Notes on Sublevel Caving †
Application
- weak walls and strong ore preferred though weak ore can be mined too
- steep dip
• a vertical dip is best, while dip>60 is fine too. Loss of ore minor in non-vertical steep dips
• considerable loss of reserves in flat dips
- preferably, the ore and the rock should be easily separable
- surface should be amenable to caving (not an inhabited or the watershed area etc)
Development
- significant. Almost 20% of the ore is mine during development
- sublevels are established at 7.6-12.2 m vertical intervals (25-40 ft) and about 10.7 m
horizontal intervals
• the vertical interval is dependent on the drilling accuracy and the dip of the orebody
• the horizontal and vertical spacings affect the eccentricity of the cave
- the size and shape of the production drift affects the draw
• drift should be as wide as possible
• should give good support to the back and the brows
• if the back is arched, the draw is mostly at the center and none on the sides
• if the back has to be arched for ground support, the drifts should be closer
• ore remnants left behind (due to being out of reach of LHD’s) increase with height. Therefore, drift height
should be as small as possible (usually about 3-3.2 m).
- slot raises are driven at the hanging wall end of the production drift all the way up to the next
level
- haulage levels driven in waste
• in wide orebodies, transverse layouts may be used (ore widths should be > 12-15 m)
• here, the production drifts are perpendicular to the strike
• recovery better than longitudinal layouts
• haulage drift in waste (footwall), about 9 m from ore contact. This distance is maintained so that blasting
does not occur too close to it. Diamond drilling is done to obtain ore boundaries so that the haulage drift is
neither too close nor too far away.
- ramps may be driven at 15o-18o, to production levels to provide access
Production
- long, fan holes drilled 70-80 degrees forward (about 8 holes totaling 100 m in a ring)
- side holes, if drilled, should be steeper than 70o
• side holes reduce length of holes driven up from the level below
• if flat holes drilled to the sides, however, the blasted material from the side holes cannot be extracted from
the working level. Therefore, the neighboring fan hole blasted material does not get enough room to
expand
- brows should be supported if necessary
• if brows collapse, ore floods the drift and covers some rings
• also, the loader has problems loading as the ore does not stack high
• if brows are uneven, the ore funnels down the high spots
• if sloughing or high brows are noticed from development, it may be decided to blast more than 2 rings just
to advance through the area
- if drilling is not accurate, a bridge/arch may be left in the stope
• re-slotting may become necessary
- powder factor high as blasting is always against blasted muck (almost twice that of blasting
against an open face)
- LHD’s used for mucking
- Good ventilation necessary as all working faces are dead ends
- Productivity of 36 ton/miner-shift
†
pages 65-67, Chapters 35-40
Comments
- High dilution from caved waste. Ore losses occur as well since not all mined ore can be
recovered.
- Ore/waste flow cannot be predicted accurately prior to mining.
- Probably the most economical when mining in weak strata
- Development openings are not kept open for the entire life of mine. Once a level is
extracted, the development openings are consumed.
- Safe since all mining activities are in small, protected openings. Besides, a variety of
equipment do not interact with each other unlike other methods. For example, the drilling
equipment (on development/drilling levels) do not interact with mucking equipment (lower
levels).
- High degree of mechanization possible.
- Method is flexible. For example, production and equipment can be varied due to mobile
equipment.
Designing a Sublevel Caving System
(Ref: i. Book by Gertsch and Bullock and ii. Book by Hustrulid and Bullock)
Idealized Theory (Rudolf Kvapil)
• The width and height of extraction (blasted pile of ore) are related as follows:
WT ≈ W’ + a –1.8
dT ≤ WT /2 50m
where hT
dT W’ = Theoretical width of extraction
WT= Total extraction width 30m
hT a = effective extraction width
(removing material from this width
a
will cause the material to contninue
to flow)
hT = height of extraction 10m W’
dT = depth of extraction
2m 6m 12m
• In an experiment, where 272 markers were left in rings, most
of the markers that were recovered were from the center (see
Hustrulid’s book).
