A drilling assembly is disclosed for drilling a borehole in a rock body and inserting a rock bolt within the borehole in a single pass. The drilling assembly includes an elongated drill string having a downhole end. A drill bit is detachably joined to the downhole end of the drill string, with the drill bit having an external screw thread extending in an axial direction of the drill string. The drill string is surrounded by a rock bolt sleeve that has a thread engaging formation at or near its downhole end and that is arranged to cooperate with the external screw thread of the drill bit so that the drill bit is able to be screwed into the rock bolt sleeve.

A friction bolt assembly to frictionally engage a bore formed in rock strata includes an elongate tube and an expander mechanism acted on by an anchor mechanism via an elongate bar or cable. A retainer mechanism is mounted to act between the bar or cable and the tube to prevent ejection of the bar or cable from the assembly should the bar or cable break.

A friction bolt assembly includes: an expansible sleeve having a tubular body between leading and trailing ends, which body has a longitudinally extending formation about which the body resiliently deforms and which formation extends along at least part of the body, ending at the body leading end; a rod extending through the sleeve body and between first and second ends and on which a projecting part is defined between the trailing end of the sleeve body and the second end; an expansion element on the rod at the first end; a first load bearing formation on the projecting rod part, moveable along the projecting part to abut the sleeve trailing end; a load applicator on the projecting part of the rod; and a second load bearing formation mounted over the projecting part of the rod between the first load bearing formation and the load applicator unit.

An anchor bolt for fastening an object in a drilled borehole in a rock mass formation, which is to absorb violent impact loads such as those occurring during earthquakes in an energy dissipating manner. The anchor bolt comprises a split sleeve and a bolt component inserted in the split sleeve that, when pulled outwardly, expends the split sleeve until a key protruding from the surface of the bolt component abuts a ring, thereby informing the operator that appropriate anchoring and pre-tensioning of the anchor bolt in the borehole is reached. Another ring, interfacing with the split sleeve about the entry of the borehole, is designed to force expansion of the split sleeve, preventing a breaking anchor bolt to become a high-speed projectile.

Rock anchors, inflation chucks, and inflation systems such as those described herein, allow for substantially complete draining of fluids from interior volumes of the rock anchors. In various situations, corrosive fluids may be introduced to the rock anchor, including inflating the rock anchors and during normal use, such as by groundwater intrusion. The inflation chucks described herein include multiple inflation paths for more effectively introducing and draining fluid from rock anchors during inflation processes and during general use.

A rock bolt assembly includes a rock bolt with an elongate body between distal and proximal ends, a tubular sleeve with first and second ends, proximal and distal ends of the bolt projecting from first and second ends of the sleeve, a load bearing barrel centrally bored to engage the rock bolt between the sleeve's first end and the bolt's proximal end, which barrel is adapted at a forward end to engage with the sleeve's second end in sealing contact, and which barrel has at least one grout conduit between the barrel's exterior surface and the bore, which at least one conduit defines a part of a grout passage which communicates the exterior surface of the barrel with an interior of the sleeve, when the barrel is engaged with the sleeve, and a seal which seals the grout passage to grout outflow but accommodates inflow of grout from a source.

An end coupling for a rock bolt having a shaft having an external thread, the coupling having an axis and the coupling comprising a body having a leading end and a trailing end spaced apart along the axis, a first passage portion extending along the axis from the leading end; a second passage portion extending along the axis from the trailing end; the first passage portion including a first thread portion to threadingly engage the external thread on the shaft of the rock bolt; the second passage portion including a drive receiving portion arranged to be engaged with a drive inserted into the second passage portion via the trailing end to impart rotation to the coupling about the axis.

A sensor assembly for a rock bolt, wherein the rock bolt includes a central rod, a split tube and a wedge anchor assembly fitted around the central rod, a rock plate, and a nut for attachment to an outer end of the central rod. The sensor assembly includes a distance sensor, a bracket for attaching the distance sensor to an outer portion of the split tube, an elongate spacing member configured to be fitted around the split tube between the nut and the rock plate to keep the nut and the rock plate spaced apart. The spacing member has an opening extending along at least a portion of the length thereof, the opening being sized large enough to allow movement of the bracket along a portion of the length of the spacing member with the distance sensor attached to the outer portion of the split tube by the bracket.

The present application relates to a system for supporting a roof of a portion of a mine. The system includes a first plurality of stabilizing members disposed above the roof at a first elevation. The first plurality of stabilizing members originate from a first common location and terminate at a second elevation that is higher than the first elevation. The system further includes a second plurality of stabilizing members disposed above the roof and the first plurality of stabilizing members at a third elevation. The second plurality of stabilizing members originate from a second common location and terminate at a fourth elevation that is higher than the third elevation. The second plurality of stabilizing members are disposed generally perpendicular to the first plurality of stabilizing members.

A rock anchor assembly includes a rock anchor with a flexible element and first/second cylindrical connector elements engaged to proximal and distal ends of the element, a flexible tubular sleeve longitudinally extending between first and second ends, on the rock anchor so end parts of the rock anchor project from sleeve ends; a load bearing barrel centrally bored engaging the first connector element between the first end of the sleeve and a proximal end of the rock anchor, the barrel engaging the first end of the sleeve in sealing contact, the barrel having a grout conduit between the barrel exterior and the bore, the conduit defining part of a grout passage interconnecting the barrel exterior and sleeve interior, when the barrel engages the sleeve; a seal preventing grout outflow but accommodating grout inflow; a tensioner engaging the first tubular connector element, and a mechanical anchor engaging the second tubular connector.