Mining Production Activities

Overview
This topic discusses the decisions made in selecting mining methods and
describes some of the common mining methods used, as well as how
mineral deposits are accessed for bulk extraction. Mining production
activities may be split up into surface and underground mining. This topic
contrasts medium and large-scale methods with artisanal and small-scale
mining.

This topic overview contains the following chapters:

1. Types of mining processes

2. When open pit mining would be used
3. The advantages of open pit mining
4. Disadvantages of open pit mining
5. Combining open pit & underground mining
6. Stripping ratio
7. Managing the slope of the pit
8. Pit optimisation
9. Management and safe operating of open pit mines
10. Specialised surface mining techniques
11. What is underground mining?
12. Accessing underground ore bodies
13. The stoping method of mining
14. The cut and fill method
15. Caving methods
16. Underground mine service installations

1. Types of mining processes

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In ASM, minerals are often extracted from shallow excavations which open
to surface. This technique has been used from ancient times. The holes are
often dug with hand tools such as picks and shovels, although explosives
might sometimes be used.

Trenches are often excavated to expose the outcrop of an orebody on

surface for sampling but may also be used to extract material for sale.

Often, little or no effort is made to keep the sides of the excavation at a

safe angle of inclination. Any excavation with vertical sides exceeding 1.5m in
depth should be regarded as hazardous.

Token support is sometimes installed with indigenous timber and may

double as a climbing aid. Crude ladders are also used. A hand windlass can
be safely used to a depth of not more than 30m. Excavated material should
be dumped sufficiently clear of the sides of the excavation to avoid it falling
back on persons.

Placer Mining is the extraction of alluvial mineral deposits, either in pits or in

river beds. It is usually applied to heavy
minerals including gold, other metals and
gemstones.

Techniques range from panning, in the ASM

sector, to hydraulicking where high-pressure
water jets, called monitors, fed by pumps, are
used to
excavate and
transport the material, mixed with water, to
a processing plant.

The plant may be a simple sluice box or

something more complex, such as spirals.
The extraction of minerals in this type of
mining is gravity-based and makes efficient
use of water for both mining and extraction.

Placer mining has high potential for environmental harm and must be
closely controlled. Settling ponds should be used to remove sediments,
which should not be allowed to cause siltation of rivers. Water is recycled
through the whole process.

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Hydraulicking is still used in mining some alluvial deposits as well as tailings
dams for re-treatment, especially for gold, and has also been used
underground for mining coal and chrome.

Dredging is the mining of gravel from underwater from a ship or a barge. It

can be done with little environmental impact as the gravels are discharged
back to where they were mined, after removing valuable minerals by gravity
methods (no chemicals). Dredging is in widespread use for mining offshore
diamonds.

Coastal mining of diamonds is carried out by using huge loaders to push

sand back to create a dyke, after which mining can be done by dredging or
with remote-controlled track-mounted vehicles may proceed in shallow,
calm water behind the dyke.

2. When open pit mining would be used

Open pit mining may also be called “open-cut” or “opencast”, this type of
mining is often favoured when the below conditions are present:

 Large orebody close to surface

 Very flat dipping, for example horizontal coal seam close to surface
 In some cases, steep dipping orebodies are favourable to open pit
mining if they are large enough, e.g. vertical kimberlite pipes
(diamonds)
 Outcrop in a hill
 Low competency of orebody or country rock making U/G mining risky –
but this will affect pit slope & therefore stripping ratio
 If there is a requirement for early production
 Availability of contractor with own equipment reduces capital
expenditure but increases working costs

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3. The advantages of open pit mining
There are a number of advantages of open pit mining when compared to
Underground Mining:

 Open pits can sometimes be brought into production quickly.

