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DEVELOPMENT, INSTALLATION, AND EFFECT

OF AN UNDERGROUND CRUSHING AND CONVEYING SYSTEM AT PEA RIDGE

J. C. Irvine
Mine Engineer
Meramec Mining Company
Sullivan, Missouri

This paper is to be presented at the AIME Annual Meeting -

San Francisco, California - February 20-24, 1972.

11
 72-AU-69

DEVELOPMENT, INSTALLATION, AND EFFECT

OF AN UNDERGROUND CRUSHING AND CONVEYING SYSTEM
AT PEA RIDGE

by

J. C. IRVINE
MINE ENGINEER
MERAMEC MINING COMPANY

INTRODUCTION

Meramec Mining Company, a joint venture by Bethlehem Steel

Corporation and St. Joe. Minera.ls Corporation, is engaged in the mining, con-

centrating, and pelletizing of iron ore from the Pea Ridge Mine located near

Sullivan, Missouri, about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis. The orebody was

<ielinea.ted in the mi.d-1950's by St. Joe during an exploration program to dis-

cover new lead orebodies. An airborne magnetometer survey which was run by

the U. S. Geological Survey, the Missouri Geological Survey. and severa.l min-

ing companies was published in 1950 and showed an anomaly in the Pea Ridge

area. '!-est holes drilled in 1953 and 1954 revealed the presence of a large ore-

body of probable commercial significance; additional drilling in 1956 and 1957

provided confirmation of this, Meramec Mining Company. was incorporated in

1957 and shaft sinking began in the latter part of that year.

The Pea Ridge orebody lies under about 1300 feet of sediments. It is

tabular, about 2600 feet long and up to 600 feet thick, and lies in an approxi-

mate east-west deli.neation. The orebody dips about 80 0 S and is of unkno\V!l

depth. The ore is primarily high grade magnetite with smaller zones of spec-

ular hematite. The Pre-cambrian wall rock is rhyolite porphyry.

The mine is serviced through 1:'1'10 concrete-lined shafts, 19 feet 1 inch

in diameter and 2500 feet deep. No. 1 shaft, equipped with an "AI! type head-
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frame and conventional cylindrical drum hoists, handles men, materials, and

waste rock; it is also the downcast air shaft. No.2 shaft utilizes tower-

mounted friction hoists to handle the two production skips, each with 24-ton

counterweights, and a small man cage. The mine exhaust passes through this

shaft. Ore is principally mined by sublevel stoping, sublevel ca,ving, and

pillar recovery; it is loaded into Swedish-type railroad cars either by LHD units

or by slushers.

When the mine came into production in 1964, ore was hauled on four

production levels to Swedish-type dumps adjacent to No. 2 shaft. These dumps

fed raises into scraping trenches in two loading stations. Then, ISO-horsepower

double-drum slushers were used to pull ore into a pair of small steel hoppers

with 72-inch scrapers. The hoppers, constructed to hold a volume equal to 17

tons of broken ore, have hydraulically operated gates which dump ore into the

two skips. The hoists are independent of each other; thus two skips can be

hoisted from either loading station or one from each station, depending on the

needs at the time.

It was decided that an underground crushing system would increase

hoisting efficiency in three ways .. First, it would reduce time spent on se,?ond-

ary breakage at the loading station whicl?- was causing delays in hoisting while

the crews blasted. Second, it would reduce the amount of damage caused by

boulders to the hoppers, gates, and skips which required more frequent 'major

repairs and overhauls than desired. Third, the system would eliminate the use

of slushers which were subject to sufficient breakdown and rope breakage to be

a determining factor in hoisting tonnage. It was further decided that an under-

ground crushing and conveying system established on a new, lower level of the
 72-AU-69
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mine would be the most desirable solution.

