Getting to the bottom of it: Explanation of Mining Methods

A variety of mining methods are used to extract resources from the earth. Here, we look at various approaches and provide an overview of what each entails.

The method of extracting precious resources from the Earth is known as mining. It is used to obtain any resource that cannot be cultivated or manufactured artificially. Mining is the method of collecting non-renewable resources such as minerals, fossil fuels, and even water.

Underground, surface, placer, and in-situ are the four primary forms of mining. The form of mining process used is determined by the type of resource being extracted, the position of the deposit below or on the Earth’s surface, and the capacity of each method to extract the resource profitably. Each mining technique also has various levels of safety and environmental effects, which are both essential for legal mining operations.

The four mining methods are described below in detail.

Underground Mining

Underground mining, which is relatively expensive and commonly used to access deeper deposits, requires drilling deep into the soil and building tunnels and shafts to reach the mineral deposits. Ore and other assets are then brought to the surface for processing, the waste rock can be hauled away and disposed of.

Underground mining is classified into many categories depending on the type of shafts, the extraction method, and the procedure used to enter a deposit. Drift mining, for example, uses horizontal tunnels to reach the deposits, whereas slope mining employs diagonal shafts.

The geology of the region, particularly the amount of ground support necessary to make mining secure, determines the type of underground mining method used.

Top 5 Underground Continuous Miners

Underground mining is feasible when the following conditions exist:

• The orebody is too deep for open-pit mining to be viable.
• The orebody’s grades or consistency are sufficient to cover costs.
• Open-pit mining has a greater footprint on the earth than underground mining.

The Shaft: To reach various resources deep underneath the earth, shafts are dug to great depths in deep mines (almost always more than 3 km). At different stages, crosscuts and drives are attached to the shaft. Personnel and equipment use shafts for entry, ventilation, and waste or ore haulage.   Coal mines and underground metalliferous both use shafts.

Tunnel or Decline: A decline is a long tunnel bored into the earth. Personnel, trucks, and other equipment can be pushed in and out of the underground mine through the decline, which provides access to crosscuts and drives that reach the underground resource. Like a corkscrew, declines usually wind their way down into the mine. Declines (and inclines) are widely used to link different sections of a deep underground mine.

Cave in the block: Undermining an orebody and enabling it to gradually collapse under its weight is a common form of the large-scale underground metalliferous mining process. A wide section of rock is undercut and eventually blasted in block caving, resulting in an artificial cavity that fills with its rubble as it crashes. Underneath the broken ore mass, a pre-built series of funnels and access tunnels (draw points) collects the broken ore.

Miners continue to extract ore from these mine works, which are protected from falling ore within a bunker-like mass of rock. After the block cave has been extracted, the mound of blasted material begins to fall into the draw points, forming a vacuum. Remote-controlled equipment is used at this point.

Surface Mining

To gain access to mineral deposits, surface mining necessitates the destruction of plant life, soil, and possibly bedrock. It’s typically reserved for non-precious deposits that are relatively shallow. Open-pit and strip mining are the two most common types of surface mining.

Open-pit mining entails excavating rocks to create an open pit, also known as a borrow pit, from where resources are extracted. A traditional open-pit mine has stepped sides to reduce the risk of collapse and a wide ramp for mining equipment. To prevent an active mine from becoming a lake, some sort of water management system is usually needed. Open-pit mines are usually run until the mineral deposit is exhausted or the mine becomes unprofitable due to a variety of factors. If this happens, the open pit is often turned into a hazardous waste landfill.

Strip mining is most widely used to collect shallow, “bedded” deposits, which are made up of a mineral layer covered by a layer of loose topsoil and weathered rocks. To expose a deposit, the relatively soft top layer of soil is stripped away with a dragline or an industrial shovel.

The following are some advantages of open-pit mining:

• Huge quantities of rock can be moved with the help of powerful trucks and shovels.
• The size of the opening you’re operating in does not affect the equipment you are using.
• Faster production.
• Higher mining costs imply that lower-grade ore is more economically mined.

Placer Mining

Placers are unconsolidated deposits of resources that are created by weathering through water and/or wind action. Placer mining is a method of extracting precious resources from sediments in riverbeds, sands, and other sedimentary settings. “Panning for gold” is a well-known feature of the placer mining process. The collected sedimentary material is cleaned and sluiced in placer processes to remove the desired minerals.

Placer mining is applied to extract the platinum, gemstones, tin, and other materials in addition to gold. This method of mining accounts for at least half of the world’s titanium.

In-Situ Mining

In-situ mining, also known as solution mining, does not require extracting intact gold from under the earth’s surface. Instead, chemicals are pumped underground to melt resource-containing rock, then the “pregnant solution” is pumped up to the surface, where it can be extracted to recover minerals. This method is primarily used in the uranium mining industry.

This method produces very little waste rock and creates very little disturbance to the soil. To use this procedure, the orebody must be permeable to the extraction liquids and the process must be completed without posing a serious risk of groundwater contamination.

Underwater mining

When the material is found in an aquatic setting, such as the seafloor, underwater mining is needed. It’s a one-of-a-kind challenge that necessitates a responsible solution that takes into account the local environment.

Well’s End

A well is cemented and plugged until it has extracted all the gas reserves from the coal seam. When a borehole or well has been sealed, the term ‘plugged and abandoned’ is used. Both well sites and adjacent areas must be rehabilitated by companies

Tags: In-Situ Mining, Placer Mining, Surface Mining, Top 5 Underground Continuous Miners, Underground Mining, Underwater mining