Coordinated Mining Procedures of Open Pit Mines Based on River Management

This paper primarily concerns the effective coordination of the procedures and methods employed in open pit mining operations under the background of river management.The central objective of this study is to identify a viable approach for ensuring rational and efficient development of open pit mineral resources while simultaneously protecting and restoring the ecological environment of the river.This approach should facilitate the realization of a harmonious symbiosis between mining and river management.The intricate mutual influence relationship between river management and open pit mining is first analyzed in depth,which provides a solid foundation for the subsequent coordination strategy development.In light of the aforementioned considerations,a set of coordination procedures for open pit mining based on river management conditions is proposed.These procedures emphasize the integration of river protection into the overall layout of mining at the planning stage.The implementation of scientific mining schemes,accompanied by rigorous control of the scope and depth of mining operations,has proven to be an effective means of reducing the impact of mining activities on river environments.This approach has also facilitated the achievement of a balance and coordination between mining and river management.

Application of open-pit and underground mining technology for residual coal of end slopes

Given the conditions of residual coal from the boundary of a flat dipping open-pit mine,which uses strip areas mining and inner dumping with slope-covering,we propose an open-pit and underground integrated mining technology for residual coal of end slopes.In the proposal a conveyance road and ventilation conveyance near the slope are built,corresponding to the pit mining area and the surface coal mine dump,as well as an interval haulage tunnel and air-inlet tunnel.The outcome shows that such mining method may reduce the effect to slope stability from underground mining,it does not affect the dumping advance and has a high recovery rate of residual coal resources.The working face is timbered by single hydraulic props,transported by a scraper conveyor and supported by coal walls.This method of mining is one of layered top coal caving,with high resource recovery,low production cost where positive economic benefit can be realized.

Study on the Law of the Movement and Damage to Slope with the Combination of Underground Mining and Open-Pit Mining

Under circumstances in which both underground mining and open-pit mining are employed, the mining effects of two approaches will be superposed and the mining slope will receive several induced stress fields, which makes the sliding mechanism and deformation law of slope rock mass more complicated. This paper, targeting at the east slope of Antaibao Mine with the joint employment of underground mining and open-pit mining, aims to study the moving law of the slope rock mass and the damage mechanism to the overburden of the goaf by numerical simulation. It is supposed that models of possible damage to the slope could be explored for guidance to safety-production of the mine.

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.

Dust-Holding Capacity and Bio-Chemical Changes of Plant Species Growing in an Around Opencast Mining Area of Bundelkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

The present study has been carried out on a total of 50 available plant species to assess their dust-capturing capacity and biochemical performances in and around open cast granite mine areas of Jhansi district and Bundelkhand University campus treated as control site. Plant species existing under a polluted environment for a long time may be considered as potentially resistant species and recommended for green belt design in mining areas, especially to cope with dust pollution. Results showed the pollution level, especially of mining-originated dust particles holding capacity of leaves and effects of different biochemical parameters (Total Chlorophyll, Protein and Carotenoid) of existing plant species both from mining areas as well as from Bundelkhand University campus. Based on their performances, Tectona grandis L., Ficus hispida L., Calotropis procera Aiton., Butea monosperma Lam. and Ficus benghalensis L., etc. are highly tolerant species while Ficus infectoria L., Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam., Ipomoea purpurea L., Allianthus excelsa Roxb. and Bauhinia variegata L. are intermediate tolerant species. T. grandis had shown the highest dust-holding capacity (2.566 ± 0.0004 mg/cm2) whereas Albizia procera (0.018 ± 0.0002 mg/cm2) was found to be the lowest dust-holding capacity. Our findings also showed that the T. grandis and F. hispida have significant dust deposition with minimal effect of dust on their leaf chlorophyll (17.447 ± 0.019 mg/g and 14.703 ± 0.201 mg/g), protein (0.699 ± 0.001 mg/g and 0.604 ± 0.002 mg/g) and carotenoid (0.372 ± 0.003 mg/g and 0.354 ± 0.003 mg/g) content respectively among all selected plant species. Therefore, in the present investigation, plant species with high tolerance to high dust-holding capacity on their leaf surfaces are preferable for green corridors as open cast granite mines and their adjacent areas.

