Caving Methods the breakage of the in-situ material while

permitting the immediate roof to cave safely,

o a class of methods in which the exploitation
thus preventing excessive superincumbent
openings are designed to collapse; that is,
loads from damaging the supports.
caving of the ore or rock or both is intentional
and the very essence of the method.
o those associated with induced, controlled,
massive caving of the ore body, the overlying
rock, or both, concurrent with and essential in
the conduct of mining.
o Caving methods in mining involve deliberately
inducing the collapse of an ore body to extract
valuable minerals. This is achieved through
controlled cave-ins, allowing ore to naturally
descend for easier extraction. This technique is
employed when ore is too deep or extensive
for conventional mining, optimizing resource
recovery.

4 Classifications of Caving Methods

Longwall Mining Sequence of Development
Sublevel Caving 1. Main entries parallel to each other are driven to
Block Caving the deposit.
2. Breakthroughs at intervals are driven
Top Slice and Cover Caving
perpendicular and connecting the two main
entries.
Longwall Mining is used in horizontal and tabular 3. Butt or side entries are driven perpendicular to
deposits, mainly coal; the other methods have the main entries and extending up to the boundary
application to inclined or vertical, massive deposits, of the deposit.
almost exclusively metallic or nonmetallic. 4. From the point nearest to the boundary, take a
slice perpendicular to the side entries and support
it with props or timber until it is mined out.
Longwall Mining
5. Take the next slice, support it with props or
o is an exploitation method used in flat-lying, timbers until it is mined out.
relatively thin, tabular deposits in which a long 6. Withdraw the supports from the previous slice
face is established to extract the mineral. for possible collapse.
o Longwall mining is a method of underground 7. Repeat steps 5 to 6 in a retreating fashion until
coal mining where a long wall of coal is
the blocks are mined out.
extracted in a single, continuous operation. A
shearing machine and hydraulic roof supports
Cycles of Operation:
are used to remove coal along the face,
creating a "long wall." As the machinery Production Cycle = mining + haulage
advances, the roof behind it collapses, filling
the void. This technique is employed when coal Mining (breaking and loading): shearer (normally
seams are thick and extensive, optimizing a double-drum version), plow
resource recovery in a cost-effective manner.
o Classified by some as a supported mining Haulage: armored chain-and-flight face conveyor,
method because of the elaborate roof support normal belt conveyor utilized in the headgate entry
system employed, longwall mining more set
properly belongs to the caving class of
methods. The reason has to do with the role of
caving in the mining process, which is to aid in
Conditions: Disadvantages:
1. Ore strength: any, but should crush rather than 1. Caving and subsidence (10 to 80% of mined
yield under roof pressure; preferably material that height) occur over wide areas; controllable to some
is weak and can be cut by continuous miner extent.
2. Rock strength: weak to moderate, must break 2. Method very inflexible and rigid in execution; no
and cave; ideally, thin- bedded in intermediate selectivity except in varying the height of opening
roof; floor must be firm, nonplastic somewhat.
3. Deposit shape: tabular 3. Mining rate should be uniform to avoid roof
4. Deposit dip: low (<12*), prefer flat, uniform support and subsidence problems.
5. Deposit size: large in areal extent (<1 mi^2 or 4. High capital cost, totaling about $30,000 to
260 ha); thin-bedded (3 to 15 ft or 1 to 5 m); $40,000/ft ($98,000 to $131,000/m) of face length.
uniform thickness 5. Reliance on a single production face can result in
6. Ore grade: moderate costly delays, interruptions in supply.
7. Ore uniformity: uniform (particularly in 6. High longwall move costs.
thickness) 7. Heating in the gob can create temperature-
8. Depth: moderate (500 to 3000 ft or 150 to 900 humidity problems and spontaneous combustion.
m) for coal to very deep (<12,000 ft or 3.5 km) for
noncoal. Applicability:
– Type of orebody - thin beds (coal seams – 2’ to 8’
Advantages: thick)
1. Highest productivity for underground coal mines – Dip of orebody - flat (0 to 30 dip)
(4.89 tons/employee- hr or 4.4 tonnes/employee-
– Strength of orebody - weak or strong
hr)(Energy Information Administration, 2000);
outstanding continuity of operations and low labor – Strength of walls – weak
intensity resulting in high output.
2. Fairly low mining cost (relative cost about 15%).
3. High production rate; large-scale method.
4. Approaches continuity of production, permitting
nearly simultaneous cycle of operations to be
conducted.
5. Suitable for total mechanization, remote control,
and automation.
6. Low labor requirement.
7. Fairly high recovery (about 59% on average)
