SURFACE MINING

METHODS
Ore Reserves Suitable for Surface Mining
• Ore reserves suitable for surface mining can be classified initially as;

• Relatively horizontal stratified reserves with a thin or thick covering of

overburden

• Stratified vein-type deposits with an inclination steeper than the natural

angle of repose of the material so that waste cannot be tipped inside
the pit

• Massive deposits, deep and very large laterally such that dumping of the
waste within the pit is not possible.
Surface mining methods
• Of all the variations of surface mining methods available, the three
most common methods only will be described here, namely;

1. Strip mining
2. Terrace mining
3. Open-pit mining
Classification of these mining methods (Figure 1)
Classification of mining methods
• Note how the general classification system works, from stratified (or
layered) types of deposits, through the type of layering, the thickness
of overburden and finally the means by which overburden is handled;
specifically, in-pit or ex-pit systems.

• A further consideration is the type of material (waste or ore) handling

systems that can be used in each type of mining operation, namely
cyclic (discontinuous) or continuous systems.
Strip Mining
• Strip mining is ideally applied where the surface of the ground and
the ore body itself are relatively horizontal and not too deep under
the surface, and a wide area is available to be mined in a series of
strips.
• Typical examples of this type of mining are the larger tonnage coal
mining operations in Mpumulanga.
Strip Mining
• Favourable conditions are:
 Relatively thin overburden (0-50m maximum otherwise stripping
ration and cost of stripping becomes too high)
 Regular and constant surface topography and coal layers (not more
than 20º variation from horizontal on the coal seam –topography can
vary more since pre-stripping can be used to level it – but this is
expensive to apply)
Extensive area of reserves (to give adequate life of mine (LOM) and
to cover all capital loan repayments – typically more than 20 years life
at 4-14mt per annum production)
Strip Mining
• Walking draglines are for many years the most popular machine for this
type of mining due to their flexibility, utility and availability, but more
importantly, their low operating costs for waste mining (R/t or R/BCM).
• The dragline is a typical combined cyclic excavator and material carrier
since it both excavates material and dumps it without the use of trucks
or conveyor belts.
• The dragline sits above the waste or overburden block, usually 50m or
so wide, on the highwall side and excavates the material in front of
itself,
• Material is then dumped on the low-wall or spoil side of the strip to
uncover the coal seam below it.
Strip Mining
• For maximum productivity, a long strip is required (over 2km in
length) to reduce excessive “dead-heading” time.
• Longer pits increase the risks of time dependant slope failure in both
the highwall and the (waste) low-wall and take up large surface areas
that can cause rehabilitation and transport problems.
• If mixing of coal is important (to meet sales specifications) then long
stripping lengths are also problematic in terms of the active mining
fronts available for mixing the coal.
• Where highwall or low-wall stability is problematic, it becomes
necessary to monitor the stability of the pit extensively.
Strip Mining
• Where the floor dips in the direction of the highwall it is often necessary
to improve the stability of the waste dump through the use of a variety
of additional mining method variations, namely:
Selective placing of the waste (soft, slippery material for example clay
and shale) on top and not in the bottom of the waste dumps.
Stripping or the blasting of the floor surface of the pit to give a better
friction surface (especially if floor is a low-friction material –
carbonaceous shale, etc.).
Excavation of clay materials (typical shales) from the floor to expose
material with more frictional resistance. That will normally require a
bench extension working method together with the additional
specialised handling of clay material (which will result in increased
waste handlings costs and therefore reduced profitability).
Strip Mining
• Large scale floor slopes (i.e Coal seam inclinations) of more than 8 –
20º have in many cases lead to failures of waste dumps (usually
coinciding with heavy rains, poor drainage and clay material in the
bottom of the waste dump) and therefore modified terrace or even
open pit mining methods have to be applied – although these
methods are often not financially viable with a low unit-cost high
volume product such as coal.
• Note that small scale changes in floor (or coal seam) elevation or
inclination are not as problematic from a geotechnical point of view,
but nevertheless create extremely difficult working conditions when
dragline mining is used.
Strip Mining
• Nowadays, several large strip mines operate in areas that were
previously mined by underground methods, for example New Vaal
Colliery.
• In such cases it is difficult to anticipate the stability of the overburden
and geotechnical surveys are required especially where underground
rooms are required to be blasted (by collapsing the pillars between)
prior to using a dragline on these areas.
• Irrespective of the precise geology of the coal seam, the general
approach remains similar to conventional strip mining and Figure 2
and 3 show the terminology used and typical method of strip mining.
Figure 2. Strip mining terminology
Figure 3. Strip mining with dragline (on overburden) and
rope shovel (below, loading coal)
Terrace Mining
• Where the overburden is too thick (or the floor of the pit (i.e. The ore
inclination) is too steeply dipping) to allow waste dumping directly
over the pit (as is the case with a dragline and strip mining), it is
necessary to use intermediate cyclic or continuous transport (e.g.
trucks or conveyors) to transport the overburden to where it can be
tipped back into the previously mined void.
• It is a multi-benched sideways-moving method, the whole mine
moves over the ore reserve from one end to the other, but not
necessarily in a single bench.
• The number of benches used is usually a function of the excavation
depth and type of machinery used (typically between 10-15m bench
height and 1-32 benches in the terrace).
Terrace Mining
• Examples of this type of mining are the German lignite mines (where
bucket-wheel excavators are used to excavate the overburden – a
typical example of a continuous excavating system) and, to a lesser
extent, some coal mines in the UK.
• In these cases, trucks and shovels are used to work 10 benches
