A Comparative Study of Two Tree-Based Models for Predicting Flyrock Velocity at Open Pit Bench Mining

Blasting is a cost-effective technique to break hard rock volumes by using explosives in the mining and civil engineering realms. Moreover, although blasting is a designed process and plays an indispensable role in these industries, it can also have multiple adverse environmental impacts. One such effect is flyrock, which poses risks to nearby machinery, and residential structures, and can even lead to injuries or fatalities. To optimize blasting efficiency as well as restrict side effects, prediction of the blast aftereffects is vital. Therefore, the present work focuses on using two machine learning methods to predict the velocity of flyrock in the open pit mine. To address this issue, a comprehensive dataset was gathered from the open pit mine. Then, Decision Tree and Random Forest algorithms were employed to predict flyrock velocity. The Random Forest model demonstrated superior performance compared to the Decision Tree model. Nonetheless, the performance of the Decision Tree model was deemed satisfactory, as evidenced by its coefficient of determination value of 0.83, mean squared error (MSE) of 4.2, and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 5.6%. Considering these metrics, it is reasonable to conclude that tree-based algorithms can be effective in predicting flyrock velocity.

Evaluation of Stope Stability in Underground Mine;Hermyingyi (Sn-W Deposit) Mine in Myanmar

The stability of underground excavations has become an important issue in order to extend underground mining operations and extract deeper deposits. The increasing demand for Tin-Tungsten (Sn-W) for industry and its market price has created a motivation for mining companies to extract deep-seated Sn-W ore deposits in Myanmar. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the stability of underground openings, especially, the stope with considering the mining methods. To meet the objective, FLAC3D 5.0 simulation was used for the assessment of stope under different stress ratios, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 for two types of underground mines;Open stoping and Cut and Fill stoping. The results show that the risk of instability of stope is high under the stress ratio of K = 0.5 than that of K = 1.0 and K = 1.5 in both mining methods. However, the stability of the stope in open stope method is lower than that of cut-and-fill method obviously. This result shows that the appropriate mining method has to be selected for extraction of Sn-W deposit carefully in terms of the balance of safety and cost.

Rock Slope Stability Analysis by Using Integrated Approach

Slope stability assessment is an essential aspect of mining and civil engineering. In this study, Songwe open-pit mine in Malawi was investigated to establish possible pit slope instability. In performing the analysis, an integrated approach entailing rock mass characterisation, kinematic and numerical methods were applied. Based on rock mass classification system, Songwe Hill carbonatite rock mass is characterised as a good rock but still it possesses numerous random discontinuities that present a complex challenge in geotechnical engineering. Dip 6.0 software was used in carrying out kinematic analysis based on the attributes of discontinuities. The results show that there is a 16% likelihood of planar failure in the divided slope sections of the planned pit. Thus, slope angle optimisation to 41° has been proposed as a counter-measure to minimise the potential risk of planar failure. At the optimised angle, the risk of planar failure could be reduced by 44%. On the other hand, wedge failure was found to be improbable since no joint intersections were found in the critical zone of potential failure. For numerical analysis, finite element code was applied using FLAC3D 5.0 application. The results demonstrate that overall slope angle of 41° would offer a favourable balance between safety and mining economics as mining operations progress to deeper horizons thereby avoiding a costly push back solution due to instability.

Effects of Sublevel Open Stope Underground Mining on Surface and Open Pit Slopes

Underground mining is an economically viable option for exploiting ore reserves deemed uneconomic after open pit mining. However, underground development can have adverse effects on the above existing open pit slope walls. As a goal of this paper, identification and assessment of potential slope instabilities prior to underground development is crucial for safe and sustainable mining. Towards goal achieving, this paper gives a comprehensive parametric study to investigate the influence of sublevel open stope (SLOS) underground mining on the surface and open pit slope walls. By means of numerical simulation, the SLOS design is tried against the existing open pit followed by adjustments of important slope parameters which are overall slope height (OSH) and overall slope angle (OSA). We found that underground mining may induce slope failure, particularly on the hangingwall side of the pit. Subsidence is prominent on the hanging wall and the surface, whereas, the uplift dominates the footwall and pit bottom. Pit wall closure is observed during underground mining. Although the assigned dimensions in the parametric study show a negligible effect of OSH and OSA, the high OSH experience low subsidence in comparison with low OSH. Overall, the results demonstrate that the slope walls on the hanging wall side are mostly affected by the underground mining and high-stress concentration prevails near slope toes and pit bottom. Additionally, slope deformation decrease from pit bottom towards the slope crest and surface. The results of this study add knowledge to open pit and underground mining interaction.

