The Raise Boring Rig’s developed by Herrenknecht are designed for the construction of shafts in rock down to 2,000 meters in depth and up to 8 meters in diameter. The compact design offers high flexibility even under space constraints and is therefore suitable for various applications in the mining industry. The Raise Boring Rigs have proven its worth with their modular design and efficient centre-free drives. Connection shafts for mining or penstocks for pump storage power plants can be constructed quickly and safely.

Safely into the depths

To begin with, the rig is installed above a starting point for the shaft using a transport system or a crane. The Rig drills the pilot hole vertically or at a downward angle of up to 45 degrees with the pilot drill bit. Depending on the drilling depth, further drill rods are installed progressively, until the target in an already existing tunnel or cavern is reached.

Subsequently, the pilot drill bit is removed in the cavern and the reaming head is mounted to the drill string. After completion of the assembly work, the rig pulls the reaming head on the drill string upwards. The rotation of the rods is transferred to the reaming head, thus excavating the rock. The muck falls down and can be easily removed. In this way, the entire shaft is extended upwards from the bottom with the diameter of the reaming head.