Underground Mining Methods

Introduction
 Early Mining Methods
Mining in its simplest form began with Paleolithic humans
some 450,000 years ago,

evidenced by the flint implements that have been found

with the bones of early humans from the Old Stone Age
(Lewis and Clark,1964 ).

Our ancestors extracted pieces from loose masses of flint or

from easily accessed outcrops and, using crude methods of
chipping the flint, shaped them into tools and weapons.
Prehistoric
 Early Mining Methods
Ancient Egypt
• Fire setting
– one of the first great advances in the science of rock breakage
– had a greater impact than any other discovery until dynamite was invented by Alfred
Nobel in 1867.

Ancient Rome
• Hydraulic mining methods
• Fire setting
 Roman Mining Methods
• deep-vein mining
– difficult and dangerous
– Only gold and silver were valuable enough to
justify digging underground
 Roman Mining Methods
• tunnels were excavated in the rock to remove the ore.
• Narrow vertical shafts were driven through the rock,
• widening out to horizontal galleries where the ore was
found.
• Sometimes horizontal adits from a hillside were driven as
well.
• Working below ground, the miners had to deal with the
need for lighting, the dangers of poor ventilation, and the
presence of water in the tunnels.
Roman mining tools (Pick and Hammer)
With these tools, Roman miners dug
vertical shafts and horizontal
galleries and adits.

The passages were small due to the

difficulties of removing the rock.

Lighting, ventilation, and drainage

remains to be a problem
 Early Mining Methods
• In history, before miners had access to productive equipment
and blasting agents, mining was hard and hazardous manual
work.

• The idea of excavating large volumes of rock to access

even the richest mineral zones was not feasible, and, as a result,
ore veins were selectively followed, predominantly close
to the surface, or inside mountains.

• During the past century, introduction of diesel power and electricity, combined with
new methods of mineral dressing, paved the way for large
scale open pit mining, and later for mechanized underground
mining.
• Nevertheless, the largest quantities of ore are still
excavated from surface deposits.
When any orebody lies a considerable distance
below the surface, the amount of waste that has
to be removed in order to uncover the ore
through surface mining becomes prohibitive and
underground techniques must be considered.
Underground Mining
 Underground Mining
• If the excavation used for mining is entirely
open or operated from the surface, it is
termed a surface mine.

• If the excavation consists of openings for

human entry below the earth’s surface, it is
called an underground mine.
Underground Open Pit

Deposits
Deposits
Relatively large, low grade or Shallow with
Relatively small, high grade or Deep with
sub-horizontal ore zone
sub-vertical ore zone
Geology
Geology
Lithology controlled stockworks, disseminated
Structurally controlled veins and breccias
zone
Resources/Reserves
Resources/Reserves
Generally difficult or not cost effective to
Generally cost effective to establish 10 to 15
prove up large resources/reserves
years resource/reserve life
Productivity
Productivity
500 to 8,000 tonnes per day
5,000 to 100,000 tonnes per day
Environmental
Environmental
Generally easier to permit, limited
Large footprint from pit, waste dumps and
footprint, Relatively cheap to reclaim
tailings, relatively expensive to reclaim
Mine Life
Mine Life
To>100 years
10 to 25years
In general for underground mines:

• Small output mines (<4,000 tpd) ‐ hauling is done

on several levels, tonnage handled on each level is
small, and light equipment is used.

• High output mines (>4,000 tpd) ‐ a main haulage

level is used and all the ore is dropped to that
haulage level via ore passes.
 Mine Method Selection
• The details of the procedure, layout, and equipment
used in the mine distinguish the mining method.
• This is determined by the:
– geologic,
– Rock Mass Property
– Orebody geometry
– Structures
– Environmental,
– Skills available
– Equipment available
– economic, and legal circumstances that pertain to the ore
deposit being mined.
 Rock Mass Property (Geomechanics)

• Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

• RMR
• Q-System
Rock Quality Designation (RQD):
• It is defined as the ratio of the cumulative
length of core sticks each greater than 100
mm long to the total length of the drill hole.

