PRESENTATION ON SUBSURFACE MINING

METHODS

U.T.R.Sridhar Prasad. M.Sc.Tech., M.A.

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 TYPES OF UNDERGROUND MINING METHODS

1.Room & pillar 6. Vertical crater

mining retreat
2. Vein mining 7.Cut and fill stoping
3.Shrinkage stoping 8. Long wall mining
4. Sublevel open 9. Sub level caving
stoping 10. Block caving
5. Big hole stoping

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 SOME TERMINOLOGY

Mine: An excavation made in the earth to extract minerals

Mining: The activity, occupation, and industry concerned with the extraction of
minerals.

First Mines: By Paleolithic man about 450, 000 B.C. and was for stone implements

Oldest known underground mines: It was for Hematite at Swaziland, Africa about
40,000 B.C. Basically a surface mining but progressed into an undergroung
mining process

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 ADDITIONAL DATA RELATED TO MINING

Production Cycle of a mine: drilling, blasting, loading and haulage ( transport)

Only 1% of the earth’s surface is underlain with mineral deposits of commercial value

Modern mining blast holes are of the size of: 75 to 380 millimeters or 3” to 15”

The first step is to make the path to go down. The path is defined as a decline

Ore access: Levels are excavated horizontally off the decline or shaft to access the ore
body, Stopes are then excavated perpendicular or near perpendicular to the level in
to the ore

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 STAGES IN THE LIFE OF A MINE

There are 5 stages as given below ( in the same order):

1.Prospecting: Looking for mineral deposits
2.Exploration: Defining a mineral deposit, detailed sampling and assaying,
establishing a mineral inventory, & ore reserve evaluation
3.Development: All the work which is done to prepare a mineral deposit to be a
producing mine
4.Production: The actual mining process, also termed as exploitation
5. Reclamation: Performance of all environmental restoration at a mine after
completion of the mining activities. This includes, reclamation of waste, tailings,
dumps, etc)

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 TYPES OF MINING METHODS

SURFACE MINING: It includes, Mechanical excavation methods such as

open pit, open cast or strip mining, and also aqueous methods such as Placer and
solution mining

SUBSURFACE MINING: It is usually classified in to 3 categories of methods as

mentioned below:
Unsupported, Supported, and Caving

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 UNSUPPORTED UNDERGROUND MINING

Method of mining does depend upon type of wall, roof supports used, production
openings ( their size and configuration), direction of mining operation, etc.

This method does not utilize any artificial pillars to assist in the support of the
openings, and is used to extract mineral deposits that are roughly tabular, flat or
steeply dipping, generally associated with strong ore as well as strong
surrounding rock

Room and pillar mining is the most common unsupported underground mining
method, eg: coal, limestone, salt, etc.
Other examples include, stope & pillar, shrinkage stoping ( mining progresses
upwards), sub level stoping, etc

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 SUPPORTED MINING METHODS

These methods are used in mines with weak rock structure

Cut and fill stoping is the most common and is used primarily in steeply dipping
metal deposits ( mining can progress both upward and downward)
Cut and fill method is most popular for vein deposits
Other examples are: square set stoping and stull stoping ( 10 to 45 degrees dipping)

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 CAVING METHODS

These are varied and versatile and do involve caving the ore and or the overlying
rock, subsidence of the surface normally occurs afterwards.

Long wall mining method is a caving method which is well adopted to horizontal
seams, usually coal at some depth.

The process includes, a face of considerable length ( a long face or a wall) is

maintained, and as the mining progresses, the overlying strata are caved, thus
promoting the breakage of the coal itself
Sublevel caving ( for massive or tabular deposits) and block caving ( for weak or
moderately strong ore bodies which readily breakup when caved) are other
examples

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 THE PURPOSE OF VENTILATION FOR MINING

It is the primary method of clearing hazardous gases and dust which are created
from : drilling, blasting activities, diesel equipment; natural emissions from
rocks, eg: radon
Ventilation is also used to maintain or manage: underground temperatures for the
workers or to cool the work place
Ventilation raises are typically used to transfer
Ventilation from surface to the workplaces can also be used as emergency escape
routes
Sources of heat in subsurface mines: virgin rock temperatures, machinery, auto
compression, fissure water, blasting, human body heat, etc

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 ROOM AND PILLAR MINING

This method is ideal for flat- bedded deposits of a limited thickness and is widely
used for mining copper shale, coal, salt, limestone, dolomite, potash, etc. The
resources are recovered in open stopes ( stope is an underground excavation
which is made by removing the required ore from the surrounding rocks)

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 VEIN MINING

The dimensions of vein mineral deposits are highly variable and they can range from
a large massive formation to a ½ meter wide quartz veins which may contain
gold. In the thicker deposits, machinery can be operated within the ore bodies

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 SHRINKAGE STOPING

In this method, ore deposit is excavated in horizontal slices from beneath the stope
and does advance upward. Smaller ore bodies are mined with a single stope and
the larger ones can be divided into separate stopes with intermediate pillars to
maintain stability.

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 SUBLEVEL OPEN STOPING

In this method, ore is recovered in open stopes and are backfilled after the mining
process is over. Stopes are generally large especially in the vertical direction. The
ore bodies are divided into separate stopes.

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 BIG HOLE STOPING

In this method, longer blast holes of larger diameter ( 140 to 165 millimeters) are
applied. There might be damages to rock structures in this mining method.

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 VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT

This method was developed in Canada. This method is applicable to competent,

steeply dipping ore bodies and host rocks. It is based on crater blasting
technique, in which more powerful explosives are blasted in large diameter holes
and fired

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 CUT AND FILL STOPING

In this method, ore is removed in horizontal slices strating from the bottom undercut
advancing upward. The ore bodies are drilled and blasted and muck is loaded
and removed from the stope. This method is highly preferred for irregular
shaped ore bodies and scattered mineralisation.

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 LONGWALL MINING

This technique is applied to thin bedded ore deposits of uniform thickness and long
horizontal extent. This method is applicable to both soft and hard deposits. In
this method, ore is extracted along straight front which is having a large
longitudinal extension. This method is widely used to exract coal, potash, etc.

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 SUBLEVEL CAVING

In this technique, ore is extracted by sublevels developed in ore bodies at regular

intervals . Every sublevel does contain parallel drifts along or across the ore
bodies. This technique is applicable to large and steeply dipping deposits.

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 BLOCK CAVING

Gravity is the force used to break the deposits into pieces . This method is applicable
to massive and low grade ore deposits.

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 INNOVATIVE METHODS

In addition to conventional methods as mentioned previously, some innovative

methods are also evolving as given below:

Automation, Rapid excavation, Underground gasification or liquefaction, Deep sea

mining, etc.

The above methods are applicable to unusual deposits or may employ unusual
techniques, or equipment.

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