Exploitation
Mehdi Rahmanpour; Golpari Norozi; Hassan Bakhshandeh Amnieh
Abstract
Drift-and-fill mining is a variation of cut-and-fill mining method. Drift-and-fill mining method refers to the excavation of several parallel drifts in ore. Excavation of a new drift could start when its adjacent drifts are backfilled or not excavated. The amount of ore material and its grade depends ...
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Drift-and-fill mining is a variation of cut-and-fill mining method. Drift-and-fill mining method refers to the excavation of several parallel drifts in ore. Excavation of a new drift could start when its adjacent drifts are backfilled or not excavated. The amount of ore material and its grade depends on the excavation sequence of drifts. As the number of drifts increases, one will need a model to optimize the drift excavation and backfilling sequence. This paper introduces a mathematical model to determine the optimal drift-and-fill sequence while the safety constraints, excavation, and backfilling capacities and their dependencies are satisfied. The model seeks to minimize the deviations from some predefined goals, and it handles the long-term and short-term constraints in separate and integrated scenarios. An application of the model is presented based on the data available from a lead/zinc underground mining project. There are 91 drifts in the selected level. Based on the monthly planning horizon, the integrated model leads to the slightest deviations in both the mining rate and average grade, and the deviation from the predetermined annual goals is negligible. For the case where long-term and short-term plans are determined separately, the deviation is approximately 10%.
Exploitation
Behnam Alipenhani; Mehran Jalilian; Abbas Majdi; Hassan Bakhshandeh Amnieh; Mohammad Hossein Khosravi
Abstract
The paper presents the effect of the dip of joints, joint spacing, and the undercutting method on the height of the caving in block caving. The obtained results show that among the three investigated parameters, respectively, the dip of joints, undercutting method, and joint spacing have the greatest ...
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The paper presents the effect of the dip of joints, joint spacing, and the undercutting method on the height of the caving in block caving. The obtained results show that among the three investigated parameters, respectively, the dip of joints, undercutting method, and joint spacing have the greatest effect on increasing the height of the caving zone. Comparing the data obtained from physical and numerical modeling shows a 97% match. Also, by increasing the joint spacing from 4 to 6 cm, 14%, from 6 to 8 cm, about 35%, and from 8 to 10, about 50%, the height of the caving zone has decreased. Regarding the dip of the joint, with the dip increasing from 30 to 45 degrees, about 3% of the caving height decreases. By increasing the dip of the joint from 45 to 60 degrees, the caving height has decreased by 42%. By increasing this value from 60 to 75 degrees, the caving height has increased by 50%. Also, changing the undercutting method from symmetric to advanced undercutting has increased the caving height by 40%. Additionally, three mathematical models have been proposed based on the shape of the caving zone in physical modeling.
B. Alipenhani; A. Majdi; H. Bakhshandeh Amnieh
Abstract
The present work aims at implementing Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to generate a statistical model for Minimum Required Caving Span (MRCS) and estimate both the individual and mutual effects of the rock mass parameters on rock mass cavability. The adequate required data is obtained from ...
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The present work aims at implementing Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to generate a statistical model for Minimum Required Caving Span (MRCS) and estimate both the individual and mutual effects of the rock mass parameters on rock mass cavability. The adequate required data is obtained from the result of numerical modeling. In this work, various arrays of numerical simulations (480 models) are carried out using the UDEC software in order to study the rock mass cavability thoroughly. The effect of each individual parameter and their mutual effect on MRCS are investigated by means of ANOVA. ANOVA indicates that all the chosen parameters (depth, dip of the joint, number of joints, angle of friction of the joint surface, and joint spacing) highly affect MRCS. In other words, the results of ANOVA are in high agreement with the results of the conventional sensitivity analysis. Moreover, a combination of joint spacing and joint inclination has the highest mutual effect on MRCS, and a combination of undercut depth and joint spacing has the lowest effect on MRCS.
B. Alipenhani; A. Majdi; H. Bakhshandeh Amnieh
Abstract
Determining the hydraulic radius of the undercut in the block caving method is one of the key issues in this method. The hydraulic radius is directly related to the minimum caving span. In this research work, the rock mass cavability is investigated using the UDEC and 3DEC software. Since the factors ...
