Bedded Deposit Mining Methods
The planning of an underground mine for successful extraction of a bedded deposit in sedimentary rocks requires the integrated evaluation of many interdependent problems. The development and coordination of feasible solutions are the responsibility of the mining engineer. One of these problems will be discussed herein; this is the design and layout of mine workings […]
Hydraulic Backfilling a Method of Ground Support
Problems of mine backfilling and fill material deposited underground, the characteristics and relationship between the deposited fill material and overlying ground, and the practical applications and limitations of hydraulic backfilling as ground support are discussed. Ground Pressure and Backfill There are many theories explaining the formation and distribution of stresses around underground excavations. It has […]
Underground Storage and Distribution of Hydraulic Fill
Many factors, some of which are not easily defined or described, must be considered in the design of a hydraulic backfill system. After participating in the design of several plants, I have a conviction that future refinements in sandfill systems must come in large part, from the merging of good design ideas and information from […]
Secondary Breakage in Taconite Open Pit Mining
The mining of taconite, to provide feed for a processing plant, requires that the flow of material continue uninterrupted. This means first, that the crude must be of a size acceptable to the primary crusher in order to reduce the delays caused by plugging the crusher with chunks. Secondly, elimination of oversize in the pit […]
Use of Rocket Jet Burners in Quarrying of Granite
The first step in the quarrying of granite, following removal of any overburden material, involves the freeing of large blocks from the formation. For many years the use of explosives was the accepted method of obtaining these blocks. Even today there are operations where this is considered to be the most economical method even though […]
Priming and Boostering Anfo with Slurry Explosives
Following the wide-spread acceptance of ANFO as a useful, low cost blasting agent, studies have been made to adequately describe the physical and explosive properties of this material. As the quality of the AN blasting prill improved, reliability and sensitivity to initiation were greatly increased and many methods of priming were chosen from the standpoint […]
Laser Alignment Underground
Accurate and economic control of line and grade on long tunnels, large structures, excavations and waterways, has been a problem to surveyors and engineers for decades. The conventional method of surveying, incorporating a level, transit, and a number of surveying technicians, has proven, in the past, to be a very expensive and time-consuming operation. Operation […]
Predicting the Block Caving Behavior of Orebodies
Block caving is an efficient mass-production method for the underground mining of large orebodies. However, the block-caving method requires a substantial investment in developmental works, based on the assumption that the rock will cave. Efficient block caving is prevented if the rock forms stable arches or breaks into fragments that are too large to pass […]
Hydraulic Mining Techniques
The practice of transporting an ore or matrix from a pit area to the plant process area by means of a hydraulic pipeline has long been used by the mining industry. The industries which have classically used hydraulic transportation of ore to the plant include the phosphate mining industry, the heavy minerals mining industry, the […]
Mine Ventilation
The language concerning ventilation in many sections of the Act could very well deprive or limit the mining engineer in planning the ventilation for new mines, since the Act requires federal approval of all ventilation plans. Dependent upon approval and of course application of the law, this could, due to economics, prohibit the opening of […]