Underground mining requires development (shaft sinking, adits,
declines etc.) which might take years before production can start.
However, design & construction of the processing plant also takes a
long time during which U/G development might be completed in
parallel;
 In some cases, the first ground removed from the pit is ore;
 Open pits are generally safer than U/G mining;
 Operations are highly visible to management & easy to control;
 Low operating costs:
 the expenditure is mainly on direct production activities – drilling,
blasting & moving rock – compared with U/G which has high costs of
ancillary activities: support, ventilation
 open pit mining allows the use of very large machines which have a
lower cost per tonne of rock than small machines
 Capital expenditure may be lower than U/G. Shaft sinking is extremely
expensive. In addition, in open pits, contractors may be hired who
provide their own machinery (drills, trucks, shovels, loaders etc.) which
reduces the mining company’s capital requirements; however, this will
lead to increased working costs;
 Different specialist contractors can be used for different activities, e.g.
drilling & blasting, moving rock;
 Geological information may be improved & grade control is normally
easier;
 It is relatively easy to increase or reduce the rate of production (tonnes
per month);
 Flexibility: the processing plant normally requires steady feed, but the
rate of waste stripping may vary. It may be possible to mine more
waste in the dry season or in summer in cold areas;
 It is easy to measure production by surveying the pit;

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  Low labour intensity (small workforce required): less housing, direct &
social costs associated with employees;
 The choice of an open pit mining method may not preclude later
mining at depth by U/G methods.

4. Disadvantages of open pit mining

However, disadvantages when compared to Underground Mining also exist:

 Very large amounts of waste rock are mined. This creates costs as well
as environmental issues with waste rock disposal;
 Major disruption of surface: pit footprint, waste dumps. High visual
impact, especially strip mining. After closure, rehabilitation may be
difficult, slow & costly;
 Very large volumes of overburden may need to be moved before
reaching the orebody (e.g. coal) thus delaying return on capital
expenditure;
 Open pits catch rain, making them vulnerable to flooding, which may
severely disrupt production;
 High levels of skills are required in
mechanized pits.

5. Combining open pit and

underground mining
Either in the initial design stage, or before the
end of the life of an open pit, a decision may
be made to extend the life of the mine by
exploiting the orebody below the economic
level of open p it mining, by underground
methods.

Continuous production is essential, and the

decision to go U/G must be made in time to
complete access development so that U/G production can start as the pit is
phased out. There is normally some U/G production while the pit is still
producing.

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To save both time and money, it may be possible to develop the U/G access
from inside the pit. Shafts or declines may be developed from near the
bottom of a pit. They must be well protected from flooding (see drawing
below).

Occasionally, the easiest & cheapest way of moving rock from an open pit is
to mine a tunnel underneath it (see drawing above).

6. Stripping ratio
The main factor in designing an open pit
mine, which largely determines the cost of
mining, is the stripping ratio.
Stripping is the removal of waste rock from
above and around the orebody.

Stripping ratio is defined as the tonnage of

waste rock to be mined, divided by the
tonnage of ore to be mined from the pit.

Stripping ratio is influenced by the shape of the orebody and may vary
considerably during the life of the mine. Except in rare cases, it increases
with depth of the orebody below surface.

The unit cost of mining may increase over the life of a

pit due to increased stripping ratio and the longer haul
for trucks out of the pit.

In surface mining, instead of measuring tonnes of ore

and waste extracted, operators often measure volume
in units of bank cubic metres (BCM). This is easy to
match to machine capacities and is also easy to measure by survey,
especially for payment of contractors.

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The unit costs (cost per tonne or per BCM) for ore & waste might be slightly
different, for various reasons such as hardness, but both cost money, while
only ore gives revenue. This is why stripping ratio is such a crucial aspect of
open pit design and of open pit mine management.

Maximum economy is achieved with lowest stripping ratio, which in turn is

achieved by the steepest possible safe pit slope. There is a safe limit to how
steep the sides of a pit can be, and this is determined by slope stability.

Slope stability is the tendency, or lack of it, for a slope to fail due to stress
forces. The study of this is a specialised branch of mining engineering.

7. Managing the slope of the

pit
The most important way of preventing
slope failures in pits, and simple falls of
ground (falling rocks) from high walls, is
benching. Benching in a pit creates
benches and berms.

Benches are the vertical or steeply inclined

faces in an open pit. They may be vertical but are preferably steeply inclined
at about 70 – 80O both for safety, stability and for best results in drilling &
blasting.

