CA1049052A - Method and apparatus for working deposits - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for working depositsInfo
- Publication number
- CA1049052A CA1049052A CA76255251A CA255251A CA1049052A CA 1049052 A CA1049052 A CA 1049052A CA 76255251 A CA76255251 A CA 76255251A CA 255251 A CA255251 A CA 255251A CA 1049052 A CA1049052 A CA 1049052A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- pillars
- ore
- roof
- deposit
- waste material
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 10
- 239000002699 waste material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 30
- 238000007710 freezing Methods 0.000 claims description 5
- 230000008014 freezing Effects 0.000 claims description 5
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims description 4
- 239000003507 refrigerant Substances 0.000 description 10
- 238000009415 formwork Methods 0.000 description 8
- 239000011435 rock Substances 0.000 description 6
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 5
- 239000007767 bonding agent Substances 0.000 description 4
- 238000004062 sedimentation Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000003483 aging Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000001816 cooling Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000005065 mining Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 2
- 230000003068 static effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000009412 basement excavation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000004568 cement Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000013072 incoming material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000002955 isolation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002045 lasting effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011084 recovery Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002689 soil Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000003245 working effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21C—MINING OR QUARRYING
- E21C41/00—Methods of underground or surface mining; Layouts therefor
- E21C41/16—Methods of underground mining; Layouts therefor
- E21C41/22—Methods of underground mining; Layouts therefor for ores, e.g. mining placers
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
- Geology (AREA)
- Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
- Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
- Remote Sensing (AREA)
- General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Investigation Of Foundation Soil And Reinforcement Of Foundation Soil By Compacting Or Drainage (AREA)
- Bulkheads Adapted To Foundation Construction (AREA)
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE:
A method for completely working out deposits located in arctic and sub-arctic regions by chambering, characterized in that the chambers and work areas are filled from floor to roof with dressing wastes, from which heat is withdrawn, by thermodynamic means, until they are completely frozen.
A method for completely working out deposits located in arctic and sub-arctic regions by chambering, characterized in that the chambers and work areas are filled from floor to roof with dressing wastes, from which heat is withdrawn, by thermodynamic means, until they are completely frozen.
Description
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for completely working ore deposits located in arctic and sub-arctic regions by making chamber-like excavations.
In order to promote safety and reduce the harmful ef-fects of the workings on other mines and on the overburden, it is known, when working ore deposits, to keep the movement and subsidence of the layers or rock over the excavated chambers as small as possible. This is achieved either by back-filling, in which the cavity produced by the recovery of the useful content of the deposit is filled with unproductive rock or some other suitable material, or by means of pillars or solid areas, the chambers or work areas being excavated in a specific sequence and in such a manner that they are distributed uniformly over the area of the deposit being worked, the pillars being left . standing between the chambers or work areas.
It is known to fill such chambers or work areas with back-fill to which age-hardening bonding agents are added, after which the pillars that were left standing are excavated out.
The back-fill may be, among other things, coarse waste material from dressing operations, and this is fed into the chambers or work areas after the addition of the bonding agent, preferably cement.
In working a deposit in an arctic or sub-arctic climate, where periods of lasting freezing of more than six months occur every year, the matter of bringing in back-fill is a very important problem, since mining firms located in such areas, because of their isolation and remoteness from civilization, have to face high transportation costs for incoming material and outgoing products, and high operating costs, resulting from low outside temperatures and from working deposits located in the permafrost.
Because of this special situation, and of the high investment costs of the operation infrastructure, mining enterprises located in arctic and sub-arctic areas endeavour to work the deposits completely. This may be achieved by systematically breaking up the roof of the deposit after the content thereof has been recovered but this solution must be expected to produce major loads upon the rock strata above the deposit, as a result of subsidence and fracture. It is there-fore customary today to excavate by chambering, leaving pillars or solid areas between the chambers. This, however, means abandoning the idea of recovering the entire content of the deposit, especially since the bringing in of back-fill, with an ; age-hardening bonding agent, is too expensive because of the transportation costs associated therewith. Furthermore, the heat produced by the setting of back-fill containing an age-hardening bonding agent causes secondary rock, naturally existing under the permafrost, to thaw out, which changes the mechanical relationship existing in the rock and may produce operational problems. In addition to this, it is impossible in arctic and sub-arctic areas, to deposit dressing waste in the usual manner since, because of the frost periods, the sludges cannot be drained, and the dams built up out of earth and dressing waste are statically difficult to control during the warm season when the dams and the soil thaw out superficially.
