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Rock Mechanics.pdf - Mining and Blasting

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Figure 14.10 Sublevel open stoping<br />

<strong>and</strong> filling in the Valisaari orebody,<br />

Vihanti Mine (after Koskela, 1983).<br />

ARTIFICIALLY SUPPORTED MINING METHODS<br />

be established early in the life of the orebody. It then allows explicit decisions to be<br />

made on the proportion of ore to be extracted in the primary stoping phase. This is<br />

a question that has to be considered carefully, since, although primary open stoping<br />

usually proceeds under conditions of easy mining with little dilution, primary stope<br />

voids require stabilised backfill for later mining of pillars. Excessive primary stoping<br />

can thereby encumber pillar mining with costs (related to the cement addition to the<br />

primary stope backfill) which would render large-scale pillar extraction unprofitable.<br />

Some interesting case studies illustrate the improved ground control <strong>and</strong> increased<br />

recovery of the mineral reserve derived from the use of stabilised backfill <strong>and</strong> exploiting<br />

the principles discussed above. Koskela (1983) describes several open stope<br />

<strong>and</strong> filling operations in Finnish mines. In the Valisaari orebody of the Vihanti Mine,<br />

the typical extraction sequence may be inferred from Figure 14.10. A central stope<br />

is mined <strong>and</strong> filled with a backfill obtained from de-slimed concentrator tailings, <strong>and</strong><br />

stabilised with a pozzolan of finely ground, granulated blast furnace slag activated<br />

with slaked lime. The fill mix consists of lime/slag in the proportion 1.5/100, added<br />

to s<strong>and</strong>fill in the slag/s<strong>and</strong>fill proportion of 1/11. The pulp density of the mix is controlled<br />

at 40% water per unit weight of mixture. When the backfill mix is introduced<br />

into the centre of the stope from hangingwall fill points, fine material containing a high<br />

proportion of slag reports to the stope walls. The centre of the fill mass is therefore<br />

weaker than backfill abutting the stope boundaries.<br />

Filling practice involves the construction of fill dams or bulkheads in the original<br />

stope accesses <strong>and</strong> installation of filter <strong>and</strong> drainage lines. Bulkheads are designed to<br />

withst<strong>and</strong> 0.5 MPa earth pressure on the lower sublevels, <strong>and</strong> 0.25 MPa in the upper<br />

sublevels. Coarse backfill is introduced at the bottom of the stope to provide base<br />

drainage, <strong>and</strong> filter lines are erected from the stope base to each sublevel. The filter<br />

lines are made from agricultural drainage pipe.<br />

Backfill prepared <strong>and</strong> placed in this way has a dry unit weight (d) of about 16.5<br />

kN m −3 . One year after emplacement, the in situ strength of the mass is 1.05 MPa.<br />

The peak strength is achieved in 3 to 5 years. At that time, during adjacent stoping<br />

the fill mass may support vertical fill face exposures 100 m high <strong>and</strong> 60 m wide.<br />

Application of paste fill is illustrated by bench-<strong>and</strong>-fill stoping at the Neves Corvo<br />

Mine, Portugal (Hepworth <strong>and</strong> Caupers, 2001, Been et al., 2002). The mining method<br />

is shown in Figure 14.11, where primary bench stopes are mined transversely across<br />

426

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