Berms are the approximately horizontal surfaces in pits, between benches,

on which most activities take place: drilling, loading and vehicle travel.
Confusingly, miners often call berms “benches,” e.g. “the 120m bench, the
130m bench . . .”

Some berms are slightly inclined along their length and connected to form a
spiral roadway or ramp into a pit. Heavy vehicles working in pits can handle
a maximum slope of about 6 degrees (1:10). Pits may have single or multiple
access ramps for vehicle access.

Overall slope of the pit is measured from the toe (bottom edge) of the
lowest bench to the crest, which is where the top bench meets surface.

The process of pre-stripping is the removal of overburden to expose ore,

before mining of ore commences. Pre-stripping costs are considered as part
of the capital expenditure to open the mine. Once ore is being mined,
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stripping of waste continues but pre-stripping is complete. Pre-stripping is
included in calculation of stripping ratio.

Rock, both ore and waste, close to surface, may be softer than in other
parts of the pit, especially if it is oxidized. Soft rock may be amenable to
mining by ripping and dozing with a bulldozer instead of drilling & blasting.

The detailed design of a pit requires a match between the desired pit slope
angle, which may vary on different sides of the pit, and the mining
equipment in use. The drilling and blasting design (length, diameter and
spacing of holes) must be compatible with these. Mobile rockdrills must be
selected with capacity to drill the desired bench height, and the width of
berms must be sufficient to accommodate expected traffic volumes and the
sizes of all vehicles travelling, which include excavators, loaders, haulage
trucks, explosives trucks and service vehicles. Roadways must have a
minimum turning radius to suit the largest vehicle using the roadway. A large
truck may have a 25m turning radius, which can dramatically affect the
shape of a bench & require a lot of extra waste to be mined.

An over-riding factor remains the need for the ratio of bench height to berm
width to give the required pit slope angle.

The ramp or roadway may have to accommodate traffic in a single direction

or two directions. The number of benches available to give the required rate
of production may vary from one to many.

Oxides: many sulphide metallic orebodies (e.g. Cu, Au) are oxidized at
surface. It is usually necessary to mine oxides separately as they require to
be processed separately from sulphide ore. Removal of oxides is treated as
a distinct phase of the stripping programme. The material may be discarded
as waste, or stockpiled separately, for treatment in a separate process,
either at the same time or later.

8. Pit optimisation
Large pits today are designed by computer modelling using a variety of
commercially available software packages. The
model is constructed over a geological model of
the orebody. The planners input technical
parameters: height of benches & width of berms
& roadways, desired gradient or haulage roads;
number of roadways required; required

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production rate; capacities of main equipment: rockdrills, trucks, loaders
etc.

They supplement this with detailed cost data: drilling & blasting costs for
ore, waste, different rock strata; costs of loading, hauling & dumping ore and
waste; estimates of capital expenditure; financial parameters: assumed
metal price(s) inflation, exchange rates, cost of money (interest & discount
rates).

The computer designs a pit, producing a three-dimensional model, plans and

sections. It also develops production schedules showing the tonnage of ore
and waste mined & hauled annually, for the life of the mine and
corresponding schedules of major equipment requirements, operating costs,
capital expenditure, cash flow and a comprehensive financial model.

In pit optimisation, the computer tests a

very large number of slightly different pit
designs. Each different design is a trade-off
of one parameter against another.
Optimisation is achieved when the optimum
financial outcome is yielded by a design
meeting technical and safety criteria. This
may not be the design with longest Life of
Mine or maximum ore extraction.

In each different design, some ore is left behind and a certain volume of
waste is accepted, as it is impossible to change the benches to match the
exact shape of the orebody.

The model may be run with varying assumptions (e.g. metal price). The
results are compared & graphs drawn showing the effect of changes. These
are called sensitivity models.