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Determining the hydraulic radius of the undercut in the block caving method is one of the key issues in this method. The hydraulic radius is directly related to the minimum caving span. In this research work, the rock mass cavability is investigated using the UDEC and 3DEC software. Since the factors affecting the cavability are very diverse and numerous, firstly, by 2D modeling in the UDEC software and examining the trend of changes in the minimum caving span, the most important factors including the depth, dip of the joint, number of joints, angle of friction of the joint surface, and joints spacing are selected for the final study. The variation trend of each variable is investigated by keeping the other variables constant (single-factor study) among various factors. In the second step, the minimum caving span for the five main factors and values is determined in the single-factor study using the SPSS software and the multivariate regression method. Then the power function of the minimum caving span is chosen based on the selected variables with a coefficient of determination of 0.76. In continuation, a simple 3D model is built from the undercut. A linear equation is achieved between the results of the 3D and 2D modeling results in similar conditions. In a model with certain conditions, using the equation obtained from the numerical method, the calculated hydraulic radius of caving is 22.5 m, which is close to the result obtained from the Laubscher's empirical method with the same condition (24 m).
Exploitation
H. Bakhshandeh Amnieh; M. Hakimiyan Bidgoli; H. Mokhtari; A. Aghajani Bazzazi
Abstract
Estimating the costs of blasting operations is an important parameter in open-pit mining. Blasting and rock fragmentation depend on two groups of variables. The first group consists of mass properties, which are uncontrollable, and the second one is the drill-and-blast design parameters, which can be ...
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Estimating the costs of blasting operations is an important parameter in open-pit mining. Blasting and rock fragmentation depend on two groups of variables. The first group consists of mass properties, which are uncontrollable, and the second one is the drill-and-blast design parameters, which can be controlled and optimized. The design parameters include burden, spacing, hole length, hole diameter, sub-drilling, charge weight, charge length, stemming length, and charge density. Blasting costs vary depending on the size of these parameters. Moreover, blasting brings about some undesirable results such as air overpressure, fly rock, back-break, and ground vibration. This paper proposes a mathematical model for estimating the costs of blasting operations in the Baghak gypsum mine. The cost of blasting operations in the objective function is divided into three parts: drilling costs, costs of blasting system, and costs of blasting labours. The decision variables used to minimize the costs include burden, spacing, hole diameter, stemming length, charge density, and charge weight. Constraints of the model include the boundary and operational limitations. Air overpressure in the mine is also anticipated as one of the model constraints. The non-linear model obtained with consideration of constraints is optimized by simulated annealing (SA). After optimizing the model by SA, the best values for the decision variables are determined. The value obtained for the cost was obtained to be equal to 2259 $ per 7700 tons for the desired block, which is less than the blasting costs in the Baghak gypsum mine.
A. Siamaki; H. Bakhshandeh Amnieh
Abstract
A considerable amount of energy is released in the form of shock wave from explosive charge detonation. Shock wave energy is responsible for the creation of crushing and fracture zone around the blast hole. The rest of the shock wave energy is transferred to rock mass as ground vibration. Ground vibration ...
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A considerable amount of energy is released in the form of shock wave from explosive charge detonation. Shock wave energy is responsible for the creation of crushing and fracture zone around the blast hole. The rest of the shock wave energy is transferred to rock mass as ground vibration. Ground vibration is conveyed to the adjacent structures by body and surface waves. Geological structures like faults, fractures, and fillings play important roles in the wave attenuation. Studying the mechanism of ground wave propagation from blasts gives a better understanding about the stress wave transmission and its effect on the near structures. In this research work, the stress wave transmissions from discontinuities and fillings were evaluated using a field measurement and a Universal Distinct Element Code (UDEC). A single-hole blast was conducted in the Kangir dam, and the resulting vibrations were measured in many points before and after the faults. Numerical simulation shows the effects of geo-mechanical properties of fillings on the reflection and refraction rate of the stress wave. There are more energy reflections in the rock boundaries and soil fillings, and more energy is absorbed by soil fillings compared with rock fillings. Furthermore, there is a close correlation between the ground vibration records for the Kangir dam and the numerical results. The maximum relative error between the actual records and the simulated ones was found to be 18.5%, which shows the UDEC ability for the prediction of blast vibrations.
