We are officially past the halfway point of 2024 and so far in Friction we have covered everything from Corporate Governance to Safety in Design to Numerical Modelling and Laboratory Testing. For this edition, we dive into raiseboring and how geotechnical investigation and thorough assessment is essential to reducing uncertainty and risk in the process, but must occur without compromising how findings are delivered.

Raiseboring – creating a vertical shaft into underground mine pits without explosives – is conceptually straightforward. In practice, however, it can be a complex story, with many factors including location ground condition and structure, projected service lifespan and other engineering considerations at play.

In this article, Phillip Quinn, Cartledge Mining and Geotechnics Senior Geotechnical Engineer, explores the process and how thorough geotechnical investigation, in collaboration with all stakeholders, can greatly improve a raiseboring project’s safe completion.