9. Management and safe operating of open pit

mines
The principal safety hazard is vehicle movement. Considerable efforts are
made to improve the visibility of vehicles, especially light vehicles, and of
persons. Vehicle maintenance and inspection is another key control.
Barricades are provided to prevent vehicles from falling over the edges of
berms and of waste dumps. Dust suppression with water is crucial, as in all
mining.
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Falls of ground can range from small rocks falling over the edge of a bench
to a major pit slope failure. Procedures are required to keep all loose
materials away from the edges of excavations. Slope stability is controlled
primarily by correct design, strict control of water, prevention of
undercutting and, in some cases, by sophisticated monitoring techniques
such as radar.

On 16 July 2004 at 07h10, the north wall of the Nchanga Open Pit in Zambia
collapsed. Nchanga is said to be the second largest open pit in the world,
with a total surface area of 30km2 and a depth of 400m.

The collapse was between the 150m & 330m benches (180 vertical metres).
About 1.8 million cubic metres – 4.5 million tonnes - of rock entered the pit.
This happened although the slope stability was being closely monitored by
surveying & remote radar sensing. The failure was associated with high
seasonal rainfall affecting joint planes in a folded zone.

Multiple fatalities occurred, accompanied by huge destruction of mining

equipment and a total production loss of many months. A slope stability
radar (SSR) monitoring system was used for remote monitoring of rate of
movement which serves as a warning of a catastrophic collapse. In this
case, the increase in rate of movement (to 100mm/hour on the day of the
collapse) was not recognized in time to provide warning of impending
collapse.

The same monitoring system was kept in use with a much-improved system
for predicting failure.

In the management of open pit mines, roadway maintenance is a critical

factor. The largest single cost in open pit mining is rock haulage in trucks.
Poorly maintained roadways can dramatically affect operating costs due to
low operating efficiency and undue wear and tear on vehicles. Roadways are
usually graded regularly to a high standard, spillage is removed without
delay and accumulations of oil and water are prevented. Roadways may be
artificially surfaced and are regularly wetted down to suppress dust. These
measures enhance both engine and tyre life.

Whilst most pit haulage trucks are diesel-powered, they are sometimes
assisted by electric drive up a portion of the haul. Fully automated,
driverless trucks are becoming common. In some pits, static, mobile or
semi-mobile crushers carry out in-pit crushing, which can improve
equipment capacity and life.
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Haulage trucks in pits are typically loaded by power shovels which may be
diesel or electric powered. Planners try to match shovel capacity to truck
sizes to optimise efficiency. Truck capacities may range from 14t up to 360t.
In low-grade metalliferous mines, Grade control is a crucial aspect of pit
management and is computer-planned and often subject to in-pit survey
control.

Managers focus closely on the availability and utilisation of equipment,

measured in hours available and used, respectively, as a percentage of total
possible.

Handling of waste rock is one of the biggest costs of open pit mining and
has major environmental implications. Sometimes the mining plan allows
waste from a pit to be tipped into an earlier pit where resources are fully
depleted. Waste rock may sometimes be suitable for other uses, e.g.
building aggregate or road construction. This may require some processing
such as crushing and screening, but provides additional revenue to the mine.

Water in pits: in addition to attaining depths of up to 1,200m, large pits may

cover several km2. Rainfall may result in ingress of huge volumes of water
into a pit, in addition to seepage of ground water, adding to water
introduced by mining activity for drilling and dust suppression. Production
can be seasonally affected as all equipment is vulnerable to wet conditions.
In addition to installing adequate pumping capacity and flood protection on
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surface around the pit in the construction phase, pumping and disposal of
water is a key aspect of pit management. Rainfall of 10mm over a pit of
surface area 1km2 results in inflow of 10,000,000 litres of water, apart from
any additional surface run-off.

10. Specialised surface mining techniques

Strip mining is a technique in which overburden is removed from above a
flat-dipping deposit, the ore is mined and then the overburden is replaced
on the surface remaining after mining the ore. Topsoil removed during
overburden stripping is stockpiled and replaced in the last phase, when the
surface is fully rehabilitated to its original state.
Typically, the original contours are duplicated,
albeit it a lower elevation due to removal of the
valuable mineral layer.

It is commonly used in coal mining, but has

other applications, e.g. mineral sands, platinum.

