ABSTRACT
Challenging ground conditions at Fosterville gold mine during 2009 and 2010 made ore development slow and hazardous using conventional ground support elements. This paper discusses the 18-month development period and seven years of operational use of the Sandvik MD bolt at Fosterville gold mine. The MD Bolt was the first in the emerging hybrid bolt technologies developed in the hope to produce a high capacity single pass bolt. Fosterville was involved in trialling prototypes during 2009 and 2010. Increasingly dynamic ground conditions prompted the early adoption of the MD bolt in late 2010. This allowed Fosterville to increase ore development as well as excavation life in areas where stability of swelling and squeezing ground was highly reliant on cable bolting and ultimately rehabilitation. Mining methods, mining sequences and ground conditions continuously vary at Fosterville while the ultimate safety of personnel and profitability of the operation must continue. The MD bolt continues to assist Fosterville in achieving these goals.