CR USHER AND CONVEYOR SYSTEM LAYOUT

The heart of this system is a 42-inch gyratory crusher on the 2475-foot

level. The- manufacturer agreed to split the top shell, making it possible to

lower such a large crusher down No. 1 shaft. This is fed by a 72-inch wide by

20-foot long reciprocating feeder which empties the ore pass system from the

four Swedish-style dumps above, as shown in Figure 1. Liner wear in the re-

ciprocating feeder is monitored from outside with an ultrasonic thickness

tester, and replacement is scheduled according to this ultrasonically measured

thickness. The crusher drops Ore into a small surge bin and then onto a 60-inch

wide by l6-foot long vibrating feeder with a 4-foot long grizzly end which in turn

feeds the conveyor. Feed rate is monitored by the crusher operator via closed

circuit TV. The conveyor, shown in Figure 2, has a distance of 1750 feet be-

tween the head and tail pulleys with a slope of 9-1/2 degrees, and a vertical lift

of 291 feet. The conveyor is level at the loading point; at 20 feet from there it

curves upward on a 575-foot radius until it achieves the 9_1/20 slope. It has a

belt speed of 450 feet per minute and a capacity of up to 1000 tons per hour.

The troughing and return idlers are mounted on roof suspended 3/4-inch (6 x 19)

cadmium-coated plow steel cable (see Figure 3). The belt itself is 42 inches

wide, 5-ply rayon-nylon cord construction, and has a 3/8-inch top cover and

3/32-inch bottom cover. Fifty-foot sections of l-inch hoses hooked into the

permanent water line in the main conveyorway (see Figure 4) every 1000 feet

comprise a fire-fighting system for the conveyor, providing total coverage·of

the belt with high-pressure water. It is driven through a parallel shaft speed

reducer by a 400-horsepower totally enclosed fan-cooled squirrel cage motor.

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A 100-foot raise beneath the conveyor provides room for a gravity takeup.

The operator's control room houses the main control panel which by

means of push buttons, indicator lights, alarm panels, motor ammeters, and

closed circuit television allows total monitoring of the system up to the tops of

the ore bins. This control room also contains all of the 480-volt motor controls

for the crushing station. Starting equipment for the 4l60-volt crusher motor

and conveyor drive is located separately from the control room for safety

reasons.

An adequate electrical system has allowed use of across-the-linc motor

starting for all equipment. All motor drives are single-speed type except the

vibrating feeder under the crusher which is a wound-rotor type to allow bin

level control. All electrical installation is either in conduit or cable tray.

The ore is either fed directly into No. lore bin or onto a lOS-foot long,

42-inch shuttle conveyor which then conveys the ore to No. 2 ore bin. This

conveyor, which is controlled from the crusher operator's station, is on a

rail-mounted truss which can move itself to intercept the trajectory of ore

coming off the main belt. The ore bins, 28 feet in diameter and 90 feet deep,

have an approximate capacity of 5000 tons each. Each bin is emptied by a

single 60-inch by l2-foot vibrating feeder onto a 48-inch conveyor 157 feet long.

This conventionally supported conveyor is run continuously during each shift

and fed as needed by the feeders. Feed is remotely controlled by the skip

loader and metered by electronic scale. Ore is generally fed two skip loads

at a time into the measuring hoppers and then loaded into the skips.

DECLINE CHOSEN TO DEVELOP CR USHER LEVEL

The shafts are 2500 feet deep, but to try to establish a new level from
 72-AU-69

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either of them meant an intolerable interruption in hoisting. It was therefore

decided to drive a 15.8% decline from 2275-foot level to 2475-foot level. A

site near both No. 1 sha"ft and the waste dump system was chosen, and on April

11, 1966, the decline was started.

Since the eventual mucking vehicle was to be a 5-yard LHD unit and

because it was desired to accommodate any vehicle that might use it in the

future, the size of the decline was set at 12 feet high by 15 feet wide. Drifting

was started with three"-man crews using three jackleg drills, a crawler-mounted

overshot loader and two I-yard 3-wheeled diesel trucks. A typical drift round

in this porphyry was 8 feet deep with a burn cut and 40 1-3/8-inch holes. The

upper part of this round was drilled off a removable wooden platform set on the

body of one of the trucks. AN/FO was used in all holes but the lifters and

bottom relievers, except when the decline passed through a few wet areas.

Typical times for the first 200 feet of decline driven with the truck-

jackleg combine were as follows:

Drill (3 men On jacklegs) 3 hrs. 7 mins.

Load and Blast 1 hr. 15 mins.

Muck (1 man on loader, 2 on trucks) 2 hrs. 35 mins.