Strip mining is applicable to flat-dipping

orebodies reasonably close to surface, normally <80m.

Very large, high cost equipment is often used.

Dragline: a very large shovel which can lift broken material in a bucket, turn
and deposit it in a different part of the pit. Used for mining overburden in
coal mines. Walking draglines are mounted on two feet and can lift one at a
time to “walk” from one place to another.

Bucket Wheel Excavator (BWE): a large machine which has a huge wheel
rotating in the vertical plane. Buckets with sharp cutting edges are mounted
in the perimeter of the wheel and as it goes round, they cut through soft
material, collect it and deposit it onto a conveyor which is part of the BWE.
The unit moves forward, cutting & removing material.
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This machine is used for mining very soft materials such as mineral sands,
marine sands often containing valuable heavy metals such as ilmenite &
rutile (titanium), and zirconium.

Dimension stone mining refers to quarries where rock is mined in large

blocks for use mainly in the construction industry for building or for facing,
when polished stone is placed on the outside of a building to look as though
the building is constructed of solid rock.

Dimension stone blocks may be cut into thin slices for facing and for making
slabs for counters (e.g. in kitchens), tiles, memorials and headstones for
graves.

The types of rock most commonly mined in this industry are granite, marble,
travertine, quartzite, slate, serpentinite.

Several types of igneous rock such as dolerite & gabbro are mined &
marketed as black granite.

These products may be processed by cutting, polishing & advanced

techniques such as heat treatment.

The key objectives in this type of mining are:

 to avoid breaking the rock into small fragments, which is normal in

other types of mining, and to produce large blocks, free of fractures
(cracks);
 to avoid inclusions of materials which spoil the quality, such as veins
of calcite.

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This requires mining methods which are flexible & selective. A very high
percentage of the material mined may be rejected for quality reasons. In
some quarries, there may be little or no blasting. When blasting is done, it is
normally done in small diameter holes, closely spaced, using low-energy
explosives such as gunpowder or detonating cord alone.

Another important technique is cutting with diamond saws or diamond wire.

Two diamond drill holes are drilled to intersect and a continuous loop of
strong wire, embedded with industrial diamonds is pulled around through
the holes to cut a slot. This may be 30m long by 10m high. The slot may be
held open by steel wedges driven in with a hammer. Individual blocks of
stone produced may weigh up to 40 tonnes each.

Dimension stone quarries are normally located in very competent rock and
may have very steep, even vertical sides. The quarries are normally located
in massive deposits and stripping ratios are typically very low; in many
cases, no waste needs to be mined.

11. What is underground mining?

Mineral deposits which cannot be economically extracted by surface mining
techniques may be mined by underground methods.

Underground (U/G) mining can be applied to orebodies of any description,

from tabular to massive and pipes, from relatively shallow depth to ultra-
deep. The deepest operating mines today, in South Africa, are exploiting gold
reefs some 4,000m below surface.

U/G mining has two primary activities: Development and Stoping.

Development is the collective name for all the tunnels in a mine, used to
reach an orebody and prepare it for stoping.

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“Development” is used to describe both the process of mining tunnels, and
also the actual tunnels created in the process.

Individual tunnels, while they are being mined, are called development ends
and also development headings.

The end of a tunnel, whether it is still being developed or has stopped, is

called the face.

The floor & roof of a tunnel are often called the footwall & hangingwall.

Stoping is the process of bulk extraction of the orebody which has been
accessed and made available by development. The resulting excavations are
called stopes.

Mechanized mining is underground mining in which mobile equipment is

used, e.g. self-propelled machines (machines with an engine).

Mechanized mining may be trackless or semi-trackless.

In trackless mining, no vehicles which run on rails are used to move rock. In
these mines, rock is moved by U/G dump trucks or, sometimes, conveyors.

In semi-trackless mining, mobile equipment is used which may include

hydraulic drill rigs, loaders & other machines. However, close to the
production areas the rock is tipped down orepasses and waste passes to a
haulage level where it is trammed in locomotive-drawn cars running on
tracks. This method combines mobile machines with rail-mounted cars.

