Geomining & Raw Mix

Day 3
Quarry Planning

CKSC
CEMENT KNOWLEDGE SKILL CENTRE
Quarry Planning
 In developing a detailed plan for raw material extraction there are several
objectives which must be considered. It should, however, be noted that they are
not all mutually compatible.

ENSURE - Required Tonnage of Raw Feed to Works

MINIMISE - Total Works Costs
OPTIMISE - Raw Feed Quality
FULFIL - Safety and Legislation Requirements
MAXIMISE - Return on Capital Employed
ACHIEVE - Peak Quarrying/Plant Efficiency

NOT ALL THESE OBJECTIVES ARE COMPATIBLE

Quarry Planning
Planning Steps involve:
• Geology
• Geography
• Working Requirements
• Geo-technics
• Planning/Environmental
• Safety & Legislation
• Costs

• Pit design
• To calculate volumes & tonnage to be removed
• Forecast the equipment & manpower
requirements
• Milestones of development & rehabilitation
Geology
 Geological Succession: the required material can be part of a variable sequence with many
rock types not all of which are suitable for cement manufacture or an uninterrupted
thickness of one suitable rock type.
 Chemical Variations: the material may exhibit quality variations horizontally or vertically
due to changes in the depositional environment. Such changes may require multi-bench
working to achieve the required cement grade quality.
 Dip/Structure: the disposition of the beds and degree of faulting and or folding will
significantly affect the method of working and degree of contamination which can be
experienced during working.
 Overburden: should be kept to a minimum and, in order to reduce the amount to be
moved, the pit sides should be as steep as possible but in keeping with an adequate safety
margin.
 The disposal and storage of overburden requires careful planning and excavation to avoid
damage to soils.
 Hydrogeology - is the mineral a water bearing horizon can the excavation be worked dry or
does the rate of water ingress preclude this?; If pumping is necessary what constraints are
placed on the operation due to water disposal?
Geology
 Within this category the topography of the potential quarry sites exerts the
greatest influence Such related factors include:
 Selection of a hillside or open pit operation
 Bench development and the layout of haul routes
 Direction of face advance with slight uphill gradient to aid drainage
 Availability of level ground required for crushing and processing plant
 Low lying sites may be affected by water table
 On site terrain may determine the quarry transport (field conveyor or dump
trucks)
 Natural or man-made features may require relocation (streams, pipelines,
cables)
Operational Requirements
 The factory production requirement and hence quarry output required should
have been determined from the results of the market survey. Obviously there
will be cases in which the nature and geology of the site are limiting factors on
output.
 Otherwise the considerations already reviewed, such as the height and length of
the face, its direction of travel and the type of face equipment and haulage to be
used, must be viewed in terms of the output required, due consideration being
given for any anticipated increase.
 Hardness of the raw material and a decision on whether it can be excavated
direct or requires drilling and blasting also significantly affects the type and size
of equipment to be used in its excavation.
 Quality variations within the deposit and the degree of blending required from
single or multi bench working.
Pit design
 The objective is to recover most of the possible reserves moving the least of
overburden or sterile following the geometry of useful material defined by the
qualitative evaluation on the deposit.
 All the underground information is downloaded in the geologic map to have in
consideration litologic contacts, deposit structure (stratification planes, faults
and fractures), and the terrain boundaries, to assure we won’t surpass the
property limits and protected zones (gas lines, water and electricity).
 In the pit design we must take special care in the ultimate slope stability, to
detect the presence of water tables, regarding quality, especially in deposits
with variable quality, always to have available materials of all types of existing
quality, and always to have the necessary roads for access or hauling during its
exploitation lifetime.
Face development

 Face height-10m principle (3m minimum -

12m maximum)
 Face width- 100m (Ranging between 75m
& 125m typically)
 Exploitation method – Open pit/ Hillside
 Number of benches- 4
 Annual production- ≈1.9 million tons
Safety and environmental plan
Mainly influenced by local regulations:
• Limitations on extent, depth and duration of working
• Phasing and direction of working
• Access points to site
• Route ways to processing plant or of finished product to market place
• Situation of fixed processing plant
• Dust, noise and vibration associated with blasting and processing
• Groundwater pollution control
• Restoration and after-use proposals
• Siting and configuration of overburden dumps
Safety and environment planning
 Quarries and quarrying operations constitute an essential element of the
cement making process.
 It is an operation which is recognized as hazardous and where potential risks are
high, contributed to by the utilization of:-
 Large vehicles/mobile plant
 Crushers, conveyors and other large items of fixed plant
 High unprotected quarry faces
 Large quantities of explosives and has to contend with the full range of
climatic environments and related working conditions.
 To minimize risk safety procedures and legislation should be followed and
enforced at all times, all plant should be well maintained and in a good working
condition.
Safety and environment planning
 A very detailed Topic that is handled Separately; requires the study of detailed
regulations and guidelines; the shortest one is around 100 pages.

 Safety in quarries requires detailed engineering and knowledge about the

quarry, regulations and safety management.

 A combined team audit with a consultant is always advised for safety GAP
analysis
Reserves Evaluation & Mine Planning
Day 3 summary
 After employing all the possible/ reasonable exploration methods, a reserve
evaluation is done, considering the available quantity for mining and the quality
of the materials present of the deposit.

 A database is then created in order to compile all the geological, chemical and
physical data, collected from the exploration campaigns, in the three dimensions
of the space.
Reserves Evaluation & Mine Planning
Day 3 summary cont.
 In order to know how the chemical components of the rock are distributed
throughout the deposit, a geochemical estimation is performed with methods of
spatial interpolation of the chemical oxides using geological and chemical
information from the borehole core samples.

 Then, considering the geology and chemistry of the mineable different

materials, a volume calculation is done.

 In a very summarized way, the quarry lifetime in years is calculated, dividing the
exploitable reserves by the annual plant consumption at full capacity.
Reserves Evaluation & Mine Planning
Day 3 summary cont.
 After works of reserves evaluation are done, a mining plan should be developed
considering the following aspects:

 Safety and environment planning

 Extraction of material in most cost efficient manner
 Legislation
 Hydrology / Geology / geography
 Operational & Quality requirements
 Organization, Manpower & Equipment
 Quarry Pit design
 Face development
 CKSC
CEMENT KNOWLEDGE SKILL CENTRE

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