Lunch, travel and ventilation time 1 hr. 58 mins.

Total 8 hrs. 55 mins.

With bolting and pumping times considered, the average 8-foot round

took 1. 3 shifts. This time increased as the face moved away from the waste

dump. In August, 1966 a 5-yard LHD unit replaced the overshot loader and

trucks (one truck was retained for drilling): Mean mucking time was reduced

to 1 hour 10 minutes from 2 hours 35 minutes. Tramming distance at that time

 72-AU-69
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was almost 900 feet and mucking time continued to increase arithmetically as

the decline advanced. In September, a three-boom jumbo on a diesel-powered

carrier supplanted the jackleg drills. The remaining three-wheeled truck was

converted into a roof-bolting rig. Drift round depth was increased to 10 feet.

Coincident with the arrival of the LHD unit, a second drift was started toward

the projected location of the bottoms of the crushed ore bins. The jumbo did

not appreciably decrease the drilling time, but it did allow the crew to drill one

face with two men on the jumbo and muck the other face with one man on the

LHD unit. The equipment had, in essence, doubled the footage capacity of a

three-man crew.

In April, 1967 the decline bottomed out and level development began

toward both the crusher site and toward the No. 1 shaft. Simultaneously, from

another advantageous point on the 227S-foot level, a second crew started driving

the 16.80/0 decline which was to be the 1920-foot long conveyorway. About 1370

feet of the 9 -foot high by l4-foot wide decline was driven downhill with jacklegs,

overshot loader, and three-wheeled trucks. The 300-foot section of the convey-

orway above the starting point was scraped into rail cars with a 50-horsepower

slusher, and the SOO-foot section adjacent to and below the 247S-foot level was

driven with the diesel-mounted jumbo and S-yard LHD unit.

LONGHOLE METHODS OF EXCAVATING

In April, 1968 the primary objectives -- the crushing station and the

crushed ore bin sites -- were reached and excavation began. The dimensions

of the crushing station were determined at 20 feet wide by 27 feet 9 inches high

by 102 feet long. In order to excavate the station, one end was slotted and the

width was entirely overcut to permit excavation by longhole drilling. The over-
 72-AU-69
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cut, as illustrated in Figure 5, allowed us to bolt, fence, and apply two inches

of gunite to the roof of the station prior to blasting. A colunm-mounted 4-1/2-

inch bore drifter was used to drill 2-l/4-inch diameter holes 22 feet deep. The

holes were on a 4-foot by 4-foot pattern with the toes of the holes angled 10 0

toward the slot. Blasting was done with AN/FO. Fragmentation was good and

overqreak was minimal, requiring only routine scaling and bolting to secure the

walls. The chamber in the floor of the crushing station which would contain the

crusher was cut with longholes utilizing a longhole or "drop" raise as the cut.

A 21-foot diameter cylinder with a l4-foot wide by 17 -foot 8-inch long "tail" was

undercut by the conveyor drift below. The "drop" raise (6 feet x 6 feet) was

blasted through in six shifts by keeping the burn one 5-foot segment ahead of the

rest of the round. The remainder of the "keyhole", drilled with a wagon drill

carrying a 4-l/2-inch drifter, was blasted with AN/FO quickly and without

incident.

The ore bins, each 28 feet in diameter and 90 feet deep, were cut in

much the same manner as the crusher chamber. Undercutting the bins reduced

the depth of hole required to 73 feet. To achieve a smoothwall effect, 2-1/4-

inch diameter holes were spaced 3 feet apart around the periphery of the bins.

Timing the line holes last in groups of 6 to 8, as pie -shaped sections of the bin

were blasted out, left well delineated, stable walls which required only a minor

scaling job to make them safe to work in.

CONCRETING TECHNIQUES

Concrete on the 2475-foot level was handled by a 5-yard LHD unit. It

was batched on the surface 3 yards at a time, agitated briefly, and then dropped

directly to the 2475-foot level through a 6-inch diameter pipe set in the shaft.
 72-AU-69
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At the 2475-foot level, the concrete went through a discharge box into th"

bucket of the LHD unit, and was then trammed 2200 feet to the crushing station.