Mining production information management system in an open pit based on GIS/GPS/GPRS/RFID

Using GIS, GPS, GPRS and RFID, a dynamic information management system of digital mining in an open pit was designed and developed.A linear programming model was set up in a practical application.By the model, the system can automatically draw up production plan of ore blending well every day.The system can monitor and dispatch open-pit trucks and shovels well, and can play back their historical paths.It can monitor and control the process of mining production in real time.By RFID, the system can also count the number of trucks'delivery and shovels'loading automatically.Experiments on real scenes show that the performance of this system is stable and can satisfy production standards of mining in open pits.

Study on Influencing Factors and Planning Model of Mining Quantity about Mineral Resources in Open Pit

According to the particularity of the open pit, the main influencing factors of mining quantity about mineral resources have been summarized systematically in life cycle and the structured hierarchical relation of its influencing factors has been constructed. In the light of the production process of open pit, the functional relationships between investment, mining cost and mining quantity have been defined based on the process of mining and loading so that the relation of the life cycle cost and mining quantity can be set up. And what’s more, in order to obtain the maximum economic profit of mining enterprises in life cycle, the planning model of mining quantity has been established based on the life cycle cost. The rational distribution of mining quantity will have been found on the condition of obtaining optimal solution about the planning model so as to determine scientifically the production scale of mining enterprises from the point of view of the sustainable development.

Landslide forecasting based on hydrological process simulation for a dump slope in an open mining pit

There are concerns about the safety issues of dump slope in the open-cast mining pit because of the risk of catastrophic destruction caused by slope failures that are related to several factors, such as atmospheric conditions(especially precipitation), vegetation and some others. The aim of this study is to investigate the hydrological regime in a dump slope and the influence of the saturation degree on the stability of dump slopes with consideration of precipitation and vegetation using the program of PCSiWaPro~?. Based on the hydrological simulation conducted through PCSiWaPro~?, the calculation of the Factor of Safety(Fs) in the dump slope using Geo-slope Software was improved with further consideration of soil-water weight in the unsaturated dump slope and the influence of water content on the variation of soil property parameters(e.g. cohesion).

Optimization principle of combined surface and underground mining and its applications

The pit limit optimization is discussed, which is one of the most important problems in the combined min-ing method, on the basis of the economic model of ore-blocks. A new principle of the limit optimization is put for-ward through analyzing the limitations of moving cone method under such conditions. With a view to recovering asmuch mineral resource as possible and making the maximum profit from the whole deposit, the new principle is tomaximize the sum of gain from both open-pit and underground mining. The mathematical models along the horizon-tal and vertical directions and modules for software package (DM&MCAD) have been developed and tested inTonglushan Copper Mine. It has been proved to be rather effective in the mining practice.

A study of fire propagation in coal seam with numerical simulation of heat transfer and chemical reaction rate in mining field

Spontaneous combustion of coal is a problem that affects the mining operation and generates environ-mental,economic,social and geotechnical impacts.This phenomenon has been divided into two pro-cesses:ignition and propagation.Fire propagation develops in coal seams because of a set of factors such as direction and wind speed,fracturing and temperature.In this work,heat transfer and chemical kinetics are studied from conservation equations of energy and species,respectively,using the software COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate the propagation of fires in coal seams.Two possible scenarios were analyzed that usually occur in the walls of the coal seams,such as fire focus and fire complete screens.It was found that the propagation kinetics of the fire changes depending on the temperature,the fractur-ing of rock mass and the area of fire influence.For temperature values lower than 300℃,there is con-sumption around 250 cm^3/h,values around 700℃,the consumption is 1500 cm^3/h,and for fires of 1200℃ have values of 3000 cm^3/h.Depending on the speed of propagation can vary from 4 to 17cm/day,considering on the level and fracturing of the final wall of the open pit.

Reserve estimation of an open pit mine under price uncertainty by real option approach

Reserve estimation is a key to find the correct NPV in a mining project. The most important factor in reserve estimation is the metal price. Metal price fluctuations in recent years were exaggerated, and imposed a high degree of uncertainty to the reserve estimation, and in consequence to the whole mine planning procedure. Real option approach is an efficient method of decision making in the uncertain conditions. This approach has been used for evaluation of defined natural resources projects until now. This study considering the metal price uncertainty used real option approach to prepare a methodology for reserve estimation in open pit mines. This study was done on a copper cylindrical deposit, but the achieved methodology can be adjusted for all kinds of deposits. This methodology was comprehensively described through the examples in such a manner that can be used by the mine planners.

