Mudrush, mudflow, or mudpush are the most common terms describing uncontrolled ingress of assorted mixture of water and solids. Mudrush is the underground equivalent of surface debris flow. It can have different origins but produce the same results: injury, loss of life, damage to property, excess dilution, and production delays, or — in extreme cases
... Continue reading.Cave mining, and in particular block-cave mining, stands at one end of the spectrum of mining method-related risks. It is not so much that the risks are greater, but rather that the ability of management to respond to variations in expected conditions is much less than with other mining methods. Compounding this in the case
... Continue reading.
SRK performed a comprehensive redevelopment of the geotechnical model for an existing large panel caving operation with the aim of assisting cave planning and design in five future cave blocks. Initially, separate models were created for the individual blocks to allow for smaller, more focused models; however, a large all-encompassing model was subsequently created. The
... Continue reading.A geotechnical model is the fundamental basis for the design of an open-pit and underground mines. A fully understood and representative geotechnical model provides information on the engineering characteristics of the rock mass, defining how it will behave during excavation. The model’s individual domains, each comprised of materials exhibiting internally similar geotechnical properties, reveal the
... Continue reading.Many ore deposits extend vertically, a fact which is not always known at the start of mining. If initial mining is by opencast methods and ore reserves are proven to greater depths, the pits are often planned to go deeper than originally envisaged. In such cases, surface plants and critical underground facilities — conveyor tunnels,
... Continue reading.In 2000, International Caving Study (ICS) published a practical manual on block caving by Dr. Dennis Laubscher. This first comprehensive block caving publication was co-authored by several industry experts, including Dr. Alan Guest and Jarek Jakubec of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. Unfortunately, the distribution of this publication was not widely available. Meanwhile, the demand for
... Continue reading.This presentation will provide a brief overview of automation in the mining industry; in particular, its application to cave mining. Mine automation becomes more popular as it improves safety and eases fleet utilization and production rates. It can also reduce maintenance and operating costs. However, the implementation of mine automation requires full analysis of its
... Continue reading.