It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to provide a method for completely working an ore deposit in arctic or sub-arctic regions by excavating a stope in the deposit. This method comprises: first removing the ore from the deposit while leaving spaced ore pillars temporarily to support the roof of the stope; then building, between the ore ` 30 pillars, further pillars made of dressing material and mechani--~; cally freezing said waste material pillars and, thereafter, removing the ore pillars whereby completely to remove the ore deposit.
Embodiments of the invention are illustrated and described, by way of example, in connection with the drawings attached hereto wherein:
, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a deposit excavated between ; two surfaces by chambering or pillar-chambering, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a further embodiment of an excavated deposit, Fig. 3 is a plan view of a further embodiment of a deposit excavated by means of regularly spaced chambers, Fig. 4 shows the embodiment of Fig. 3 wherein the .... ~ .. . .. .
.: .
,:~, - ~ ' ' ; ' ,. :, .
.
104905;~
chambers are filled with dressing waste.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the chamber of Fig. 3, Fig. 6 shows in plan view the introduction of dressing waste into the chambers of the embodiment of Fig. 3, Fig. 7 is a cross-section along line I-I of Pig. 6, Fig. 8 shows the introduction of dressing into cavities of the embodiment according to Fig. 2, and Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of the refrig- -erating unit used to freeze pillars made of dressing waste.
- lO Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a deposit which is excavated, between confining walls l and 2, by chambering or pillar-chambering. Left in the stope 3 are pillars 4 of ore, supporting the roof.
In Fig. 2, cavities 6 defined by formwork elements 5 are formed between ore pillars 4, across the stope 3 and in such a manner as to leave a passageway 7 extending between one end of the formwork elements 5 and the side wall l, the other end of the cavity 6 being defined by the other side wall 2. Cavity 6 is filled with dressing waste right up to the roof and solidified by mechanical freezing. After the chambers have been excavated, and after pillars 8, made of frozen dressing waste, have reached an adequate static size, pillars 4 of ore, which had been left standing, are extracted. Intervening areas 9, between adjacent pillars 8, are then closed off, from the passageway side, by pillars lO made of frozen dressing waste, and the resulting cavities ll may be filled with additional dressing waste, as is hereinafter described.
In Fig. 3, the deposit is excavated, between side walls 11, 12, by means of evenly spaced chambers, the ore pillars 14 left standing between chambers 13 being bound on one side by passageway lS and, on the other side, by side wall 12. As shown in Fig. 4j the openings in chambers 13 are closed off with form-work elements 16, after which the chambers 13 are filled up to theroof with dressing waste, the water produced during sedimentation being returned to the operation. After the dressing waste is frozen into pillars 17 of adequate static dimensions, the remain-ing ore columns 14 are excavated.
Fig. 5 is a perspective of a chamber 13 located between two adjacent ore columns 14, with two refrigerant pipes 18 arranged therein.
According to Fig. 6, the passageway side of chamber 13, formed between two ore pillars 14, is closed off by formwork elements 16. As shown in the section along line I-I in Fig. 6, the dressing waste is introduced into the chamber 13 through a pipeline 20 running along the roof 19 toward wall 12. Water flowing during sedimentation on floor 21 collects in space 23 between formwork element 16 and separating weir 22 located behind the said formwork element, whence it is returned. As soon as the dressing waste introduced into chamber 13 has reached the level of weir 22, no more water returns, and chamber 13 is filled with dressing waste to the roof. In the case of large-volume chambers, the refrigerant pipes must be arranged close to the joints between the chambers.
