Underground Mining and Mine Design

Suranaree University of Technology

538417

K. Artkhonghan, Ph. D www. potashworks.com

Definition of terms
Adit Horizontal or nearly horizontal entrance to a mine.
Back Roof or overhead surface of an underground excavation
Crosscut A horizontal drive through an ore body
Drawpoint Place where ore can be loaded and removed. A drawpoint is located beneath the stoping area,
and gravity flow transfers the ore to the loading place
Drift Horizontal or nearly horizontal underground opening.
Footwall Wall or rock under the ore deposit.
Hanging Wall Wall or rock above an ore deposit.
Ramp Inclined underground opening that connects levels or production areas; ramps are inclined to
allow the passage of motorized vehicles. Ramps usually are driven downward
Shaft: Vertical or inclined underground opening through which a mine is worked
Level System of horizontal underground workings connected to the shaft. A level forms the basis for
excavation of the ore above or below
Manway Underground opening that is intended for personnel access and communication.
Stope Underground excavation made by removing ore from surrounding rock.
Classification of Underground Mining Methods
• Underground mining methods are usually employed when the depth of the deposit and/or the waste
to ore ratio (stripping ratio) are too great to commence a surface operation
• The most appropriate mining methods must be selected.

Considerations include:

1. Geometric characteristics of the deposit

The selection of underground mining
shape, size, thickness, plunge, and depth
methods is primarily based on the
2. Strength of the hanging wall, footwall, and ore body
geological setting of the deposit
3. Economic value of the ore and grade distribution
Classification of Underground Mining Methods
Underground mining (Based on ore inclination)
Flat ore bodies Steep ore bodies
• Room and pillar • Sublevel open stoping
• Classic room and pillar • Bighole stoping
• Post pillar • Shrinkage stoping
• Step room and pillar • Cut and fill mining
• Longwall mining • Sublevel caving
• Block caving
Orebody characteristics Orebody configuration
Ming method Ore strength Waste strength Beds Veins Ore dip
Massive
Weak Mod Strong Weak Mod Strong Thick Thin Narrow Wide Flat Mod Steep
Room and Pillar x x x x x x x x
Sublevel Stoping x x x x x x x
Shrinkage x x x x x x x x
Cut and Fill x x x x x x x x x
Block Caving x x x x x x x
Sublevel Caving x x x x x x x
Longwall x x x x x x
Classification of Underground Mining Methods
Underground mining (Base on support required)
Unsupported methods Supported methods Caving methods
• Self-supported and require no • Supported methods are used • The exploitation workings in
major artificial support to when production openings caving methods are designed to
carry overburden loads (stopes) are not sufficiently collapse
• The natural competence of stable • with intentional caving of the
the walls of the openings and • to remain open during operation ore and/or host rock
pillars. • to prevent caving or surface • Longwall mining
• Room-and-pillar mining subsidence • Sublevel caving
• Shrinkage stoping • Cut-and-fill stoping • Block caving
• Sublevel stoping • Stull stoping
• Square-set stoping

Include the use of rock bolts or

light structural sets of timber or
steel, provided that such artificial
supports do not significantly alter
the load-carrying ability of the
natural structure
Room and pillar Classic Room and Pillar mining
• applies to flat deposits having moderate-to-
thick beds and to inclined deposits with
thicker beds.
• Mining the ore body creates large open
stopes where trackless machines can
travel on the flat floor.
• Ore bodies with large vertical heights are
mined in horizontal slices starting at the
top and benching down in steps.
• Sedimentary deposits, like copper shale,
limestone or sandstone containing lead,
coal seams, salt and potash layers,
limestone and dolomite.
Uses
• Flat ore deposits of less thickness
• Coal, iron, copper, talc, cobalt, dolomite,
and potash mines

Major replacement by native

copper. Light greenish areas
between native copper veins
are primarily shale rock.
Room and pillar
• Leaving pillars of ore to support the roof.
• To recover the maximum amount of ore, miners aim to
leave smallest possible pillars behind
• because these are difficult and expensive to recover. The
roof must remain intact, and rockbolts are used extensively
as rock reinforcement.
• Rooms and pillars are normally arranged in regular patterns,
and can be designed with circular pillars, square pillars, or
elongated walls separating the rooms.

