Improving Quality, Efficiency, and Speed in Advance: Smooth Completion of Flood Discharge Tunnel for Shizhuyuan 10,000 mt Technological Transformation Tailings Pond Project

At 8:48 a.m. on May 28, with the sound of blasting, the flood discharge tunnel of the "Shizhuyuan 10,000 mt Technological Transformation Tailings Pond Project" of Shizhuyuan Company, a subsidiary of China Minmetals, was successfully connected, marking the complete excavation of the flood discharge tunnel and a significant milestone achievement in the project's construction.

The connected flood discharge tunnel spans a total length of 1,326 meters. Due to complex geological conditions and overall high construction difficulty, it was a key and challenging project within the initiative. Since the project's construction commenced on December 26, 2024, Shizhuyuan Company and the construction team have successively overcome bottlenecks such as fractured rock, developed fissure joints, difficulties in ventilation and transportation in long-distance tunnels, narrow construction sites, and limited space for material storage and machinery equipment parking in the flood discharge tunnel construction area. Through multiple measures in terms of construction organization, resource allocation, and technical discussions, they effectively improved construction quality and efficiency, achieving the connection 58 days ahead of the scheduled plan.

Led by Party building, a team was forged to tackle challenges. Shizhuyuan Company, in collaboration with MCC Changtian and Minmetals 23rd Construction Co., Ltd., established a joint Party branch for the Shizhuyuan 10,000 mt Technological Transformation Project, creating a "Tunnel Engineering Party Member Commando" and a "Specialized Work Team" to take the lead in addressing bottleneck issues such as difficult land acquisition coordination, material transportation, and complex geological conditions, fully leveraging the exemplary role of Party members. The joint Party branch actively carried out a 100-day labor competition with the theme of "Ensuring Safety, Competing in Quality, and Racing in Progress," fully mobilizing employee enthusiasm. The excavation efficiency of the flood discharge tunnel increased from 6 meters per day to 12 meters per day. During the construction period, the project team established a "three-shift" tracking mechanism, with Party members and cadres leading inspection tasks to ensure seamless connection of key processes, meticulous control of important time periods, and the practical implementation of the "Four Guarantees" policy: "prioritizing safety, ensuring quality, striving to meet the schedule, and strictly controlling costs."

Technological innovation enhanced construction efficiency. The project team fully leveraged its technological advantages, leading the construction team to implement standardized operations, ensuring construction safety, and improving work efficiency. In response to the geological challenge of alternating granite and fractured zones in the flood discharge tunnel, the project team innovatively adopted the "arch advance anchor rod + anchor mesh shotcrete support" process, which improved construction efficiency by 20% and reduced support costs by 15%. To address the issue of significant variations in rock structure and low blasting efficiency at the excavation face, they innovatively developed the "two-stage blasting method within the slot center hole," utilizing a central charge double-detonator electronic detonator initiation technology to achieve better blasting effects in the cut. This not only reduced the unit consumption of explosives by 12% but also increased the single-cycle excavation footage from 1.6 meters to 2.5 meters, with the monthly footage exceeding the 400-meter milestone. To solve the problem of unstable shotcrete quality in tunnel support, the project team introduced an automated mixing system, optimized the ratio of cement, sand, and stone, and added accelerators, resulting in a 40% increase in shotcrete efficiency and a reduction in the rebound rate from 25% to 15%.

Three-dimensional supervision to establish a safety defense line. The project team has constructed a "trinity" safety management and control system. Safety personnel accompany the work throughout the process. Onsite personnel dispatched from the Chaishan Mine and the project headquarters work alongside the excavation team, entering and exiting the site together. A 24-hour shift rotation system is implemented to strictly inspect safety risks and hidden dangers. The project headquarters organizes construction units, design units, and supervision units to conduct onsite surveys and dynamic reviews, promptly adjusting construction plans and providing safety technical support to ensure the smooth progress of the project. The project team has established a hierarchical early warning mechanism of "self-inspection by the team, inspection by the supervisor, and spot checks by the headquarters." It has innovatively applied the "Human Risk Identification Method" and the "Finger Pointing and Oral Confirmation" safety verification method to strengthen the management and control of hazard sources in key links such as blasting operations, ensuring the safety of critical processes and providing a solid guarantee for the project to achieve "zero accidents, high quality, and exceeding the schedule" in completing the drainage tunnel breakthrough.

The successful breakthrough of the drainage tunnel in the tailings pond project marks a milestone step in the overall construction of the tailings pond project, pressing the "accelerator" for the overall completion of the 10,000 mt technological transformation mining, beneficiation, and tailings project in Shizhuyuan. Next, the project team will continue to uphold the work ethic of "practical work and solid results" and the team spirit of tenacious struggle, continuously strengthening the management of all construction elements to ensure the project is completed and accepted on schedule, thereby promoting the high-quality development of the enterprise.