Finnish mining equipment manufacturer and construction chemicals supplier Normet will roll out the Minimec mechanised concrete spraying robot during the first quarter of 2013 – one of two firsts for the company, among the orders it has received for specialist underground equipment during its first six months in South Africa.

“We are expecting big things from the Minimec,” says Normet Africa GM Gary Clench.

This machine is designed to work in confined spaces. It will operate in tunnels that are 2.1 m high, although the required height can be reduced to 1.8 m, with minor modifications. With its telescopic boom, it can cover up to 8 m in height and 6.4 m in width, with a spraying distance of 1.5 m.

Designed especially for smaller-scale sprayed concrete works, it is the recommended solution for mechanised spraying in escalator and tunnel shafts, in tunnels with a smaller diameter or in places that are inaccessible to larger machinery.

Clench has set his sights on the gold and platinum mining operations, saying that “this small, mobile and robust shotcrete robot is ideal for the narrow stopes encountered in these mines”.

The first machine, the fifth of Normet’s production line, arrived in South Africa in November last year and, following the commissioning of Normet Africa’s base in Jet Park, Gauteng, a programme has been compiled to introduce it to potential customers.

“The Minimec has been fitted with a locally manufactured shotcrete pump while the chemicals for the shotcreting are also produced in South Africa,” he adds.

Meanwhile, a new generation Normet Spraymec 1050 concrete sprayer has been earmarked for the Lift 11 project at diversified miner Rio Tinto’s Palabora mine, in Mpumalanga.

Little information on the project has been made available by the mine, although management says it will extend the life-of-mine by 12 to 14 years.

The Normet Spraymec 1050 will be operated by Australian underground development company Byrnecut, which has been contracted to carry out the extensions at the Palabora mine.

It was shipped from Finland in November last year and will be the first of such a machine destined for a mine in Africa, once it is commissioned and installed at the Palabora mine.

It is an all-diesel-hydraulic version of an earlier model and is designed for underground mines and tunnels with small cross sections. The lateral coverage is 8 m and the vertical reach is 9.3 m. Other technical features include an SB 500 spraying boom, a high-pressure washing kit and a form oil sprayer.

“The accelerator dosing system, which is designed to monitor and maintain accelerator flow in proportion to actual shotcrete delivery, is of particular importance. The dosage rates can be preprogrammed according to the mix design,” Clench says.

Further, an order was placed by mining contracting company Murray and Roberts Cementation for an Alpha 30, a diesel-hydraulic mobile concrete sprayer designed for tunnel profiles 7 m in height and 9 m in width, from Normet’s South American operation, Semmco – another first for the company.

“Semmco Alpha 30 machines are the dominant shotcreting machine in South America. The company was bought out by Normet five years ago, while the Alpha 30, a new model off the production line, will be the first to arrive in South Africa,” he states.

The machine will be used by Murray and Roberts Cementation on the Cullinan diamond mine contract.

The mine, a member of the Petra Diamond Group, has awarded Murray and Roberts Cementation a contract that includes the deepening of Shaft 1 and Shaft 3, together with associated infrastructure and planned level development to the Cullinan ore body.

The contract is part of a major expansion plan, which will take production at the mine from just under 1-million carats in 2011 to 2.4-million carats by 2019.

The project requires the opening up of a new block cave in the C-Cut Phase 1 area of the Cullinan kimberlite pipe, 200 m below current operations and includes establishing a decline from existing production levels to shaft bottom at 930 m and extending the existing shaft system down to 950 m.

The Normet range of equipment is well known in Africa, as between 350 and 400 machines have been sold in Southern Africa over the years, but until the recent opening of the Normet Africa office in Johannesburg, Normet has always been represented by third parties.