12. Accessing underground ore bodies

Access development consists of all the tunnels mined from surface to enter
the U/G workings and consists of adits, declines or
shafts.

An adit is a horizontal
tunnel into the side of a
hill and is common in
ASM although large mines
sometimes have adits.

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 A decline, sometimes called a ramp is a tunnel
which is inclined at an angle, normally between
six and ten degrees below horizontal, to allow
mobile equipment (vehicles) to travel up & down,
into & out of the mine. Declines have become
popular in modern, mechanised mining.

Adits and declines mined into the side of a hill are often located above the
bottom of the hill so that waste rock from the tunnel can simply be tipped
down the side of the hill below the tunnel.

Shafts may be vertical or inclined and circular, square or rectangular in

shape. It is technically incorrect to refer to all mine tunnels as “shafts” as
they are specifically for mine access.

Sometimes a shaft starts on a U/G level and provides access to a lower

level, in which case it is called a sub-incline or sub-vertical shaft.

For reasons of stability, access development is normally located in the

footwall of an inclined orebody.

Mine access development serves five main purposes:

 Removal of rock (ore and waste rock) from underground

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  Entry and departure of persons
 Equipment and materials used in the mine enter through these
tunnels. They include all types of machinery, tools, equipment and
materials including timber, explosives, steel, fuel, drilling accessories
and spare parts.
 Ventilation: fresh air enters the mine through access development, and
foul air may leave the mine through special shafts, stopes or other
openings.
 Services into the mine are routed through access tunnels, e.g. water
pipes, compressed air pipes, power cables, blasting cables,
communication cables.

Access tunnels must be designed with adequate dimensions to provide

required capacity for all of these needs. Shafts are the most common form
of access into U/G mines, especially deep mines. Incline shafts are
sometimes selected for mines with flat-dipping orebodies, to limit distance
from the shaft to the orebody.

Shafts may have one or more compartments. Ore and waste rock is
normally hoisted in shafts in steel conveyances called skips, which run on
guides in vertical shafts or on rails in inclines. The skips are raised and
lowered by a hoist or winder, using steel wire ropes which run over sheave
wheels in the headgear. A double-drum winder is designed with overlay and
underlay ropes so that one skip is raised as the other is lowered, the rock
payload being the only component out of balance, thus saving energy.

The design, engineering, maintenance and operation of shafts and their

equipment are areas of major focus in mine safety and in most countries’
mining regulations. Shaft-sinking is a specialised, high-risk activity.

Although mine planners try to locate shafts in the F/W of an orebody, which
is the most inherently stable position, this is not always possible. A shaft
may pass close to or intersect the orebody. In the ASM sector, it is common
to mine shafts in ore both to limit distances and so that rock from shaft
sinking has value to contribute to the cost. In all these cases, shaft pillars
must be left, i.e. a portion of the orebody left is unmined to protect the
shaft.

Single shafts of up to 2km depth are not uncommon and the deepest in the
world is nearly 3km deep.

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Lateral development refers to the horizontal tunnels in an underground
mine. These tunnels are not actually horizontal but are normally mined at a
slight upward gradient, typically 0.5% or 1:200, as they move away from the
shaft. This allows water to run back to pump stations located close to the
shaft and also gives loaded trains a down-gradient as they carry rock
towards the shaft.

Drives are tunnels mined parallel or almost parallel to the strike of the
orebody, either inside or outside the orebody.

Crosscuts (X/C or X/CUT) are tunnels mined in a direction running across the
width of the orebody, again either within or outside the orebody. They may
be at right angles or oblique to strike.

Tunnels mined upwards above the horizontal are called raises, which may or
may not be in ore. Various techniques are used for this relatively hazardous
activity. Corresponding tunnels below the horizontal are called winzes.

Most lateral mine development is excavated to a rectangular profile with a

curved-arch H/W, which is the strongest shape. Dimensions must suit the
duty of the tunnel, allowing passage of vehicles and of ventilating air.