(Energy Information Administration, 2000).
8. Concentrated operations, facilitating transport,
supply, and ventilation.
9. Applicable to deep seams under bad roof
conditions.
10. Good health and safety factors, especially with
regard to roof-fall accidents.
Sublevel Caving Conditions:
o Applicable to near-vertical deposits of metals 1. Ore strength: moderate to fairly strong,
and nonmetals. requiring blasting; requires sufficient
o Overall mining progresses downward while the competence to stand without excessive
ore between sublevels is broken overhand; the support; less strength than for supported
overlying waste rock (hanging wall or capping) methods, but more than for block caving.
caves into the void created as the ore is drawn 2. Rock strength: weak to fairly strong; may be
off. blocky, but should be fractured or jointed and
o Mining is conducted on sublevels from cavable; prefer moderate to large fragments,
development drifts and crosscuts, connected no fines to dilute ore
to the main haulage below by ramps, 3. Deposit shape: tabular or massive (if elongated
orepasses, and raises. along one axis, preferably vertical); may be
o is a mining method where ore is extracted by moderately irregular
caving in horizontal slices or sublevels. Ore is 4. Deposit dip: fairly steep (>60°) or vertical; can
blasted at each sublevel, creating voids that be fairly flat if the deposit is thick
lead to controlled cave-ins. Gravity moves the 5. Deposit size: large, extensive vertical or areal
fragmented ore to lower levels, where it is extent; thickness > 20 ft or 6 m
collected and transported. This method is 6. Ore grade: moderate
suitable for large, low-grade ore bodies with 7. Ore uniformity: moderate, no sorting possible
sufficient rock competence. Sublevel caving (some dilution acceptable)
maximizes ore recovery but requires careful 8. Depth: moderate (<4000 ft or 1.2 km)
planning to control cave propagation and
ensure worker safety.
Advantages:
1. Fairly high productivity.
Sequence of Development
2. High production rate; large-scale method.
1. Vertical shafts are driven in the footwall. 3. Fairly high recovery (80 to 90%).
2. Crosscut is driven from the shaft to the orebody and 4. Suitable for full mechanization.
haulage system is laid out. 5. Somewhat adaptable, flexible, and selective; no
3. A main haulage drift may be driven near the footwall pillars are required.
and transverse or cross drifts are run through the ore at 6. Good health and safety factors.
intervals (100 – 150 ft.) 7. Moderate mining cost (relative cost about 15%)
4. Sublevels (18 to 25 ft apart vertically) are run from
the tops of raises (18 – 50 ft apart) put up from the
Disadvantages:
main and transverse haulage drifts.
5. The crosscuts or slice drifts (50 to 75 ft long and 18 – 1. Moderate to high dilution (10 to 35%).
25 ft apart horizontally) are driven at right angles from 2. Caving and subsidence occur, destroying the
the sublevel. surface.
6. A side cut is started at 45 to 50 on the last two inner 3. Draw control is critical to success of method.
sets of a slice drift. 4. High development cost.
7. Cuts are taken and when completed, supports are 5. Must provide stope access for mechanized
shot down. equipment.
8. The ore during both the driving of slice and caving is
pulled to the raises in the sublevel by scrapers.
9. When all of the ore is out of a set and capping is
caved, the next set back is caved, and so on back to the
raise at the sublevel.
10. Where caving is done on only one side, the raises
must be closer together if scrapers are to work
efficiently.
Block Caving should cave freely under own weight when
undercut; free running, not sticky if wet, not readily
o An underground mining method that has the
oxidized
potential to rival surface mining in output and
cost. 2. Rock strength: weak to moderate, similar to ore
o is the mining method in which masses, panels, in characteristics
or blocks of ore are undercut to induce caving, 3. Deposit shape: massive or thick tabular deposit,
permitting the broken ore to be drawn off fairly regular
below. 4. Deposit dip: fairly steep (>60°) or vertical; can be
o is a mining method where a large underground fairly flat if sufficiently thick.
rock mass, or "block," is intentionally collapsed 5. Deposit size: very large areal extent; thickness >
to extract ore. It involves drilling an undercut 100 ft (30 m)
beneath the ore body, allowing it to break and 6. Ore grade: low, ideal for disseminated ore
cave under its weight. Gravity then funnels the masses; most suitable of underground methods for
broken material to collection points for low-grade deposits
extraction. This cost-effective technique is 7. Ore uniformity: fairly uniform and
employed when ore deposits are too deep for
homogeneous; sorting not possible
open-pit mining and are characterized by
8. Depth: moderate; >2000 ft (600 m) and <4000 ft
massive, low-grade mineralization conducive
(1200m).
to controlled cave-ins.