simultaneously to expose the coal seams underneath.
• The uppermost layer of overburden is normally mined using hydraulic
excavators and trucks, or (when soft material exists), using a bucket
wheel excavator, conveyor belt and stacker.
Terrace Mining
• These methods are more expensive to use than a dragline, but the
dragline is itself not suited to this type of mining due to the limited
dump radius of the machine and the much larger width of a terrace
mine compared to a strip mine.
• It is possible however to use a dragline in combination with a “long”
terrace as illustrated in Figure 4, but only in the lower or bottom
benches where the dig and dump point are within the working radius
of the dragline.
Figure 4. Combined terrace (pre-stripping of soft
overburden) and strip mining methods and
associate equipment.
Terrace Mining
• In South Africa, Grootegeluk Colliery is a typical example of terrace
type of mining.
• Currently, 11 benches are mined, 6 of overburden waste and 5 of coal.
• A dragline cannot be used due to the depth of the coal and width of
the pit, but later on in the life of the mine, the mined-out terraces will
be back-filled with waste (i.e.. The mining method will change from
modified terrace to conventional terrace – see Figure 1).
Terrace Mining
• On a smaller scale Mooiplaas Dolomite is also a terrace mining
operation (in this case, ore is transported out of the mine using an in-
pit crusher and conveyor and waste is tipped directly as envisaged in a
terrace mining operation).
• Mine Figure 5 illustrates a typical 3 bench waste (OB1-3) and 3 coal
seam terrace operation with mining moving from R to L in the
diagram.
Figure 5. Typical terrace mining operation
Terrace Mining
• Where steeply dipping orebodies are encountered, the modified
method is most often applied as shown in Figure 6 in a more typical 3
waste bench terrace operation with steeply dipping orebody.
• In this case, the pit dimensions are limited by seam exposure (pit
length) and available working area (for mining and dumping faces) (pit
width).
Figure 6 Terrace mining method with around the pit
conveyor and hydraulic excavator and haul trucks
Open-pit Mining
• This is the traditional cone-shaped excavation (although it can be any
shape, depending on the size and shape of the orebody) that is used
when the ore body is typically pipe-shaped, vein-type, steeply dipping
stratified or irregular.
• Although it is most often associated with metallic orebodies, e.g.
Palabora copper, Mamatwan and Sishen iron-ore, it can be used for
any deposit that suits the geometry – most typically diamond pipes –
Murowa, Venetia, Koffiefontein and Finsch.
Open-pit Mining
• The excavation is normally by rope- or hydraulic shovels with trucks
carrying both ore and waste.
• Drill and blast is most often used, which makes the process cyclic.
• Waste is dumped outside the mined-out area since no room is
available within the pit.
• Waste is placed as close to the edge of the pit as possible, to minimise
transport costs.
• Figure 7 illustrates the terminology used in the pit design and Figure
8a, 8b and 8c the mining method.
Figure 7 Typical open-pit bench terminology
Figure 8a Open-pit mining sequence (for
pipe-like orebody)
Figure 8b
Figure 8c
Open-pit Mining
• Benches are normally excavated from 2-15m in height in stacks of 3 to 4, in
between which is a crest on which the haul road is placed.
• When the number of benches in the stack increases, the road gradient
increases too.
• Benches in the stack have a steep face angle whilst the stack and overall slope
angles are flatter, thereby helping to prevent slope failures.
• From an analysis of overall slope geometry, it is clear that as steep a slope as
possible should be mined, to reduce the overall stripping ratio.
• However, this rule is limited by the maximum gradient of the haul road –
typically 8-10% which requires frequent wider crests, and the need to have
flatter slope angles in places to provide slope stability.
• Note that each pit slope can have a different angle according to the
requirements of the design – with or without haul road, geology, etc.
Open-pit Mining
• Mineral and especially waste transport costs comprise the greatest
amount of an open-pit mine’s working costs.
• To reduce this cost aspect – especially when the pit gets deeper, the
following options are possible;
Open-pit Mining
• Possible options to reduce waste and ore transport cost:
In-pit crushers together with a conveyor belt, instead of truck
transport. (a continuous transport system (conveyor belt) is usually
much cheaper in terms of R/t hauled) and can be installed at a
steeper angle thereby saving stripping costs by virtue of reduced
stripping ratio.
Trolley-assist on the main haul road. (electrical power supply to
trucks) – faster trucks, steeper roads or cheaper R/t costs.
Computerised truck dispatch – more efficient use of trucks.
Steeper bench slope angles (in other words, a reduced stripping ratio)
where stability allows them – especially at the bottom of the pit when
LOM approaches end.
Open-pit Mining
• As a result of the high cost of rock transport – up to 50% of an open-pit’s
• total operating costs, many large pits consider continuous transport
• systems.
• The OPEC induced rise in the price of oil in the 1970’s and more recently in 2000/1 has
forced mines to rethink strategies for reducing fuel consumption.
• Continuous transport systems (and the associated in-pit crusher if drill and blast is
used) begin to out-perform truck based systems – since they are run on electricity, not
diesel fuel.
• Whilst electricity can still be cheaply provided from local coal power stations (South
Africa’s electricity is one of the cheapest in the world), considerable ore and waste
transport cost savings can also be realised.
• These savings become all the more important as the depth of the pit increases, since
the cost of transport increases exponentially with increasing vertical transport
distance.
Open-pit Mining
• As a result of their application flexibility, truck and shovel systems are
always popular and widely applied in mining, but in terms of energy
efficiency, trucks use only 40% of the energy input to move the load,
the remaining 60% is used to move the tare mass of the truck itself.
• Conveyors use 80% of the energy input to move the load.
• Although oil prices are now at a more realistic level, energy costs of
trucks are still 50% higher than that of conveyors in some parts of the
world.
• In South Africa, with it’s low local production and small strategic
reserve, together with the R/$ exchange rate, the trade-off between
the two systems must be regularly re-evaluated.