METHODS OF SURFACE MINING METHODS
' \_
·2.1 .· Ore reserves Suitable for Suiface Mining
. Ore reserves suitable for surface mining can be classified initially as;
• Relatively horizontal . stratified :reserves- with - a -thin or . thick - I
covering of overburden .
• S_tratified yein-type deposits with ·an inclination steeper than the
natural angle of repose of the material so that waste ·cannot be
tipped inside the pit
Massive del)osits, deep and ve large lateral! such that
umping of the waste within the pit is not possible.
Of all the variations of surface mining methods available, the three most
· common methods only will be described here, namely;
,v(' Strip mining .
V Terrace mining
V Open-pit mining
\
Figure 2.1 refers 'to the classification of these methods
2-1
PDY 310
~INERAL DEPOSITACCESSIBLE
ro, su,,,,, ••••••
l .
I
.~"!"" I
J
Rl>rizonhl __,c_____-,
IncHned
Vertical
I na11ive
St~kvork
II
. llult.i Thick I
Thin. ... 1't·1·· .
"~ Narrow.
I 1 __,o_r_.i.-i7p;
vid.e Circular
Seta
,,.,
0Ter-
>,,<,o j ''I'" ••h;ll••
Over- seaa
or
irregular
Thick Thu
Seta ~eaa
Bad - h.ck .. Initial Outside
fillinq tillinq · L ~u-t side
· •orked by du11p
du11p
out direct
area subsequent
c·asting back
fillinq
Tl;RRAC£ STRIP· ..,;,
IIIHIHC IIODIFIEO TERRACE OPEN-PIT
IIINIHC ll[NINC lllNIHC
Very .suit1ble Dependent upon, Suit.,bic
circumst r nces : Very s11itable
ldHl &pplic:•tion in
~pp heat ion ·
aay be ff uible , sped f ic Ideal·
circuastances appl i·cu ion
Figure 2.1 Classification of mining methods •
. . . •· . . I .
Note how the general ciaSsification ·system work~. frolTl stratified (or
l'!Y.ered) \;'.jp_es of deposits, ihrough the type of layering, .!lie thickness of
~ n and finall therrieans 'byWf\1ch ove,burdlan is handled;
~cally, in-pit or ex-pit systems. • . •
I. • . . !, • .
• A further consideration is t.he type of material (waste or handling
systems• that can be .used ·in each type of mining oper;ition, namely
cyclic (discontinuous) or continuous systems. Refer ·'tci Bullivant's
reference for a description and analysis of the .two syst$ms and how
they COL/Id be applied (and under what circumstances) fot each type of
mining method considered here. ' · · •.·
PDY310
2.2 Strip Mining
Strip mining is ideally applied where the surface of the ground and the
bre body itself are relatively horizontal and not too deep under t~
surface and a wide area is a~ ilable to be mined m a series of strips.,
Typlcai \ xamples of th1s type bf mining are tfielarger tonnage coal
~ining operations in Mpumulanga. · c- ·
Favourable conditions are:
·• Relatively thin overburden (0-50m maximum other wise stripping
ration and cost of stripping.becomes too high)
• . ~gular and c~nst~nt_surface topography and coal layers ~t
more than 20 · variation from horizontal .on the coal seam -
fopogiap~{ ~n _vary mo~e · since pre-stripping can · be .used to
... . . ---
l~el 1t - butth1s Is expensive to apply)
.
·. .
!;_xtensive area of reserves (to give ~dequate life of mine (LOM)
and_. to :cover all capita! loan repaymrnts - typically more than 20
years hfe. at 4-14mt per annum production)
. yvalking drag lines are for many years the most popular machine for this . ·.
. \Q/ ~pe of mining _due to their_~exibility, utility and availability, but more
importantly, their low operating costs for waste mining (Rifer R/BCM).
. The dragline is a typical combined cyclic excavator and material carrier
· ; :....;-n ~inc~ it both excavafesmateri~I an~ dumps it without the use of trucks .
:· '\:..l(_,)or conveyor belts. T he draghne sits above the waste or overburden
;~ • · £lock,. usually 50m or so wide, on the highwall side and excavates the
·· · material in front of itself, to dump it on the low-wall or spoil side of the
strip to uncover the coal seam below it.
For maximu111 productivity, a long strip is required (over 2km in length) to
reduce excessive "dead-heading" time. Longer pits increase the risks of
~me dependant slope failure in both thel highwall and the (waste) low-
yvall and take lip large surface areas that can cause rehabilitation and .