In soft rock, especially in the ASM sector, tunnels may be dug by hand, but
in the majority of mines they are excavated by drilling and blasting. Tunnels
may be drilled using hand-held machines called jackhammers, typically
advancing 2m for each round drilled and blasted. The tunnel size limits the
advance; generally, the round drilled cannot exceed the longest dimension
(width or height) of the tunnel. They may also be drilled with mobile drill
rigs which are usually electro-hydraulic. These machines may be single-
boom, twin-boom or multi-boom and are often capable of drilling several
development ends in a single shift. Advances typically range from 3m to 6m
per round.

The development cycle normally involves drilling and blasting a round on

one shift, lashing, i.e. cleaning out broken rock, and installing services such
as pipes, tracks and ventilation equipment on another, the same day. After
blasting, the usual re-entry period is four hours before personnel may return
to the face, after ventilation has removed gases and dust. In ASM, lashing is
often done with hand shovels, whilst larger mines use track-mounted or
trackless mechanical loaders.

On large projects, where time is critical, large, sophisticated machines called

tunnel borers may be used to excavate tunnels which are perfectly circular
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in shape. Raise borers are similar machines for boring steeply inclined or
vertical tunnels.

Development in U/G mines

located within an orebody
contributes to production.
Development ore is added to
ore from stoping and sent for
processing. Development
outside the orebody generates
waste. Waste rock is trammed
separately and is usually disposed on waste dumps on surface, although in
some cases it is used to fill U/G excavations or is tipped into abandoned
surface pits. Large waste rock dumps must be properly designed and
constructed for stability and to control the risk of acid rock drainage, i.e.
runoff of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) caused by interaction of oxygen and water
with sulphide minerals which are present in many coal and metal mines.

Tunnels and large excavations for installations such as crusher stations,

pump stations and workshops usually require systematic support. This is
discussed in 7.0 below. The direction and gradient of tunnels are controlled
by survey (9.0 below). Survey control is critical for ensuring that tunnels are
mined exactly in the planned position and to prevent hazardous, unplanned
intersection of tunnels. Special safety precautions are required when
tunnels are connected, a process called holing.

13. The stoping method of mining

The stoping method used in a U/G mine is also referred to as the mining
method, even though stoping is only one part of the mining process. It is the
phase which yields most of the ore produced.

Selection of stoping method is one of the most important parts of U/G mine
design and is influenced by:

 Dimensions (size & shape) of the orebody: strike, width, depth on dip:
tabular orebodies, massive orebodies and pipes
 Dip of the orebody in degrees below the horizontal
 Regularity or irregularity of the orebody: geological shape, effects of
folding & faulting
 Presence of waste inclusions
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  Competence of the orebody rock
 Competence of the F/W & H/W rock
 Distribution of grade within the orebody
 Required production rate
 Amount of capital available for mechanisation
 Availability of fill material

The study of mining or stoping methods can be quite confusing. Names

given to mining methods vary between one mine & another and between one
country & another. The detailed application of any mining method varies
from one mine to another and a single mine may use more than one stoping
method, which might change over a period of time as conditions change,
especially as the mine goes deeper & ground conditions change.

Manufacturers of mining equipment like Sandvik and Atlas Copco have

published a large volume of material and have posted videos on YouTube
explaining mining methods.

There are essentially three types of stoping:

 open stoping, in which the excavation is left as a permanent void, with

or without artificial support;
 cut and fill methods, in which the void left after ore is removed is filled
with waste rock or tailings from the processing plant; and
 caving methods, in which the country rock is allowed or induced to
collapse or “cave” to fill the void.

Open Stoping

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In all three variations, the stope remains open, supported by timber props or
other means. The direction of face advance is different. Ore is collected in
the drive below. Lashing may be entirely by hand,
assisted by mechanical scrapers or by mobile
machines in larger mines. Main drives are typically
30m apart along the dip
of the orebody.

Longwall Stoping is a
type of breast stoping in
which a much longer
face, up to 300m in
length and sometimes
longer, is advanced for distances of up to several kilometres, in a regular
orebody. Mechanised longwall stoping is common in U/G coal mines, using
large and sophisticated machines.

