About Me

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I'm like any other uni student. I like clubbing, parties with friends and surfing if I can get a chance. I grew up in Townsville and miss my great friends there, the strand and maggie, but I still get time to have fun in brissie. I'm studying Civil and Construction Engineering at QUT, and I'm finding it a lot more interesting than most people would think. I'm also doing a mining minor at UQ at the same time so that I can work in the mining industry. I hope to work on mine sites once I graduate, because I love the friendliness in small towns, and it's always more fun to brag about being involved in massive projects. Drop me an email at andrea.dale@connect.qut.edu.au if you want to know more :)

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Cobar

Finally arrived in Cobar at 8.30pm. Very cold, and I was glad to crawl into bed. I was booked for a pub room, but ended up with a motel room. It looked like the door had been punched in before, but that's what you get for $30/night.

Had a bit of a sleep in the next morning, before getting to site (Peak Mines) at 7:15am. It was my first trip underground, and I was VERY excited. It was awesome. I was disappointed to leave, but at least I had another trip underground to look forward to straight after! The guys at Peak were fantastic, and I really enjoyed the tour. Check out the pics :)

This is really nerdy, but really cool. These undulating arches can withstand the massive ground pressures underground. Check out the pic below of the drive to the right of this, with the same conditions, which is a mess with the usual mesh and rock bolts.

Same conditions, completely different results. They dumped waste rock in the entrance to block it off because it was considered unsafe.


This one is awesome - it's the raise boring machine for a 4.5m diameter, almost 1km deep hole they are doing. It's placed on the surface, and a reamer head is attached to it at the bottom of the pilot hole. Think of the power this machine has!!! The pieces on the right connect together to attach between the reamer head and machine.

Wiki's explanation: A raise borer is a machine used in underground mining, to excavate a circular hole between two levels of a mine without the use of explosives.

The raise borer is set up on the upper level of the two levels to be connected, on an evenly laid platform (typically a concrete pad). A small-diameter hole (pilot hole) is drilled to the level required; the diameter of this hole is typically 230mm - 350mm (9" - 15"), large enough to accommodate the drill string. Once the drill has broken into the opening on the target level, the bit is removed and a reamer head, of the required diameter of the excavation, is attached to the drill string and raised back towards the machine. The drill cuttings from the reamer head fall to the floor of the lower level. The finished raise has smooth walls and may not require rock bolting or other forms of ground support.[1]

http://construction.gautrain.co.za/2009/04/raise-boring-technology-used-on-gautrain/

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