CHAPTER 2

DESIGN STRATEGIES, LONG AND SHORT TERM PLANNING

2.1 Chapter Objectives and Expected Outcomes

The objectives of this chapter are:

 To outline the strategies for Underground Mine Planning and Design(UMPD).
 To define and present the principles for selecting an underground mining system.
 To discuss the determination of mine life and working regime.
 To consider equipment selection.
 To explain short and long term planning.

At the end of the chapter, the student is expected to:

 Appreciate the strategies for UMPD.
 Be able to select a mining system and suitable equipment.
 Be able to determine mine life and working regime.
 Understand short and long term planning.

2.2 Strategic Approach to UMPD

The objective of UMPD is to design an underground mining system and to plan the mining
operations so that a given deposit can be mined safely and economically. A strategic
approach to achieve this objective is presented in Fig. 2.1. All data necessary for UMPD must
be collated and validated. Comparison of the data with those of existing mines with similar
geologic environment is always useful.

The next step is to select an appropriate mining method and equipment and then design a
technologically feasible mining system that is safe and economic. A good approach is to
design alternative feasible mining systems and then select the most economic of them.
Following this, the mine life and yearly production as well as the working regime can be
worked out. This planning process will largely depend on the mineral reserves, mining
method, corporate policy and mining laws of the host country. Selection and design of the
layout of primary development openings now need to be carried out. Physiographical data
and orebody configuration play a vital role in the selection and layout design of primary
development openings. Finally, primary and secondary developments as well as stoping
operations need to be planned so that all objectives can be achieved.

2.3 Mining System Selection

2.3.1 Definition of Mining System

An underground mining system comprises the mining method, layout of secondary
development openings and the technique by which a given deposit is mined.

While the mining method is the general approach to stoping, the layout is the network of
openings by which the orebody is accessed and stoped. The techniques include the
technology, tactics, equipment and precautionary safety and safety gadgets employed in
mining.

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 Fig. 2.1 Strategic Approach to Underground Mine Planning and Design

Examples of underground mining systems are room-and-pillar, sublevel stoping, sublevel

caving and longwall mining. Examples of a layout are longitudinal or transverse layout of
openings. A technique can be LHDs or slushers or simply gravity to muck broken ore from
stopes.

A particular mining system therefore has the method, the layout of development openings
and the technique of mining well defined. It must be understood that two operating mines
may have the same mining method and even the same layout of development openings but
may have different mining systems because their techniques, for example equipment, are
different.

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2.3.2 Classification of Mining Methods

A traditionally accepted classification of underground mining methods is based on the type

of ground support (see Fig. 2.2). In this classification, there are two main methods, namely
the supported methods and unsupported or caving methods. The supported methods may
then be further subdivided into those using natural (rock) or artificial (man-made) supports.
Further subdivision of these methods lead to eight basic mining methods. Although a very
large number of different techniques have been developed over the years, the vast majority of
modern production is derived from the use of these eight methods. When the geological and
rock strength characteristics of a particular mineral deposit are evaluated, the choice of
method is usually reduced to one or two alternatives from which the final selection is made
on grounds of relative cost.

Underground Mining Methods

Supported Methods Caving (Unsuported) Methods

Natural Support Artificial Support

Block Caving Sublevel Caving Longwall Mining

Cut and Fill Shrinkage Square Set

Room and Pillar Sublevel Stoping

Fig. 2.2 Classification of Underground Mining Methods by Rock Strength

The primary geological factors vital in selecting mining methods for given deposits are the
dip (inclination to the horizontal) and thickness of the deposit. By inclination, a deposit may
be classified as being flat, inclined or steep. Table 2.1 shows the classification of deposits by
inclination to horizontal or dip. By thickness, deposits may be classified as being very
narrow, narrow or wide. Table 2.2 shows the classification of deposits by thickness.

A primary geomechanical factor vital in selecting a mining method is the rock strength which
is measured by a variety of indicators such as joint density (RQD), number of joint sets,
degree of alteration, permeability and compressive strength. A practical approach normally
used is to consider the compressive strength as a fair measure of the rock strength. Table 2.3
gives a classification of rock strength by compressive strength. Accordingly, deposits may be
classified as being weak, medium or competent. Examples of weak, medium and competent
rock are given in the selection of a method of working often needs the exercise of engineering
judgment. The rock strength and geological characteristics given do not cover every possible
deposit and therefore modifications of the basic methods are often developed for particular
circumstances.

