Ventilation Design Criteria

1.1 Required Airflow for Mining Criteria Establishment

Several factors were considered when determining the airflow requirements for the mine such as
gas dilution, diesel particulates, heat, maintaining minimum air velocities, and meeting government
regulations. These factors need to be applied to targeted areas to determine the total mine airflow
requirement. Any fixed facilities underground (e.g., fuel and lubricant storage) should have a
dedicated airflow split. SRK applied general mine ventilation best practices to the ventilation design
and referenced the document entitled “AGA- MQ - Crticial Issues for mine design VFinal -
25Jun2018.pdf” and the Underground Mining Safety Code (UGMSC) for specific ventilation
requirements for the project location.

1.1.1 Personnel Airflow Requirement

Colombian regulations state that the minimum airflow per worker is at least 0.1 m³/s for operations
above 1,500 meters in elevation. Mines lower than 1,500 meters in elevation require 0.05 m³/s per
worker. For the project some of the mine footprint is above this elevation and some of it is below.
To maintain appropriate airflows and provide some contingency the larger value of 0.1 m³/s per
worker should be used. However, this airflow requirement is typically used in areas without mobile
equipment. As the requirements for ventilating equipment often far exceed this value it was not
required for airflow calculation because each ventilated area was provided enough air to
accommodate equipment.

1.1.2 Gases
Gases can be broken down into three categories; strata gasses, exhaust fumes, and blasting
fumes.

Harmful strata gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide are not projected to
be encountered at this site based on drilling and geology, therefore, the dilution of strata gasses is
not included in this study.

The airflow requirement for the dilution of blasting fumes can represent a significant airflow quantity,
however, in most cases personnel are removed from the mine during blasting which often removes
this airflow allocation from the overall mine design. If personnel are not present in the mine then
this airflow would not be additive to the overall system airflow requirement. The relationship
between airflow quantity and re-entry time for a given quantity of explosives is based on the
following equation;

𝑚3
100 × (𝐹𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑠 0.040 ) × 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑔
𝑘𝑔
𝐴𝑖𝑟𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐸𝑥𝑝 𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑚3 /𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
0.01 × 𝐸𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠

As an example, if 500 kg of explosive were to be used in the mine for a blast and a 30-minute re-
entry time is desired then 6666.7 m3/min or 111.1 m³/s would be required. This would not be added
to the overall mine airflow, rather it would be checked against the airflow in areas where explosive
fumes are located to ensure the assumed 30-minute re-entry time.

The gaseous components of the equipment exhaust are shown in Table 1. These values are
usually met if the standard airflow criteria are achieved in the individual mining areas. However, if
 the airflow cannot be achieved at the mining areas then the gas concentration should increase.
This acts as an operational limitation and criteria.

Table 1. General gas concentration limits

Gas Symbo Primary Sources Sense Hazards Limits Detection
l
Electrochemical,
Oxygen deficiency, may
Oxygen O2 Air None >19.5% paramagnetic,
be explosive in mixture
flame lamp
Oxidation of carbon, TWA1 = 5,000 ppm
Carbon fires, explosions, diesel Slight acid smell Promotes increased rate
CO2 ST1 = 30,000 ppm Optical, infra-red
Dioxide engines, blasting, and taste of respiration
respiration TWA2,4 = 5,000 ppm
TWA1 = 35 ppm
Electrochemical,
Fires, explosions, diesel Ceiling1 = 200 ppm catalytic
Carbon
CO engines, blasting, None Highly toxic, explosive TWA2 = 50 ppm oxidation, semi-
Monoxide
combustion of carbon TWA4 = 25 ppm conductor, infra-
red
ST4 = 400 ppm
TWA1 = 2 ppm
Oxidation of sulfides, ST1 = 5 ppm
Sulfur Acid taste, Electrochemical,
SO2 acid water on sulfides, Very toxic, irritant
Dioxide suffocating smell TWA2 = 5 ppm infra-red
diesel engines
TWA4 = 2.5 ppm
Nitric Irritating to eyes, TWA1 = 25 ppm Electrochemical,
NO Oxidizes rapidly to NO2
Oxide nose and throat TWA2,4 = 25 ppm infra-red
Nitrous TWA1 = 25 ppm
N2 O Diesel engines, Sweet smell Narcotic Electrochemical
Oxide TWA4 = 3 ppm
blasting, welding
Reddish brown ST1 = 1 ppm
Nitrogen Very toxic, irritant, Electrochemical,
NO2 color, acid smell Ceiling2 = 5 ppm
Dioxide pulmonary infections infra-red
and taste TWA4 = 0.2
Acid water on sulfide, Ceiling1 = 10 ppm
Hydrogen stagnant water, strata, Highly toxic, irritant, Electrochemical,
H2 S Odor of bad eggs Ceiling2 = 20 ppm
Sulfide decomposition of explosive semi-conductor
organic materials TWA4 = 1 ppm
Battery charging, strata,
Catalytic
Hydrogen H2 water on fires, None Highly explosive -
oxidation
explosions
1
– NIOSH / 2 – OSHA/3 – MSHA/4 – Colombian Mining Regulations

1.1.3 Diesel Particulates

Colombian mining regulations specify a minimum factor of 0.09 m³/s per kW of diesel engine power
to ensure gaseous and aerosol contaminants from diesel equipment are sufficiently diluted. This is
the recommended minimum airflow to ensure sufficient dilution of contaminants with new
equipment. There is no Colombian specific criteria or legislative limit for Diesel Particulate Matter
(DPM). However, if newer Tier4 equipment is used in the mine then the DPM levels can be very
low.

