Overview

Woodsmith Mine Project

The Woodsmith Mine project in Yorkshire, North East England, is setting new benchmarks in tunnelling, with the deepest shafts and longest tunnel ever to be driven in Europe. This ambitious engineering endeavour is being undertaken by the mining company Anglo American to access a polyhalite seam situated 1,500 metres below the North York Moors National Park. Polyhalite is a water-soluble natural mineral that acts as an organic fertiliser as it contains four essential nutrients for crop growth: magnesium, calcium, potassium and sulphate. To extract this valuable resource, two 1,600-metre-deep shafts – the deepest shafts in Europe – are being constructed using Shaft Boring Roadheaders (SBRs). Due to the mine’s location within a national park, an innovative 37 km-long Mineral Transport System (MTS) tunnel is being built by Strabag at a depth of approximately 360 metres underground to reduce the visual impact of the mine. A conveyor belt in this tunnel will transport the ore from the extraction shaft to the handling facility at the River Tees Docks, eliminating the environmental impacts of surface transport methods, such as noise, traffic, dust, vibration and visual disturbance. During operation, intermediate access and ventilation to the MTS tunnel will be provided by two offline 380-metre-deep shafts, the Lockwood Beck and Ladycross.

Transportation & Urban SpacesTunnels

About the Project

Client:: Strabag UK Ltd.
Location:: United Kingdom
Time frame:: 2020 - ongoing

Technical Data

Polyhalite seam at a depth of 1,500 m
Expected production rate of 10 million tonnes per annum over a design life of 50 years
Production and service shafts – depth: 1,600 m
Material Transport System, Lockwood Beck and Ladycross Shafts – depth: 360 m–380 m
Mineral Transport System (MTS) tunnel – length: 37 km – world record for the longest single TBM drive
MTS tunnel excavated by a 6 m diameter single-shield hard rock TBM

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