~ransport problems. If mixing of coal is important (to meet sales
tpecificat~ons) ~ -en long strip~ing length~ ~re also problematic i~ terms•
(j>f the active mI~~ng.fronts ava1la_ble_ for mIxmg the coal. .Where h!ghwall ·
cl>r low~wall stabIhty Is problematic, It becomes necessary to monitor the
stability of the pit extensively. Where the floor dips in the direction o{ the
highwall it is often necessary to improve the stability of the waste dump
through the use of a variety of additional mining method variations, •
namely: · ·
Selective pla<;:ing of the waste (soft, slipperymateriai for example
clay and shale) on top and riot in the bottom of th·e waste dumps.
2-3
PDY 310 I
I I
I
Strippir)Q . or the blasting of the :floor surface o~ the pit to give a
. better friction surface (especially if floor is a ·low-friction material -
carb9naceous shale, etc,). ·
Excavation of clay materials (typical shales) from t6e floor to
expose material with more frictional r¢slstance. ; That will
normal!~ ~equire a bench extension working met~od .together ~ith
the additional .specialised handling of clay .material (which · will
result in increased waste handlirigs costs and therefore reduced
profitability). ·· · · ' ' · ·
• ... I
Large scaie floor slop.es (ie. Coal seam incfiriations) of more than 8 -
· 20° have in many cases lead to 'failures of waste duc:nps (usually
coinciding with heavy ra'lns, _.poor drain~ge · ~nd ciay material· in the
bottom of the waste dump) and therefore modified terrace.'or even open-
pit mining methods have to be applied - although ·these methods are
often -not financially viable with a low unit~cost high volume product such
as coal. Note that small scale change$'• ir\f.loor (or coal seam) e_levation
. or inclination are not as problematic 'frofn :a. geotechnicaf point of view,
but nevertheless create extremely difficult working conditions· when
dragline mining is used (refer to Chapter 10 for detafls).. ·
Nowadays, several large. strip mines . operate in areas that were
previously mined by underground methods,. for ·example ~ew Vaal
Colliery. In such cases it is difficult to anti~ipate the stability 9f the
overburden and geotechnical surveys are required especially . where
1
underground. rooms are required to be blasted (by collapsing the :pillars
between) prior to using a dragline on these areas. lrre$pective, of the
precise geology of the coal seam, the general ·approach remains similar
to conventional strip mining and Figure 2.2 ,and 2.3 show the
terminology used and typical method of strip mining.
PDY 310
-- --
/__SPOIL P ~
------- - -- -- -- --
/EXPOSED COAL SEA
------....-1- ---
. TOE
-
- -- -
- -- -
-
_:_~-
... - - - - -- -
____'\ \ ° " - - - - - - - - - - -
-- --- --·- - -
= = -- ==
CREST ~-,
NEW
HIGHWALL
============-\_
-------.1-- - - - - - - -
A
L
-----
=-==
-------11 -- - - - - - - -
' 71,71.::?1''1''1""1&!it - -- -- -- -
,c,,,~-
OLD
HIGHWALL
COAL SEAM REMOVED_/
PLAN
SECTION A-A
Figure 2.2 . Strip mining terminology
2-5
PDY 310
·- J ··- -- ...-· .-:
~'>,
-, . ':1
.
-· . -
~ ~ ··,,~ .,
·• .
'1 •'
...
'' . ...
•
.. , · · •: ~ ,.. . _
~....i:,_;.'; ... :.
·: -'>'~-~
· . ·· · , ,
.~,
1- • • ' ,~~JM'~' ....., ' ~ ' .'
,. -""""'< t ; ~ - ' } ;.
-- .
~- '
·-~ ·-··•
1.- .
{~ ·-
.. :-:"';,..,··· •. .
<. .• ·- _. . • ..,_,
... .. . . ·- • - 4' .. . _ _ _ • -
,. '- . __..:
.... --
- ·- ·- . \
•·
.'"-.-.~.·. -- -- -c..--<.f!!!!I!' . - . '"':...'° •
.. ... .
•••••·;::'?~:.,.,: .: .~r,, . •-~ ~~•• ·~==·:... / ..,..
Figure 2.3 Strip mining with draglin~ (on overburden) and rope
shovel (below, loading coal) :
.
-.~ ~
2.3 Terrace Mining I
. . . .
