Design for open pit mines

Steps in design of Opencast

A Study of deposit exploration (GR)
B. Final pit limits.
C. Development sequence
.D. Design of Access Ramp and Haul Roads
E. Pit design
F. Annual production capacity – system availability – Mining technology
G. Main Mining Equipment
H. Optimizing Dumping strategy and balancing
I. Year-wise / stage – wise plans
J. Financial viability (Capital & Revenue)
K. Coal Washing
L. Environment stipulations

A. Study of GR on the deposit Exploration

• Extent of deposit i.e. strike and dip rise widths.
• Geology – Geological succession, sequence of beds, drilling, logging, no. of seams, sequence of coal seams,
description.
• Inter seam partings
.• Structure – No. of faults, Throws, dip of seams and beds
• Reserves – Quality wise/seam wise/depth-wise etc. based on Block model, Gridded seam model & polygonal
Model
• O.B. volumes & S.R. – Sector-wise, depth-wise etc.
• Coal seam analysis, proximate and ultimate , Ash etc. & OB strata hardness etc.
• Drilling details (Lithology)
• Physiography
• Climate and Vegetation
• Preliminary EMP information
B. DIMENSIONS OF OPENPIT FIELD
The criteria for delineation of boundaries of an Opencast Project are:
Rise side boundary - Usually incrop of the bottommost seam
Lateral sides - Usually by Geological disturbances like faults, surface structures / features like nalah, river etc or
limitation of the strike length of the deposits.
Dip side - Depends on the economical stripping ratio,in absence of natural constraints ISN
Delineation of boundaries
Quarry Surface to be delineated based on the following stipulations:
Vicinity of structures to the project.
1. No person should be within the blasting zone
2. As per CMR 170, Blasting Zone is 300m. As per DGMS Circular, It is 500m
3. PPV (max. 10mm/s) to be maintained as per DGMS Technical Circular No.7 of 1997
4. However, by controlled blasting low charge / delay, muffling etc. permission was given even upto a distance of
125 – 150m.

Haul analysis
Lead, lift increase cost – decides mode of transport Dump limits available are
Dump area 100m from mine boundary
Dump area 50 m from internal access road.
Dump area 80-100 m. from mine infrastructure
OB volumes - Final slopes
Mineable Reserves – various losses, batter, barrier etc. - dilution etc (0-1 m agains Roof,floor)
Maximum depth increases haul cost (30-40% of total cost at 1 1/2 Km lead
Estimation of Coal, OB & Stripping ratio
Rough assessment is given below
• Assuming Pit slopes of 450, the Quarry floor and Quarry surface are delineated
• Volume of Coal & OB = Average area x Average depth - (A)
• Average area = (Quarry surface area + Quarry floor area) / 2
• Average depth = (Minimum depth + maximum depth) / 2
• Volume of Coal=(Quarry floor area x Cumulative thickness of all coal seams) - (B)
• Coal in tonnes = Volume of coal x Specific gravity – (C)
• OB Volume = Coal + OB Volume (A) – Coal Volume (B) - (D)
• Stripping ratio = OB Volume (D) / Coal in tones (C)
For accurate S.R,the volumes of OB and coal are to be made seam wise
The boundaries are firmed up based on the economic stripping ratio.
Economic stripping ratio varies with:
• Average sales realization i.e. higher the quality of coal, higher the realization.
• Capital investment requirements
• Operating cost.
• Also surface constraints
Projects are likely to be economically viable upto a maximum SR indicated against the grade of coal

Grade Stripping ratio (cum/T)

