Mining Support
Dr. Sauer & Partners provides state-of-the-art design solutions and on-site construction support services to the global mining industry based on its vast tunnelling and shaft sinking know-how.
Access tunnels, shafts, ventilation adits, mucking routes, underground welfare facilities, and other mine support structures are often constructed through difficult ground conditions.
The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) or SCL/SEM approach is a safe and cost-effective tunnelling method developed for difficult ground conditions. It allows tunnels and shafts necessary for mine development to be built quickly and durably to sustain mining operations over many years. Dr. Sauer & Partners has a proven record of delivering tunnelling and mining projects around the world. We specialise in the design of complex underground structures and have comprehensive know-how and understanding of:
- ground conditions, from soft soils to hard rock, including squeezing or swelling ground
- ground behaviour, which, based on soil strata or rock jointing, determines excavation and support techniques
- modelling complex 3D geometries in heterogenous ground conditions
- designing efficient, durable linings
- construction safety, processes, methods, and site logistics
- material and equipment choices, their strengths and limitations.
Finite Element Modelling
Benefits of the NATM Approach in Mining Projects
- one of the most adaptable and responsive excavation and support methods available globally
- it allows a high degree of flexibility during construction
- virtually all types of ground conditions can be controlled
- the exposed excavation approach allows adaptability to unforeseen circumstances in geological and hydrological conditions
- a flexible response to cross-sectional changes and the rapid mobilisation of excavation equipment is enabled
