Risk and hazard classification of mine waste dumps

Bachelor of Technology
In
Mining Engineering

By
Prabhupad Panda
Under the guidance of
Dr. Ram Manohar Bishwal

Department of Mining Engineering

National Institute of Technology
Rourkela
 CONTENTS

1. ABSTRACT
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND
2.2 RISK AND HAZARD
2.2.1 RISK ASSESSMENT
2.2.2 RISK MATRIX
2.2.3 RISK MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT
3. INITIALIZATION OF MODEL
 ABSTRACT

Present work deals with the risks and hazards that frequently arises in mines and their qualitative
and quantitative classification into different fields with respect to their degree of severity. A
model is developed based on the open-pit mine and the dump , the classifications are done for the
hazards and the risks keeping design parameters within the knowledge. Many methods are there
to classify the hazards and risks into different categories but qualitative and quantitative
classifications are given more stress. Based on these classifications a general theory can be made
whether to consider the required parameters or to exclude them from project while making the
simulation models.
 INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND

The project deals with the overview of risk-assessment and hazard classification of mine waste
dump in open pit mining. In general open pit mining is very impotant aspect of raw materials
mining and it is present all over the world. The period from the start to the construction of an
open-pit mine takes several years and includes prospection/exploration, mineral extraction, and
waste handling and management. Many types of big machineries are used in order to produce
profitable ore and transport them to required areas. Waste handling in many Indian mines are of
poor category and are generally neglected so many failure occur in general and several lives are
gone in recent years. So in general a risk and hazard checklist is necessary to understand open-pit
mining waste dump and to improve safety. Several risk issues regarding environment, financial
aspects, maintenance, safety, availability, offer, geology, and reliability are decided to be the
most important issues. So to get a required checklist of RISKS and HAZARDS one need to
analyze the recent hazards that occurred in mines(open-cast) and the possible risks and hazards
that can occur in some mine also the ratings must be given in order to get a clear idea on the risk
and hazard weightages, on basis of which one can operate in waste dumps(open-pit) in mines.

1.1 RISK AND HAZARDS

A. RISK ASSESSMENT

A Framework is always required to analyze something, and certain grading of traits must be done
to assess the effect of that particular traits on different possibilities. Uncertainty or Risk is always
there when a work or equivalent is done by humans. So, there must be certain rules regulations to
weigh a particular risk based on the effectiveness of that risk on our work.

 Not only a single work gives a certain amount of risk, but a series of works actually gives
us a particular risk.
  These series of works are called consequences. It is the outcome of an event affecting
objectives.
 The event is the occurrence or change of a particular set of circumstances (can be
uncertain).
 The likelihood is a general description of probability or frequency (chance of something
happening).
 The hazard is a potential source of harm.

Assessing risk has certain advantages also, it can help in:

 Improving standard
 Threat management
 Improved performances

RISK IDENTIFICATION: Potential consequences which can cause the work to stop or delay in
any terms is considered as a risk.

RISK ANALYSIS: Certain parameters that should be used to weigh a risk in terms of the
damage it can cause, to weigh these risks certain methodologies are required, so these
methodologies are used to do analysis.

RISK EVALUATION: Generally include ranking the risks into different categories and
comparing the risks with others.

When one is trying to calculate the risks and its effect(damage) on the required model then there
should be some part of model those are receiving the model or these receivers may not be from
the model itself but indirectly affecting it. Now if receivers are there then some effects must be
there on these receivers due to the Risk (directly or indirectly), so if these are noticeable then
these are the indicators that indicates if risk is affecting the model or not

RISK RECEPTORS: risk receptors are referred to those entities who receive the risks and are
vitally degraded based on the severity of risk and its consequences. Also receptors are receiving
risk, so they must indicate somethings.
RISK INDICATORS: when receptors receive risks and the entities shows some change in
general attributes which are noticeable these are called indicators. These indicators are very
necessary to read the risks and specify and rate the risks based on their severity.

In general for example some indicators are:

1. People impacts measured according to:

 health and safety in general and the environment standards
 community concerns
2. Environment impacts measured according to:
 magnitude of impacts on the biological or physical attributes of animals and
plants.
 environment changes and degradation
3. Financial impacts measured according to:
 operational time degradation
 total costs in operations

Considering the Mines Dump as a model , the receptors and indicators are described as:

RISK RECEPTORS RISK INDICATORS

company Reputation of
Wild life health company

machine
Environment
Humans Safety, social helath
expectations
Analyzing the Risks ,risk identification and evaluation of the risk is difficult unless some models
are prepared and a set of algorithm prepare to judge the model.

