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What is the difference between circular shaft and rectangular shaft for mine entry purpose?

Originally Posted by nihar ranjan mitra

What is the difference between circular shaft and rectangular shaft for mine entry purpose?

Dear Nihar,

Generally the Iron mining is done by opencast methods because the formation of Iron ore(most commonly Haematite) is resulted by the oxidation process of
banded haematite jasper and so iron deposits are found in the form of large hills or series of hills.
As far as shaft sinking is concerned, it is employed in underground mining
methods. Basically the shape of the shafts can be rectangular or circular and
this is the visual difference.
The main picture comes during mine planning of any mine. A mining engineer and geologists together plan a mine and during the process of planning the feasibility analysis is done to determine that which one of these will be more appropriate.

Generally for rectangular shaft, The long axis of a shaft should be oriented perpendicular (normal) to the strike of the ore body. While, the circular shaft may be put into tension and shear by external forces where the horizontal ground stress in one direction is more than twice the horizontal stress in the other.

For further knowledge i would suggest you to refer the "SME Mining Engineering Handbook".

Thank You.

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