The model captures millions of measurements and enables ongoing geometry monitoring, deviation detection, and predictive maintenance planning
Decision Focus
In mid-2026, TNC Kazchrome JSC, a subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group, completed high-precision laser scanning of the 1,047-metre skip shaft at the Bolashak mine in Kazakhstan, reaching a depth of 627 metres without halting production. The operational signal for Mining Operations Directors: a mine with a 7.5 Mt/y design capacity has restructured its shaft inspection model around in-house digital twin capability — moving geotechnical monitoring from periodic third-party audits to continuous, precision-tracked infrastructure management.
90-Second Brief
Now, bolashak, commissioned in 2024 and representing more than $1.9 billion in ERG capital investment, relies on a single skip shaft as its primary personnel transport and ore hoisting artery. That shaft now has a 3D laser-scanned digital model built by the site’s own geotechnical team, replacing the previous practice of engaging external contractors for inspections. The model captures millions of measurements and enables ongoing geometry monitoring, deviation detection, and predictive maintenance planning. Scanning of one shaft side is complete; the opposing side is next, after which a full digital twin will be operational.
What Is Really Happening?
The skip shaft at a deep underground mine is not simply a structural element — it is the single throughput constraint that connects every tonne of ore to surface. Unplanned hoisting downtime does not produce partial production losses; it produces zero output until the fault is resolved. ERG’s move reflects a recognition that periodic inspection cycles, even with qualified contractors, create blind spots between visits. Deviations in shaft geometry that affect guide rails, rope alignment, or structural integrity develop gradually and are most cost-effectively managed before they become operational events.
Laser scanning changes the inspection model structurally. Where a contractor inspection produces a point-in-time report, a digital twin produces a trackable baseline. Engineers can compare successive scans against the original geometry, isolate trend movement, and schedule intervention on evidence rather than on elapsed time. The Bolashak team stated explicitly that the objective is to shift from responding to issues after they arise to predicting them — a direct challenge to the inspection-on-cycle model that most underground mines still use for fixed infrastructure.
Internalising the capability also changes the cost and frequency equation. When inspection requires mobilising an external team, the practical frequency is low — typically annual or biennial. When the geotechnical team owns the equipment and the methodology, scan frequency becomes a scheduling decision, not a procurement decision. That compression of the feedback loop is where the operational safety value accumulates.
Why It Matters for Mining Operations Directors
The production exposure from shaft failure or unplanned hoisting shutdown at a 7.5 Mt/y operation is material by any measure. The capital already deployed — more than $1.9 billion in construction — makes unplanned downtime a compounding problem: a physical asset that cannot produce is still consuming fixed costs and servicing the investment thesis that justified its construction.
For directors managing deep underground assets, the Bolashak model surfaces three specific pressure points. First, contractor dependency for critical infrastructure inspection introduces scheduling lag and data ownership gaps — the mine holds only periodic snapshots tied to external report cycles, not a continuous baseline. Second, the scan-without-halting-production outcome is operationally significant: it removes the false choice between inspection thoroughness and production continuity. Third, bringing inspection in-house positions the geotechnical team as the primary analytical authority on shaft condition, rather than as the interpreter of a contractor’s findings.
The model is not universally transferable without conditions. Shaft geometry, depth, hoisting system type, and in-house geotechnical capability all affect whether a similar approach is executable at a given site. Operations with shallow shafts or high contractor dependency may face different transition economics. But the directional shift — from periodic external audit to continuous internal monitoring — is worth examining regardless of asset type.
Forward View
Three fronts are worth tracking as this approach matures. The first is scan frequency: ERG has not disclosed how often re-scanning will occur once the full twin is in place. The interval between scans determines whether the model functions as a true predictive tool or a higher-resolution version of the existing periodic inspection model. The second is integration with hoisting system telemetry: a shaft geometry twin gains substantially more predictive power when combined with real-time data from the hoist itself — rope tension, conveyance speed variance, and guide wear signals. Whether ERG is building toward that integration is not confirmed in available reporting. The third is adoption pace at peer operations: a single deployment at one mine, even a well-resourced one, does not establish sector-wide proof of concept. Independent validation of detection accuracy and maintenance lead-time improvement would accelerate adoption decisions at comparable underground operations.
What Is Still Uncertain
The source reporting does not confirm the detection threshold at which the system flags deviations for intervention, the cost differential between the in-house model and previous contractor inspection arrangements, or the timeline for completing the second shaft side. The predictive maintenance claim — that the twin enables earlier hazard identification — is asserted by the operating team but has not yet been tested against a full inspection cycle with documented outcomes. Whether the approach applies to different shaft configurations, particularly those with more complex guide systems or variable geology, is also unaddressed. Directors evaluating applicability to their own assets should treat Bolashak as a directional signal rather than a validated benchmark until comparative performance data is published.
One Question for Your Team
For your highest-criticality fixed infrastructure — skip shafts, hoisting systems, decline access points — what is your current inspection interval, who owns the baseline data between inspection cycles, and would you know about a developing geometry deviation before it became a production event?
Sources
- Im-mining — ERG heads into predictive maintenance territory with digital twin of Bolashak mine shaft (Link)