Cap rock blast caving of cavity under open pit bench

A laser technique based scanning system was employed to make a comprehensive scanning through borehole forunmapped cavity under open pit bench,then the three-dimensional data will be obtained,and these data were used for theoreticalanalysis and numerical simulation to analyze the stability of cap rock.Acoustic emission techniques were also adopted to carry outlong term real time rupture monitoring in cap rock.Therefore,a complete safety evaluation system for the cap rock was establishedto ensure safe operation of subsequent blasting processes.The ideal way of eliminating collapse hazard of such cavity is cap rockcaving through deep-hole blasting,thus,two deep-hole blasting schemes named as vertical deep-hole blasting scheme and one-timeraise driving integrated with deep-hole bench blasting scheme were proposed.The vertical deep-hole blasting scheme has moreexplosive consumption,but the relatively simple blasting net work structure can greatly reduce workloads.However,the one-timeraise driving integrated with deep-hole bench blasting scheme can obviously reduce explosive consumption,but the higher technicalrequirements on drilling,explosive charging and blasting network will increase workloads.

Kinetic energy and its applications in mining engineering

Reduction of energy consumption in comminution is of significant importance in mining industry. To reduce such energy consumption the energy efficiency in an individual operation such as blasting must be increased. By using both new investigations and previous experimental results, this paper demonstrates that (1) kinetic energy carried by moving fragments in rock fracture is notable and it increases with an increasing loading rate;(2) this kinetic energy can be well used in secondary fragmentation in crushing and blasting. Accordingly, part of the muck pile from previous blast should be left in front of new(bench) face in either open pit or underground blasting. If so, when new blast occurs, the fragments from the new blast will collide with the muck pile left from the previous blast, and the kinetic energy carried by the moving fragments will be partly used in their secondary fragmentation.

Optimization of transport passage with dragline system in thick overburden open pit mine

According to the characteristics of opencast coal resources and dragline technology system application in China,the structure and shifting step of transport passage are optimized in this paper.Typical coal transport passage is analyzed in aspects such as the internal dump occupation,dragline operation efficiency,coal transport distance,upper stripping distance and shifting quantities.The middle passage should be given priority in thick overburden open pit mine because the dragline system is only responsible for part stripping task.According to characteristics of middle passage,the transport passage is divided into parallel climbing,vertical climbing and horizontal transport.In addition,the transport passage structure optimization model and shifting distance optimization model are established in this paper.The case study in Heidaigou open pit mine shows that,the parallel climbing height is accounted for about 60%of the total height,and reasonable shifting distances of the first mining area and the second mining area are 240 and 320 m.Sensitivity analysis shows that,the total passage height has important influence on the shifting step,so it is with the stripping height and passage construction cost to the passage structure.

A new framework for evaluation of rock fragmentation in open pit mines

The main purpose of blasting in open pit mines is to produce the feed for crushing stage with the optimum dimensions from in situ rocks. The size distribution of muck pile indicates the efficiency of blasting pattern to reach the required optimum sizes. Nevertheless, there is no mature model to predict fragmentation distribution to date that can be used in various open pit mines. Therefore, a new framework to evaluate and predict fragmentation distribution is presented based on the image analysis approach. For this purpose, the data collected from Jajarm bauxite mine in Iran were used as the sources in this study. The image analysis process was performed by Split-Desktop software to find out fragmentation distribution, uniformity index and average size of the fragmented rocks. Then, two different approaches including the multivariate regression method and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory(DEMATEL) technique were incorporated to develop new models of the uniformity index and the average size to improve the Rosin-Rammler function. The performances of the proposed models were evaluated in four blasting operation sites. The results obtained indicate that the regression model possesses a better performance in prediction of the uniformity index and the average size and subsequently the fragmentation distribution in comparison with DEMATEL and conventional Rosin-Rammler models.

Cut slope reinforcement technique in open-pit mines

The design and practice in supporting the cut slope of an open-pit mine wereintroduced, in which the high pressure grouting method was used in reinforcing the weak formation inthe slopes. Based on a detailed geological survey of the slope, a theoretical analysis was carriedout, and the design parameters were proposed, where the Tresca or Mohr-Coulomb yield criteria wasemployed. A patent technology, named 'Technology of high pressure and multiple grouting in differentlevels within a single hole', was employed in the construction. Anchor bars were also installed asgrouting proceeds. This method combines anchoring and grouting comprehensively and was foundsuccessful in practice.