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Table 2.1 Classification of Deposits by Inclination

Inclination to the horizontal () Type of Deposit

0o ≤  < 20o Flat
20o ≤  < 50o Inclined
50o ≤  < 90o Steep

Table 2.2 Classification of Deposits by Thickness

Thickness of Deposit Type of Deposit

t < 0.8 m (t < 2.62 ft) Very thin or narrow
0.8 m  t < 2 m (2.62 ft < t < 6.56 ft) Thin or narrow
t  2 m (t  6.56 ft) Thick or wide

Table 2.3 Classification of Deposits by Rock Strength

Compressive Strength Type of deposit by strength Examples of rocks

( MPa) measure (compressive)
 < 100 Weak Friable sandstone, mudstone and
coal
100   < 140 Medium Shales, limestone and schist
  140 Competent Most igneous rocks stronger
metamorphic rocks, hard
limestone, dolomite, quartz, basalt
and diabase

A less popular but equally accepted classification system is based on the nature of the stope
room and ground treatment for support, the two together permitting a coding system to
completely define the method. Table 2.5 explains the classification and coding system.

2.3.3 Principles of Selecting a Mining System

Most deposits have geological and geotechnical characteristics that are suitable for the
application of more than one mining method. For this reason, it is often necessary to
compare alternative applicable mining systems and select the one, which is most efficient
and economic. The following criteria can be used as the basis of comparison:
 Development or preparatory efficiency (m3/1000 t).
 Stoping efficiency (t/man-shift).
 Mining cost or stoping cost ($/t).
 Mining profit or stoping profit ($/t).

Development Efficiency:

Development efficiency is defined as the amount of secondary development openings

(measured in cubic meters) needed to mine 1000 tonnes of ore. The secondary development
may include all development openings such as drives, cross-cuts, stope raises and slots that

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are not in ore but necessary for stoping; they exclude permanent openings that may be
considered as primary openings such as shafts, adits, ramps, main levels and ore passes.
Table 2.4 Selection criteria for underground mining methods

Rock strength characteristics Geological characteristics

Ore Waste Type of deposit Dip of
orebody
Natural support

Room and pillar Medium to Medium to Thick or thin stratified Flat to

strong strong beds inclined

Sublevel stoping Medium to Strong 1 Narrow or wide veins

strong 2 Massive Steep

Artificially
supported
Medium to Medium to 1 Narrow or wide veins Inclined
Cut and fill strong strong 2 Massive to steep

Medium to Medium 1 Narrow or wide veins Inclined

Shrinkage strong to steep

Weak Weak to 1 Narrow or wide vein Steep

Square set medium 2 Massive

Caving
Weak to Weak to 1 Wide vein Steep
Block caving medium medium 2 Massive

Medium to Weak to 1 Wide vein Steep

Sublevel caving strong medium 2 Massive

Weak to Weak to Thin stratified beds Flat to

Longwall mining medium medium inclined

Table 2.5 Classification based on Nature of Stope and Ground Treatment for Support

Ground treatment for support

Nature of stoping room Pillars Pillars Filling Filling and Self filling
and self filling
filling
Growing 111 112 113 114 115
Drift
Wandering 121* 122 123 124 125
Growing 211 212 213 214 215
Chamber
221* 222 223 224 225
Wandering

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By definition, development efficiency (Ed) is calculated as:

Amount of secondary developmen t (m 3 )

E 
d 1000 tonnes of ore mined

Stoping efficiency: The stoping efficiency, Es, is the productivity of the mining system. It
is defined as tonnes of ore mined per employee-shift or as tonnes of ore mined per employee
per shift. By definition, Es can be calculated as:

T onnes of ore mined

Es 
No. Employees  Shifts required

Mining cost or stoping cost: This is defined as the cost of mining in dollars per tonne of
ore mined. The cost of mining refers to the actual stoping cost including secondary
development; it excludes capital investment and overheads. The productivity range of some
mining systems are listed in Table 2.6.

