Mine Design Technologies products

Lightweight and flexible, our SMART MPBX (Multi-Point Borehole eXtensometer) has six anchor points and an integrated electronic readout head. The small instrument diameter means that the head can be recessed in a 50 mm (2 inch) borehole – no need for oversize holes or reamed collars. It also allows multiple MPBX’s to be installed in the same long borehole. Each instrument is custom manufactured to the length you require, and allowing you to place the anchor locations where you need. They arrive on site ready to install. Just place in a borehole and grout. No assembly required.  Our biggest selling item, the SMART MPBX is in use around the world.

By combining the support capabilities of a standard 7-strand cable bolt with a miniature 6-wire extensometer, the SMART (Stretch Measurement to Assess Reinforcement Tension) Cable was born. The stretch in the cable is determined via the integrated six-point extensometer, allowing the strain between the anchor points to be calculated. Because we know the properties of the cable-rock-grout interface, the loading profile along the cable can be inferred. These field-proven instruments allow our clients to optimize their ground support, creating cost-effective excavations at greater depth while ensuring the safety of equipment and personnel. They have also been used in civil tie-backs for design validation.

Based on MDT’s proven and popular MPBX, the SMART Contractometer uses a collapsible structure to allow the measurement of convergence. Like our MPBX, the Contractometer is a flexible six-point fully recessable unit with our patented electronic readout head. The sensor and head are small enough to be recessed into a 50 mm (2 in) diameter borehole for easy installation. In situations like backfill and shotcrete pillar monitoring, special 102 mm (4 inch) diameter shear washers are available to ensure that full transfer of convergence to the Contractometer is assured. The leadwires are enclosed in a polypropylene cover, which can be immersed in backfill or shotcreted over for protection. Contact our engineering staff for customized design or installation services.

New for 2014 is the SMART GMM100 Ground Movement Monitor! The GMM100 is rapidly deployed with no grouting required, to provide instant and cost effective monitoring of primary support regions. The GMM100 have been designed and built to be cost effective and simple to use, operating by simply threading onto a rock bolt, inserting the rock bolt and device into a standard sized borehole (35mm or more), expanding the rock bolt toe anchor and attaching the instrument using the supplied wrench, and securing the collar plate. Alternately a re-usable wedge anchor supplied by MDT may be used.

Sloughmeters are used in places where some caving or “sloughing” is expected. Things like monitoring the cave around a stope, or the collapse around an orepass. Our sloughmeters use solid anchors which bond with the grout in the borehole. Any ground failure will take the anchor with it, severing the circuit. Complete with 10 anchor locations, our Sloughmeters are custom-manufactured to any length and configuration required by our customers. Our Sloughmeter Readers are low cost, and recently re-designed to eliminate the false positives associated with wet holes.

The ThermistorString-NTC3K from Mine Design Technologies (MDT) is a rugged, versatile and easy-to-install thermistor string that is fully customizable and manufactured to client requirements.

Easily and Comprehensively Measure Geotechnical and Hydrology sensors with the Loadsensing LS-G6 Surface Wireless Data Acquisition System. The LS-G6 system makes it easy to wirelessly monitor all of your surface sensors in real-time, using readily available and commonly used vibrating wire, digital and analogue geotechnical sensors. This long-range wireless data acquisition system offers many benefits to engineers, especially its ability to provide easily accessible periodic data readings and generate alarms if safety thresholds are exceeded.

The MDT-RTU is capable of acquiring data from up to 3 SMART instruments and runs on batteries for 3 years.  The system deploys in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks like typical wired systems.  Contact MDT to help you design a full instrumentation program that is monitored wirelessly and sends data to your desk on surface.

The VW-RTU is capable of acquiring data from up to 4 vibrating wire instruments from any manufacturer, and runs on batteries for 3-10 years. The system deploys in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks like typical wired systems.

New for 2018, MDT has just released the SMART Link-BLT wireless module to make data collection even easier. Paired with the MDT SMART App tablet – you can now take manual readings from our SMART instruments completely wirelessly. Simply mate one of the SMART Link-BLT devices to your SMART instrument (MPBX, Cable, or Contractometer) and leave it in place. It will wait and ‘listen’ for a connection from the Tablet app when in range, and a reading can be taken without physically connecting to the instrument.