Practically no segregation occurred during the trip, but to guard against any

possibility, the concrete was agitated in the bucket with compressed air through

a 1/2-inch pipe. This treatment produced a 28-day test strength of 4527 to

4810 psi.

Concreting the crushing station began in February 1969 and was com-

pleted in February 1970. During that year 930 cubic yards of concrete were

poured and 32,500 pounds of reinforcing steel were set. The entire concreting

ope ration including forming, pouring, and stripping took 1626 manshifts. All

of the forming was done on site with plywood and timber except the top 13 feet

of the crusher chamber which was formed with a couple of sections of OUr steel

shaft forms. This was done to achieve a cylindrical throat for the crusher feed

and to save forming time and labor.

Construction was proceeding on the Swedish-type dumps on the four

levels above at the same time. Meramec's dumps are shown in Figure 6 and

control chutes in Figure 7. These were done in sequence from the lowest level

up in order to use each dump as soon as it was completed. A complete set of

plywood forms for the upper (and complicated) part of one dump was prefabricated

in the carpenter shop. This was used, carefully stripped, and re-used On the

subsequently constructed dumps. Concrete for the dumps was dropped down the

shaft into 3-yard agitator carS and hauled to the construction site. Then, where

it couldn't be poured, it was blown into the forms with a one-yard pressure-pot-

type placer. A total of 1944 cubic yards of concrete and 3687 manshifts were

required to complete the four dumps.

 72-AU-69
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CONCLUSION

The crusher went on stream on April 1, 1970, with feed from the lower

two dumps. In August 1970 the fourth dump was completed and the system began

operation in its entirety. Since initial operation, it has handled 4,500,000 tons,

which is 96"/0 of the mine's total production during that period. The only major

maintenance has been the replacement of the crusher concaves in September,

1971 after a throughput of 3,500,000 tons in 17 months.

The flexibility of the system has been particularly beneficial to our

haulage. As illustrated in Figure 8, a shift foreman now has the option of dump-

ing in the original dump if the new dump is full or requires repair. This has re-

duced the loss of haulage due to full dumps to practically nil. Scheduled main-

tenance on dumps and chutes now means rerouting rather than loss of haulage.

The two-bin system has similarly aided haulage. When maintenance is required

on one bin, the other is used and ore flow continues normally. If, at any time

hoisting is shut down, the Ore passes and bins can almost always provide a

surge capacity of over two shifts.

The successful planning, design and construction of this system was due

to the collective efforts of people from engineering, producti" and supervisory

departments. Most of the techniques and innovations developed in the course of

completing the project were a result of ideas from all concerned.

In the 18 months that the full system has been in operation, Meramec

Mining Company's daily hoisted tonnage has increased by 12.6%. The major

portion of this increase is directly attributive to the underground crushing and

conveying system.
 72-AU-69
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F1GURE 1:- Reciprocating feeder at crusher.

 (3)

I
(10) f-'
f-'
COMPONENT DESCRIPTION I
(1) 8 ft. diameter ore pas s to haulage levels above.
(2) 72 in. x 20ft. long reciprocating feeder. (II)
(3) Crushing station showing access from 2475-ft. level.
(4) 42 in. gyratory crusher belt driven by 300 H. P. motor.
(5) Vibrating grizzly end feeder, 60 in. x 16 ft. long (30 H. P. motor).
(6) 1750 ft. roof-suspended belt at 9-1/20 slope; 42 in. wide with 35 0 troughing. (12)
(7) 105 ft. long shuttle conveyor.
(8) Ore bin with 5,000 ton capacity; 28 ft. in diameter, 90 ft. high.
(9) Vibrating feeder 60 in. x 12 ft. long.
(10) 160 ft. long 48 in. belt, 8 0 slope with 1200 tph capacity.
(11) Skip loading station with measuring hoppers.
(12) No.2 shaft with 2 friction hoists. -.J
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I

FIGURE 2.- Underground Crushing a Conveying Schematic

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 72-AU- 69
- 12-

FIGURE 3 .- Roof suspended conveyor.

