Abstract
Broken rock mass and unreasonable stope structure parameters can cause excessive ore loss and dilution in sublevel caving; this is the main problem faced by caving mining in recent years. This paper proposes a stope structure parameter optimization method suitable for steeply inclined medium-thick broken ore bodies and evaluates the reliability and effectiveness through case studies. To solve the problem of large ore loss and dilution in the high-end wall sublevel caving method of Xilinhot fluorite mine, it is necessary to select proper stope structure parameters. Based on the theory of random media, an end-wall ore drawing experiment was carried out, and the bulk flow parameters needed to optimization of stope structure parameters were determined. In the experiment, it was found the draw-out body of high-end wall ore drawing showed a fine top and a thick bottom; the granular media had good fluidity. The reasonable caving step is determined to be 1.2 m instead of the 1.6 m originally used. Through the optimization experiment of the mining route position along the vein, the study found that the best route position is different with the ore body inclination. When the inclination angle of the ore body was 90°, the reasonable route was located in the center of the ore body. When the inclination angle of the ore body was between 85° and 90°, the route moved from the center of the ore body to the footwall at a rate of 22.5%. When the inclination angle of the ore body was between 80° and 85°, the route moved to the footwall at a rate of 54.8%. When the inclination angle of the ore body is not greater than 80°, the route should be arranged on the boundary of the footwall. Field application results showed the dilution rate reduced by 7.66% and the recovery rate increased by 7.31%. Field test results verify the effectiveness and applicability of the optimized stope structure, which corroborates the effectiveness and applicability of the optimized stope structure.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wagner H (2019) Deep mining: a rock engineering challenge. Rock Mech Rock Eng 52:1417–1446
Durrheim RJ (2010) Mitigating the risk of rockbursts in the deep hard rock mines of South Africa: 100 years of research. Soc Min Metall Explor, Inc., ISBN 978-0-87335-322-9, pp 156-171
Ren FY (1994) The stochastic medium method of ore-drawing and its application. Metallurgical Industry Press, Beijing (in Chinese)
Zhang ZX (2016) Failure of hanging roofs in sublevel caving by shock collision and stress superposition. J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 8(6):886–895
Sun WY, Chen XM, Tan BH (2013) Reasons and countermeasures of ore loss and depletion in complex orebody conditions [J]. J Liaoning Techn Univ (Nat Sci) 32(9):1339–1343 (in Chinese)
Chang S, Li N, Zhang GJ (2018) Research Status and Prospects of the Caved Ore-body Sharp in Pillarles Sublevels Caving Method[J]. Metal Mine 509(11):7–12 (in Chinese)
Li GH, Ren FY, Ding HX (2021) A Dynamic Intersecting Arrangement Model Based on Isolated Draw Zones for Stope Structure Optimization during Sublevel Caving Mining. Math Probl Eng 1:1–12
Liu N, Ren FY, He RX et al (2016) Route of Ore Loss and Dilution Control in Sublevel Caving Method [J]. Metal Mine 11:10–15 (in Chinese)
Tao GQ, Lu MX, Zhang XF, Zhang R, Zhu ZHA New diversion drawing technique for controlling ore loss and dilution during longitudinal sublevel caving. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 113:163–171
Bustillo RM (2018) Mineral Resource Extraction. Mineral Resources. In: Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment. Springer, Cham, pp 311–421
Ren FY (1992) Theory and practical application of randommedium for ore drawing. Northeast University, Shenyang (in Chinese)
Marano G (1980) The interaction between adjacent draw points in free flowing materials and it application to mining. Chamber Mines J 22:25–32
Tao GQ, Ren FY, Liu ZD et al (2010) Research on improvement of the stochastic medium theory for ore drawing. J Min Saf Eng 27(02):239–243 (in Chinese)
Melo F, Vivanco F, Fuentes C (2009) Calculated isolated extracted and movement zones compared to scaled models for block caving. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 46(4):731–737
Brunton ID, Fraser SJ, Hodgkinson JH, Stewart PC (2010) Parameters influencing full scale sublevel caving material recovery at the ridgeway gold mine. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 47(4):647–656
Martinez MA, Newman AM (2011) A solution route for optimizing long and short-term production scheduling at LKAB’s Kiruna mine. Eur J Oper Res 211(1):184–197
Castro RL, Fuenzalida MA, Lund F (2014) Experimental study of gravity flow under confined conditions. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 67:164–169
Sun GW, Wang L (2019) Parameter optimization on the stope structure of non-pillar sublevel caving method in Songhu iron mine [J]. Min Res Dev 39(7):19–23 (in Chinese)
Liu D, Shao AL, Jin CY (2019) Numerical model building for broken ore body and optimization of stope structural parameters [J]. J Central South Univ (Science and Technology) 50(2):437–443
Hu XB, Pan J, Ma XY (2016) Research on Loss and Dilution by Different Mining Sequence in Pillarless Sublevel Caving [J]. Metal Mine 45(2):26–29 (in Chinese)
Tao GQ, Yang JF, Ren FY (2019) Experimental study on diversion drawing of inclined medium-thick ore body[J]. J Min Saf Eng 36(01):63–68 (in Chinese)
Tan BH, Ren FY, He RX (2018) Application of Vertical Zone and Combination Ore-Drawing in Inclined Medium-Thick Orebody [J]. J Northeast Univ(Natural Science) 39(01):133–137 (in Chinese)
Ding HX, Niu L, Sun MZ (2019) Optimization of blast rings space of non-pillar sublevel caving method based on PFC [J]. China Min Mag 28(03):85–89 (in Chinese)
Jin AB, Sun H, Meng XQ (2017) Study of best caving steps under different ore methods of sublevel caving [J]. J Central South Univ (Science and Technology) 48(11):3038–3044 (in Chinese)
Huang G, Ding HG, Tang XL (2017) Optimization of production drift width in the sub-level caving method [J]. J Chongqing Univ 40(11):28–36 (in Chinese)
Song DL, Ren FY (2019) Liu DX (2017) Caving Mining Technology for High Stress Fractured Orebody in the Northern Mining Area of Xishimen Iron Mine[J]. Metal Mine 513(03):47–53 (in Chinese)
Tao GQ, Liu ZD, Ren FY (2010) Optimization research of stope structural parameters in sublevel caving with non-pillar [J]. J China Coal Soc 3(8):1269–1272 (in Chinese)
Acknowledgments
The study was jointly supported by grants from the Inner Mongolia Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2021BS05011) and National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51264028). The authors are grateful for these supports.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, D., Liu, S. & Wang, J. Study on Optimization of Stope Structure Parameters for Steeply Inclined Medium-thick Broken Ore Bodies. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 39, 1099–1112 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00562-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00562-8