Table 2.6 Productivity Ranges of some Mining Systems

Mining System Method Productivity (Tons/employee-shift)

Room and Pillar 30 - 70
Sublevel Caving 20 - 50
Block Caving 15 - 50
Sublevel Stoping 15 - 50
Cut and Fill 10 - 40
Shrinkage 5 - 15
Square Set 1-5

Mining profit or stoping profit: The mining profit is defined as the profit in dollars per
tonne of ore mined. The mining profit, Pm, may be calculated as:

1  L 
Pm    SGR  - C m
1-D 

where: L = projected ore loss.

D = projected dilution.
S = selling price of mineral ($/g).
G = ore grade (g/t).
R = mill recovery factor.
Cm = cost per tonne of ore mined ($/t).

The criteria for selecting a particular mining system is that it has the maximum development
efficiency and stoping efficiency, minimum stoping cost and maximum profit. Definitely, it
may be difficult to select a mining system that will satisfy all the criteria. An acceptable
approach is to rank the alternative mining systems by the criteria and select the best.

2.4 Determination of Mine Life and Working Regime

2.4.1 Mine Life

The life of an underground mine is primarily dictated by the mineable mineral reserves,
mining system and the corporate policy. Taylor gives an empirical formula for determining
the life of mine, L, with R mineral reserves in million tonnes, as:

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  
L  6.5  4 R  million tonnes 
1  0.2  = 6.5 × R0.25
million tonnes
 1  0.2 
   

This empirical formula is probably based on analysis of several successful underground

mines. The figure 0.2 in the formula is to take care of expected ore dilution or ore losses
depending on the mining system. Where ore dilution is expected the factor 0.2 is added and
where ore losses are expected it must be subtracted.

A rule of thumb, however, is that a full scale underground mine must have at least 10 years.
Within this period, capital investment could be paid back and mine infrastructural facilities
might have been fully utilized. Again, a period of 10 years is enough to assure mine personnel
of some job security and hence entice them to stay on and give their full attention to the job.

Corporate policy may, however, dictate the life of a mine. A company might want to quickly
mine out the deposit within a short period, say 8 years, due to a number of factors such as
political instability, growing hostile attitude of local inhabitants, the need to pay back loan
capital within a specified period or the need to produce prescribed tonnage of ore per year.

No matter the approach used in determining the life of a mine, it must be clearly understood
that an underground mine is less flexible than a surface mine. Gaining access to the orebody
takes time, between 2 to 5 years. Primary and secondary development need to be far ahead of
mining to ensure that the production target is met and therefore closure cannot be abrupt.
When it has been decided to stop development (primary and secondary development), an
underground mine may need 2 to 3 years to mine out all the ore that has been developed.
Fig. 2.3 shows the cycle of development, production and their relation to mine life.

Fig. 2.3 Mine Life and Cycles

The mill may not be started until a third of its capacity can be mined. For these reasons
allowances must be given when determining the mine life of an underground mine based on
the ore reserves alone. E.g. if the life is determined to be 10 years, based on the mineral
reserves and mining capacity, then at least some 2 years allowance must be given for primary
development before production starts and at least 1 year allowance must be given for mining

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the ore already developed towards the end of the mine life. Thus this will bring the total life
of the mine to 13 years.

2.4.2 Working Regime

The working regime of a mine refers to the number of days the mine should work in a year in
order to achieve projected mine production. The working regime also specifies the number of
shifts per day and the hours per shift. Mining requires huge capital investment obtainable as
loan or equity. Invariably, to have control over the capital recovery period, it is imperative to
determine the working regime at the evaluating stage of the mining project. The information
that will assist in determining the mine working regime includes the following:
 Number of holidays in year.
 Mineable reserves.
 Mine life.
 Yearly production rate.
 Mining system.
 Payback period.

In Kenya and sub-saharan Africa in general, workable mining regime may be 250 to 300
days per year, with either 2 shifts per day of 10 hours per shift or 3 shifts per day of 8 hours
per shift.
2.5 Equipment Selection

Selection of appropriate equipment for underground mining, matching their capacity and
number to achieve production targets have been two important tasks in mine planning.
Obviously, unless the right type of equipment is selected for specific mining operations,
mining will be difficult. Given the right type of equipment, the decision to purchase more
equipment each with limited capacity or to purchase a few equipment each with high
capacity is a matter very much dependent on space availability and economics. For
underground mining, different equipment needs to be selected for various unit operations.
Such equipment may be of following kind:

 Primary breaking (drilling and blasting) equipment.

