New tunnel boring system heads to Australia

10 July 2012


A new tunnel boring system, the Mobile Tunnel Miner (MTB), is due to arrive at Northparkes Cooper Mine in southeast Australia next month ready for its use in underground mines.

The machine has been developed by Aker Wirth and Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies, for Rio's "Mine of the Future" programme. It left Aker Wirth's production facility near Dusseldorf, Germany, late last month.

The machine has been developed for hard rock tunnelling and mining; using the undercutter technology it is efficient with tunnelling in hard rock of up to 300MPa UCS. It is also able to cut rectangular or horseshoe-shaped cross-sections, in addition to circular tunnels, of up to 6m bore diameter.

"We will revolusionise safety and efficiency in underground mining with the new MTM," said Einar Bronlund, CEO of Aker Wirth. "With this tunnel boring system Aker Wirth will play a decisive role in shaping the future of the mining industry."