SHAFTWe find what
the inspection
missed.
Shaft walks into active mine sites — open-pit copper operations, underground coal longwalls, hard-rock gold stopes — and identifies the failures waiting to happen before they do. Ventilation plans. Ground support systems. Emergency egress protocols. We review what exists against what regulations require, and we tell you exactly what needs to change.
Staring down a regulatory audit with procedures that haven't kept pace with the mine plan.
→ Pre-audit gap analysisRewriting procedures after a near-miss. Needs someone who's actually been underground to review them.
→ ERP and procedure reviewMid-tier miner. Needs an independent review of the ventilation plan before the next level development.
→ Ventilation compliance reviewThe failures don't announce themselves.
Here is what they look like three weeks before they happen.
The stope crown has 14 metres of unsupported span. Your last geotechnical survey was 11 months ago.
A copper stope at 160m below surface. The ore extraction has progressively widened the crown span to 14m. The original ground support design specified a 9m maximum. No one flagged it in the last three shift handovers. There is no monitoring data from the past two weeks because the instrument cable was damaged during a blast and hasn't been replaced.
A crown fall in this stope does not just kill the people inside. It severs the main decline for the level, trapping anyone working below the failure zone.
We map the actual span, reconcile it against the support design, and produce a remediation order before the next blast cycle.
Shaft deploys a structural discontinuity mapping protocol against your current stope geometry using the as-mined survey data you already have. We cross-reference span against your original geotechnical design parameters, identify where the support system is operating outside its rated capacity, and issue a priority-ordered remediation schedule with cable bolt specifications, installation sequencing, and blast exclusion zones.
- Stope Stability Assessment Report
- Support Design Reconciliation Matrix
- Remediation Work Order (ITP-compliant)
- Blast Exclusion Protocol Revision
Span brought within design limits before next extraction blast. Monitoring reinstated within 48 hours.
Your ventilation plan shows 12 m³/s at the face. Your last spot reading was 4.2 m³/s. Something is bypassing the system.
A longwall coal heading at 250m. The ventilation model was certified 18 months ago. Since then, two ventilation doors were removed to allow equipment access and were never reinstated. A contractor installed a temporary brattice that is partially collapsed. The methane monitor at the face has been alarming intermittently — the response has been to reset it, not investigate the airflow.
Methane accumulation in a partially ventilated heading is not a near-miss scenario. It is a pre-ignition condition. The only variable is the ignition source.
We trace the actual airflow circuit, locate every bypass point, and rebuild the ventilation model from what exists — not what was approved.
Shaft conducts a full ventilation survey using calibrated anemometry at every junction and split point. We map the as-installed circuit against the approved plan, identify every deviation — collapsed brattice, open doors, unregulated splits — and produce a corrected network model with resistance calculations. The output is a prioritised list of physical reinstatements with installation specifications and verification testing criteria.
- Ventilation Survey Report (as-installed)
- Network Model Reconciliation
- Bypass Point Register with Remediation Specs
- Regulatory Compliance Gap Analysis
Face airflow restored to design minimum within 72 hours. Regulatory variance notification prepared.
Your refuge chamber is 1,840 metres from the furthest working face. The regulation specifies 1,000 metres maximum.
An underground gold operation at 360m. The mine plan extended the Level 3 development by 840m over the past two years. The refuge chamber was not relocated. The emergency egress procedure still references the old maximum travel distance. Three of the four self-rescuer caches listed in the procedure are at locations that no longer exist in the current mine layout. This was not discovered during the last internal audit because the auditor used the procedure document, not the current mine plan.
In a seismic event or fire at the face, workers on Level 3 cannot reach the refuge chamber within self-rescuer capacity. The procedure tells them they can.
We audit the gap between your current mine geometry and your emergency response plan — and close it before your next regulatory inspection finds it.
Shaft overlays the current mine survey onto your Emergency Response Plan, identifying every location where the physical mine has diverged from the documented procedures. We calculate actual travel times and self-rescuer requirements for every working area, identify all non-compliant refuge chamber placements, and produce a revised ERP with updated cache locations, travel time calculations, and a prioritised relocation schedule for equipment.
- ERP–Mine Plan Reconciliation Audit
- Travel Time Calculation Matrix
- Refuge Chamber Relocation Specification
- Self-Rescuer Cache Audit Register
- Revised Emergency Response Procedure
Full compliance with placement regulations. ERP reflects actual mine geometry. Zero gaps between procedure and physical reality.
Every engagement produces
documentation you can act on.
Not a summary slide deck. Inspection-ready technical documents with specific clause references, named responsible parties, and measurable completion criteria.
Site Hazard Identification Report
Systematic walkthrough of every active working area. Every identified hazard logged against the applicable regulation, assigned a risk rating, and ordered by consequence severity.
Ground Control Management Plan Review
Reconciliation of your GCMP against current stope geometry, span measurements, and installed support. Identifies every deviation from the approved design parameters.
Ventilation Survey & Network Model
As-installed airflow circuit mapped against the approved ventilation plan. Network model rebuilt from measured data, not design assumptions.
Emergency Response Plan Audit
Overlay of current mine geometry against ERP procedures. Identifies every location where the physical mine has diverged from documented emergency response.
Regulatory Compliance Gap Matrix
Clause-by-clause comparison of your current procedures against the applicable regulatory standard. Presented as a prioritised action register with responsible parties and target dates.
Pre-Audit Readiness Assessment
Structured preparation for regulatory inspection. We identify what the auditor will look for before they arrive.
“A regulatory audit does not create the hazard. It finds what was already there. We find it first.”
The Site Audit Checklist
used on every engagement.
247 line items. Organised by hazard category. Referenced against the applicable regulation for each item. The same document we use when we walk a site.
Site Audit Checklist v4.2
PDF + editable Excel format. 247 items across ground control, ventilation, egress, and regulatory compliance.
Technical Brief Library
Ungated. Download directly. Organised by hazard category.
Stope Crown Stability Assessment Criteria
Span-to-height ratios, monitoring trigger levels, and support design verification checklist.
Underground Ventilation Survey Protocol
Anemometry placement, measurement frequency, network model validation, and regulatory minimums.
Refuge Chamber Placement Compliance Guide
Travel distance calculations, self-rescuer capacity requirements, and ERP reconciliation method.
Pre-Audit Preparation: What Inspectors Look For
Clause-by-clause review of common non-conformances across MSHA, AS 2865, and state regulations.