Evaluating Rock Mass Properties of Vipingo Coral Limestone Quarry Based on a Modified Geological Strength Index (GSI) and State of Karstification

The process of evaluating rock mass strength requires that major structural features such as joints that influence rock strength are considered. In carbonate rock masses, however, the strength of the rock mass is largely dependent on intact rock strength and structural features play a secondary role. Laboratory experiments on porous rock have shown that intact rock strength reduces with increasing porosity, which has a direct effect on the rock mass strength. Rock porosity has however not been well accounted for in rock mass characterization methods currently in use. This research applies the modified GSI method for carbonate rock masses which is based on a combination of GSI and total porosity. The main aim is to quantify the GSI with respect to rock porosity which is a direct indicator of the state of karstification, as an inherent feature that affects rock mass strength. An empirical equation is proposed whereby the GSI as observed in the field is modified by a natural log of the value of porosity, giving rise to a modified GSI (GSIm). The GSIm together with laboratory properties of rock is used to determine the properties of Vipingo coral limestone from RocLab software. A deterministic parametric slope stability analysis is done using the finite element software Phase 2 with the rock mass properties as input parameters. The analysis results point to a direct dependence of the slope stability on slope angle, slope height and rock mass strength of the lithological unit. The graphs make a useful design guide for slopes engineered in this type of rock mass.

GIS Database Template for Environmental Management of Mining in Indonesia

Mining sector in Indonesia faces many challenges including needed to support national economy, compliance to central and local government regulations, local community empowerment and environmental impact management. Mining companies are mandatory to perform the environmental management efforts to minimize the negative impact to the environment and pursue sustainability of post-mining land use and as much as possible to restore land to the initial conditions. There are many challenges on management multi parameter and multi temporal spatial data of environmental management. The aim of this research is to design the GIS database template for environmental management in Indonesia’s mining operation. This GIS database is designed using ArcCatalog ArcGIS 9.3 software, through following steps: inventory and assessment government regulations, inventory and assessment environmental quality standards, sorting and grouping parameters, design feature class and attribute, create GIS database, create GIS database dictionary. According to research result, GIS database template has many advantages for environmental management include integrated into a single database, avoid redundancy data, reduce volume data, uniformity data, easy to find and track data, integrated spatial and attribute data, can be used as an input for GIS analysis for decision-making and development strategies.

Amelioration of acidic soil using fy Ash for Mine Revegetation in PostMining Land

This paper described the use of fy ash for soil amelioration of acidic soils to promote plant growth.In mining sites,acid sulfate soils/rocks,which contain sulfde minerals(e.g.pyrite FeS_(2)),have appeared as a result of overburden excavation.The excessively acidic condition inhibits plant growth due to the dissolution of harmful elements,such as Al,Fe,and Mn.Fly ash,an alkaline byproduct of coal combustion generated in thermal power plants is expected to be adopted to ameliorate acidic soils.However,the mixing ratio of fy ash must be considered because excessive addition of fy ash can have a negative impact on plant growth due to its physical/chemical properties.The pot trials using Acacia mangium demonstrate the evolution of plant growth with a 5%–10%addition of fy ash into acidic soil.When the acidic soil has a high potential for metal dissolution,the metal ions leached from the acidic soil are large,making it difcult to improve plant growth due to osmotic and ionic stress.This work suggests that the efects of fy ash on metal ions leached from the soil have to be considered for the amelioration of acidic soil.

Application of Fly Ash and Organic Material as Dry Cover System in Prevention of Acid Mine Drainage Generation

The common practice in AMD prevention is a dry cover technique. In this technique, rock that is potential in producing acidity (PAF) will be placed below non-acid producing rock (NAF). Depends on NAF availability in the mine site situation, organic covers can be used to prevent diffusion of oxygen into reactive sulphide wastes and subsequently to eliminate sulphide compounds oxidation and generation of acidic waters. The utilization of additional material cover layer is proposed, by using fly ash and organic material combination. To investigate the possibility of using these materials, a column leaching test in the laboratory scale was conducted with several scenarios of simulation. By comparing between column with different thickness of fly ash and organic material, the leachate water behavior is observed in the experiment, including the measurement of water quality (pH and EC), major cations-anions. The result suggests the possible thickness of fly ash (FA) and organic material (OM) as cover layer material, especially in the case of mine with domination of PAF rock material.