Optimization model of truck flow at open-pit mines and standards for feasibility test

In order to increase production efficiency at open-pit mines, on the basis oflinear programming, a practical mathematical model for optimizing truck flow was developed, whichimproved the traditional fixed manual schedule method. The model has advantages from linearprogramming and objective programming, makes most handling points working at full capacity and keepsan optimized ratio between trucks and excavators. For ensuring feasibility of the model inpractical production, four standards for feasibility test were proposed. The model satisfied all thestandards. The application in a large scale open-pit iron mine indicated that the model reduced thenumber of required trucks by 10 percent compared with the fixed manual schedule method.

Thermal recovery process of a backfilled open-pit in permafrost area at the Gulian strip coal mine in Northeast China

Timely and proper backfilling of open-pits in strip coal-mines has been an effective measurement for the recovery of the hydrothermal regimes and ecological environment in permafrost regions. In this study, numerical simulations and statistical regressions were applied for analyzing the recovery processes of the backfill and its major influencing factors for the thermal equilibrium in recently backfilled open pits at the Gulian strip coalmine in Mo'he, Northeast China. Results show that the thermal recovery time of backfilled areas is positively correlated to the backfill depth(BD) of the soils, the backfilled soil temperature(BST), and the mean annual ground surface temperature(MAGST); meanwhile, climate warming can impact on thermal regimes of the backfill area. The impact of climate warming on ground temperature of the backfill will show up significantly in about 50 years afterbackfilling(BD at 10.0 and 20.0 m, BST at 20.0°C) under the climate warming scenario(CWS) of 0.025°C·year ^(-1). Grey-relation analyses show that the sensitivity of the backfill recovery time declines in the order of the BD, BST and MAGST. On the basis of the abovementioned studies, the layer-by-layer backfilling in cold seasons is advised for more effective and more rapid recovery of thermal regimes of the backfilled open-pits in cold regions.

Stability analysis of the sliding process of the west slope in Buzhaoba Open-Pit Mine

To study the stability of the west slope in Buzhaoba Open-Pit Mine and determine the aging stability coefficient during slide mass development, the deformation band of the west slope and the slide mass structure of the 34,600 profile are obtained on the basis of hydrology, geology, and monitoring data.The residual thrust method is utilized to calculate the stability coefficients, which are 1.225 and 1.00 under sound and transfixion conditions, respectively. According to the rock damage and fragmentation and the principle of mechanical parameter degradation, the mechanical models of the slide mass development of the hard and soft rock slopes are established. An integrated model for calculating the slope stability coefficient is built considering water, vibration, and other external factors that pertain to the structural plane damage mechanism and the generating mechanism of the sliding mass. The change curve of the stability coefficient in the slide mass development is obtained from the relevant analyses,and afterwards, the stability control measures are proposed. The analysis results indicate that in the cracking stage of the hard rock, the slope stability coefficient decreases linearly with the increase in the length Lbof the hard rock crack zone. The linear slope is positively correlated to rock cohesion c. In the transfixion stage of the soft rock, the decrease speed of the stability coefficient is positively correlated to the residual strength of the soft rock. When the slope is stable, the stability coefficient is in a quadratic-linear relationship with the decreased height Dh of the side slope and in a linear relationship with anchoring force P.

NPV risk simulation of an open pit gold mine project under the O'Hara cost model by using Gas

This paper analyzes an open pit gold mine project based on the O'Hara cost model. Hypothetical data is proposed based on different authors that have studied open pit gold projects, and variations are proposed according to the probability distributions associated to key variables affecting the NPV, like production level, ore grade, price of ore, and others, so as to see what if, in a gold open pit mine project of 3000 metric tons per day of ore. Two case scenarios were analyzed to simulate the NPV, one where there is low certainty data available, and the other where the information available is of high certainty. Results based on genetic algorithm metaheuristic simulations, which combine basically Montecarlo simulations provided by the Palisade Risk software, the O'Hara cost model, net smelter return and financial analysis tools offered by Excel are reported, in order to determine to which variables of the project is more sensitive the NPV.