Since the 1990s, ‘mine-to-mill’ studies have evaluated the impact of blast fragmentation on downstream plant throughput. This was because crushing and grinding circuits (in particular, SAG mills) are sensitive to feed size and the amount of fines generated from blasting. Significant gains in grinding circuit efficiency could be achieved by controlling and optimising blast fragmentation.
... Continue reading.Recently, SRK Chile was involved in a caving project in Chile and in charge of numerical modelling to analyse pillars and overall mine stability and to define ground support. The review of the basic geotechnical information was the first task performed, pointing out an underestimation of the Geological Strength Index (GSI). The client justified the
... Continue reading.Particularly at the earlier stages of a rock engineering project, the lack of appropriate data manifests itself in the form of increased uncertainty and difficulties in characterizing rock mass variability in an objective manner. When mine-scale problems are considered, it is not possible to sample all of the rock mass, therefore a relative large number
... Continue reading.This presentation will cover the evolution of block size distribution (BSD) within a draw column during block cave mining. BSD plays an important role in controlling gravitational flow, secondary fragmentation, and fines migration in broken ore—all of which are fundamental in preparing a reliable feasibility assessment for a potential caving operation. However, there is a
... Continue reading.The welcoming note and introduction will briefly describe the concept and philosophy of the Cave Mining Forum which is primarily to connect professionals from the mining industry. Jarek will also provide a brief overview of the current cave mining world, past experiences and challenges. This presentation summarizes a talk given during the second workshop of
... Continue reading.This presentation will address a selection of papers delivered at recent conferences on the subject of hydraulic fracturing in cave mining. The focus will be on preconditioning with hydraulic fracturing and other applications of hydraulic fracturing in cave mining. This presentation summarizes a talk given during the second workshop of the Cave Mining Forum.
... Continue reading.This presentation will discuss the design criteria directly impacted by fragmentation in the cave mining setting. It will also highlight some of the current tools available for prediction and analysis of fragmentation, as well as the reliability and potential short comings of fragmentation prediction. This presentation summarizes a talk given during the second workshop of
... Continue reading.