two shaft sinking in Slovenia in low-strength rocks.

The first shaft sinking was for Holding of Slovenian Power Plants who invests in construction of the Pumped storage hydropower plant in Slovenia. The location of pumped storage hydro power plant is in western part of Slovenia. A lot of parts are underground. The project finished in March 2010. There is also a Vertical pressure shaft with a 190 meters of depth and a 4 meters of diameter for water transportation to the facility Pumped storage hydropower plant Avče. In a paper work is present all underground excavation works with support measures and a problems in this vertical pressure shaft which we had during the work.

The second shaft sinking is still in the progress. Velenje Coal Mine has made up the decision for the sinking of a coal production shaft, depth of 505 meters. In future the complete coal production (4 million tons per year) should be hoisted to surface instead of an inclined shaft by using a belt conveyor. The new shaft is foreseen for hoisting coal only and not for man riding or material-transport. We started with the preparation works in 2011 and with a shaft sinking in 2012. The aims of the paper is to show the preparatory work before the start of the actual work, describes the equipment required for the vertical shaft sinking, it shows the primary and secondary support measurements and monitoring of mining work at such facility.

With this article we would like to represent the mining field of shaft sinking in Slovenia in last years.