The plan view illustrated in Fig. 8 shows introduction of dressing waste into cavities 11 according to Fig. 2, located between two frozen pillars 8 and containing refrigerant pipes 24.
The opening into cavity 11 is closed off by formwork element 25.
Cavity 11 is filled with dressing waste through a pipeline 26 running along the roof to the side wall 2. Water building up during sedimentation collects in space 28 located between formwork element 25 and separating weir 27 therebehind, whence it is drained away. As soon as cavity 11 is filled with dressing waste up to the level of weir 27, no more sedimentation water returns, and the said cavity is filled up to the roof with dressing waste.
Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of the refrig-erating unit used to freeze the pillars made of dressing waste.
The refrigerant is fed, through a pipeline 29, to refrigerant pipes 18, 24 embedded in the sedimented dressing waste. The refrigerant passes, through pipeline 30 and nozzle means 31, to cooling tower 32 which stands in open atmosphere, heat being withdrawn from the said refrigerant before it is returned to pipeline 29. If a single passage of the refrigerant through cooling tower 32 is not enough, the said refrigerant may be bypassed back to the tower through pipeline 33. The said refrig-erant is circulated at the necessary flow speed by means of a : pump 34.
The advantages achieved by the use of the invention are, more particularly, that deposits located in arctic and sub-arctic regions may be completely worked out without disturbing the mechanical relationships of the rock, and that, at the same time, the fine granular dressing wastes may be disposed of economically, and to the advantage of the environment, in the excavated deposits.
Suitably modified, the invention may also be applied to other types of excavating in both flat and sloping locations, in which it is desired to replace pillars made of the useful materials in the deposit by pillars made of dressing wastes, thus making it possible to recover the entire content of the said deposit.
. ~
`
In order to promote safety and reduce the harmful ef-fects of the workings on other mines and on the overburden, it is known, when working ore deposits, to keep the movement and subsidence of the layers or rock over the excavated chambers as small as possible. This is achieved either by back-filling, in which the cavity produced by the recovery of the useful content of the deposit is filled with unproductive rock or some other suitable material, or by means of pillars or solid areas, the chambers or work areas being excavated in a specific sequence and in such a manner that they are distributed uniformly over the area of the deposit being worked, the pillars being left . standing between the chambers or work areas.
It is known to fill such chambers or work areas with back-fill to which age-hardening bonding agents are added, after which the pillars that were left standing are excavated out.
The back-fill may be, among other things, coarse waste material from dressing operations, and this is fed into the chambers or work areas after the addition of the bonding agent, preferably cement.
In working a deposit in an arctic or sub-arctic climate, where periods of lasting freezing of more than six months occur every year, the matter of bringing in back-fill is a very important problem, since mining firms located in such areas, because of their isolation and remoteness from civilization, have to face high transportation costs for incoming material and outgoing products, and high operating costs, resulting from low outside temperatures and from working deposits located in the permafrost.
Because of this special situation, and of the high investment costs of the operation infrastructure, mining enterprises located in arctic and sub-arctic areas endeavour to work the deposits completely. This may be achieved by systematically breaking up the roof of the deposit after the content thereof has been recovered but this solution must be expected to produce major loads upon the rock strata above the deposit, as a result of subsidence and fracture. It is there-fore customary today to excavate by chambering, leaving pillars or solid areas between the chambers. This, however, means abandoning the idea of recovering the entire content of the deposit, especially since the bringing in of back-fill, with an ; age-hardening bonding agent, is too expensive because of the transportation costs associated therewith. Furthermore, the heat produced by the setting of back-fill containing an age-hardening bonding agent causes secondary rock, naturally existing under the permafrost, to thaw out, which changes the mechanical relationship existing in the rock and may produce operational problems. In addition to this, it is impossible in arctic and sub-arctic areas, to deposit dressing waste in the usual manner since, because of the frost periods, the sludges cannot be drained, and the dams built up out of earth and dressing waste are statically difficult to control during the warm season when the dams and the soil thaw out superficially.
