Access passage excavated using explosives for tunnel boring machine on the historic 30-year Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Access adit for the passage of a huge tunnel boring machine (TBM) to its launch site on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The distinctive pattern of the hard volcanic rock tunnel walls indicates that the adit was excavated by use of explosives. In tunnel construction, explosives are loaded into holes drilled into the rock face in a specific pattern to produce the most economical and satisfactory breakage of rock. Detonation, using either instantaneous and delayed action exploders, follows a specified sequence. Dynamite is used extensively for tunnel construction; a charge may be fired by use of either a blasting cap or a fuse. The 30-year Lesotho Highlands Water Project was started in 1989 and, when fully implemented, will transfer 40 per cent of the water from the Orange Senqu River in Lesotho, delivering it through a series of dams, tunnels and rivers to the arid industrial heartland of South Africa. Lesotho - the Kingdom in the Sky - is completely surrounded by South Africa and is the highest and one of the poorest nations on earth. It is rich in only one resource: water (also called white gold). Lesotho will earn water royalties averaging US$40 million per year for at least 50 years to be used for poverty reduction and economic stability. Simultaneously, hydroelectric power will be generated to make Lesotho self-sufficient in electric power. For South Africa, the highlands water project provides essential high-quality water to the heartland industries in Gauteng Province that drive the economy of the country. The project has been funded by the governments of Lesotho and South Africa and with loans from international agencies like the World Bank. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is one of the world's largest and most complex construction projects and has dramatically changed life for the remote mountain communities in this tiny African Kingdom.
Size: 3310px × 3310px
Location: Kingdom of Lesotho, Africa.
Photo credit: © qaphotos.com / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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