Underground Mining

Methods
 Underground
Mining Methods

Coal Mining Metal Mining

Unsupported Supported
Bord and Pillar Caving mining
Mining Mining

Longwall Room and Pillar Cut and fill Longwall

Blasting galllery Stope and Pillar Stull Sublevel caving

Shrinkage Square set Block caving

Sublevel
 Longwall mining method:

• Complete removal of the entire seam in one

operation .
• Leaving no pillars and allowing the roof to
cave behind the face.
• Provides continuous production and full
potential for automation.
1. Drift for men and materials access 8. Longwall face equipment
2. Shaft winder house 9. Coal seam
3. Bathhouse and administration building 10. Continuous miner unit
4. Workshops 11. Coal pillar
5. Coal preparation plant 12. Underground coal bin
6. Coal storage bins 13. Main roadway or heading
7. Gas drainage system 14. Coal skips to carry coal to the surface
 Types of longwall mining methods:
• Retreat longwall mining method
• Advance longwall mining method
Advance longwall mining method Retreat longwall mining method
Requires small outlay for development return Larger initial outlay with no intermediate

Mine produces coal in a relatively short time Extensive development opening must be
maintained during the life of the mine

Ventilation is less effective Ventilation is more effective

Maintenance of haulage and airways is difficult, Avoids cost of building and maintaining
these opening pass through caved ground and packwalls .
the packwalls supporting them often give
trouble from settlement.
 Blasting gallery method:
• Induced caving by blasting during depillaring of panels
in underground mines
• BG method is a semi mechanized caving method,
which involves retreating along level galleries, while
extracting the maximum possible thickness of the seam
• BG method involves splitting along the level of
developed pillars in the bottom section into two
rectangular stooks and adequately supporting the
widened galleries by hydraulic props and roof bars at
least two pillars ahead of the pillar under extraction.
 Advantages of blasting gallery method:
• Less capital intensive as compared to longwall
• Less skilled manpower needed compare to longwall
• Higher production (400-500 t/day/panel) and
productivity
• Extraction of hard coal not suitable for ploughs and
shearer
• Extraction of small size panels not suitable for longwall
method
• In case of BG failure, equipments can be used for
heading drivages
• The workers/operators are always under the supported
roof
Depillaring layout and LHD tramming in blasting gallery method
 Room-and-pillar/
Stope-and-pillar mining
• Maximum part of ore body is excavated.
• Sections of ore is left as pillars to support the
hanging wall.
• They can be circular, square or shaped as elongated
walls, separating the stopes.
• The ore remaining in the pillars can be extracted by
robbing.
 Applications:
• Ore bodies with horizontal or flat dip, inclination not
exceeding 30⁰.
• Competent rock in the hanging wall and ore.

