TERRATEC - Tunnel-Boring Machines and Raise-Boring Machines

TERRATEC is a world-renowned Australian designer and manufacturer of tunnel-boring machines, raise-boring machines and other custom-made products for tunnelling and mining applications.

TERRATEC's success is based on the experience and excellence of its engineering team. The team includes engineers with over 40 years' experience in the design and manufacture of tunnelling and mining machines and who have also worked on some of the world's largest underground projects. TERRATEC is fully managed by engineers, providing quick and efficient solutions to meet the customer's expectations.

Tunnel-boring machines

From its establishment, TERRATEC has been providing hard-rock tunnel-boring machines for varied geologies, from soft shale to extremely hard and abrasive quartzite.

Soft-ground tunnel-boring machines

For tunnelling projects in soft geology with small overburden, generally carried out under cities, the tunnel-boring machine has to perfectly control the pressure in the excavation face, which must be larger than the atmospheric existing inside the boring machine.

Small tunnel-boring machines

TERRATEC offers a wide range of small tunnel-boring machines (<2.5m) which does not require the presence of an operator inside the tunnel, as the excavation is fully controlled from outside the tunnel.

These trenchless solutions are in demand in large cities where conventional tunnelling methods can cause unacceptable disruption to the daily life of citizens.

Raise-boring machines

TERRATEC has developed its own series of raise-boring machines, which are recognised as superior products due to their innovative and high-performance design.

Large-shaft raise-boring machines

For the excavation of large shafts, the company's TERRATEC Raise (TR) series offers an optimized design to ream only upwards shafts up to 6,000mm in diameter.

Down reamer raise-boring machines

The TERRATEC Down and Raise (TDR) series allows reaming conventionally upwards, as well as downwards, on up to 2,000mm diameter shafts.

The TDR series' low-profile design means all components can pass through the working table, allowing the user to work comfortably in confined spaces.

Shaft raise/down/boxhole drilling

The design of the Universal Borer (UB) machine allows the raise/down/boxhole drilling of shafts, which makes the UB the most versatile of the raise-boring machines. The standard UB model allows raise-boring shafts of 1,500mm and down or boxhole reaming up to 1,060mm.

Tunnel-spoil conveyor systems

The success of the construction of a tunnel depends not only on the selection of the most suitable tunnelling machine but also the most efficient system to evacuate the spoil excavated from the tunnel-boring machine out of the tunnel. Interruption in the evacuation works very often leads to interruption to the boring availability of the tunnel-boring machine and subsequently, to the overall production.

Especially when tunnels are long, slopes are steep or space for unloading spoil is limited, the use of a conveyor system has innumerable advantages over evacuation by muck cars in terms of productivity, safety, and operation and maintenance costs.

TERRATEC has designed and built sophisticated continuous conveyor systems specifically for individual tunnel and tunnel-boring machine conditions. These include continuous conveyor systems in the tunnel, transfer systems, vertical conveyors and stacker systems at the tunnel portal.

Over the last 20 years TERRATEC conveyor systems have been installed in a range of different projects for its own tunnel-boring machines or tunnel-boring machines made by other companies, with excellent results.

Back-up systems and continuously advancing conveyor systems for tunnel-boring machines

TERRATEC designed and manufactured a back-up system and a new patented concept of continuously advancing conveyor system for tunnel-boring machines, which set new world records in production for tunnels of their size. These records have remained unbeaten.

Bunker conveyors

For mining applications or tunnelling by conventional methods, TERRATEC's bunker conveyor is the perfect solution to evacuate the muck due to its robust, simple and reliable design.

The TERRATEC bunker conveyor is designed to be pulled along a monorail as the tunnel advances. It is equipped with a telescopic hopper which facilitates the load of muck into the conveying system. The filling of each truck is radio-controlled by the operator so the exact amount of muck can be loaded every time.