Mark Cutifani, CEO of Anglo American, confirmed that the 37km conveyor tunnel (being excavated by TBM from the port of Teesside toward the mine at Whitby) has reached a point around 14.4km beyond Lockwood Beck where the company is sinking a 3.2m ID-diameter intermediate shaft for tunnel ventilation and access. The blind-bored shaft has now reached its full depth of 383m and is being lined before being connected to the main tunnel by a short connector tunnel. Cutifani added that sinking the service shaft at Woodsmith Mine had also begun.
When completed, the mineral transport tunnel will house a high-capacity conveyor belt that will take the polyhalite from the Woodsmith mine to the deep-harbour facilities of Teeside. Tunnelling is at depths of 390m maximum, mainly in Redcar Mudstone and along a relatively straight alignment which crosses several fault zones. Hydrostatic pressure is anticipated to be up to 29bar. With a bore diameter of 6m, the tunnel is being lined with 350mm-thick, 1,500mm-long universal, key-type lining segments and will have a final internal diameter of 4.9m.
Strabag was awarded the main contract for the Mineral Transport System in March 2018, with the addition of the Lockwood Beck shaft sinking in June 2020.
