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Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH wins another turnkey shaft sinking contract for a 2 000-m deep mining shaft in the far north of Russia

On 25.05.2011 Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH was contracted by the Mining and Metallurgical Co. Norilsk Nickel to undertake another commission that would comprise the planning and construction of the SKS-1 production shaft to a final depth of more than 2 000 m.

The new shaft will be one of a pair, with a contract already having been signed for the WS-10 shaft, which will also be sunk to a depth of 2 000 m. The two shafts will provide access to the rich, deeper-lying polymetallic ore bodies that are contained in this the world’s second largest deposits of platinum group elements.

MMC Norilsk Nickel is Russia’s biggest mining company and is one of the world’s ten largest mining corporations. MMC Norilsk Nickel is the world’s leading producer of nickel and palladium and a major supplier of platinum and copper. The company also mines cobalt, rhodium, silver, gold, tellurium, selenium, iridium, ruthenium and coal.

The town of Norilsk already has 28 vertical shafts ranging from 600 to 1 700 m in depth and from 6 to 8 m in diameter. All these shafts are currently in service. The new WS-10 and SKS-1 facilities will be the deepest shafts in the Norilsk area – and indeed in the whole of Russia.

The new sinking will be the fourth shaft construction project to be undertaken by Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH in the Russian Federation. The company’s Russian clients place great value on know-how, experience, reliability and the capacity to deliver projects on time.

Like the WS-10 shaft four years ago, the new SKS-1 vertical sinking was put out to international tender and the bidding process for both shafts attracted a number of internationally acclaimed specialist mining contractors.

A key factor in MMC Norilsk Nickel’s decision to award the contract to Thyssen Schachtbau was the fact that we were prepared to start work immediately after signing the contract. Operations at the shaft construction site commenced on 20.06.2011.