Mining & underground construction

Mining is one of the most challenging sectors for people and materials. Underground work has always been a complicated undertaking that places great wear on materials. As well as the coal and steel industry and the extraction of natural resources, underground construction and the development of new infrastructure is also an important part of underground work. Both sectors are dependent on reliable and extremely robust valves that can be relied upon to control the transport of the resulting – sometimes highly abrasive – sludges, suspensions and bulk goods.

Humans have continuously mined raw materials underground for everyday use or for further processing for many thousands of years. While raw materials were mined by hand or using simple tools in the beginning, the increasing industrialisation of this process has seen more and more technology being used in mining. The removal of the mined products / raw materials is controlled today using, amongst other things, pipeline systems that are equipped with robust valves or knife gate valves.

Underground construction is becoming a key activity due to advancing globalisation and mobility. The work underground has nothing to do with the mining of raw materials but with the construction of new infrastructure such as tunnels for roads or railway tracks. The construction of new infrastructure underground is not only limited to mountain regions. Various types of underground infrastructure projects are also common in urban centres.

Although both of the sectors described above follow different interests and goals, they both have one thing in common: The materials used (from the construction machines and pipelines through to the valves and armatures) must be able to cope with the harsh conditions underground. Robust material solutions are thus indispensable for successful application in underground construction or mining.

Pinch valves from AKO offer two unbeatable arguments for use in mining and underground construction projects: They are available in extremely robust configurations and are also easy to install and maintain – two aspects that make the use of pinch valves underground a reliable and uncomplicated business.

Pinch valves are installed wherever media needs to be controlled or shut off in pipelines. This includes mined raw materials such as minerals, ores and coal, as well as the removal of waste material that is extracted during the mining of raw materials or underground construction. Pinch valves are also successfully used for the removal of mine water (also shaft water, called sump water in brown coal mining). The composition of the mine water can vary greatly depending on the mine, although it has a very abrasive character in most cases. Only very robust and abrasion-resistant pinch valve solutions (with anti-abrasive sleeves) are used here as a result.