• As the width of extraction
opening increases, the width
Effective extraction width
and volume of extraction
zone increase. Therefore,
(% of drift width)
more volume of undiluted ore
can be extracted than with
narrower extraction openings.
Profile of Back
Arched Æ ÆÆÆFlat
• The effective width of extraction
opening depends on the shape and width of
the sublevel drift. Flat backs results in
wider effective extraction width than with
arched backs. The cone of blasted muck
(shown in the figure) is essentially the
effective extraction width for the arched
back as all the ore only flows within it.
• Dilution can be expected to start
after about 50% of the ore (that is blasted)
has been mucked.
The horizontal spacing between production drifts (based on idealized experiments):
Sd ≤ WT / 0.6 for hs less than 18m (hs = vetical interval between production drifts)
≤ WT /0.65 otherwise
In an actual mine, this may be determined by in-situ experiments. Typically, in actual mines Sd ≤ hs (i.e. the basic geometric
unit is square or near square). More recently, however, the vertical height is being increased more and more due to improved
drilling.
The burden for the blasting of rings is:
b ≤ dT/2
Page and Bull (Hustrulid and Bullock’s book), based on their experiences, deviate from Kvapil’s theories. They point out
that in many mines dilution occurs a lot earlier than what is maintained by Kvapil, while in some others, dilution is long
delayed. According to them, the flaws in the idealized theories are as follows:
i. Models ignore differential fragmentation of blasted (ore) and unblasted (waste) material. Differential
fragmentation also occur due to varying rock properties.
ii. Blasts tend to swell the ore (due to fragmentation) while compacting the rock.
iii. Dilution need not start at 50% draw (i.e. when 50% of the blasted ore has been mucked). In some mines,
dilution is seen immediately, while in some it is delayed.
iv. The effect of multiple draw points are ignored.
They modify the idealized theory as follows:
i. The ore should be finer than the waste (since the ore is blasted while the waste is not). Therefore, ore should
flow through the waste.
ii. Waste undergoes compaction due to the shock/thrust generated by blasting
iii. The coarser material (waste) forms a temporary arch on top, thereby allowing ore to flow without dilution. This
might explain why in some mines the dilution is delayed.
iv. Ore flows better if it is undercut by development.
v. Due to multiple drawpoints being active in most mines (interactive draw), the material flow zone is much
wider. At these widths, the lighter material (ore) can flow even at shallower angles
Their design guidelines
Longitudinal vs. transverse layout
a. Transverse results in more production drifts.
b. The stresses are relieved by the slot drift. This can sometimes be bad
as the stresses hold the pillars in place. Relieving the stresses can
result in de-stabilization.
c. Longitudinal results in less development in waste. However, these
layouts may be less productive.
d. The length of drift to be ventilated is obviously longer.
Drift Spacing
a. Drifts should be as close as possible but depends on pillar shape
and size (similar to room and pillar operation). Pillar loads are
not high when working under a cave.
b. Widely spaced drifts may not result in interactive draw, therefore,
harming draw.
c. Lower drift heights result in shorter muckpiles. Therefore, brow Transverse Longitudinal
is easily accessed for installing additional support, if necessary.
Level interval: Longer is economical if drilling is accurate.
Blast Design
a. Ring burden affects the depth of the dig (for LHD’s). it also
depends on hole size and pattern. Too high of a ring burden will
result in bad blasts and residual pillars remaining. When higher
burden is possible, it allows for easier access under the brow for
charging the holes.
b. The larger the holes, better the productivity due to increased
accuracy of holes, less likelihood of hole closure/collapse and
increased possible burden. However, blasting damage can be
high due to increased charge-loading of each hole.
c. Ring layout affects blast performance. Toe burden to spacing
ratios should be larger than 1:1.3. The rings should be inclined
forward so that the blasted muck is shielded from the waste. The
incline profile also helps with ore flow into the drift.
