ALROSA employees have started drilling 84 freezing wells at the construction site of the Mir-Gluboky underground mine, the press service of the Russian diamond mining company reports.
Drilling is being carried out by its subsidiary ALROSA-Spetsbureniye (Specialized Drilling). The depth of the wells will be 550 meters. After completion of the drilling work, a coolant will be supplied to the wells to form an ice-wall. This will prevent groundwater from penetrating the works from the aquifer and allow mine builders to safely carry out construction.
"There are two stages of construction. The first stage that ALROSA-Spetsbureniye has initiated involves drilling the so-called "cups" to a depth of 0 to 50 meters. The second stage is drilling to a depth of 50 to 550 meters. We must complete the work in the first quarter of 2025,” said Kirill Degtyarev, CEO of ALROSA-Spetsbureniye.
ALROSA began preparatory work on the construction of the Mir-Gluboky underground mine at the end of 2023, and in May 2024, the project received an approval from Russia’s Main State Expertise. The underground part of the Mir mine will be built to the highest standards of environmental and industrial safety, ALROSA said.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished
