Strip Mining, Open-pit Mining, Surface Mining, Mining Techniques, Mining Equipment, Mining Dictionary

In European nations, more than 50% of prior mined lands are rehabilitated as forest or grass lands. Though, in China more than 70% of the mined lands are improved for farming purposes since the enormous population and a scarcity of fertile farmlands make this crucial. The correct reclamation of mined land must be decided in terms of local physical and socio-economic circumstances. Strip mining is only a temporary use of land, so it is imperative to restore the land as soon as mining is over to save the land.

The selection of the mine design is dictated by the physical structure and value of the ore body and by the characteristics of the adjacent geological materials. Although open-pit mines and underground mines are the two most common mining strategies, placer mining and solution mining also have been used for mineral extraction. Placer mining involves excavation of river or stream sediments and the separation of valuable minerals by gravity, selective flotation, or by chemical extraction. Most solution mining is by heap leaching, in which the extractant solution is trickled over broken ore on the surface or in underground workings; less common is injection into underground aquifers. The consequence of the excavation of open pits and other mining-related disturbances is that sulfide minerals previously isolated from the atmosphere are exposed to oxygen.

The operator puts the spoil from the box cut to the side, away from the area in which mining will continue. In huge open pit mines, large stripping shovels or draglines get rid of the overburden. However, the unwanted effects on the environment and human health generated by strip mining cannot be disputed, such as dust and noise pollution of mining activity, dissipation of endangered species resulted from land disturbance, and water pollution. Statistics show that strip mining accounts for about 40% of the world’s coal mining, while open pit mines make up 80% of total coal production.

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I should also mention, phosphate mining operations are very similar to coal mining operations. Open-pit mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth through xcritical official site their removal from an open pit or borrow. This process is done on the ground surface of the earth [6] It is best suited for accessing mostly vertical deposits of minerals.

  • The surface soil is often stripped separately, removed, and dumped as stockpile.
  • When the operator gets to the last cut, the only spoil left to fill this cut is the overburden from the original or box cut.
  • Mountaintop removal, often referred to as strip mining on steroids, is xcritically the most commonly employed and devastating form of surface mining in Appalachia.
  • Although open-pit mining is sometimes mistakenly referred to as “strip mining”, the two methods are different (see above).
  • The empty mining site can also be filled with water to create an artificial lake.

Many coal power plants are located along waterways or large rivers like the Ohio to facilitate the delivery of coal via barges or railroads. Some large surface coal mines, such as Wyodak near Gillette in eastern Wyoming have a power plant on-site to utilize the coal at the mine and sell electricity directly into the national grid. Spoil handling design is of critical importance, as this function is usually the most expensive cost element in surface mining. When the surface mining method utilizes trucks, spoil handling is designed to minimize the overall haul distance for logical units of spoil volume, which may be driven by pit layout, topography, or area stripping requirements. Mine plan alternatives are evaluated to minimize the distance that spoil volumes are moved from the beginning centroid of mass to the ending centroid of mass.

Fossil fuels reservoirs and extraction

In most forms of surface mining, heavy equipment, such as earthmovers, first remove the overburden. Next, large machines, such as dragline excavators or bucket-wheel excavators, extract the mineral. Underground mining is carried out when the rocks, minerals, or precious stones are located at a distance far beneath the ground to be extracted with surface mining.

Effects of Mining on Surface Water

Strip-mining processes are subject to a variety of occupational and environmental health and safety regulations in any advanced country in which the activity is practiced. Because mining is recognized as a particularly hazardous occupation with a number of practice-specific safety hazards, these regulations may be enforced by an industry-specific oversight body. For instance, in the United States, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), not OSHA, is responsible for enforcing regulations related to mine safety. Holes are drilled in special patterns so that blasting produces the types of fragmentation desired for the subsequent loading, hauling, and crushing operations. These patterns are defined by the burden (the shortest distance between the hole and the exposed bench face) and the spacing between the holes.

Pan Global Resources Secures Surface Access for Exploration at Copper-Tin Discovery

The object of blasting is to fragment the rock and then displace it into a pile that will facilitate its loading and transport. In large open pits the main implements for loading are electric, diesel-electric, or hydraulic shovels, while electric or mechanical-drive trucks are used for transport. The size of the shovels is generally specified by dipper, or bucket, size; those in common use have dipper capacities ranging from 15 to 50 cubic metres (20 to 65 cubic yards). This means that 30 to 100 tons can be dug in a single “bite” of the shovel. The size of the trucks is matched to that of the shovel, a common rule of thumb being that the truck should be filled in four to six swings of the shovel. Thus, for a shovel of 15-cubic-metre capacity, a truck having a capacity of 120 to 180 tons (four to six swings) should be assigned.

Retrieving minerals and transporting them is much simpler when using strip mining methods. The first and most common approach is referred to as area mining; it is used on fairly flat terrain and involves the removal of long strips (potentially hundreds of meters) at once. In this approach, the overburden removed from https://xcritical.solutions/ each new strip is deposited into the excavated area left by the previous strip. The second approach, called contour mining, is used on hilly terrain and involves stripping land in a manner that mirrors its topography. Deposits mined by open-pit techniques are generally divided into horizontal layers called benches.

The toxic water could contaminate groundwater, streams, soil, plants, animals, and human beings. There are two common techniques under the umbrella of strip mining categorized as area mining and contour mining, depending on the amounts of ore under the surface. Area mining is appropriate for near-surface, thin mineral extraction over a wide, flat terrain in a series of parallel and long strips. The more common method is area stripping, which is used on fairly flat terrain, to extract deposits over a large area.

It has been estimated that more than two-thirds of the world’s yearly mineral production is extracted by surface mining. There are several types of surface mining, but the three most common are open-pit mining, strip mining, and quarrying. These differ from one another in the mine geometries created, the techniques used, and the minerals produced. The operating sequence for each pit includes drilling and blasting, followed by overburden casting, then coal removal. Draglines and continuous excavators move or displace the overburden from the active pit to the previous pit that has had the coal removed.

It is one of the most, if not the most, inexpensive mining format xcritically available to us. For those who are unfamiliar, strip mining is a form of surface mining that focuses on the collection of tar sand and coal, which both rest somewhat close to Earth’s surface. Those who support strip mining point to the increased ease of access and all of its attendant benefits. According to statistics presented to the MSHA, the injury and fatality rates faced by strip miners are generally lower than those faced by underground miners.

The goal of drill and blast design is to optimize rock fracturing, which optimizes digging productivity. Fracturing is optimized by using the correct amount of explosive per cubic yard of overburden employed in the drill hole spacing in plan view. The amount of explosive in weight per cubic yard of overburden is called the powder factor. Drill and blast design is accomplished by empirical methods and by experience. The drill hole layout and powder factor change when cast blasting is utilized.

Hiring a professional, experienced staff and obtaining all of the necessary equipment leads to higher costs than some may be prepared to deal with. Money is saved on the back end when it comes to strip mining, not the front end. Strip Mining Is Faster
Most xcritical courses scam other mining techniques require the digging of tunnels, which adds additional time to the process. Strip mining does not rely on the digging of tunnels and since the route to the surface is much shorter, this also cuts down on the amount of time spent.

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