Sprayed Concrete

Conventional shotcrete as we know it, requires a batching plant, barrel mixer and robotic sprayer. This is the support system used for the majority of the underground mines throughout the world today. Deeper mining, requires a thicker shotcrete application. The material volumes required for the application of shotcrete as well as distance the material travels, increases their costs and lowers productivity. With the challenges that the mines face, we have developed a new type of hybrid wet shotcrete called Minecrete S3, a first of its kind. It is a 3 part mix which consists of cement, aggregate and water. Additional additives such as retarders, accelerators, plasticizers, de-foamers, fly ash and silica fume, are no longer needed. Minecrete S3 comes in powder form with all additives mixed and blended with the option of fibre premixed. Why do we call Minecrete S3 a "Hybrid Shotcrete" it is because we have combined the advantages of a Thin Sprayed Liner (TSL) and the advantages of wet shotcrete. TSL’s use polymers to create high tensile, tensile bond and shear bond strengths which shotcrete do not have. Conventional shotcrete uses compression strength and energy absorption to create a structural support system that can work safely on any type of rock, especially in bad and very poor ground conditions with high deformations and presence of water.