6/2018 - Shondoni Mine conveyor box cut retaining walls

6/2018 – Shondoni Mine conveyor box cut retaining walls

Retaining walls have been used extensively in the mining industry in applications such as retaining structures at the interface between the coal bunkers and conveyor belts to retain differences in ground levels.

Sasol’s new Shondoni coal mine development near Secunda commenced in 2012. Cross contour cuttings to accommodate conveyor belt racks necessitated sloped retaining structures to protect the facings on both sides.

The project engineers chose the closed face system, Terraforce, to mitigate against soil spilling or washing out between the gaps of conventional checker board configuration retaining block walls for long term consideration, because no plant growth to bind soil is possible with the coal dust.

The highest walls - at 70° slopes – are situated at the main conveyor feeders to the coal bunkers.

Geofabric reinforced fill for high structures as well as gravity cut face wall designs for lower wall heights were submitted, accepted and constructed to. The highest walls – at 70° slopes – are situated at the main conveyor feeders to the coal bunkers. In total 2185m² of blocks were installed.