Modern Mining September 2022

Demand for battery minerals is prompting a surge of studies for new shaft developments.

UMS has embarked on a drive to re-establish the best design and shaft sinking team in the country. been contracted to engineer, design and construct the shaft sinking of new production and ventilation shafts for the Karowe Underground Mine Expansion Project, UMS has established a major training pro gramme on site. The training facility is providing an opportunity for young people to learn from industry veterans, and for skills to be transferred from expats to the local community. Rob Hull, COO of UMS, says that the company’s experience, unique skills set and skills transfer pro grammes have played a major role in securing shaft projects across four continents, all of which are cur rently in implementation phase. These, in addition to the Karowe project in Botswana, include amongst others, a new 1 500-metre-deep shaft at a copper mine in Brazil, a deep level access shaft for a client in New Mexico, USA, and a large decline project in South Africa. Graham Roberts, MD for UMS METS, UMS’s design division, adds that operating across different continents has exposed UMS to shaft sinking trends in other countries and has provided UMS with the opportunity to learn from its international peers, par ticularly their approach to mechanisation, safety and working conditions. “The way we sink shafts today is very different from how it was done a few decades ago,” says Roberts. “South Africa has always been known for its mining development skills, and has now also made great strides in aligning safety standards to those of the rest of the world. We continually adopt new technologies and enhance existing technologies

The company is actively employing younger people to close the skills gap between generations.

Skills transfer is one of the company’s key objectives.

September 2022  MODERN MINING  9