VARIATIONS Advantages:
o In block caving, regular rectangular or square I. Relatively high productivity.
areas are undercut in a checkerboard pattern; 2. Fairly low mining cost, least of the underground
mined in an alternating or diagonal order. mining methods (relative cost about 10%).
o In panel caving, ore in continuous strips is 3. Highest production rate of the underground
mined across the ore body; manageable areas
sloping methods; large-scale method.
are caved simultaneously and retreated in
4. High recovery (90 to 125%).
panels.
5. Rock breakage in production occurs entirely by
o In mass caving, there is no area division into
caving induced by undercutting; no drilling and
blocks or panels; irregularly sized prisms of ore
are mined as large as consistent with the caving blasting cost in production.
properties od the ore and the stresses on the 6. Suitable for gravity draw or fully mechanized
openings below. materials handling; repetitive, standardized
operations.
7. Ventilation is generally very satisfactory; good
Sequence of Development health and safety factors.

1. Drive shaft.
Disadvantages:
2. Drive a series of evenly spaced crosscuts below
the bottom of the ore. 1. Caving and subsidence occur on a large scale.
3. Main, branch, and finger raises are driven up to 2. Draw control is critical to success of the method.
the ore. 3. Slow, extensive, costly development.
4. The ore is then undercut by driving drifts at right 4. Dilution may be high (10 to 25%).
angles to each other across the tops of the finger 5. Maintenance of openings in production areas is
raises. substantial and costly if pillars load excessively.
5. The pillars are then blasted and the undercut ore 6. Rigid, inflexible method.
plus the capping begins to cave. 7. Hazardous work because of hangups in the
grizzly and slusher sublevels; some risk of air blast
throughout the mine.
Conditions:
8. Possible spontaneous combustion in ore or rock
1. Ore strength: weak to moderate or fairly strong, during caving if drawing is slow or delayed (risk is
prefer friable, fractured, or jointed rock, not blocky; high if sulfide content is >45%).
Top Slicing and Cover Caving Disadvantages:
o are mining methods used to extract ore 1. The method is too costly.
deposits in a controlled manner. Top slicing 2. Lower ore extraction and higher dilution of the
involves removing ore in horizontal layers from ore are apt to result.
the top downward, minimizing subsidence. 3. The method cannot be used without
Cover caving employs a similar approach but subsidence.
involves intentionally collapsing the overlying 4. Ventilation is not simple.
5. Fire hazard exists.
rock to fill the void left by extracted ore,
6. In order to obtain a large output, a
providing support and minimizing surface
considerable number of working places are
disturbance. These methods are used in
required.
specific geological conditions to maximize
7. The period of development prior to production
resource recovery while minimizing from slicing is relatively long and rate of output
environmental impact. is not flexible.
8. Timbering and covering down consume a large
Sequence of Development part of the shift, which reduces the available
time for breaking and mucking.
1. Drive a shaft.
9. Sudden collapse of large blocks presents a
2. Drive drifts parallel to the axis of the deposit and at
serious element of danger to the slicing
the bottom and away from the orebody.
operations below.
3. From the drifts, crosscuts are driven at intervals and 10. The method is not adapted to sorting of waste
extended to the outer limits of the orebody. in the stopes or to leaving small horses of rock
4. At intervals, raises are extended to the outer limits of in place.
the orebody.
5. From the top level, drive a tramming drift and series
of tramming drifts below.
6. From the tramming drift, take a slice perpendicular
to the tramming drift.
7. When the slice is complete, the floor, sides and roof
are timbered. The side nearest the next slice is covered
wire mesh. At this time, the posts on the side away
from the next slice are either pulled or blasted,
permitting the capping to cave and enabling the next
slice to commence.
8. After completing several slices, take the next level
below and repeat step 6 to 7.

Advantages:
1. It is safe.
2. High extraction of ore is possible.
3. The cost of development ore is not greatly in
excess of that of ore from slicing.
4. The method can be employed under sand and
other loose surface material and does not
require as clean a mat as does sublevel caving.

- Lorens