1.1.4 Air Velocities

Air velocity limitations vary according to airway type. In areas such as return airways and shafts
where personnel are not expected to work, higher velocities are acceptable. Airway velocities
typically used by SRK-US for various airway types are shown in Table 2. Air velocity limits and
recommended values for travel ways are established to accommodate work and travel by people
and equipment, optimizing dust entrainment and temperature regulation.
 Table 2: Recommended maximum air velocities for various airway types.
Air Velocity (m/s)
Airway Type Maximum
Travel ways 6
Primary ventilation intake and exhaust entries 10
Primary ventilation shaft 20
Ventilation shaft with conveyance or escape 10

The maximum air velocity in a conveyor drift is usually around 3 m/s (average), though this depends
on the relative direction and speed of the conveyed material and airflow. If the airflow is moving in
opposition to the flow of material, a lower air velocity should minimize dust liberation. If airflow is
moving in the same direction as the flow of materials, then a slightly higher air velocity can be
established without excessive dust liberation.
Low airflow volumes may insufficiently dilute/remove airborne dust, but high air velocities can
entrain larger dust particles, resulting in a potentially hazardous environment for personnel. An air
velocity between 1.5 m/s and 2.5 m/s should be maintained to minimize dust in areas where dust
is a concern. Air velocities in this range provide airflow to dilute dust without excessive entrainment
of dust. The estimated velocity in the conveyor tunnel for the project is near 1.5 m/s

Figure 1. Generalized relationship between air velocity and airborne dust concentration
[Vutukuri and Lama].
In general, the minimum air velocity in a heading (without diesel equipment in operation) is based
on the perceptible movement of airflow which is between 0.3 m/s and 0.5 m/s. The Colombian
regulations do not specifically apply a minimum air velocity to metal mines, rather they appear more
applicable to coal mines (Article 56). There are two basic differences; drifts ventilated by the
primary ventilation system, and drifts ventilated by the secondary ventilation systems. For primary
ventilation areas the minimum air velocity should be between 1 m/s and 0.5 m/s. The 1 m/s value
is for rail haulage routes and the 0.5 m/s value is for general operating routes and galleries. In
excavation areas that are ventilated by auxiliary systems the minimum air velocities should be
between 0.5 m/s and 0.2 m/s. For planning purposes, a higher minimum velocity of 0.5 m/s was
used for this study to ensure dilution of heat and dust.

Air velocities in upcasting shafts should lie outside the range of 7 m/s to 12 m/s to avoid water
blanketing. Water blanketing can cause a cyclical buildup of water in the shaft column that develops
a higher airway resistance, obstruction to airflow, and potentially harmful cyclical loading of the
fans. Variability in the number of equipment and mining locations during the mine’s life makes it
difficult to plan for in advance. A solution to the problem could be to slightly increase or decrease
flow in problematic shafts.

1.1.5 Heat
Especially in areas ventilated with minimal air velocity, the heat produced by equipment (diesel or
electric) may not dissipate quickly and could result in high air temperatures which could pose a
hazard to workers. SRK-US recommends that a wet bulb temperature of 28.0°C be used as the
design maximum for acclimated workers in areas where personnel are active. If conditions exceed
this value in an active working area, work should be stopped, and the equipment load reduced or
 auxiliary ventilation systems adjusted to increase airflow. If this is not possible (i.e., auxiliary
systems are already at maximum capacity or equipment load in the area cannot be further
reduced), the establishment of a work-rest regimen (regular scheduled rest breaks) for workers
may be required to maintain safe working conditions for miners working in elevated temperatures.

Under the Colombian mine regulation, the heat stress employed is the effective temperature based
on the following relationship 0.7×WB + 0.3×DB – V where WB and DB is wet bulb and dry bulb
temperature in degrees Celsius and V is air velocity. For the Project this equation gives an effective
temperature of approximately 29⁰C.

1.2 Ventilation Modeling

The first phase modeled represents the period of mining and development from the start of the
mine to August Q3 2025. The model shows the extent of mine development, in which the access
tunnels are fully developed but shafts to surface have not daylighted yet. Therefore, the total flow
through the mine intakes the access tunnel and exhausts the conveyor tunnel. The total flow
through the system is limited by velocity (6 m/s) in the tunnels to approximately 214 m³/s at the
conveyor portal fan. This airflow is divided between the active development areas at the top and
bottom levels of the mine. This scenario marks the maximum operating point for the conveyor portal
fan. The conveyor portal fan installation is temporary and should be removed once an exhaust shaft
has been completed and at least one permanent fan installation is operating. This should be a
challenging time operationally because truck haulage is planned until the conveyor is installed. The
combined operating diesel motor power should be less than 2,400 kW to comply with diesel
regulations but could still exceed the limits for NO2. Some cascading ventilation may be required,
which increases the risk of exceeding NO2 limits. The ventilation system is expected to be limited
until the exhaust shaft is completed and one of the main fan installations is turned on. ¡Error! No
se encuentra el origen de la referencia. displays the ventilation model for Q3 2025 with planned
scheduled activities.

Conveyor Portal Fan Installation

A temporary installation is needed for initial development of the access tunnels. The installation is
located near the portal of the future conveyor tunnel and should be removed when the main fan
installation becomes operational. The fan(s) is planned for exhaust and installed in a bulkhead.
The total motor power is expected to be near 830 kW. The use of auxiliary fans that can be
repurposed later in the mine life should be considered to reduce capital costs. The fan curves from
the auxiliary fans would need to be checked to ensure they would provide enough flow for the
tunnel. This may require up to 3 auxiliary fans to produce enough quantity in the tunnel Another
option would be to temporarily use the fan allocated for Main Fan Installation B. Typically, the fans
should be spaced at least one fan diameter from the walls and from each other.