MAKING THE MINE A SAFE PLACE: DESIGN OR RE-SIGN
Many will agree with me that, mining is far different from all other profession, the fact that you have potential and title will not be a respectable fact for falling block or wedge not to break the head of mine manager who fails to put a safe design and measure in place for safe Mining. Also, I submit to you that rock formation has a major challenge of heterogeneity, non elastic, Discontinum, and Anisotropic characteristics which make it detrimental to stress field alterations under excavation and Blasting operation. Since Mining involved holing and extracting, by creating artificial cavity into the insitu rock, ground as the case may apply to remove what is supporting the lithosphere all in the name of profit and economic development. The standard is inevitable, you disturb the crust, the crust adjust and react to achieve stability. In view of this, making such as large as mponeng gold mine in Johannesburg in South Africa ranging from 2.5 to 3.9 km established by jannatac technologies (2018) such mine must be design with high factor of Safety. Imagine workers working in such mine and the wall collapse saving the Miner family from buying coffin, In such situation, it polite to say, the Miner's life is sacrifices for the mining operation, which is not a good idea. Then how can a mine be a safe and profitable place???Majority of mining operations are dangerous, costly, and risk in nature. Imagine people going into the subsurface as deep as 4.22km below the surface to get Gold! Check how it looks like when you there is poor ventilation, poor lightening, or rock Burst with great release of strain energy... Come out from such depth in a cage suspended by multi-stranded rope running through series of drums may not be safe if poorly design. Drilling overhand into stole roof, charging, loading and Detonating a highly fractured rock mass during block caving tends to be more dangerous just as the associated surface subsidence and airblast challenge, but with all this Mining Engineers make balance between all and ensure the ore is been mined and transport to the surface for the use for manufacturers. The beginning of all mine safety assurance is the place of mining method selection... The foundation of the production and profit status is getting the best way to select the most suitable method among many available method of Mining. To a Mining Engineer reading this not, you will understand what I am saying, But to you as an individual you will be like, what are the mining methods available and what factors do we consider when selecting the suitable method for a particular deposit and what is the significance?
Actually, many deposit both metallic and nonmetallic are usually known to existing in a host or parents rock. Such host rock in many case have series of she'll which can range from unconsolidated soil to hard rock. The accessibility of such deposit depends on the approach adopted to bypass the cover cloth (host rock). Such constraint is usually capital challenging and as a Mining Engineer we overcome such using....Striping ratio equilibrium limit as a base for justification when selecting mining method. There are basically two methods, is either surface Mining or underground Mining method. Surface Mining method is use for ore deposit with stripping ratio is lesser than one (1). This implication of this is that, the volume of overburden materials (envelope layers) to be removed to access the ore is lower compare to the volume of ore to be mined. Striping ratio is basically explain as the ratio of overburden volume to the minable ore volume. An ore is not economically suitable for surface Mining if the SR>1 i.e the volume of overburden is > volume of ore. This can also to consider in economic point of view, that if the cost of removing the overburden materials is greater than the expected market price equivalent of the total minable ore volume, the such ore is best mine by Underground mining method. In most cases, the senerio maybe that the cost of stripping I'd equal to the sale price of the minable or, such us refer to as break-even stripping ratio. In such case other factors like environmental constraint, equipment among other factors can be use as the judgement vent for decision making decision. Now the first step is overcome, you now have assurance that, the deposit will be best mine by surface Mining method.. the question now becomes, what method among all surface Mining method?
Decision made according to scholars can be base on certainty, risk or uncertainty. the place of I formation can not be disputed in this, to start as a Mining Engineer, researching on similar deposit and the adopted methods for similar ore will likely help in making your decision. I speak as a Mining economist now, if the cost of getting those equipment you need is to high such that you can only buy them, then the cost to operation them is not feasible, It is advicable that you go for that which you can afford both purchase cost and operating cost.Now I am back as a mining Engineer, if the development cost is to high in such that the available capital can only remove the overburden but can start the Mining nor make the ore from mine2mill, then consider another method that will start the Mining and complete the beneficiation safely base on the available capital.
As I have established earlier that, research on similar deposit help a lot, through this you tend to know the possible requirements to win the ore profitably and safely. After this, you can now tabulate the various available methods with their advantage and disadvantage all within the ore geometry and geotechnical properties well understand. Well I will not complete this if I fail to mention the pre-planning operation require for mine selection which comprises geological, hydrological, geophysical, geotechnical, and Geochemical survey to get sufficient information about the deposit. Also, I will like to establish this fact that, there are already existing software, charts, table and graphs by researcher like Morrison, weight, Nicholas, Hartman, University of British Columbia UBC among others. Such method is divided into two, that which is qualitative and that which is quantitative.
Mining operation must be well design to avoid any for of threat to life and properties.
If it is not safe, then is not minable. Work the Earth in a safe and secure way to ensure it is safe for others to enjoy. Mining is not just removing the mineral from the Earth but, doing that in a save and secure way to keep it free from Hazard and accident. We mine the Mineral to build the Earth not to injure and damage the lithosphere, reclamation and rehabilitation is important. If you can not reclaim, you can rehabilitate. Reclamation involve complete restoring of mine out stope back to the initial form. Some case can arise where the available resources can't reform the mine opening, we can rehabilitate it to become a safe and useful place for other activities like pond, tourist center, save stope. Ensure the wall is competent and will stand without falling, treat and control any form of mine waste, Mine affluent that can be a source of acid mine drainage or acid rock drainage. The term AMD is a serious source of acidify water, which is formed when sulphuric mineral, metals, coal is exposed to oxygen and water. Such process result in the formation of acid water which affect the biosphere, the plant, water, soil, and wildlife including human. AMD is common in metallic mines, waste from the mine and stripped overburden contain fillings of metal or weather metallic minerals. Such material when exposed to the atmosphere generate acidify product in two ways,
1. Through geochemical reaction (oxidation)
2. Through microbial activities
The geochemical process involve the metal getting exposed to H2O and Oxygen (O2).
For example, when pyrite (FeSO4) is exposed to water and Oxygen it oxidize Iron (II) to increase the acid level of the mine water.
Improperly manage mine will manage the mine resources and exhaust the mine manager.
Why mining is not like others,
1. Mining operation is capital expensive.
2. It an operation that houses the workers
3. Any failure will fade and fail the workers.
4. It involves different activities that are hazardous if poorly handled e.g blasting operation
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