Lappberget up and running

2008 Dec 03

After perfecting its long-hole drilling techniques at the Tyskgården orebody, the Garpenberg mine is now well under way with sub-level stoping at its new Lappberget orebody. With Simba and Cabletec drill rigs playing a central role in the operation, this 800-year-old mine is making good use of modern technology.

Sweden?s Boliden mining company marked its 50th year as owner of the Garpenberg mine in 2007 after producing a record 1,218 million tonnes of ore. ?It was a good year,? says Mine Manager Tom Söderman, ?and now we are building on that success. There are a lot of positive things happening. We are upgrading the ventilation and electrical systems, increasing our focus on safety. We expect to gain ISO 14001 environmental management certification, and OHSAS 18001 working environment certification, by the end of 2008.?

As part of the package, this 800-year old mine, which lies 180 km northwest of Stockholm, uses state-of-the-art equipment to mine the zinc, copper, lead and precious metals.

Open stoping at the Lappberget orebody, discovered in 1998, is a good example. Here the mine is using high precision, long-hole drilling, previously perfected at its Tyskgården orebody, as well as mechanized cable bolting with automatic mixing of cement.

The stopes are 20-30 m high and 10-15 m wide in the primary stopes. Secondary stopes are 15-20 m wide. Drilling is carried out using Atlas Copco Simba M6 C and Simba M7 C production drill rigs along with an Atlas Copco Cabletec LC cable bolting rig.

At one of the primary stopes at the 1,060 level, drilling of up-hole fans is carried out with the Simba M7 C and T38 rods. Holes vary in length up to 25 m and are 76 mm in diameter.

Epiroc operated under the trademark “Atlas Copco” prior to January 1, 2018.