<t
BELT

I 14'-0

4'- 3 <0'-0
I
2'-0 2!O
1

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FI XTUR.E.
(E.VER'" 2A')

- CASU.
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AIR
LlNES
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wfO Gk'ADE PLUG-..-5

o
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FIGURE 4.- Typical Conveyorway Section
1.) Drive 24CSD 20' wide x 12' high until face is 3D' from 24CEl.

2.) Drive 8' x 8' raise from end of 24 CSD until back is 27' -9" above floor of 24 CSD.

3.) Develop 8' wide x 20' long slot opening by slabbing into raise from both sides.

\
\
\ \
\ \
\ \
\ \
\ I
} \ I f-'
-----_../ L __ -.J W
I

/~~

24 CSD I
~+ '\
-!-]--
CRUSHER ":;:::>'-_/

--- ------l r--j I

Plp.,N AT FLOOR LEVEL II II I

L_---1I
I I "-
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L __ ---1
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FIGURE 5(0):- Underground Crushing Station ~
C1
I
0\
Excavation Sequence \0
4.) Drive 8' x 8' pilot drift until face is 96' from edge of slot. Floor to be 19' - 9" above floor of
24 CSD.

5.) Develop 8' high, 21' wide, 94' long upper level by slabbing 6i' x 8' from both sides into pilot
drift.

6.) 4i' from end of upper level, cut a slot out of back to be loi wide, 19' long, 6' higher than
back of pilot drift. This back should be about 33'-9" above the floor of 24 CSD.

4- ll' 19'

~m~I-
"
__
II

1.
l

9~' I
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-I=:"
I

PLAN VIEW AT UPPER LEVEL

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FIGURE 5(b).- U'nderground Crushing Station I

:J>
c:I
0'1
Excavation Sequence \D
 7. ) Excavate remaining area below upper level by slabbing bottom toward slot.
It is important that the completed walls have a minimum width of 20'.

8.) Drive 24 CSD 20' wide x 12' high far enough to connect with 24 CE 2.

!'i_ 70 l Z '
19'
rl-~---T-~--~----- I 8'_.I_ 2.Z'
I
Il-~l ______________ ~~ I \9
I _ @$@ '~l io I ~ ~

~~JlllL~J]]JlllIJnlrf~ ==cp ~ ~
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SECTION A-A 24C£I

24CE2.

--.l
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FIGURE 5 (c):- Underground Crushing Station I
:J:>
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0'1
Excavation Sequence \.0
 72-AU-69
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STATIONARY
Il(UERSE~
SlOE RAILS ON
CARS ANO
[lOCOMOTIVE
\ RERAllERS

~~~~I~~~!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i~~~~'-~-~£[s SEOUENCEOF OPERATIONS

MINE RAILS ®
(DO NOT EnENO
l.
,
,Ra.L£RS.''f:;:
I()"

' '--, ;:-";'

THROUGH DUMP)
<D ~~%I~~YOF~(~DJ5~r:f~trL ';(tS ON SCRru /
SCRQL. CAR BOTTOM STARTS TO DROP.
MAXIMUM OOOP ex: CAR BOTTOM.

~ CAR eoTIOM STARTS TO 0..05£.

roTTOM IS ClOSED. CARS DrSENGAG!' RIlU.£RS,
CA.~ WHEELS RIOE ON MINE TRACK.
BEAM SUPPORT

FIGURE 6(a):-Swedish type dumps used at Pea Ridge

FIGURE 6(b):-Swedish type dumps used at Peo Ridge

 72 -AU- 69

- 17-

FIGURE 7,-Control gate at Swedish type dump.

 72-AU-69
-18-

--~.- PRIMARY ROUTE

---~ ALTERNJ>.TE ROUTES

= ""'NEDI':;H 'STYLE DUMP

IBZ5 FOOT LEVEL

\------~~ ~QOT~L-----\\
-- ----------~,,=~~\
\ "r~-------------\\
212<;:> FOOT LE.VEL
S"I"I'-TICN .--5

~::x:
cIJ
\

-----------==-Q\ \
2'ZiS FOOT LEVE.L \ (IJ

1
o
z
~ \ \ \
\1 \ \\
~
2415 FOOT LEVEL
U ORE BINS ;3M
""KIP LOADING
STATiON

FIGURE S.-Underground Ore Flow Schematic

ot Pea Ridge