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Mineshaft

Support underground mining success with FLS mine shaft equipment

Effective mine shaft equipment selection is a key factor in keeping efficiency high and workers protected in underground mining. Our complete and customisable range of headframe and shaft equipment provides the quality needed to deliver mine shaft solutions for repeatable and sustainable performance.

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Key benefits of FLS mine hoist equipment

Our mine shaft equipment

Essential to a mine’s safety, efficiency, and productivity, the mine shaft is the vertical pathway connecting a mine’s underground workings to surface processing facilities. Selecting the right systems here can thus be the difference between success and a daily battle to meet targets. Customisable to the application and site requirements, FLS mine shaft systems cover the complete range of equipment. From the head frame to the shaft bottom, we ensure the mine shaft is up to the job, supporting safe and reliable performance, day in, day out.

Mine headframe catch gear

Our catch gear is the go-to solution to catch and hold a conveyance should overwinds occur and ropes fail. Designed using finite element analysis to guarantee the mechanism can hold the maximum loads, our catch gear are also easy to inspect and maintain for ultimate reliability and safety.  

  • Customised configuration for maximum protection.

  • Optimised design and construction.

  • Maintenance friendly with single-point grease manifolds.

  • Remote retraction options.

Arrestor systems

Our arrestor frames for the head frame and shaft sump are designed to create predictable deceleration, bringing the conveyance to a stop in the event of under/overwind situations.   

  • Preventing Damage to Conveyances.

  • Cost Effective.

  • Low Maintenance. 

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Rope sheaves

Our long-lasting head, sinking, compensating, and deflection sheaves are available to suit any rope size and with multiple lining options to match shaft conditions. Made to withstand a load equal to the rope’s breaking strength, we ensure safe and reliable performance with optimal designs for tight space installation. We also supply double-down sheaves for effective rope changes.  

  • Quality guaranteed through thorough testing.

  • Exceptionally long-lasting.

  • Designed to exceed current standards.

Guide rollers

Poorly designed or improperly applied guide rollers have costly consequences. Our customisable rollers prevent this, ensuring the right fit through a diverse array of sizes, tires, materials, and mountings. Whatever the shaft conditions, we deliver a guide roller that will last the years without frequent maintenance or adjustment.  

  • Long-term alignment. 

  • Optimised to the conditions. 

  • Reduced maintenance and repair costs.  

Onboard battery charging system

Delivering enhanced energy efficiency and cost savings, our integral battery charging system uses a skip’s kinetic energy to charge batteries for the onboard communication system. It also ends the need to constantly change and charge external batteries, simplifying maintenance and ensuring the communication system is never without power.

  • Cut external energy consumption.

  • Reduce energy costs for recharging.

  • Simplify maintenance.

Mine shaft cages

Safely and efficiently transport personnel, materials, and equipment using our mine shaft cages. We supply all cage types, including service, auxiliary and trailer cages, in a range of sizes and designs to suit your needs. All cages are made from durable and lightweight materials and incorporate reliable safety measures in case of emergency.

  • Unparallelled safety.

  • Custom designed for the application.

  • Proven technology.

Our mine shaft equipment

Skip loading is key to underground mining efficiency. It needs to be quick and precise: not easy in confined underground spaces. Our complete skip loading systems are designed on a case-by-case basis, according to the site layout and restrictions, and include robust load-sensing measurement systems for safe, accurate loading control.

  • Safe and efficient skip loading.

  • Includes everything needed for skip loading.

  • Designed for easy maintenance access.

Applicable for bottom dump and arc-gate skips, the crank-type dump mechanism replaces more expensive hydraulic systems while optimising skip cycle times in comparison to scroll-type systems. Discharging by means of a motor-driven crank linkage and tipping frame arrangement, it also reduces operational complexity and maintenance.

  • Up to 10% increased production.

  • Optimised hoisting capacity compared to conventional dump scrolls.

  • Reduces headframe heigh requirements.

FLS provides counterweights on friction and drum hoist applications to provide the best balance in rope tensions on either side of the sheave or hoist drum (the T1/T2 ratio). Designed to fit into tight shaft compartments, these counterweights allow fine adjustment in weight as needed. Ballast plates are kept secure, even in an emergency overwind.

  • Cost effective.

  • Simple and safe to maintain.

  • Optimal rope load balancing.

Chairing devices compensate for the effects of stretch on elastic head ropes as a conveyance is loaded or unloaded. This helps prevent excessive rope stretch or dangerous movement at the sudden change in loading of your skip or service cage.

  • Improve safety at loading/unloading.

  • Support the total conveyance payload.

  • Simple to operate and maintain.

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Frequently asked questions

FAQs for mine shaft equipment

A mine shaft is a vertical or near-vertical tunnel that provides access to an underground ore body. Personnel, equipment, and mined ore are all transported to and from the underground workings via the mine shaft.

The mine shaft head frame supports the hoist used to raise and lower personnel, machinery, and materials in and out of the underground workings. Key components of the head frame include the sheave wheels, hoist and associated infrastructure, cables and ropes.

Mine shaft skips are used to convey ore and waste rock to the surface for stockpiling or downstream processing. We supply several types of mine shaft skips, including bBottom dDump, Kimberly, aArc-gGate, Sala, and Rolachute™ skips.

Mine shaft cages are used to transport personnel, materials, and equipment to and from the underground workings. Our cages are built from lightweight, robust materials – usually aluminium – to ensure the safety of personnel during transport and feature mechanisms to prevent accidents, such as our Cage Guardian™ safety brake for drum hoist applications.  They are available in various sizes and configurations from smaller two-guide auxiliary cages to large multi-deck four-guide service cages.

The height of the head frame is a function of mine depth with deeper mines needing taller head frames to accommodate the increased size of the hoist, sheaves, and length of hoist cables. Head frames must also incorporate a zone for overwind protection systems. Taller head frames also provide better structural stability and support for the hoisting systems, ensuring safer and more reliable operations.

Mine shaft cages can move a single person to over 300 people per trip.