The Enterprise mine (EM) is located at Mount Isa and is wholly owned by Mount Isa Mines Limited (MIM). This high grade copper mine extends from about 1000 m below surface to almost 2000 m below surface. A recent $400 million upgrade has taken the operation from a production rate of 1.3 Mtpa to a capacity of 3.5 Mtpa. The effects of high surface ambient temperatures in summer, combined with the depth of the mine and high virgin rock temperatures results in heat stress in the working place that, without intervention, would exceed the levels that human physiology can withstand. It would also result in significant decreases in productivity and high accident rates even where work is possible. Moreover, with a very hot and deep mine, the needs of “egress” and entrapment of workers during a mine emergency must be carefully considered.
Enterprise Mine has taken a “systems approach” to the issue of working productively, healthily and safely in heat. This involves setting limits of thermal stress for workers, understanding productivity decrements when working in heat, establishing productive and healthy environmental targets, developing engineering solutions to meet these targets, creating a well-educated workforce with respect to working in heat and then developing health protocols to ensure workers’ health is protected.
Refrigeration must be added to the mine to provide acceptable and productive conditions underground. By the time the mine is commissioned in 2000, Enterprise mine will have an installed refrigeration capacity of in excess of 40 MW(R).
The ventilation engineering principles proven over many years at the other Isa underground mines are tailored to “flooding” the mine with air to remove the heat, which is the main contaminant. This principle will not work at the Enterprise mine, for reasons discussed below. With the underlying ventilation principle no longer satisfactory, a complete review of the entire ventilation principles and engineering solutions was required for the Enterprise mine.
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