Study on Formation Mechanism of Dumping Piles on Dumping Area Stability

Dumping areas represent a stable hazard. To clarify the formation mechanism of dumping piles on dumping area stability, an investigation in open pit mine was performed. Moreover, experiments with gravel were conducted based on the research site conditions. The geological conditions, dumping operation, and waste particle size distribution were investigated in the Heidaigou open pit mine. Particle size distribution, dumping height, dumping volume, and floor inclination were varied to examine their effects on a single pile formation. The design of blasting can be modified to make the particle size of waste smaller. The volume of the bucket does not have a pronounced effect on dumping pile repose angle, capacity of dumping pile, and dumping area stability. The smaller the floor inclination, the better it is. Two measures are proposed to increase the kinetic force of friction between waste material and floor surface. The interval distance, dumping volume and dumping height were also varied to examine the interaction between the formations of multiple piles. The dumping width should be decided through optimization efficiency of bulldozer and dumping device in bucket wheel excavator-belt-stacker dumping operation and dragline dumping operation. Moreover, the volume of the bucket does not have a pronounced interaction effect. In the dumping operation, the work amount of bulldozer decreases as dumping pile increases. The design of the dumping operation must consider the total efficiency of ground leveling operation and forming dumping the area.

Surface subsidence due to underground mining operation under weak geological condition in Indonesia

Subsidence analysis and prediction with measured data have been conducted and applied to local strata and mining conditions worldwide. Underground coal mines chose the most suitable analysis and prediction method for them. However, there was no study based on the measured data of subsidence induced by underground mining operation in Indonesia. This paper describes the condition of underground coal mine in Indonesia and then discusses the subsidence behavior due to longwall mining operation based on measured data in Balikpapan coal-bearing formation in Indonesia.

Optimization of Dump Bench Configuration to Improve Waste Dump Capacity of Narynsukhait Open Pit Coal Mine

In next two years, the current waste dump of Narynsukhait coal mine is predicted insufficient to accommodate the overburden as limited of the waste dump capacity. Thus, redesigning waste dump is paramount to increase capacity of the dump in future. This paper describes current condition of waste dump of Narynsukhait coal mine and then discusses the optimization of waste dump geometry by analyzing the effect of different waste dump’s bench configuration on slope performance. Optimization of the geometry is carried out by investigating and comparing the performance of geometrical combinations of bench height, bench angles and number of safety berm by means of numerical modeling. The model shows that increasing height of bench is able to induce shear stress in the bench and may initiate bench instable. However, the shear stress can be limited by having safety berm and/or reducing bench angle to satisfy the stability criteria.

Study on Prediction of Ground Vibration in Consideration of Damping Effect by Fragment in the Rock Mass

In modern mining industry, rock blasting is one of the essential working for rock breakage in terms of economic and efficient aspects. Blast-induced ground vibration may give serious impacts on wide range of surrounding environment, so it has to be paid much attention in the blasting process. Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) is one of the most important parameters related with blast-induced ground vibration. The prediction of PPV is very important in order to design an appropriate blasting standard and minimize its environmental impacts. However, general prediction equations and/or methods have not been developed yet because they do not consider the impact of rock mass and geological conditions. Therefore, in this paper, indoor tests, field tests and numerical simulation were conducted for assessing the effect of fragment in the rock mass on propagation behavior of ground vibration. In order to enable versatile vibration prediction at different sites with different blasting and geological condition, we investigated the differences in vibration behaviors due to blasting design, and the difference in geological condition. The result of a series of tests suggested that fragments in the rock mass related with the damping behavior of the blast-induced ground vibrations and more accurate prediction of the ground vibration (PPV) could be performed by considering fragment condition in the rock mass.

Effects of Rock Mass Conditions and Blasting Standard on Fragmentation Size at Limestone Quarries

The size distribution of fragmented rocks depends on not only the blasting standard but also the mechanical properties, joint system and crack density of rock mass. As, especially, the cracks in the rock mass are heavily developed at the limestone quarries in Japan, the joints and/or cracks in the rock mass have big impacts on the blasting effects such as the size of fragmented rocks. Therefore, if the joint system and/or crack density in the rock mass can be known and evaluated in quantity, the blasting operation can be done more effectively, efficiency and safety. However, the guideline for designing the appropriate blasting standard based on the rock mass condition such as mechanical properties, joint system and/or distribution of cracks, discontinuities, from the scientific point of view, has not been developed yet. Therefore, a series of blasting tests had been conducted in different mines and faces, geological conditions and blasting standards in order to know the impacts of each factor on the blasting effects. This paper summarizes the results of blasting tests and describes the impacts of rock mass conditions and blasting standard on the size of fragmented rocks.

