The University of the Witwatersrand’s (Wits’) Centre for Mechanised Mining Systems (CMMS) will host a rock cutting technology course focused on hard rock boring and coal mining applications next month.

The objective of the course, which will run from November 10 to 14, is to create dramatic improvements in safety by eliminating risk exposure.

The use of machinery to realise this objective is the primary route the industry should pursue with greater vigour than before, says CMMS director Dr Declan Vogt, adding that the use of machinery removes people from harm.

Machinery that can directly cut rock has the additional benefit of improving productivity by enabling continuous operation.

When it comes to mechanical cutting, Vogt says, drilling is already an established mining technique. Raiseboring has also been successfully and effectively used in mining excavations for many years, generally at inclinations greater than 45º. Technologies to bore at inclinations as low as 30º are well advanced.

Meanwhile, tunnel boring, which is a widely adopted method of excavating tunnels in the civil construction industry, is still rarely used in mining applications.

Vogt says engineers with sound knowledge of the principles and tools of rock cutting are essential in developing innovative mechanised mining solutions.

The content of the course will provide a mixture of lectures and case studies by industry and university presenters. The content will include the basics of tunnel and raiseboring, boring equipment, geomechanical issues, equipment design considerations for inclinations from 0 to 15º, 15º to 40º and 40º to 90º, modelling and prediction of boring performance, project management, engineering considerations and equipment maintenance.

Course presenters include Wits School of Mining Engineering’s Professor Dick Stacey, Wits CMMS’s Professor Jim Porter, consulting engineering and project implementation firm Hatch Goba contractual affairs director Andy Griffiths, ventilation and refrigeration consulting engineering firm Bluhm Burton Engineering director Dr Steven Bluhm and JSE-listed drilling services provider Master Drilling executive and technical director Koos Jordaan, to name a few.

The course fee to attend the full five-day course is R14 000. Wits equates the course to NQF Level 9 and it is also a formal course featured in the postgraduate programme of the School of Mining Engineering, which houses the CMMS.