Headframe

Construction of a steel headframe can be easily interrupted and restarted if necessary for statutory holidays or bad weather, where slip forming concrete is not.

[1] A recently erected steel headgear in the Zambian copper belt town of Chililabombwe at the Konkola number 4 shaft has a total height of 81 metres to the top of the maintenance crane rail, with the centre-line of the head sheaves at 71 metres above the collar, making it the highest steel headgear in Africa.

The Ruhr district of Germany and the South Wales Valleys in Britain are both examples of areas which are now associated with headframes due to the large number constructed to mine coal during the Industrial Revolution.

In Yellowknife, Canada, the demolition of the Con Mine headframe has met significant public opposition.

[5] The headframe was the tallest structure in the Northwest Territories[6] and is regarded by many in the town to be an important symbol of the region's mining heritage.