Dublin T ara Mine Ireland I N F O C U S S A F E T Y 16 M I n I ng Constru C t I on 1 2013 W ith safety as a k e y issue in the inter national mining industr y mines are increasingl y looking for inno v ations that can help to reduce accidents and lost time injuries Although there is an element of danger in all stages of the mining process w hether on the surf ace or under g round some operations are clearl y more hazardous than others One of these is the manual scaling of w alls roofs and f aces after b lasting This is often car ried out with a handheld scaling bar w orking from a platfor m on a utility v ehicle in order to reach the areas to be scaled It is a ph ysicall y demanding task in v olv ing considerab le risk In man y par ts of the w orld miners use steel bars or e v en simpler tools to remo v e loose rock w hich is e v en more demanding and dangerous Ho w e v er mechanized scaling is being increasingl y introduced w orldwide and is ha ving a positi v e impact on safety From manual to mechanized A case in point is Boliden T ara Mines in Na v an Ireland located some 50 km nor th w est of Dub lin Owned and operated b y B o l i d e n t h e N o r d i c i n t e r n a t i o n a l m i n i n g g roup since 2004 the T ara mine produces appro ximatel y 25 million tonnes of ore for zinc and lead concentrate per y ear T o impro v e producti vity and also reduce t h e r i s k s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h m a n u a l s c a l i n g t h e mine management introduced mechanized scaling as earl y as 2007 It came in the for m of a Scaletec mechanized scaling rig from Atlas Copco The reason for choosing this unit w as its high perfor mance b ut also the potential impro v ement it could mak e in ter ms of per sonal safety for the mine s 10man scaling cre w T oda y T ara Mines has four Scaletec units in operation and Safety Superintendent John Grennan sa ys the ef fect has been dramatic In the four y ears since the Scaletec has been in operation the number of incidents and injuries related to manual scaling ha v e dropped to zero Sa ys Grennan Mechanical scaling has been a huge adv ancement for us at Boliden T ara Mines In the past there ha v e been serious injuries as a result of scaling of f the muck pile b ut these are no w gone W e don t ha v e the e xact statistics y et b ut in m y vie w this has been one of the better adv ances I ha v e seen in m y 37 y ears in the mining industr y In the nor mal w orking c ycle the Scaletec is routinel y used after e v er y de v elopment b last and also other times w hen required Ser vice and maintenance is easy and A safe alternati ve The S caletec rig now routinely used at T ara Mines for scaling Mining equipment that makes a signifcant contribution to safety as well as productivity is in increasing demand A good example is Boliden s T ara Mines in Ireland Europe s largest zinc mine where an investment in mechanized scaling has had a dramatic effect t he s ca letec effect a t T ar a Mines