~~re _the _g_verburden is t_oo thick (?r ~he floor of the pit (ie. The ore
1ncl~at1on) Is too steeply .dipping) to ~ow waste dumping directly over
the pit (as is the case with a dragline and strip minin ), it is necessary to
~~1,1(___ use~erme Ia eye Ic or continuous transport (eg.ltrucl<S.or conveyors)
~ ~ --
t~ tr~nspoc .the overburden to where . It can be lipped back into th_e
previously mined void. · ·.. 1
: • • ·
or-'- It is a multi-benched sidewayL mov;ng method, the whol~ mine moves
over tne ore reserve from one' end to the other.1- but not necessarily in a
single bench. The number of benches used is usually a function of the
excavation deQll, and !YPe of machinery used_.(typically between _10-15m
'bench height and 1-32benches in the terrace). · ; · · :
L
Examples of this type of mining are .the Ger,;,a.[l lign_ite !mines ~where
~ket-wheel excavators are used to excavate. the overburd~n
typical example of a · continuqus excavating . system) and, to a I sser
a
extent, some coal mines in the UK. .· In these. cases, trucks and shovel~
· are used to work 1O benches simultaneous! . to ex ose me coal seams
undernea . . e uppermost la er· of overburden is norm~II ~ined
':'fngnydraulic excavators and trucks, ~r (~t,en so material exists),
'
.. 2·6.
POV _ 310
using a bucket wheel excavator, conveyor belt and stacker.
methods ire more ex ensive e than a dra line, but the dI_aghne !S
it ..._ not suited ·to this type of mining due to the limited dump radiu§ of
the machine and the much larger width of a terrace mine compared to~a .
strip mine. It is possible however to use a dragline in combination with a
'1ong" terrace as illustrated in Figure 2.4, but only in the lower or bottom
benches where the dig and dump point are within the working radius of ·
the dragline.
i
'i
Figure 2.4" Combined \errace (pre-stripping of soft overburden) and
strip ·rnining (stripping deeper hard overburden) methods· and associated .
equiprryent. .
, . . • In South Africa~·Groo'tegeluk Colliery is a typical example of terrace type
., of mining. Currently, 11 benches are mined, 6 of overburden waste and
5 of coal. A ..drag line cannot be used due to the depth -of the coal and .
width of the pit, but later on in the life of the mine, the mined-out tefraces .
will ·be back-filled with waste (ie. The mining method will change from
·modified·terrace to conventional terrace - see Figure 2.1 ). On a smaller
seal~: Mooiplaas Dolomite is also a terrace mining operation (in this
case, ore is tr~nsported out of the mine using an in-,pit crusher and ·
a
conveyor and waste Is tipped directly as er;wisaged in terrace mining . ·
operation). Mine FigLre 2.5 illustrates a typical 3 bench waste (0B1~3)
pt~d 3 coal seam terrace oper~tion with "lining moving from R, ~o L iri the ·
chagram. •. .. . . . . - .
I . . .
'f/J]er stee I dipping orebodie~ are encpuntered, the modified met_ hod
·i~ most often app 1e as own in 1gure . in a _more typ1ca 3 waste
~ench terrace operation with steeply dipping orebody. ln this ~ase, the
pit dimensions are limited by seam exposure (pit length) and available
working area (for mining and dumping faces) (pit width) . .
2-7
:r
I . PDY 310
E[XPOSED COAL
Figure 2.5 Typical terrace miriing operation
I.
Figure 2.6 . Terrace mining metho.d with around the pit conveyor and
hydraulic excavator
. . and
I haul trucks
2-8
PDY.310
.\
2A . : Oper11>it Mining
This is the. traditional cone-shaped excavation (although it can be any. ·
shape, depending the size and ·shape of ttie orebogy) that is used •
when the ore body is ty ically pipe-shaped, yein~typ~, _ steeply dipping
ttratified or irregular. Althoug 1 Is mos o en associated with m~tallic
?rebodies, eg. Palabora copper, Mamatwan and Sishen iron-ore, It can.
used for any. deposit tfiat suits the geometry - most typically diamond
Venetia, Koffjefontein and Finsch! ·
'
the ~xcavatio(J is nbrmally by rope- or hydraulic shovels· with trucks
¢arrying both ore· and waste. Drill and blast is most often used, which
makes.the process cyclic. Waste is dumped outside the mined-out area
· since no room i$ available witnm the pit. VVaste Is placed as close to the
· edge of the pit as possi6re; to qiinimise transport costs: Figure 2. 7
ill~s~rates •the terminplogy used: in the pit . design -and_ Figure 2.8 the .
mmIng method. . · · ·
ORIGINAL SA.JRFACE
/ ,'
CREST c:F BE~H' \ . / ,,/
l• RAMP WIOTH
ROIi{) l>/>lJ \I /, 1
TOE OF BENCH\
r9:.0PE r:F
BERM
•·
SLOPE 1
I
/ /
I
/
I BENCH L~~T~J~NGLE FOOTWALL
STRUCTUIE
!;;/ I
I
\2 . I
I
/~ 'i I·
/ _, ACTIVE WTLIN£
FINAL OUTLINE
PIT FL R I
/ :!0:
I
.OVERALL PIT /
..
