Recent Technological Innovation for the New Generation of CRIST Sensors—A Practical Approach in China’s Largest Underground Nonferrous Mine

Located in Shangri-La county, Yunnan Province, China’s biggest underground nonferrous mine Pulang Copper Mine is under construction. To date, the defined copper reserves at the Pulang Copper Mine are 4.8 million tonnes of copper and an average grade of 0.34%. The mineralized zone is 2300 m long, 600 - 800 m wide, and 1000 m high in a dome shape. The first-stage mining and processing capacity is 12.5 million tonnes of ore per year. By geotechnical investigation, ore haulage is adopted via a drift and ore pass development system. From mineralogical analysis, a majority of the Pulang copper ore body is classified as a type III rock, which is generally considered to be suitable for block-caving methods. As an update to the traditional mine-to-mill approach, a cave-to-mill integrated production concept is then introduced. This is essentially the integration of underground mine production scheduling and monitoring with surface mineral processing management based on fragment size and geometallurgical ore characteristics. Several unique challenges experienced during the project design and construction, as well as a number of features aimed at mitigating these problems, are also discussed in this paper.