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Introduction
The broken ore is loaded into the ore pass and the stope (face) is
therefore cleaned completely unlike all other underground mining
methods.
The fill material can be mixed with water so that when the water is
drained off, the surface is smooth. There are, however a variety of
filling methods available.
In some cases, the fill material is mixed with cement (and water)
so that it leaves a smoother and more durable surface as well as
providing a stronger support to the walls.
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Application
The method can be applied to irregular ore bodies with any type of
discontinuities. It can easily extract the high-grade ore and leave
the low-grade parts in the fill.
Developments
Production
Drilling and blasting are the means of production.
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1) Drilling vertical or inclined upwards holes which is the most
commonly used system. In this method, large sections of the
stope back can be drilled in any one round and a large
number of drill holes can be blasted simultaneously. Simple
and light-weight wagon drills are usually used for roof
drilling.
In this case, the size of the drilling round is limited. But with
modern faster drilling and loading equipment, the size of the
round has lost some of its importance.
Ore Transport
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The use of LHD is predominant. Generally, since the surface of the
fill is smooth, it is suitable for rubber-tyred equipment. The
distance to travel is also suitable for LHD.
Conclusions
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Cut-and-Fill Mining: Advanced
General Approach
The method has recently gained some popularity again since many
mines reached depths where ground stability has become an issue.
Sublevel stoping, for example, needs a large open stope therefore
utmost ground stability is required. In unstable conditions, dilution
increases.
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4- Ore bodies that have sufficient grade (value) to compensate
for this expensive method.
It is noted that in sublevel stoping and shrinkage, the ore body dip
has to be higher than the angle of repose. Cut-and-fill does not
have this requirement. It is only the inclination of the ore pass that
has to be more than the angle of repose. This does not have to be
the same as the ore body dip.
The method can be adapted to almost any ore body with relatively
high vertical extent.
The ore body must be accessible at both top and bottom as well as
at regular intervals throughout its vertical extent.
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The size and shape of the stope can be modified or changed
readily. Perhaps the only requirement is that the ore is strong
enough to stand during rock bolting and then with the rock bolts,
during the filling operation.
Initial planning
Once it has been decided that cut-and-fill is the best method of
exploiting an ore body, or perhaps the only method that can be
applied, the first consideration is the availability, suitability and
cost of the fill material and its transportation to the stope.
If this is the case, then back filling will be used, i.e. the waste rock
from developments will be dropped into the fill area. In such cases,
probably a floor has to be made or a cap, such as a steel sheet,
should be laid down. This will minimize dilution during loading.
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As regards these and other machines, it must be decided whether or
not equipment will be captive in the stope.
Since miners must enter and leave the stope every shift (plus many
other reasons mentioned before), the distance between levels
usually needs to be kept to a low value of 45m.
Stope planning
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i) Variability of the ore body and the ore zone
ii) Flexibility and adaptability of the method
Generally, if ramps are provided, then the mine can afford to use
more sophisticated equipment, for example, more expensive jumbo
drills. In cases where long horizontal holes are required, then
standard long hole drills are used.
The ore passes may be lined with timber, circular steel, poured
concrete etc. Exact calculations are necessary to determine the life
of the ore pass with respect to the wear factor.
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Development
Quite a simple and straightforward set of development openings
are required. If ramps are not made, the amount of developments
are minimal. Ramps increase the amount of developments greatly
but add to the flexibility and continuity of the production.
Drilling
LHD’s are most efficient in this case since the roof is more
controlled and therefore less dangerous for miners. The
thickness of the ore removed in each cycle is about 3-4m.
A ``V`` shape cut is first made at the end of the stope and the
rest of the holes are drilled at about 60 degrees from the
horizontal. The length of holes is normally 3-4.5m. Usually
the whole face is drilled and then blasted. The new face is
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then smoothed and rock bolted, using broken ore as working
platform.
a) Advantages
b) Disadvantages
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- The method is labour intensive and especially skilled labour
intensive.
- Use of mechanization is low therefore low productivity.
- Personnel work under freshly cut roof that can cause safety
problems.
- Degree of ground control is very high making the method an
expensive one.
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