Padcal mine is one of the oldest mines in Southeast Asia situated in the highlands of the Cordilleras in the

Philippines and currently operating for more than six decades. It is a typical porphyry-copper type of multi-
phased intrusive rock. It is cylindrical and currently extends vertically downwards for about 800 meters.
The mineralization consists of copper sulfides mainly bornite, chalcopyrite, and some traces of pyrite. The
gold is associated with the copper sulfides and occurs as inclusions in bornite and chalcopyrite. Gold is
preferentially enriched in bornite, less gold is contained in chalcopyrite. Higher copper and gold grades
are also related to higher bornite contents. The mineralization follows lithological preferences with the
dark diorite having the highest grades. The clear diorite has mediocre grades and the andesite porphyry
is least mineralized for copper. The meta-andesite wallrock is also mineralized. A late quartz diorite
intrusive was encountered at 773-meter depth and is not significantly mineralized. The copper-gold
mineralization transects the intrusive wall rock boundary and extends significantly into the wallrocks
contributing substantial resources. The significant mineralization also follows the pattern of the potassic
alteration halo. The copper sulfides occur in veinlets, stringers, and disseminations which plays a vital key
in the distribution of copper and gold grades in the deposit.

A mechanized multi-lift block caving method was employed to extract the majority of the ore. But during
its inception, the mine utilized an open-pit mining method to extract the economical shallow portions of
the orebody. Going back to the underground, the lift was subdivided into 5 wherein 1425-meter level (ML)
is the reference elevation surface of the mine and the mine lifts are 1170, 1020, 908, 840, and 782-meter
levels. A series of drifts, raises, orepasses were driven to access and transport the ore. On drifts
particularly, undercut horizontal drives are driven including drilling of positive ring pattern holes on the
back of the headings at regular intervals which are later on blasted once the extraction levels and trench
excavations underneath had already been completed. The spacing of the drilled holes is dictated by the
rock mass rating reading and study done by geologists and geotechnical engineers as these would be
critical in the fragmentation of the ore once the cave initiates. Underneath the undercut level, a series of
extraction level drives are also developed at specified intervals dependent also on the geotechnical
parameters. For this mine, it followed the El Teniente extraction layout pattern because it will give way to
an easy articulation of heavy equipment specifically load haul dumps to scoop the ore out of the draw
point thus, reducing cycle time and wear and tear of the equipment. These then are tipped to a chain of
rock breaker machines and jaw crushers for size reduction and then transported to a 2.7-kilometer cable
hauled conveyor going to the mill plant for processing.

Going to the mill plant, the run-of-mine ore then reports to a dump bin wherein 4 jaw crushers are waiting
for them to be reduced to smaller fragments before going to the coarse ore stockpile. Scalper screens are
also used to separate undersize material so that not all of the ore goes to the stockpile but rather directly
reports to the secondary crushing, tertiary crushing, and a series of ball mills for further grinding. After
that, the ore in the form of slurry is being fed to the flotation cells to separate the gangue material and
the valuable material. Sodium Ethyl Xanthate is the main reagent used in the froth flotation process given
that the ore is sulfide by nature. It tends to act as a collector as they absorb on the sulfide mineral surface
and thus forms an insoluble metal xanthate which does have a hydrophobic characteristic meeting the
requirements of a froth flotation process. The hydrophilic one then reports as tails in the underflow
section and the froth will overflow as it goes to the launders for further cleaning. The launders may be
classified as rougher, scavenger, and cleaner. Rougher is the first stage of the cleaning process as it further
eliminates some middlings which consist of both the mineral and gangue. The mineral recovered will go
then to the cleaner section and the middlings will proceed to the scavenger section for further cleaning
and will be recirculated to the rougher section again until the middlings is eliminated. At the scavenger
section, the overflow is considered tails. Proceeding to the cleaner section, the valuable material is then
further cleaned before going to the filter drum wherein the valuable material is then dewatered through
a vacuum to a certain parametric moisture content leaving solids to cake on the membrane surface. A
scraper at the other side of the drum is positioned to gather the product from the surface. The end product
is a copper-gold concentrate transported by 20-ton trucks via an 86 kilometer highway travel to Poro
Point, La Union port wherein these are shipped to Nippon, Japan for smelting as refined copper and other
by-products.

The proposed mine closure plan as declared in their Final Mine Decommissioning and Rehabilitation Plan
(FMRDP) is to convert the mining camp and its surrounding communities into an agro-industrial zone
wherein the facilities will be maintained. Backfilling of the subsidence area where the cave footprint is
visible will be conducted. Backfilling will only cease if minimal or no subsidence is observed in the
monitoring. Slope stabilization through benching and construction of proper drainage during the dry
season will be undertaken to ensure a smooth flow of water during the rainy season towards the creeks.
Revegetation will be included to be undertaken to stabilize the area. Some of the underground workings
will be either sealed or reconstructed suitable for tourism purposes, tailings storage facility penstocks
must be plugged so that all the water will normally discharge to the future open spillway that is to be
constructed. Once the spillway is complete, the storage facility will be utilized as golf courses or farms.
The industrial buildings will serve as factories. Residential and school buildings as a convention center for
seminars and other worthwhile activities suited in the area.

