flat Mining

Mining in flat orebodies

Nearly horizontal
extraction
Variations on room-and-pillar and
longwall mining techniques have
always been attractive propositions for mechanization, because
of the near horizontality of such
systems. Until recently, trackless
equipment was limited to a minimum working headroom of 2 m
or more. However, major developments in Polish copper mines
and in gold and platinum mines
in South Africa have spawned a
new generation of thin-seam and
narrow mining equipment from
Atlas Copco that can work in substantially less space than previously thought possible. The Rocket
Boomer S1 L, for instance, has a
tramming height of just 1.3 m, yet
can cover a face area of up to 29
sq m. Likewise, the Scooptram
ST 600LP loader equipped with
video cameras to assist the driver
has a height of only 1.56 m, but still
carries a 6 t payload. Availability
of such machines is already revolutionizing the design approach
to mining flat orebodies.

Room and pillar

Room and pillar is designed for mining
of flat, bedded deposits of limited thickness. Examples are sedimentary deposits, like copper shale, limestone or
sandstone containing lead, coal seams,
salt and potash layers, limestone and
dolomite.
The method recovers the mineralization in open stopes, 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.
Classic room and pillar applies to
flat, bedded deposits with moderate to
underground mining methods

Vertical benching

Pillar

Pillar
tlas

co R

Cop

rills

D
ock

AB,

200

Benching of thicker parts

Classic room and pillar layout.

large thickness, also to inclined deposits with larger thickness. Mining the
orebody creates large openings, where
trackless machines can travel on the
flat floor. Orebodies with large vertical
height are mined in horizontal slices,
starting at the top and benching down
in steps.
Post room and pillar applies to inclined orebodies, of dip angle from 20
to 55 degrees, with large vertical height,
where mined out space is backfilled.
The fill keeps the rock mass stable,
and serves as the work platform while
mining the next ore slice.
Step room and pillar is an adaptation
of trackless mining to orebodies with
too steep a dip for rubber-tyred vehicles to operate in a regular room and
pillar layout. Haulage drifts and stopes
are therefore angled diagonally across
the dip, to create work areas with level
floors off which trackless equipment
can work. Mining advances downward,
along the step room angle.

Classic room and pillar

Very little development work is required
to prepare flat-bedded deposits for room
and pillar mining, because access for
ore transport and communication is
through the production rooms.

Ore production in flat room and pillar uses the same drill/blast techniques
as in normal drifting. Where geological
conditions are favourable, large-capacity
drilling rigs and loaders can be used.
High orebodies are mined in slices,
starting at the top, rockbolting the roof
from each bench. Standard crawler rigs
are used for drilling vertical holes and
conventional bench blasting. Horizontal
drilling and flat benching is a more practical alternative, using the same drilling
equipment.
The blasted ore is loaded using
diesel or cable-electric LHD machines,
and, where height permits, dump trucks
may be used between stope and dump.
In thin orebodies, loading points may
be necessary for transferring ore from
loader to hauler. As all activities are carried out on one or very few levels covering
a large area, there are many faces available at any time, so high equipment utilization is possible.

Post pillar
Post pillar mining is a crossbreed of room
and pillar and cut and fill mining. Post
pillar mining recovers the mineralization in horizontal slices, starting from a
bottom slice, advancing upwards. Pillars
are left inside the stope to support the
39

flat Mining

reinforcement of the roof several slices

ahead of the current mining.

Step room and pillar

t
Pos
ar
Pill

oR

opc

sC

tla
A

rills

D
ock

AB,

200

Post pillar mining layout.

roof. Mined-out stopes are backfilled

with hydraulic tailings, which might contain cement for added strength, to allow
the next slice to be mined working on
the fill surface. Pillars are extended
through several layers of fill, so that
the material contributes to the support,
permitting a high recovery rate. The fill
allows the stope layout to be modified

to suit variations in rock conditions and

ore boundaries.
Post pillar combines the advantages
of flat-floor cut and fill, with the spacious stopes of room and pillar, while
easy access to multiple production points
favours efficient mechanization. Similar
to cut and fill mining, cable bolting is
commonly carried out to provide safe

Longwall mining

Step room and pillar layout.