Open Stoping: Massive Orebodies

Many variations can be applied to this method. It

can be applied in trackless mining, with LHDs
collecting blasted rock on the loading level, or
with track-mounted air loaders. Drilling can be
with drifters, which are compressed air-driven
rockdrills like jackhammers but mounted on a
bar. Both up-holes and down-holes can be
drilled; rings from multiple drives as shown

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above, or from a single drive, or parallel holes from a sill excavated across
the full width of the orebody and supported. Drilling can also be done from
multiple sub-levels feeding a single loading level.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18QU_UoxA04.

Shrinkage stoping is a specialised adaption of open stoping methods in

which broken ore is left in a stope, supporting the excavation and creating a
bed on which men and machines can operate until the entire block has been
drilled and blasted, after which the ore is drawn off on the lower level,
ultimately leaving a void.

14. The cut and fill method

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Again, methods vary considerably. Stoping may proceed up-dip or down-dip
and stopes may be filled with waste rock, either entirely from development
or wholly or partially with waste mined specially for the purpose. Tailings
are also used, sometimes consolidated with cement. The use of tailings fill
has the environmental benefit of avoiding surface disposal.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhI0IPZmniY.

15. Caving methods

In massive orebodies, two types of caving
methods may be used.

In sub-level caving, the orebody is

ring drilled and blasted from a series of
parallel crosscuts. The blasted face
retreats towards the F/W. Men and
equipment are always working in tunnels in
solid ground. As the ore is drawn off by
loaders, the H/W caves to fill the void left
by extraction of the orebody. The method
depends on the susceptibility of the H/W
to caving when undercut. This is a sophisticated method, capable of
supporting high production volumes, and flexible due to the availability of
multiple working places at all times. It requires strict control as dilution is
unavoidable and must be kept within planned, accepted limits.

See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mozTwnQ1cWU and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9BDHl_acrU.

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Block caving is a method which is
used very successfully on large-
scale mines exploiting massive
orebodies or pipes. An undercut is
developed beneath a block of ore
incorporating the entire “footprint
of the orebody,” the block having a
height of 200 to 300m. In a pipe of
diameter 1km & SG of 2.5 a 200m
block would contain 393 million tonnes of ore. Thus the ratio of costly
development to tonnage ultimately extracted is very favourable, although
there is a substantial lead time in developing the undercut and associated
facilities. The undercut feeds a series of cones which collect ore and direct
it to drawpoints below, usually in a “herringbone” formation. As the
undercut is advanced, the block of ore above it progressively collapses,
usually with no drilling and blasting. The ore breaks up and keeps the
drawpoints full for the entire life of the block which is usually a number of
years. During this time, the undercut for the block below is developed. A lot
of secondary blasting may be required to deal with large rocks but the
method is efficient, low-cost and safe. Again, men and machines work at all
times in solid ground.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVDAw56s5dU and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcsNuOVdy-c.

16. Underground mine service installations

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A large U/G mine is like a city, requiring reticulation systems for power and
water. Power is required for ventilation, lighting and a host of other
purposes. Water is also required for many purposes including drilling and
dust suppression.

In addition, many mines use compressed air-driven equipment such as

rockdrills and loaders. Compressed air is normally provided by large
compressors on surface and the air is piped into the places where it is
needed in the workings.

Pipes and cables are installed in tunnels in an elaborate network which

must be constantly maintained and extended. Critical installations such as
transformers are located in special, large excavations. They should ideally be
located in return airways so that, in the event of a fire, fumes are exhausted
to surface without contaminating escape routes in fresh air.

In addition to water introduced for industrial purposes, many mines “make”

water, i.e. act as very deep boreholes, receiving large inflows of ground
water. Sumps, settlers and pump stations are constructed close to shafts,
on different elevations, “stage pumping” to each other and finally to surface.
Modern practice is to limit the number of pump stations by installing large,
multi-stage, high-lift pumps typically achieving 600 vertical metres in one
lift. Pump stations are protected with watertight doors to protect them from
inundation. Water pumped from the mine is invariably re-cycled for use in
the plant and U/G.

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