On December 18th, 2024, the FAT ceremony of mining TBM exported to Africa was held in Changsha, China. This equipment is manufactured by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Limited (CRCHI) and will be applied in tunnel construction project of Zambia Chambishi southeast ore body. It is the first time that Chinese-made mining TBM exported to Africa.

The excavation diameter of the TBM is 5.63 meters,with the length of about 130 meters and weight of about 800 tons. The minimum horizontal turning radius of the TBM is 50 meters and it can adapt to a maximum gradient of ±15°.

This project is the first digitization mine project in Africa. The tunnel is 9.7 km long with the construction challenges such as long-distance hard rock, fault fracture zone, small-radius turning, eccentric excavation, long-distance retraction, cage transportation, high geothermal condition etc.

Regarding to these construction risks and difficulties, CRCHI R&D team developed technological innovation of modular design, specific small-radius turning, backup track-free as well as auxiliary gripping system, immediate support systems and advance geological forecasting systems, which will improve its adaptability to poor geological conditions. At the same time, this TBM is equipped with customized refrigeration system, tool on-line monitoring system, integrated office&rest facilities and other humanized devices, improving operator’s comfort and providing strong support for the construction project.

This project has a total investment of 830 million USD, with an annual ore mining and processing capacity of 3.3 million tons and a concentrate production of 60,000 tons copper. The construction of this tunnel will significantly increase the transportation capacity of the copper mine.

source CRCHI press release