 Loading and hauling equipment.
 Ground support equipment.
 Ancillary equipment.

Table 2.7 is a list of equipment groups. It is suggested that the process of selection can be
broken down into following main stages:

A. Kind of equipment, e.g. loading

B. Size and number, e.g. 25-t  10
C. Specific type, e.g. rubber tyred, crawler-mounted or track mounted; battery, diesel or
trolley powered
D. Equipment specifications in writing:
 Performance considerations.
 Maintenance considerations.
E. Preferred manufacturer, e.g. Caterpillar, Tamrock, O&K, etc.

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Table 2.7 Underground Mining Equipment

Primary Breaking Loading & Hauling Ground Support Ancillary

 Small drilling  Overshot loaders  Rock bolt drills  Fans
machines
 Slushers  Shotcrete  Water pumps
 Blasting drill jumbos machines
 LHDs  Air
 Raise climbers  Concrete pumps compressors
 Mine trucks
 Explosive loaders  Hydraulic  Mine hoists
 Gathering arm
supports
 Tunneling machines loaders  Service
vehicles
 Cutting machines  Shuttle cars
 Continuous machines  Rails haulage systems
 Longwall machines  Belt conveyors
 Shaft machines

At the stage when equipment is to be selected, the orebody characteristics, the mining
method and production would have been known. For example, it would have been
established that drilling and blasting are required, room-and-pillar method will be used and
say 1000 t of ore per shift is required. In this case, it is obvious that drilling and blasting
equipment are required and loading and hauling equipment are also required.

Drilling equipment: To ensure successful blasting, drill holes must be at specific positions
in relation to the rock surface. The variations in the systems by which holes are drilled are
comparatively few as shown in Figs. 2.4 and 2.5 which are a good guide for selecting drilling
machines when the method of mining is known. The drilling performance is a guide in
selecting drilling equipment to match production target.

Loading and hauling equipment: While the drilling system is related to a specific
mining method, loading and hauling are not. The selection of equipment entails integration
and optimization of both loading and hauling operations, mostly related to the transport
distance and required capacity. Fig. 2.6 illustrates common loading and transport systems
used in modern underground mining. It includes graphs from which an estimate of the
capacity of each system can be obtained. The capacity is related to the size of the loader, and
it is always quoted in solid cubic meters of rock. This allows easy conversion to calculate the
t/hr capacity of material of a different density. The stated capacities are intended as a guide
for estimating purpose. Loading and hauling are operations for which the productivity can be
calculated quite accurately when the type and size of equipment, transport distance and
velocity are known.

2.6 Long Term and Short Term Planning

As explained in Chapter 1, planning is a scientific decision process involving the selection of

actions to be taken to achieve set objectives such as achieving production targets. The
outcome of planning is a schedule of work showing the times to work, the type and amount
of work to do in the given time, the material, human and financial resources to be used as
well as the rules, regulations and code of ethics that apply.

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Fig. 2.4 Common Drilling Methods, Equipment and Performance

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Fig. 2.5 Common Longhole Drilling Methods, Equipment and Performance

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Fig. 2.6 Common Loading Methods and Performance

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In underground mining, long term planning refers to all planning for the future that will
ensure the successful operation of the mine through its life. Long term planning takes care of
the mine’s activities in 5 to 20 years to come which include the following:

 Exploration programmes.
 Reserve estimation.
 Primary development.
 Setting production targets.
 Equipment and material acquisition.
 Personnel recruitment.
 Marketing of mineral produced.

In contrast, short term planning takes care of the mine’s activities on day to day, month to
month and year to year (up to 2 years) basis.

 Secondary development.
 Setting yearly, monthly, weekly and daily production targets.
 Allocation of human, material and financial resources.
 Grade control.

2.7 Chapter Assignment

Use Table 2.4 to identify the appropriate methods of working for the following mineral
deposits:
(i) A strong ironstone bed, 2 m thick, dipping at 5o and overlain by medium strength
shale’s.
(ii) A strong steeply dipping gold bearing quartz vein varying, in thickness from 3 m
to 20 m and overlain by medium strength rocks.
(iii) A strong massive rock containing copper and surrounded by strong waste rock.

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