Our team consists of some of the most experienced and mature mining operators and supervisors in the underground mining industry. Our personnel understand the importance of maintaining a safe and efficient work schedule delivering the work on time and on budget.
ACM has the capability to operate in all underground gold and base metal mines ranging from large scale massive ore bodies to narrow vein lodes that require specialised mining techniques.

Our capital equipment replacement programme maintains a relatively new mining fleet which reduces downtime and assists to ensure our targets are met. The front line mining fleet is backed up with a well maintained second hand fleet that can be mobilised to site at short notice thereby eliminating start up delays that can be caused while waiting for the arrival of new equipment.

Our underground mining fleet consists of:
• Sandvik DD420-60 two boom jumbo’s
• Atlas Copco H104 single boom jumbo’s
• Sandvik Solo 15F production drills
• Sandvik Solo DL 420-7V production drills
• Atlas Copco 1257 Simba production drills
• Sandvik LH 517 Loaders
• Toro 1400 loaders
• Toro 006 loaders
• Toro 151 loaders
• Atlas Copco 1520 loaders
• Atlas Copco 1030 loaders
• Atlas Copco MT6020 ( 60t) mine trucks
• Atlas Copco MT 5010 (50t) mine trucks
• Giamec charge up units
• Volvo integrated tool carriers
• Volvo and Cat graders
• Normet shotcrete machines
• Agitator trucks, and batch plant
• Along with various miscellaneous light vehicles and fixed plants

For small hand held shaft sinking projects ACM utilise a proven patented in house designed system that increases safety and sinking speed.

These construction projects include:
• Workshops
• Mine site Accommodation
• Administration offices
• Processing plants
• Concrete batch plants
• Fuel farms
• Surface haul roads
• Tailings dams
• Water supply dams
• HV electrical installations
• Main pump stations
• Waste dump and ore pad maintenance
• Crusher feed

- Fast mobilisation times
- Minimal preparation time
- No restriction on raise angles
- No restriction on raise sizes
- No excessive power demands
- Ideal in any ground conditions or rock types
- No requirement for reinforced concrete foundations
- No "second entry" cost to install ground support or rehabilitation
- Significantly reduced underground excavation costs
- No expensive and time consuming directional drilling required

All this = Lower costs than raise boring methods saving you time and money

Increasing Vertical development productivity underground

Australian Contract Mining is a specialist underground Mining Contractor providing the Vertical development expertise required to drive even the longest, large diameter, vertical or inclined shafts and raises. Using safe and reliable Alimak raising systems, experienced personnel and proven methods, Australian Contract Mining is able to provide real productivity benefits and cost savings to the Underground Mining Industry.

Since 1960 Australia has had a long and successful association with the Alimak raise climber particularly at the Mt Isa Mine using a fleet of 7 climbers during the early major expansion which included a 360m long ventilation pilot raise to surface.

Worldwide more than 2,300 Alimak raise climbers have been distributed, being used to drive more shafts and raises than any other system. Importantly the longest Alimak raise developed to date is more than 1000m in length, meaning no raise is too long or too large for the Alimak raising system and Australian Contract Mining.

Alimak raising provides the safest of all entry methods involving the least risk to the miner and can excavate safely through all types of ground conditions supporting the face after each blast is taken ensuring the integrity of the excavation during all stages of development.

	Alimak pilot raise strip and support to 5 metre diameter.

The specialised Alimak Raising methods practiced by Australian Contract Mining can be used for blind raising between two levels or from underground to breakthrough on the surface in all rock types. The Australian Contract Mining Alimak blind raising system ensures fast mobilisation, minimal preparation, is flexible, accurate, economical and very cost effective even over short distances.

Even multiple raises with directional changes in the raise of up to 90° can be carried out easily making this method the ideal choice for ore passes, crusher chambers, split level ventilation raises or any difficult excavation profile.

The Alimak Raising method enables mining approaches, which cannot be carried out using raise borers and has the added advantage of in raise access to allow for the installation of ground support and grouting of water inflows as the raise is excavated, unlike raise boring where boring through highly stressed or bad ground conditions only ends up in ultimate failure or costly and time consuming remediation.

With Australian Contract Mining using our 30 years of Alimak raising experience every raise gets through to its ultimate destination regardless of the ground conditions encountered "first time", "every time" and "on target" providing the highest practicable levels of safety throughout the entire operation.

The Alimak Mechanised Stoping (AMS) method provided by Australian Contract Mining is regarded around the world as one of the most cost efficient methods for mining large, narrow vein or even small low tonnage ore bodies. In fact the Alimak Stoping method delivers high levels of productivity allowing otherwise uneconomic ore bodies to become viable.

Alimak stoping has had considerable success overseas first developed in Sweden at the Kiruna Iron Ore mine around 1966 where large stopes in excess of 500,000 tonnes each were excavated. In 1976 the first Alimak stopes were excavated in Canada and it was then introduced into Australia in 1993 with a significant number of projects having already been completed.

This innovative underground mining method allows for fast ore production as access to the stope block is via the Alimak drill raises driven directly on the ore body minimising the costs of nil value waste development. Ore losses and dilution are low compared to other mining methods and the mechanised nature of the stoping operation ensures maximum production, minimising the cost per ton of ore delivered to the mill.

As a guide any large ore body that can be extracted economically using sub level, long hole, open stoping techniques can be mined successfully using Alimak mechanised stoping methods easily breaking over 4,000 tonnes per day with major reductions in over all mine waste development and with significantly less dilution reducing your costs dramatically. Even one metre wide narrow vein ore bodies with short strike lengths and low tonnes per vertical metre can be mined at over 1,000 tonnes per day using the Australian Contract Mining Alimak Stoping method. Alimak Stoping provides greater flexibility when mining complicated and variable ore bodies quickly adapting to suit changes to the ore body widths and angle with the added ability of being able to leave pillars in low-grade or waste.

Alimak Stoping is particularly applicable for mining narrow vein ore bodies currently being mined using hand held mining methods with increased daily production contributing to significantly reduced over all costs and reduced physical fatigue leading to improved safety levels.

AUSTRALIAN CONTRACT MINING'S ALIMAK STOPING BENEFITS:
- Ore bodies can be mined even more profitably
- Can eliminate the need for hand held stoping
- Reduced dilution and increased extraction rates
- Flexibility in following and mining difficult ore bodies
- Development costs are lower