Sirius Minerals, Scarborough, U.K., on April 12 officially launched its first 1,800 mt tunnel boring machine (TBM), which will be used to construct a 23-mile mineral transportation tunnel from Teesside to Whitby.
At a ceremony in Redcar, local schoolchildren unveiled a plaque with the name of the machine, Stella Rose, which was chosen by an online vote. The name was selected by local schoolboy Warren Walls, age 8. Stella means “star” in Latin, whereas Sirius means “brightest star.” Rose comes from a famous local landmark, Roseberry Topping, a distinctive hill in North Yorkshire.
Sirius said the mine, which has been designed with most of its infrastructure underground , will create over 1,000 long-term jobs and support a further 1,500 in the supply chain. Some 900 people are reported to be already working on the project.
Strabag AG, Vienna, the tunnel contractor (GM Feb. 22, p. 29; March 20, 2018), which also worked on the 35-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel under the Alps, will now push the machine into the ground down a pre-excavated portal to bore the first of three separate tunnel drives that will make up the tunnel.
Two further machines are planned to be launched in due course from Whitby and Lockwood Beck, near Guisborough, to complete the other 15 miles of the six-meter diameter tunnel. Each TBM will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, lining the tunnel with a total of 150,000 concrete segments to form rings that reinforce the tunnel walls.
Sirius expects to strike first polyhalite in 2021, and aims to be producing 10 million mt/y by 2024.