Types:
• Flat room-and-pillar mining
• Inclined room-and-pillar mining
• Step room-and-pillar mining
Flat room-and-pillar mining:
Inclined room-and-pillar mining:
Step room-and-pillar mining:
Shrinkage stoping mining method:
• The ore is excavated in horizontal slices, starting from
the bottom of the stope and advancing upwards.
• Part of the broken ore is left to support the stope
walls.
• Smaller ore bodies can be mined with a single stope.
• Larger ore bodies are divided into separate stopes.
• Pillars can be recovered upon completion of the
regular mining.
 Applications:
Shrinkage stoping can be used in ore bodies with:-
• Steep dip; dip mist exceed the angle of repose
• Firm ore
• Comparatively stable hanging wall and footwall
• Regular ore boundaries
• Ore that is not affected by storage in the stope
(certain sulphide ores tend to oxidize and
decompose when exposed to the atmosphere).
 Development:
The development for shrinkage stoping consists
of:-
• Haulage drift along the bottom of the stope
• Crosscuts into the ore underneath the stope
• Finger raises and cones from the crosscuts to the
undercuts
• An undercut or complete bottom slice of the
stope at a level of 5-10m above the haulage drift
• Raise from haulage level passing through the
undercut up to the main level above, to provide
access and ventilation to the stope.
Shrinkage stoping with cross-cut loading
 Sublevel stoping mining method:
• The ore body is divided vertically by driving crosscuts
and haulage levels every 150 to 400ft (45 to 120m).
• A collection system is constructed, during which time
the stope block is all or partially undercut.
• Sublevels are driven through the proposed stope
block every 30 to 180ft (10 to 55m).
• Shrinkage stoping has also been used to form the
starting slot that may be developed at the end or
middle of the stope.
Sublevel stoping layout
 Cut and fill method:
• Ore is extracted in horizontal slices starting from the
bottom of a stope and advancing upwards.
• After excavating the ore the corresponding volume is
filled with waste material like waste rock etc.
• The filling material can be mixed with cement to
produce a harder surface.
• Cut and fill mining can be applied in steeply dipping
ore bodies with reasonably firm ore.
 Development:
It consists of:
• Haulage drifts along the ore body at the main level.
• Short raises and manways to an undercut, 5-10m
above the haulage drift level.
• Undercut of the complete stope area.
Layout of cut and fill mining
 Stull supporting system:
• Stull sets are applicable to Ore bodies that dip 70
degree Or more, have very weak walls, and are not
more than 20 ft in width.
• The stull sets prevent movement of the walls on the
mining floor until sand fill can be poured.
• The stull consists of two posts, a cap and two
squeeze headings.
• The caps are round timber, 12 to 24 inches in
Diameter, depending upon the span.
 Square sets:
• This method is primarily used where the walls of the
stope are weak, or if the ore body is too wide for stull
timbering.
• The ore is excavated in blocks of approximately the
same size, ranging from 5 to5 by7 ft to 6 to6 by 8 ft.
• A square set is composed of a vertical post and the
horizontal members, cap and girt.
• The cap is laid in the direction of maximum lateral
pressure and is the main load bearing member.
Square set stoping
 Caving methods:
• Caving mining methods that are based on a
planned caving of rocks above and/or at times
surrounding the material being mined can be
classified in three broad categories:
• Sublevel Caving
• Block Caving
• Longwall mining method
 Sublevel caving method:
• Sublevel caving is a mass mining method based upon
gravity flow of blasted ore and caved waste rock.
• Its major advantage is safety.
• There is relatively high dilution of ore by caved
waste.
• Some ore is lost in passive zones between those of
active flow.
Typical sublevel caving layout
 Block caving method:
• Block caving is usually used to mine large ore bodies
that have consistent grade throughout.
• BLOCK CAVING is the lowest cost of all mining
methods.
• It is a mass mining method where the extraction and
breaking of ore depends largely on gravity.
Block caving mining method
• There are three major systems of recovering the
broken ore from the block cave:-

• THE GRIZZLY SYSTEM- it is a full gravity system

wherein ore from the draw points flows directly to
transfer raises after sizing at the grizzly.
• THE SLUSHER SYSTEM- it uses a slusher scraper for
the main production unit. It is used where rock
breaks into moderate-sized fragments.
• LHD SYSTEM –it is used where rock breaks into
relatively large fragments..
LHD system-typical layout
Factors which affects the selection
of mining method
• Spatial characteristics of the deposit:-
a. Size (especially height, thickness, and overall
dimensions)
b. Shape (tabular, lenticular, massive, or irregular)
c. Attitude (inclination or dip)
d. Depth (mean and extreme values, strpping
ratio)
e. Regularities of the ore boundaries
f. Existence of previous mining
• Geological and hydrologic conditions:-
a. Mineralogy and petrography (e.g., sulphides
vs. oxides in copper)
b. Chemical composition (primary and secondary
minerals)
c. Deposit structure (folds, faults,
discontinuities, intrusions)
d. Planes of weakness (joints, fractures, shear
zones, cleavage in minerals, cleat in coal)
e. Uniformity of grade
f. Alteration and weathered zones
g. Existence of strata gases
• Geotechnical (soil and rock mechanics) properties:-
a. Elastic properties (strength, modulus of
elasticity, poisson’s ratio etc.)
b. Plastic or viscoelastic behavior (flow, creep)
c. State of stress (premining, postmining)
d. Rock mass rating (overall ability of openings to
stand unsupported or with support)
e. Other physical properties affecting competence
(specific gravity, voids, porosity, permeability,
moisture content, etc.)
• Economic considerations:-
a. Reserves (tonnage and grade)
b. Production rate (output per unit time)
c. Mine life (total operating period for
development and exploitation)
d. Productivity (tons or tonnes/employee hour)
e. Comparative mining costs of suitable methods
f. Comparative capital costs of suitable methods
• Technological factors:-
a. Recovery (proportion of the ore that is
extracted)
b. Dilution (amount of waste that must be
produced with the ore)
c. Flexibility of the method to changing conditions
d. Selectivity of the method (ability to extract ore
and leave waste)
e. Concentration or dispersion of workings
f. Ability to mechanize and automate
g. Capital and labor intensities
• Environmental concerns:-
a. Ground control to maintain integrity of
openings
b. Subsidence, or caving effects at the surface
c. Atmospheric control (ventilation, air quality
control, heat and humidity control)
d. Availability of suitable waste disposal areas
e. Workforce (availability, training, living,
community conditions)
f. Comparative safety conditions of the suitable
mining methods