Built in 1966, the Stobie Mine headframe stood tall for the final time today, before demolition crews flipped the switch and the structure came down.
“The activity was carefully planned by a team of blasting and demolition experts and safely executed as planned,” Vale spokesperson Danica Pagnutti said today.
Standing 95 metres tall and made of concrete, the headframe over the No. 9 shaft at Stobie had to be blasted down, Vale said, instead of dismantled.
“This activity follows careful demolition of several buildings at the site earlier this year including the sand and crusher plants, the mill and the conveyor trestle,” Pagnutti said.
Stobie Mine was placed on care and maintenance in 2017.
The company said the demolition of the mine site structures will “reduce maintenance costs and pave the way for potential new development currently being studied.”
