Salt is mined using the room and pillar method via development mining using continuous miners (each a “CM”) with tungsten carbide teeth shear the salt from the rock face. Production mining is completed using CMs in production panels. Once a panel has been mined, the back is scaled and bolted on a 6’ x 4’ pattern with 7’-6” point anchored mechanical bolts. Continuous miners (CM) are manufactured by Joy Global, a Komatsu company.
Once mined, rock salt is loaded immediately onto a flexible conveyor train (“FCT”) that is located at the rear of the CM or by bulldozer (if needed). From the FCT, the rock salt is offloaded to the main underground belt conveyance system where it is then transported to underground crushers and the mill.
The general method of mining employed at the Goderich Mine is known as room and pillar mining.
In utilizing room and pillar mining, salt is recovered in a horizontal plane, creating a horizontal network of rooms and pillars at multiple stacked levels, analogous to the bays in a parking garage. To do this, "rooms" of salt are extracted via the mining process while "pillars" of untouched material are left to support the overlying roof, also of salt. In salt recovery at Goderich, rooms are mined in multiple lifts or “benches” due to the extensive height of the room.
Certain mining units at the Goderich mine are equipped with both a CM and a flexible conveyor train (“FCT”), a dynamic move-up unit and a belt storag ........