Possible alternative mining methods aside from block caving will be a sublevel caving method or sublevel
open stoping. Since the orebody is nearly oriented sub-vertically, a mass mining method like the two that
were previously mentioned will be feasible as gravity will be also the key driver in caving the ore but with
stringent draw control strategy leading to less dilution compared it to a block cave. Rilling of both ore and
waste to adjacent draw points due to concurrent drawing will be eliminated on both methods since an
isolated draw zone will be established. A pre-determined plan coming from stochastic and empirical
models of sublevel drift intervals makes it possible to transpire this kind of scenario. The drilling pattern
will also play a key role in preserving the pillars in between when blasting initiates thus, dilution will be
less or towards the minimum established theoretical figure as defined during the feasibility stage. Ore
grades will be more uniform given the less dilution being mixed making the mine-to-mill grade variance
more accurately estimated in real-time. On its safety aspect, automation setup and infrastructure will be
easier in sublevel than block caves given the straight-retreat mining layout drives of sublevel compared it
to a block cave which has a lot of variations and parameters to consider. Given that we are dealing with a
large tonnage throughput coming out of the mine, we need to consider some substitutes in the mineral
processing stages, particularly on how to optimize energy consumption leading to reduced operational
costs. One option could be the transitioning of Ball Mills to Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) Mills. It will
help to reduce the amount of grinding medium and instead let the ore inside will impact each other and
collide and later on be broken down to the desired size. In this way, we could reduce the energy
consumption likewise the cost of wear and tear of the equipment. Another one also would be the
installation of a gold recovery circuit particularly on the filter drum process since some of the gold particles
have a chance to escape from the membrane installed thus a reprocessing circuit must be installed to
maximize recovery before going to the thickening process.
Associated risks that may occur during the operation would be the uncertainties primarily in the cave
establishment of the mine. This term is used to describe the development of the mining footprint
specifically the underground infrastructure, drawbell openings, and the undercutting of the block.
Chances of sudden redistribution of stress will transpire once the footprint development initiates
especially if it is situated in a high-stress environment leading to mining-induced seismicity and violent
failures like rockbursts. This often causes severe damages to headings, compromises worker safety, and
can cause delays in the mining development overall. Another one would be the cavability risk of the
orebody if it will cave despite all the numerical modeling simulated and forecasted. This would need a
thorough study of the orebody rock mass characteristics if it can cave once it is developed. To reduce the
odds of uncertainty, a team of a vast array of experiences in caving operation must be formed to
consolidate their experiences specifically what would be the ideal sizes of the undercut to induce and
propagate caving without incurring seismicity and likewise without leaving side wedge ore remnants
inside the ore column which could lead to either ore losses or airblast issues. Once the caving initiates it
creates a void visible from the surface which is commonly called the subsidence area which may pose
environmental issues, particularly in the changes in landforms affected by the subsiding area or,
technically known as the crest zone. This may also bring about social conflict and the rise of environmental
groups that are against mining affecting the organization’s image and their social license to operate
including the lowering of environmental and social governance ratings which makes it unattractive for
investors to put their money on the project.

With the advent of digitalization and digital transformation in mining, I think this could revolutionize how
we mine and the way we mine. Primarily on the cave establishment and protocols, mining software could
give actionable insights and critical decisions to mining engineers on what appropriate mining extraction
and ground support must be applied in the mining operation as these tools could also give the flexibility
advantage once some parameters dynamically change over time. This must be considered by the
organization as capital to reduce costs and not as a financial burden on their part. Short interval controls
must also be established to monitor whether we are on the track with our short and long-term range
mining plans. On the cavability aspect of the orebody, an establishment and thorough study of rockmass
characteristics must be done to accurately conclude the behavior of the rock during the caving process.
Caving beacons can also be installed on an in-situ rock before caving to monitor in real-time the actual
movement of the rock to follow even drawing up of ore including a uniform grade minimizing dilution and
eliminating safety risk to operators like mudrushes. To avoid societal issues within the subsiding portion
of the cave, proper information, education, and communication initiatives must be done by the
organization that this would be put back to its pre-mining state once the mine ceases to operate as
mandated also by the government. They must portray concrete plans to the host community the not only
the post-mining land use of the affected area but must extend sustainable platforms to the surrounding
community because once the mine closes, they have livelihoods to support their own needs and be able
to continue their way of living without being dependent on the mining operation.