Annual Meeting Preliminary Program - Full Brochure (PDF) - SME

TECHNICAL PROGRAM
basis of planning and monitoring the project through engineering, procurement
and construction; Work with Commissioning to ensure that all commissioning
systems are defined and prioritized accordingly in the construction schedule and
monitoring systems to ensure there is a smooth transition from construction to
commissioning at the appropriate time of the project.
3:05 PM
Operations Readiness – A Critical Element of a Succesful Project
U. Shinde; Hatch, Mississsauge, ON, Canada
Studies have shown that start-up and ramp up performance is severely impacted
by the lack of an integrated operational readiness approach. There are four prime
Operational Readiness objectives required to ensure a fit for purpose operational
capability is developed, in parallel with the execution of a project, a must to enable
any new facility or venture to meet business plan operational targets: Critical
operational business functions People with skills and knowledge to safely meet
the project’s needs Equipment that safely produce at expected availability, production
rate and quality levels Systems and processes to ensure production requirements
meet schedules and plans This paper will look at a mining case study
and show the benefits and risks involved in not using a prepared and structured
approach to operational readiness, and highlight some of the typical risks.
3:25 PM
Resolutions Copper’s Underground Exploration Project Number 10
Shaft Development
T. Goodell; Rio Tinto, Superior, AZ
Resolution Copper Mining LLC Exploration Shaft Project,. Resolution Copper
Mining LLC is developing a new mining project to access approximately 1.6 billion
known tons of porphyry copper resource 7000 feet below surface and mine it
by block caving methods. This project will require approximately $5 billion to
commence production in 2022 and take seven years to ramp up to full production
of 120 thousand tonnes per day. This paper discusses the project start up and the
sinking of the first of six 7000 foot deep shafts required to access this world class
orebody. Resolutions twenty eight foot diameter Number 10 shaft is currently
6000 feet deep and scheduled to reach full depth later this year. Resolutions sinking
contractor, Cementation USA uses state of the art conventional sinking methods
combined with a largely local labor force to complete this record breaking
shaft. Upon completion Number 10 shaft will be the deepest shaft in the United
States and the largest by volume in North America. Details of the methodology
and lessons learned will be discussed in this paper.
Mining & exploration:
operations: discovery and Innovation in
underground Mining
2:00 PM • Wednesday, February 27
chairs: A. Nieto, Penn State University, University Park, PA
S. Reznik, SRK Consulting, Lakewood, CO
2:00 PM
Introductions
2:05 PM
Applications and Calibrations of Passive Seismic Imaging in
Underground Mining
X. Ma and E. Westman; Mining and Mineral Engineering,
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Seismic events provide an energy perspective for analyzing rock failure in mines.
Passive seismic imaging is a promising tool to get the information from seismic
events and thus provides the stress distribution through velocity inversion technique
— double difference tomography. We perform the double difference tomography
through combining catalog phase data and cross correlation data,
which is differential travel times from phase correlation of P waves, to get the
more accurate relocation of seismic events and velocity model. The seismic
events were relocated and the tomographic images were produced on using accurate
velocity model. The stress redistribution was analyzed through comparing
the change of tomography in different time scale. The tomographic results indicated
that the energy level would significantly lower after the occurrence of major
events, which generally have a magnitude larger than 2.5. Also, shown on the tomographic
images, the stress of ore body would redistribute followed with the energy
release within seismic events. The areas with high stress rock mass are located,
which could be emphasized and supported to improve an overall safety in
underground mining.
2:25 PM
Underground Positioning of Mining Vehicles
S. Bahrampour, J. Rostami and A. Nieto; Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA
The satellite-based global positioning system has significantly impacted the operations
in surface mining in different aspects such as safety, productivity, fleet efficiency,
and maintenance practices. However, no comparable positioning system
exists for underground mines. In this paper, available technologies that could be
adopted to underground position monitoring systems will be reviewed. In particular
position monitoring of the roof bolter and the drill bit is of interest. The positioning
system will be integrated with the measurement while drilling systems
which are proposed for characterization of rock strata around an opening (coal
mine entry, stope, or drifts). The resulting system would provide a 3D map of the
roof and ribs when drilling is performed. This information can be used to analyze
the suitability of the ground support design. Current paper discusses using the
penetrating electromagnetic system, inertial navigation system, robotic total station,
laser scanning, and MEMS technology for positioning of various mining
equipment in underground environment and will evaluate the feasibility of using
one of these methods for positioning of the roof bolt drilling device.
2:45 PM
Improving Operational Efficiency at Barrick Goldstrikes
Underground Division A Renewed Look at the Longhole Stope
Mining Sequence
G. Chancellor 1 , S. Piercey 2 , C. Dahl 4 and S. Aguirre 3 ;
1
Barrick Goldstrike Underground, Elko, NV; 2 Orica Mining Services,
Sudbury, ON, Canada; 3 Orica Mining Services, Elko, NV and
4
Southwest Energy, Tucson, AZ
Goldstrike U/G utilize drift and fill and longhole stoping with delayed backfill
mining methods. The longhole stope mining sequence consists of drift development,
longhole drilling, slot blasting/mucking, production blasting/mucking,
followed by backfilling. Approximately 100 to 125 longhole stoping blocks are
mined annually. Timely completion of all stoping blocks is imperative to maintaining
the mining plan. Maintaining drill-hole integrity between blasts is the primary
cause for delays when utilizing the multiple blast, excavation approach.
Remediation efforts can range from manually cleaning holes to machine cleaning
or re-drilling new holes, which can add several days of non value added work to
the process. This paper describes how the Stope Mass-Blast, Value in Use (VIU)
Project team from Barrick, Orica and Southwest Energy are addressing this opportunity.
The Paper details the data collection, modeling, re-design process and
methodology, execution as well as the quality assurance and quality control
mechanisms implemented during the demonstration blasting phase of the Mass-
Blast Stope Optimization Project.
3:05 PM
Efficient Evaluation of Block Cave Footprints
for a Range of Elevations
A. Isabel; Caving Business Unit, Gemcom Software, Perth, WA,
Australia
The initial evaluation of a range of footprints and elevations of where to place a
block cave extraction level can be a time consuming process. Placement of a
block cave extraction level needs to take into account a wide range of inputs and
constraints. Some of the most important inputs and constraints include; material
flow and dilution entry, cave front sequence, mining rate, maximum cave
height, mining costs, capital costs, revenue factors, and discounted cash flow.
Utilizing Gemcom PCBC Footprint Finder software we have assisted mining
firms to efficiently evaluate a variety of ore-bodies with a wide range of inputs
and constraints. The Footprint Finder tool has been used in industry for approximately
10 years. However, recent enhancements to the software include the
ability to take sequencing, and therefore discounted cash flow into account
when evaluating footprints and elevations. A case study from the utilization of
Footprint Finder is presented to illustrate how the economic footprints were
identified. Engineers can provide analysis for informed decision making, if they
are able to efficiently evaluate a large number of scenarios for block cave extraction
level placement.
This is the Technical Program as of September 1, 2012. IT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
118
Please see the Onsite Program for final details.