SI.OPE ANGLE
·
.I
I
I
I
___ ./ I
Figure 2.7 Typical open-pit bench terminology
· · •. 2 15 · height in stacks of 3 to
Benches are normally excavated fro_ ~ - mm . laced When
4 in belween which Is a- crest on wn1ch the _!laul road 15 P d · d' t
. . . . k . es the roa gra ien
the number . of benches m. the stac mcreas
st
le whilst the -f
increases too. Benches· in t~e stack have a eep a~:i8~g to prevent
stack and ov~rall slope angles , are flatt~r, th ~~e:y eo~et&, it Is clear ·
slopefallures. From an a~!ysis of overall opd reduce the overall fu
that as steep a slope as possible s~o~I~ be min~e 'maximum gradient of .
str!J)ping ratio. However, this rule is ~imited by t.s frequent wider crests,
the haul road _typically 8-10% ~hich requ_rre laces to provide slope
and the need to have flatter slope angles in P
I •
2-9
PDY 310
stability. · Note that each pit slope can have a different angle according to
the requirements of the design.:... with or without haul road, geolo.gy, etc.
I
wost• Woste
Waste wosle
A. Section through an ore body before
.
.B. Section throu,:h on body jun ·• ore ia e ~
open'.pit opetatlona start
wo,te Waste
. Section through jon body ai ore production:commencea . D. Section tlaoqh <b body u ltrlpplnl
I •
am! ore production proceed ·
-------------------------
Fo,me, su,1ace _______ __ For mer_ surface _ _______ _
Waste Woi1t·· : Waste
. Wollt
P. Sectio.n throueh ~re body ..;~nomlc limit
: of pl~ operatlona la J.HChed
Figure2.8
Open-pit mi~ing sequ~nce. (for .pipe-like oreti~dy)
2-1.0
PDY 310
Mineral and espec@ily .waste==transport costs. comprise . the greatest
amount of an open-pit mine's working costs. ·. TG- teduce this cost aspect
- especially when the pit gets deeper, the following options are possible;
In-pit crushers to ether with a conve or belt, instead of truck '
t ansp~. (a contiriuous transport system (conveyor belt) is
usually . much . cheaper in terms of R/t . hauled) ·and can be
installed at a steeper angle thereby saving stripping costs by
virtue of reduced stripping ratio: ·
11 Trolley-assist on the .main haul mad. (electrical power supply to
true s) -faster trucks, steeper roa s or cheaper R/rcosts
. i . . . '
Computerised truck dispatch - more efficient use of trucks
-
" Stee er bench slo e angles .(in other words, a reduced strii.,ping
ratio) where .stability a ows them especially at the bottom of the
. J:? it when LOM approaches end.
0
- - -
--·· .. -
As a result of the high cost of rock transport - up to 50% of an open-pit's .
total .op,erating costs, many large pits-- consider continuous transport·
syst~ms. The OPEC induced rise in the price of oil in the 1970's and
more recently. in 2000/1 has forced mines to rethink strategies for ·
reducing fuel con~umption .. Continuous transport systems (and the
associated in-pit crusher if drill a_nd blast is used) begin to out-perform
·truck based systems - since they are run on electricity, not diesel fuel.
Whilst electricity can still, .be .cheaply provided ·from local coal power
.·stations (South Africa's electricity is one of the cheapest in the world),
considerable··ore and waste transport cost savings can also be realised . .
These sav,ings 'become all the more important as the depth of the pit
· increases, .since the cost of transport increases exponentially with
increasing· vertical transpo,rt distance. .
As a. result of their application flexibility, truck and shovel systems are
always: popuiar; and widely applied in mining, but in terms of energy- · ·
..· efficiency, trucks use:only 40% of the energy inputto move the load, the
. remaining 60% . is used to move the tare mass of the truck itself.
Conveyors use 80% of tlie energy input to move the .load. Although .oil .
price~ are now at a more realistic level, energy costs of trucks are still .
50% higher than that of conveyors in some parts of the world. In South
Africa, with it's low local production and small strategic reserve, together
with the R/$ exchange,.rate, the trade-off between the two systems must
be regularly re:.i3valuated. Chapter 9 contains more details concerning
the design and use of continuous haulage systems. .
,1
I
I
.I
I
2-11