The Praid salt mine, Romania Pillars in Les O Mine 20 m square pillar, Winsford Salt Mine
(www.actmedia.eu) (www.mcdougallminerals.com) (jasonbye.photoshelter.com)
Post room and pillar

Pipeline from the plant depositing backfill tailings

down a surface borehole (© Jon Engels)

Post room-and-pillar mining (or "post-pillar" mining)

• Applies to inclined ore bodies with dip angles from 20° to 55°
• A combination of room-and pillar and cut-and-fill stoping. With this method
• ore is recovered in horizontal slices starting from the bottom and advancing upward
• Pillars are left inside the stope to support the roof.
• Mined-out stopes are hydraulically backfilled with tailings, and the next slice is mined by
machines working from the fill surface.
Step room and pillar Step room and pillar mining
• found in orebodies dipping from 15 to 30
degrees
• Orebody thickness is typically quite small,
ranging from 2 to 5m.
• It is essentially an adaptation of classic room
and pillar
• the orebody being developed in a series of
horizontal ‘steps’.
• Haulage ramps are specially design diagonally
against the dip of the orebody at shallow enough
slopes to utilize trackless equipment.
• Mining advances downward along the step room
angle with each step having a relatively flat
production floor
Sublevel open stoping
Sublevel open stoping (SLOS)
• Steep dip and large ore deposit
• The footwall inclination exceeds the angle of
repose
• Stable rock in both hanging wall and footwall
• Competent ore and host rock
• Regular ore boundaries
• SLOS recovers the ore in large open stopes
• which are normally backfilled to enable recovery
of pillars.

Angle of repose < Internal friction angle

Sublevel open stoping

In this mining technique, a series of horizontal

tunnels, or sub-levels, are excavated one above the
other, to access different levels of a vertical ore
deposit. At the bottom of the stope is a haulage
tunnel, which is used to transport ore that collects at
the bottom. Tunnels located near the bottom are
used to drill and blast the ore, and when the roof of
the deposit cannot be accessed anymore, another
tunnel is excavated above this one.

Uses
• Massive, vertical ore deposits
• Strong ore and rock structure
• Nickel, lead, gold, and zinc mines
Sublevel open stoping
Shrinkage stoping
ore is excavated in horizontal slices
starting from the stope bottom and advancing
upwards.
Part of the blasted ore is left in the stope,
to serve as a working platform, and to
give support to the stope walls.
Shrinkage stoping

Similar to sub-level stopping, this technique is

carried out in vertical ore deposits. However, in this
case, the blasted ore is allowed to deposit at the
bottom of the stope, and this forms a working
surface for excavation at higher levels, and also
supports the stope walls.

Uses
• Massive, vertical ore deposits, with strong
supporting rock
• Deposits with steep dips
• Gold, copper, silver, and zinc mines
• Underground structures requiring vertical
excavation
• Ores that can be stored for long periods
Cut and fill mining
• In this technique, ore is excavated in
horizontal slices,
• after which, mined-out space is filled with
waste rock and cement (called a back fill)
• This back fill helps support the overlying
rock, and prevents it from collapsing

Uses
• Massive, vertical ore deposits
• Deposits with steep dips (angle with horizontal),
and good stability
• High-grade ores of metals, like gold, iron, silver,
and copper
• Irregular-shaped ore bodies
Cut and fill mining
Longwall mining

Longwall mining is used in horizontal,

tabular deposits (mainly coal), Because the
exploitation openings are intentionally
destroyed in the progress of mining, the
caving class is truly unique. Rock
mechanics principles are applied to induce
caving rather than to prevent the occurrence
of caving
Longwall mining Uses
• Horizontal ore beds with thin deposits
• Mostly coal, but also gold, trona, and potash
mining

• Long horizontal wall of ore is excavated from one of its

faces
• Excavation usually begins from the ore face opposite
the entryway
• Artificial support is provided to the excavated space
(stope)
• These supports are gradually pulled out as excavation
proceeds, so that the overlying rock collapses from the
farthest side of the miners.
Sublevel caving

• This method involves making a series of

horizontal channels or 'sub-levels', called
'drifts' in the ore body.
• Excavation occurs first in the topmost
channels, and the stope created by mining
are not back filled
• This causes the host rock to continuously
exert pressure on the ore, causing it to
collapse at the bottom of the stope, from
where it is collected by making newer sub-
levels.

Uses
• Low-grade, friable ore deposits
• Iron, copper, nickel, and gold mines
• Deposits where both the ore and rock are
breakable
Sublevel caving
Block caving
• In this method, a large ore deposit is
Block caving is a technique in which the weight of divided into different sections, or
the overlying rock is itself used to fracture an ore 'blocks'.
deposit into small pieces, which can then be • The rock below each block is
collected. accessed and blasted, to create
fractures and weaken the stability of
the whole structure.
• The rocks surrounding the ore block
give way, and exerts thousands of
tons of force on the block, cracking it
into small fragments, which are then
collected from the bottom where they
accumulate.

Uses
• Low-grade, friable ore deposits
• Only suitable for high and wide ore
deposits
• Iron ore, copper, molybdenum,
diamonds, gold, and silver mines
Block caving

Block caving is a large-scale production

technique applicable to low-grade, massive
ore bodies with the following characteristics:

• Large vertical and horizontal dimensions,

• A rock mass that will break into pieces of
manageable size, and
• A surface that is allowed to subside.
www.mdacorporation.com
Block caving