Shaft-Sinking Complex

a set of machines and mechanisms designed to carry out the basic operations of sinking vertical shafts by drilling and blasting. KS-2u shaft-sinking complexes are commonly used in the USSR. Single-grapple KS-2u/40 loading machines with a grapple capacity of 0.65 m³ and KS-lm machines with grapple capacities of 1.0–1.25 m³ are used for shafts with diameters up to 7 m. Double-grapple machines with grapple capacities of 0.65–1 m³ are used for large shafts.

A shaft-sinking complex includes a BUKS drilling rig, which is suspended with the grapple on the hoist of a rock-loading machine; the drilling rig is used to drill sets of blastholes. The complex also includes self-unloading buckets for delivering rock to the surface and movable metal formwork. In the most common combination technique for sinking shafts, the formwork is set against the bottom hole. Average sinking rates with this technique are 100–120 m per month.

The KS-lm/6.2 shaft-sinking complex simultaneously extracts rock and erects the formwork. It is used for high-speed shaft sinking in stable rock. Sinking rates of 401.3 m per month have been attained with this complex.