Generally the risk analysis involves :

a. Qualitative analysis
b. Semi-quantitative analysis
c. Quantitative analysis.

Qualitative methods involve descriptive assessments of risk and include multidisciplinary group
evaluation, expert judgements, interviews, questionnaires, what-if analyses and checklists. Semi-
quantitative methods involve numerical index descriptions of risk, and may include failure
modes and effects analysis and more specialized index-based analysis.
Quantitative methods involve more rigorous numerical descriptions of risk and include actuarial
analysis of historical data, consequence and probability modelling and logic trees including fault
and event tree analyses.

B. RISK MATRIX

There may be many other categories of consequences and definitions of the severity of
consequence levels depending on the risk assessment objectives. The consequence severity index
could also be divided into more or fewer levels. In general, all categories may be addressed as
people, environmental or financial impacts. Any of the categories may be relevant for a
particular risk assessment, and all of these risks can be estimated using the risk matrix( in table
1) method. The severity of effects for each category of consequence is defined by an index
ranging from very low to very high. Although these indices are blank in the figure, they would
be defined as appropriate for the risk management program. The evaluation of risk requires
determining the priority of risk as defined through the different locations (or risk values) within
the risk matrix developed for the risk assessment. The criteria for evaluating risks are developed
for the risk management program and are useful for comparing risks, such as among different
operations, or for prioritizing risks. After giving the risk values , the main criteria to define is risk
index:

Total risk= risk value × risk index

The appropriate criteria should be properly developed to match the objective:

Risk levels Risk management action

Critical Action required. More detailed risk analysis

should be carried out
High Assessment of risk mitigation, prioritize
resources to manage risk
Moderate Assess risk mitigation options and manage the
risks
Low Monitor risks

TABLE 1---RISK MATRIX

C. RISK MITIGATION AND MANAGEMENT

Risks needed to be prioritized for the treatment of dumps in open cast mines, after risks are being
prioritize then the steps are to find the best suitable implementation of the best option for
mitigating risks. The main challenge is to find a cost-effective method to deal with the problem.
Where risks do not meet the established acceptance criteria or tolerance, potential risk mitigation
options are developed, and cost-effective solutions are analyzed to mitigate risks to the necessary
criteria level (or possibly eliminate them). Several measures may be applied to treat risks
depending on the evaluation. Not all treatments may be financially based, depending on the
criteria and management requirements.

The successful implementation of controls and mitigation measures is critical to estimating risk,
and the risk management program will include tasks to assess and monitor the efficiency of all
such measures (or re-evaluate the risk). These controls can be organized in an ordered hierarchy
of classes according to their potential effectiveness from most to least effective:

 Elimination – remove the hazard and eliminate the risk (most effective)
 Substitution – change or replace a hazard source with something that will not create the
hazard
 Engineered controls – redesign to control the exposure; hazards are not eliminated but
receptors are less exposed
 Administrative controls – change how people work
 Personal protective equipment – protect people (least effective).

…(ON GOING)
 INITIALIZATION OF MODEL

The requirement of model is specific and mandatory in order to calculate the risks and get
different consequences of risks and hazard based on the severity of the former and later. Risk
analysis can be performed qualitatively or quantitatively. Qualitative risk analysis generally
involves assessing a situation by nature. Quantitative risk analysis attempts to assign numeric
values to risks, either by using empirical data or by quantifying qualitative assessments.

 Developing a Model — by defining the problem or situation in Excel worksheet format.

 Identifying Uncertainty — in variables in the Excel worksheet and specifying their
possible values with probability distributions, and identifying the uncertain worksheet
results to be analyzed.
 Analyzing the Model with Simulation — to determine the range and probabilities of all
possible outcomes for the results of the worksheet.
 Making a Decision — based on the results provided and personal preferences

3.
IDENTIFYING
UNCERTAINITY
DEVELOPING A 4.
ANALYSING MODEL
MODEL WITH SIMULATIONS

2.

INPUT
PARAMETER 5.

MAKING A
DECISION
1.
MODEL INITIALIZATION:

1. Objective is defined (Objective includes):

 model development
 scope of model
 acquiring previous data on the model and the surrounding areas
 all geological discontinuity is re-checked and the environmental conditions are
also checked.
 Data on nearby areas of certain radius

2. Possible Risk Identification

 Possible Risks are formulated
 All the possible risks are associated with the model and damage is noticed.
 Previous hazards in that areas and nearby areas are also taken into considerations.
 Detailed survey (questionaries).
 These all possible surveys and risks are also judged and clarified by some
simulation softwares if required.
…(ON GOING)