Our natural resources

Over the course of a lifetime, each person on the planet – statistically speaking – uses about a thousand tonnes of raw materials extracted from mineral deposits. We need sand, rock and lime to build houses, roads and bridges. People use metals such as iron, copper and aluminium to produce tools, cars and railways, ships and aircraft. Fossil resources such as crude oil, natural gas, and brown and hard coal provide energy used to manufacture industrial products, power vehicles, and heat our houses and apartments. Oil and gas are also indispensable raw materials used in the production of plastics and in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

One of the most important mineral resources of our time is silicon: essential in microelectronics and solar technology. It’s almost impossible to imagine what our life would be like without mineral resources. There’s hardly a single everyday article whose manufacture doesn’t depend on mineral resources. Some 11 billion tonnes of raw materials are extracted the world over. Year after year. From the surface and from underground. And thanks to state-of-the-art processes, the recovery of those raw materials is safer and more economical than ever before.

As early as the middle ages, nobility already held miners in high esteem: Because as the first industrially organised profession in history, mining established technical progress and prosperity. Precious metals and gems filled treasuries, salt allowed trade to flourish, and quartz; sand and lime enabled the production of glass. Construction, art and crafts were inconceivable without metal ores. The world as we know it today would not exist without mineral resources. Accordingly, mining has been of fundamental importance to the development of our civilisation for centuries now. And minerals – and the ability to extract them – are still a vital resource, enabling countries around the world to secure economic power and wealth. Today, factors such as safety, efficiency and sustainability play an increasingly important role in the mining of mineral deposits. In that context, the experience and expertise of KrampeHarex are making a valuable contribution to underground mining. Worldwide.

No matter whether it involves room and pillar mining, narrow vein mining, or mechanised mining for larger areas: Safety is a crucial factor in all underground mining operations. In soft or squeezing rock, tunnels must be secured against collapse. Shotcrete can, however, be reinforced with steel fibre even more easily, more economically, and with fewer work steps. We offer the full range of support for fibre concrete applications (with steel and polypropylene fibre), providing you with expertise and service from a single source. Using static calculations, we will determine the safest and most cost-effective fibre type and content for you – regardless of whether you want to line your mineworkings with segments or with shotcrete.