It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to provide a method for completely working an ore deposit in arctic or sub-arctic regions by excavating a stope in the deposit. This method comprises: first removing the ore from the deposit while leaving spaced ore pillars temporarily to support the roof of the stope; then building, between the ore ` 30 pillars, further pillars made of dressing material and mechani--~; cally freezing said waste material pillars and, thereafter, removing the ore pillars whereby completely to remove the ore deposit.
Embodiments of the invention are illustrated and described, by way of example, in connection with the drawings attached hereto wherein:
, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a deposit excavated between ; two surfaces by chambering or pillar-chambering, Fig. 2 is a plan view of a further embodiment of an excavated deposit, Fig. 3 is a plan view of a further embodiment of a deposit excavated by means of regularly spaced chambers, Fig. 4 shows the embodiment of Fig. 3 wherein the .... ~ .. . .. .
.: .
,:~, - ~ ' ' ; ' ,. :, .
.
104905;~
chambers are filled with dressing waste.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the chamber of Fig. 3, Fig. 6 shows in plan view the introduction of dressing waste into the chambers of the embodiment of Fig. 3, Fig. 7 is a cross-section along line I-I of Pig. 6, Fig. 8 shows the introduction of dressing into cavities of the embodiment according to Fig. 2, and Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of the refrig- -erating unit used to freeze pillars made of dressing waste.
- lO Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a deposit which is excavated, between confining walls l and 2, by chambering or pillar-chambering. Left in the stope 3 are pillars 4 of ore, supporting the roof.
In Fig. 2, cavities 6 defined by formwork elements 5 are formed between ore pillars 4, across the stope 3 and in such a manner as to leave a passageway 7 extending between one end of the formwork elements 5 and the side wall l, the other end of the cavity 6 being defined by the other side wall 2. Cavity 6 is filled with dressing waste right up to the roof and solidified by mechanical freezing. After the chambers have been excavated, and after pillars 8, made of frozen dressing waste, have reached an adequate static size, pillars 4 of ore, which had been left standing, are extracted. Intervening areas 9, between adjacent pillars 8, are then closed off, from the passageway side, by pillars lO made of frozen dressing waste, and the resulting cavities ll may be filled with additional dressing waste, as is hereinafter described.
In Fig. 3, the deposit is excavated, between side walls 11, 12, by means of evenly spaced chambers, the ore pillars 14 left standing between chambers 13 being bound on one side by passageway lS and, on the other side, by side wall 12. As shown in Fig. 4j the openings in chambers 13 are closed off with form-work elements 16, after which the chambers 13 are filled up to theroof with dressing waste, the water produced during sedimentation being returned to the operation. After the dressing waste is frozen into pillars 17 of adequate static dimensions, the remain-ing ore columns 14 are excavated.
Fig. 5 is a perspective of a chamber 13 located between two adjacent ore columns 14, with two refrigerant pipes 18 arranged therein.
According to Fig. 6, the passageway side of chamber 13, formed between two ore pillars 14, is closed off by formwork elements 16. As shown in the section along line I-I in Fig. 6, the dressing waste is introduced into the chamber 13 through a pipeline 20 running along the roof 19 toward wall 12. Water flowing during sedimentation on floor 21 collects in space 23 between formwork element 16 and separating weir 22 located behind the said formwork element, whence it is returned. As soon as the dressing waste introduced into chamber 13 has reached the level of weir 22, no more water returns, and chamber 13 is filled with dressing waste to the roof. In the case of large-volume chambers, the refrigerant pipes must be arranged close to the joints between the chambers.
The plan view illustrated in Fig. 8 shows introduction of dressing waste into cavities 11 according to Fig. 2, located between two frozen pillars 8 and containing refrigerant pipes 24.
The opening into cavity 11 is closed off by formwork element 25.
Cavity 11 is filled with dressing waste through a pipeline 26 running along the roof to the side wall 2. Water building up during sedimentation collects in space 28 located between formwork element 25 and separating weir 27 therebehind, whence it is drained away. As soon as cavity 11 is filled with dressing waste up to the level of weir 27, no more sedimentation water returns, and the said cavity is filled up to the roof with dressing waste.
Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of the refrig-erating unit used to freeze the pillars made of dressing waste.
The refrigerant is fed, through a pipeline 29, to refrigerant pipes 18, 24 embedded in the sedimented dressing waste. The refrigerant passes, through pipeline 30 and nozzle means 31, to cooling tower 32 which stands in open atmosphere, heat being withdrawn from the said refrigerant before it is returned to pipeline 29. If a single passage of the refrigerant through cooling tower 32 is not enough, the said refrigerant may be bypassed back to the tower through pipeline 33. The said refrig-erant is circulated at the necessary flow speed by means of a : pump 34.
The advantages achieved by the use of the invention are, more particularly, that deposits located in arctic and sub-arctic regions may be completely worked out without disturbing the mechanical relationships of the rock, and that, at the same time, the fine granular dressing wastes may be disposed of economically, and to the advantage of the environment, in the excavated deposits.
Suitably modified, the invention may also be applied to other types of excavating in both flat and sloping locations, in which it is desired to replace pillars made of the useful materials in the deposit by pillars made of dressing wastes, thus making it possible to recover the entire content of the said deposit.
. ~
`
Claims (4)
1. A method for completely working an ore deposit in arctic or sub-arctic regions by excavating a stope, in said deposit, said method comprising: first removing ore from said deposit while leaving spaced ore pillars temporarily to support the roof of said stope; then building, between said ore pillars, further pillars made of dressing waste material and mechanically freezing said waste material pillars and, thereafter, removing said ore pillars whereby completely to remove said ore deposit.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, making said dressing waste material pillars as vertical roof-supporting walls extending between opposed side walls of said stope, said roof-supporting walls extending at one end right up to one of said side walls and, at the other end, terminating short of the other side wall thereby defining between said other end and said other side wall a working passageway.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said vertical walls extend in pairs between ore pillars and comprising closing off the space between two walls of a pair and filling said space up to the roof with frozen waste material.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ore pillars are left as generally parallel vertical roof-supporting walls extending between opposed side walls of said stope; said roof-supporting walls extending at one end right up to one of said side walls and, at the other end, terminating short of the other side wall thereby defining, between said other end and said other side wall, a working passageway, wherein the spaces between adjacent ore pillars are closed up and wherein said further pillars are made by pouring dressing waste material in said spaces and freezing said material; said ore pillars being thereafter excavated.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE19762621680 DE2621680C3 (en) | 1976-05-15 | 1976-05-15 | Method and device for the complete dismantling of deposits in the Arctic |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1049052A true CA1049052A (en) | 1979-02-20 |
Family
ID=5978070
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA76255251A Expired CA1049052A (en) | 1976-05-15 | 1976-06-18 | Method and apparatus for working deposits |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1049052A (en) |
| DE (1) | DE2621680C3 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5380127A (en) * | 1993-03-15 | 1995-01-10 | Cigar Lake Mining Corporation | Non-entry method of underground excavation in weak or water bearing grounds |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4522537A (en) * | 1982-05-07 | 1985-06-11 | Iceberg Cribs, Inc. | Ice crib |
| RU2445461C1 (en) * | 2010-09-22 | 2012-03-20 | Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования "Санкт-Петербургский государственный горный институт имени Г.В. Плеханова (технический университет)" | Method to mine thick steep deposits of unstable ores |
-
1976
- 1976-05-15 DE DE19762621680 patent/DE2621680C3/en not_active Expired
- 1976-06-18 CA CA76255251A patent/CA1049052A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5380127A (en) * | 1993-03-15 | 1995-01-10 | Cigar Lake Mining Corporation | Non-entry method of underground excavation in weak or water bearing grounds |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| DE2621680A1 (en) | 1977-11-24 |
| DE2621680B2 (en) | 1979-02-15 |
| DE2621680C3 (en) | 1979-10-11 |
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