F 8
E 9
D 10
C 12

C. Development Sequence
-Opening the deposit – Access trench
-Box cut – To accommodate all equipment
-Mine phases – Depends on the shape of the property
-Progress of Benches
-Coal production schedules
-OB excavation schedules
Note:- Maximize inventory of coal in the initial years
-Differ OB stripping requirements as much as possible – Average
SR versus natural SR
-Income generated in the first 5 to 10 years but not remote economics will either make or break the project.
-Profits for in the future have practically no impact on the project NPV.
Each successive phase will be less profitable and the ultimate limit will be loss even after ploughing in earlier
profits.
D. Design of Access Ramp & Haul roads
Location of Access ramp is guided by the following:
1) Generally located at the minimum depth of incrop of bottom most seam – So as to reduce initial waste stripping
(unproductive work)
2) Should facilitate maximizing of internal dumping and sectional working.
3) Should be near the External dump / Coal yard / Mine service facilities etc.
4) Main haul road upto the pit limit should be planned in the beginning only.
5) Since haul costs constitute about more than 40% and tyre costs about 10% of the total mining costs,priority for
design,construction and maintenance should be given.
6) Gradient,width,drainage,curves,super elevation,base,sub base,type and thickness of top dressing should be like
that of national high ways for heavy traffic.
Design of Access Ramp & Haul roads

S.No Particulars
1 Width Should facilities two way
traffic, dozer movement,
formation of drains, lighting
arrangement (Normal width –
30m,but depends on capacity
of dumpers).
2 Gradient 1 in 16 Short ramps 1 in 10
3 Lesser number of curves
4 In flat seams of larger strike haul roads can be formed over
length the floor of the strike length
seam 5 In steep seams
5 In steep seams Haul road for Coal & OB
benches can be planned along
highwall slopes say every
30m. This will also facilitate
internal dumping

E. Pit design.
General design parameters and planning data
• Density of seams, total coal column thickness
•Thickness of partings
• Gradient
• Geological disturbances
• Strike lengths, shape of property
 • Geological Reserves
• Surface constraints/adjacent habitat
• Dump yards availability with lead and lift
• Mining system, optimum mining concept
• Depth of operation, mineable reserves after various losses, OB volumes, SR
• Spoil characteristics
• Work practices in the Area
• Diggability characteristics

Pit design
As per Regulation 98 of CMR 1957
In alluvial soil etc. - Sides shall be sloped at 450 or Benched – height not more than 1.5m
Width – not less than height

In hard ground - Sides adequately benched/sloped so as to prevent danger from fall of sides

Coal - Sides shall be sloped at 450 or Benched – height not more than 3m
However, exemption can be sought from Inspectorate.
. Pit design
Overall slope of a pit depends on several factors of the pit slope:
a) Geological disturbances like faults etc.
b) Hydrological condition of strata
c) Orientation of slip planes
d) Nature of strata – i.e. hardness, material consolidation etc.
e) Depth of workings f) Design of haul roads & ramps in the highwall
g) Stratigraphy – thickness, spacing of the clay bands or other weak layers

In general for OC mines upto a depth of 200m, overall slope angle of 450 is permitted.
Working benches:
1) General
Width - 40 – 45m
Height - Generally equal to height of the boom or in some cases upto 3m above the boom height. In case of
Backhoe – digging height of machine
Bench slope - 560 to 700
2) Dragline:
Width of the cut - 60m
Height of bench - maximum digging depth
3) In order to even out the yearly OB removal quantities and the economics sometimes alternative workings and
non-working benches (around 25 m wide) are proposed.

Fixing annual production capacity

After defining the boundaries, the annual production capacity will be fixedbased on the following criteria :
1) The available mineable coal reserves
2) Geometry of the deposit - Strike & dip rise lengths
3) Structure of the deposit - Thickness of seams, partings, faults, gradient etc.
4) Linkage - Basket, Captive use etc.
5) HEMM configuration - Capacity of HEMM.
6) Surface structures - Limits the material to be blasted.
Excavator machine productivity –
Based on,
-Dipper cycle time
-Waiting time for truck spotting
-Bad blast factor
-Truck loading time etc
.Annual capacity is based on
-Equipment available hours
-Utilization percentage
Proper fragmentation, less throw off material, bench height ,bench slopes ,avoiding toes and secondary blasting,
improves shovel efficiency
Optimum fragmentation-cost of drilling, blasting vis-à-vis cost of dozing ,loading, hauling and dumping.