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GLOBAL ENGINEERING International shaft sinking excellence T hese are shafts that the Underground Mining platform is cur- rently busy with, deepening existing shafts to ensure mine sustainability or designing and building a Greenfields pro- ject. This level of activity and global reach is a clear indication of the capacity of the Murray & Roberts Group,” Widlake says. The Group has sunk the deepest single-lift shaft in South Africa (at South Deep), the deepest single-lift shaft in the USA (at Resolution) and the deepest shaft in Canada The Murray & Roberts Underground Mining platform not only has growth in its order book, but with 22 active shaft projects underway globally, is the single most active shaft sinking group in the world outside of China. This is according to Allan Widlake, business development executive of Murray & Roberts Cementation. (at Kidd). It is also currently sinking what will be the deepest shaft in the US, namely a winze, at Lucky Friday. “Over and above that, the platform is also conducting a fair amount of engineering on shafts, where we are either busy with feasibility studies or detailed engineering for various clients,” Widlake says. The platform comprises the following businesses: Murray & Roberts Cementation (Johannesburg based); Cementation Canada (North Bay based); Cementation USA (Salt Lake City based); Cementation Sudamérica (Santiago based) and RUC Cementation Mining (Perth based). “Murray & Roberts Cementation is a world- class mining contracting company that has served the mining industry for over a century,” Widlake says. “The business is the reputed leader in shaft sinking, contract min- ing and raise drilling and specialised mining services. In addition, Murray & Roberts Cementation has a strong record of success- ful mine delivery worldwide, as it provides services for clients in Africa and abroad.” Its full suite of mine development functions include vertical and decline shaft sinking and equipping, mine haulage development and tunnelling, underground chamber excava- tion and support and equipment installation and shaft refurbishment. “Murray & Roberts Cementation introduced the concept of Sinking headgear at the Gloria Shaft in South Africa 48 MINING REVIEW AFRICA | JANUARY 2015 contract mining,” Widlake says. “Services comprise mine design and planning, specialist prefeasibility and feasibility studies, mining equipment and fleet maintenance studies, underground infrastructure design and installation, mech- anised and semi-mechanised development and stoping.”