Stability Assessment of Open Stope under Overlaying Mined-Out Regions at Modi Taung Gold Mine, Myanmar

Stability assessment is one of the most important issues in mining ground control. Mine development and/or production instability can cause production delay, loss of reserves, as well as injury to miners. Within the scope of this study, a series of open stope’s instability under the influence of overlaying mined-out regions were carried out with different mining scenarios at Modi Taung gold mine which is operated by National Prosperity Gold Production Group Limited (NPGPGL) in Myanmar. NPGPGL has been developing stopes up to 150 m from the surface at Shwesin vein system, and the mining activities are going to continue to deeper levels to fulfill the ore mineral supply. Creating a new stope opening under overlaying mined-out regions is not easy considering the instability of mined-out regions can affect the stope. The instability of new stope opening is not only due to its own induced stress but also the strong influence by the mined-out regions situated on upper part of the stope. Therefore, the understandings of ground behaviors and failure mechanisms of new stope opening due to the influence of overlaying mined-out regions are paramount to be studied. This paper describes in detail the strength factor and failure zones under the overlaying mined-out regions with different mine conditions by using numerical simulations, 3D finite difference software (FLAC 3D).

Study on Improvement of Dumping Site Stability in Weak Geological Condition by Using Compacted Layer

Berau Basin, a sub-basin of Tarakan Basin, had been developed during Eocene to Miocene period. Rocks in Berau Basin consist of sedimentary, volcanic and igneous rocks aged from Pre-tertiary until Quaternary epoch. The youngest identified rock formation was alluvial deposit consists of mud, silt, sand, gravel and swamp with brown to dark color. This youngest rock formation is relatively weak geological condition and can cause problems in the coal mining operation. PT Berau Coal as one of the coal mining companies in Berau Basin area had experienced some problems related to the occurrence of alluvial deposit. A large failure has occurred at one of its out pit dumping?area which lies over the swamp material. The failure caused a higher operating cost since it made that the distance for waste rock dumping became to be farther than the designated area. Therefore, in order to prevent similar failure occurring at dumping area which lies above swamp material, an improvement of dumping site stability on weak geological condition has to be needed. The proposed method for improving the stability of out pit dumping area in weak geological condition is to construct the compacted layer of waste rock before the out pit dumping area construction. Based on experimental results, a minimum of 40 kPa pressure is needed to give a proper compaction to the waste rock. The result of numerical analysis by Finite Element Method (FEM) shows that construction of compacted layer on the base of out pit dumping area can improve its stability.

Study of Internal Waste Dump-Induced Shear Stress Behavior on Pit-Slope

Regardless of beneficial associated with internal waste dump (IWD) method, practices of this method within boundaries of pit-slope have some serious problems on stability issues due to this area is zone of potential failure. This zone is known as dynamic reactive zone which is easy to deform by external force, and inherent dangers of failure posing a threat to slope. Therefore, it is paramount to study the induced shear stress behavior in this zone particularly when IWD method is adopted within this zone. In this paper, a numerical study for investigating IWD-induced shear stress behavior has been carried out using Finite Element Method (FEM) with Strength Reduction approach. Different scenarios as per pit-slope depths, IWD heights and buffer zone lengths have been accounted and simulated using PHASE 2 to understand changes in induced shear stress imposed on the pit-slope. It is found that shear stress imposed on pit slope seems change dramatically with increasing IWD height for case of buffer zone length is less than 100-m-long.

Analysis of the Factors for Displacement of Earth Retaining Wall with Twin-Stepped Construction

The demand for specific earth retaining wall method is increasing, along with the advancement and overcrowding of underground space use, such as the?presence of close structures, in an urban area. The method is named stepped-twin?retaining wall. The feature of this method is to have inner and outer retaining walls and excavate the ground by two-step in order to minimize the effect of the excavation on neighboring existing structures. However, the design of the earth retaining wall is currently carried out by individual engineers based on their own experience. Therefore, it is crucial that the standard method of retaining wall using a two-step construction is established. As the first step toward the standardization, evaluation of factors affecting the ground behavior of the earth retaining wall was carried out. In particular, we picked up four major considerable factors, which are horizontal distance between the outer and inner walls, depth of outer wall embedment, mechanical properties of soil. The evaluation was done by using two dimensional FEM analysis and the results were summarized to make clear the effect of each factor.