News


Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH wins contract for EuroChem potash project
at Perm in Russia

On 29.06.2010 the Russian mineral and chemicals company EuroChem awarded THYSSEN SCHACHTBAU GmbH the contract to carry out planning, drilling and freeze-shaft work for new skip shaft and service shaft installations at the Palasherski potash mine near the city of Perm , in the heart of the Ural mountains .

The planning phase comprised a broad spectrum of engineering and construction services, including the analysis and assessment of geological raw data and planning of the freeze holes and temperature measurement holes needed for the two shaft sinkings. The contract also provided for the design and layout of the drill rig fittings, the dimensioning of the freeze plant and freeze-wall monitoring system and the operation of the freeze system. The concept design details also had to be adapted to fit in later with the implementation documents in accordance with the project planning rules currently in force in Russia .

The drilling operation commenced in September 2010 and involved the completion of some 90 individual freeze holes and temperature measurement holes with a total length of nearly 25,000 m, this work to be executed to strict tolerance specifications in respect of the verticality of the two freeze shafts.

Once the drilling work has been completed in mid-2011 the freeze machines will be assembled and put into operation. The total refrigeration output to be delivered by the freeze-plant primary circuit will be in the region of 3,500 kW.

As well as coping with the local climatic conditions, where during the Russian winter it is not unusual for temperatures to fall to as low as -40°C, the contract also had to tackle the technical challenges posed by the need to establish – and maintain for the entire two-year duration of the freeze-shaft construction phase – the freeze protection zones that would be required for two simultaneous shaft sinkings with a finished diameter of 7 m (skip shaft) and 8 m (service shaft) respectively.

The Moscow-based chemicals company EuroChem first announced in 2008 that it soon intended to develop its potash deposits near the city of Perm , which it had acquired at a cost of around 1.4 bn dollars, and to construct a mining facility with a processing plant capable of supplying potash products. The geological exploration work was undertaken directly by EuroChem on the site of the ‘Palasherski and Balakhontevski concession of the Verkhnekamski deposits’.

The potash processing plant is to be initially designed for an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of potash products. EuroChem’s highly promising Perm project has long-term plans for the production of some six million tonnes of potassium chloride a year.
EuroChem is a well-known producer of nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers and the company is currently developing its potash operations in the areas around Volgograd and Perm. Thyssen Schachtbau GmbH is now involved in both EuroChem projects and this new contract underlines the strategic partnership that now ties the two companies together.



Mülheim an der Ruhr, July 2010



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