Location: South Africa
Customer: Mine shaft development
company
Key benefit: Safe and dependable
stage operation
Case study
Requirement
A large mine shaft development company
required a system to stabilize the work
platform used for drilling blast holes. These
stage jacks, six each on the top and bottom
decks of the shaft sinking stage, have to
hold the platform in place during drilling, then
retract reliably so the platform can be hoisted
out of the shaft during blasting. Then the
platform is lowered again and the stage jacks
extended to keep it stable during mucking
and rock removal. With the safety of the
operation depending on the reliable extension
and retraction of these stage jacks, the shaft
development company needed actuators that
were robust, durable and dependable.
Solution
The heart of the stage jack system for this
OEM is the IMI Norgren RM/900 12-inch
bore actuator. This industry workhouse was
selected for shaft sinking because of its robust
construction and proven reliability under
challenging conditions. A local distributor fit
the RM/900 actuators with a special rounded
piston rod nose to interface solidly with the
shaft wall when the stage jack is extended. A
ratchet system then locks the jack in position
so it cannot be accidentally retracted. When
the drilling or removal operation is complete,
the actuators retract the stage jacks so the
platform can be removed efficiently.
For more information go to:
www.norgren.com/us/mining
Robust stage jacks support shaft
sinking operations
Engineering
GREAT
Solutions
Sector image used under license
from Shutterstock.com
© Norgren, Inc. 2015
