MINE D’OR DU TASIAST MASSIF DE L’ADRAR

In the context of the operation of the Tasiast gold mine in the Adrar Massif (Mauritanian desert), the mining company KINROSS had a primary crusher wall constructed, requiring the construction of two side walls with a height of 32.50 meters. The soil reinforcement technique with a vertical mineral facing, Terramesh® System, developed by Maccaferri, was chosen. The construction oversight company AUSENCO was impressed by the performance of the Terramesh® system as well as the technical support provided by Maccaferri. This is the tallest Terramesh system wall in the field of mining applications!

The Terramesh® system is a system that combines a gabion facing with a continuous wire mesh reinforcement of the facing. The gabion part ensures a neat facing while the wire mesh reinforcement provides support for the rear embankment and the stability of the structure. In addition to the wire mesh, reinforcement geogrids like Paralink® 300 and Paralink® 400 were added over a length of 20 meters in the embankment to provide the necessary reinforcement.The wire mesh used in the Terramesh® system is of a double-twisted hexagonal mesh type, coated with a 1mm thick PVC sheath. This corrosion-resistant wire protection ensures a service life of the structure for 120 years. The design of the structure was carried out by Maccaferri's technical department using their in-house slope stability software, MACSTARS, to determine the length, spacing, and type of reinforcement.The construction of such a large retaining structure requires careful placement of the components and strict adherence to the work procedures. Maccaferri provided a comprehensive work procedure to assist the company in all stages of the project implementation. The cages were filled with stones extracted from the site and crushed on-site. Nearly 4,000 tons of stones were needed to fill the cages. Considering an average gold concentration of 5g/t in the extracted stones, the wall is made up of approximately 20kg of gold!