Stope mined

rills

tlas

co

Cop

kD
Roc

AB,

200

1
2
3
4

40

Step room and pillar mining adapts the

inclined orebody footwall for efficient
use of trackless equipment in tabular
deposits with thickness from 2 m to 5 m
and dip ranging from 15 to 30 degrees.
Stopes and haulageways cross the dip
of the orebody in a polar coordinate
system, orienting the stopes at angles
across the dip that can comfortably be
travelled by trackless vehicles. Parallel
transport routes cross the orebody to
establish roadway access to stopes and
for trucking blasted ore to the shaft.
Stopes are attacked from the transport drifts, branching out at the predetermined step-room angle. The stope
is advanced forward, in a mode similar
to drifting, until breakthrough into the
next parallel transport drive. Next step
is excavation of a similar drift, or side
slash, one step down dip, adjacent to the
first drive. This procedure is repeated
until the full roof span is achieved, and
an elongated pillar is left parallel with
the stopes. The next stope is attacked
in the same way, and mining continues
downwards, step by step.

Numbers indicate
sequence of extraction

Longwall mining applies to thin, bedded deposits, with uniform thickness

and large horizontal extension. Typical
deposits are coal seams, potash layers
or conglomerates, and gold reefs.
Longwall mining extracts the ore
along a straight front, with large longitudinal extension. The mining area close
to the face is kept open, to provide space
for personnel and mining equipment.
The roof may be allowed to subside at
some distance behind the working face.
Development involves excavation of
a network of haulage drifts, for access
to production areas and transport of ore
to shaft stations. As the mineralization
extends over a large area, haulage drifts
are paralleled by return airways, for ventilation of the workings. Haulage drifts
are usually arranged in regular patterns,
and excavated inside the ore. Coal and
gold longwall production techniques are
similar in principle, but quite different
underground mining methods

flat Mining

Complete package
Hanging wall
(The Venstop formation)

e
Strik
p
Di

Limestone
(The Steinvika formation)

cro
ssc
ut

h
benc

h
benc
ben
chin
g

ben
chin
g

Hor

ison

approx. 40 m

cro
ssc
ut
drift

tal p

illar

Foot wall
(The Fossum formation)

Dip

13 -

drift

8m

20 o

Room and pillar with benching at Dalen mine, Norway.

in terms of mechanization. In the coal

mine, shearers shuttle back and forth
along the face, cutting coal and depositing
it on chain conveyors. The gold reef conglomerate is much harder, and difficult
to tackle. South Africa gold mines have
developed their own techniques, using
handheld pneumatic rock drills in reefs

Atlas Copco offers three key mining

tools to provide the total solution for
low seam mining applications: drill
rigs, loaders and bolting rigs. These
are all compact and technically advanced low profile versions, specially
designed for efficient production in
rigorous underground locations: the
Rocket Boomer S1 L face drilling rig
is adapted to this specific type of
mining, with a coverage area between
6 and 29 sq m in a tramming height
as low as 1.3 m; the Boltec SL bolting rig carrier, boom and bolting unit
have been designed for efficient operation in roof heights between 1.8 and
2.5 m; and the Scooptram ST600LP
can operate safely in 1.8 m headroom
as one of a range of loaders of various capacities.

as thin as 1.0 m, which constitutes a

great challenge for equipment manufacturers to mechanize. Pillars of timber
or concrete are installed to support the
roof in the very deep mines.

Hans Fernberg

Typical longwall layout.

Rocket Boomer S1 L, the cabin version.

Slashing holes

Blasting barricade
Transport
drift
Pillars of
timber/concrete to
support roof

At

las

Co

pc

oR

oc

kD

rill

Rocket Boomer S1 L, the rear view.

sA

Scraper

B,

20

00

Scooptram ST600LP.

underground mining methods

41

Our commitment is just as strong

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you work with are also the best committed to creating
the ideal conditions for your mining and construction
operations.
It takes a strong will to get to the top, and a firm hand to
stay there. Our commitment to supply you with the best
rock-drilling solutions is just as strong.
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Atlas Copco Rock Drills AB

Fax: +46 19 670 7393
www.atlascopco.com