• This method assumes that the length of the

core pieces depend on the structure and
strength of rock.
 Rock Mass Rating

Rock Mass Rating (RMR):

• Uniaxial compressive strength
• RQD
• Spacing of discontinuities
• Condition of discontinuities
• Groundwater conditions
• Orientation of discontinuities
Q-System
Underground Mine Anatomy
 Basic Requirements of
Mining Methods
Any mining layout must establish the following facilities

• suitable main arteries from the surface to the orebody in

the form of adits, ramps, or shafts, haulage and travelling
ways

• a working face in the ore which gives good breaking

facilities under safe working conditions

• traveling ways between main arteries and the working face

for the movement of workers and materials, and for
services

• facilities for the introduction of fill or other types of support

• facilities for removing undiluted broken ore

• facilities for disposing of broken waste when required

• facilities for ventilation and drainage

• A level includes all the horizontal workings tributary to a shaft station. Ore
excavated in a level is transported to the shaft to be hoisted to the surface.

• Stopes are openings from which ore is mined. They may be backfilled with
cemented waste material.

• Ore passes are sub‐vertical chutes for movement of ore.

• Note the different types of drilling: development drilling to open up the

orebody and exploration drilling to better define the limits of the orebody.

• The upper side of the orebody is called the “hanging wall”

• The lower side is called the “footwall”

 Mine Development
All mines require considerable development
before actual ore production can begin
– Access
– Lateral development
– Raises
 Mine Development
Access to Deposit
A deposit to be mined by underground methods can be accessed
by a number of methods:
• Adits
• Decline or ramp
• Inclined shaft
• Vertical shaft
Types of Access
 Adits
Adits or Drifts: An adit or a drift is the access of choice when the Ore
is accessible through a horizontal drift.

• No special equipment besides what is needed for the mine is generally

necessary to drive them.

• They are the cheapest to construct and have a low operating cost.

• However, their application is limited to those with favorable geology.

• Adits are an economical approach when the orebody is
above the general floor elevation i.e. suitable in hilly or
mountainous terrain.
Adits-Portal
 Portals
• Portals may be left open in tropical zones
• enclosed with a weather-tight structure in
temperate or arctic climates
• built from corrugated metal
• Portals for ramps and declines usually
incorporate a reverse slope at the start to
prevent surface water from running into the
mine.
 Adits-Portals
Primary access to the deposit

Some of the factors that should be taken into account during portal construction are:
• Portal should be located in strong strata.

• Portal area should be free from flooding.

• Should be as close to the center of the property as possible.

• The portal should be at the lowest elevation of the seam/orebody so that the
grades favor hauling and mine drainage

• The location of the entrance to the mine affects the trucking distance
between the mine output and the next destination for the ore (ore processing plant or
customer).
Access
Inclined Shafts
 Incline Shafts
Advantages
– Less development required to access the orebody
– Development kept close to the orebody
– Cheaper to sink than vertical shafts
Disadvantages
– Labor intensive
– Not as efficient as a vertical shaft
– Difficult to clean broken rock when shaft sinking
 Decline Shaft/Ramp
• Decline ramps are typically developed with
gradients 10% and 15%.
• Allow the movement of equipment from one
level to another without the need for
disassembling
• Two basic methods are used to transport ore
from the decline system, namely truck haulage
or belt conveyor
• The truck haulage is suitable for tonnages up to
3000t/d
 Decline Shaft/Ramp
Advantage
– Low cost of development
– Ease of access for equipment
– Short period
Disadvantage
– Low vertical development rates
– Increased ventilation requirements
– Increase in labour to support truck operation
 Decline Shafts, Ramps
• Incline shafts are limited to relatively shallow deposits

• development lengths for a given depth are three to five times longer than for a
vertical shaft

• They can be driven quicker than shafts, and cheaper on a per foot basis (up to a
certain depth).

• They support continuous hauling, by use of conveyors, unlike shafts. They can also
handle large volumes, making the operating costs cheaper.

• Provides access to the outside of the mine in the case of emergencies.

• Transporting heavy and wide/long equipment is relatively easy and may not require
dismantling.
 Decline or Ramp
• Declines or ramps offer early access to shallow
deposits, which develops the ore body faster,
– Electricity
– Tracking Haulage
 Inclined or Ramp
The disadvantages of slopes are:
• Slopes are about three times in length, for the
same depth, compared to shafts.
• Capital cost is higher than shafts.
• If the strata is poor, the increased length
results in higher maintenance costs.
• Increased length causes greater pressure
drops affecting the ventilation.
 Vertical Shafts
Vertical Shafts are openings sank into the earth’s
crust in order to access mineral resources which are
too deep to mine economically using open cut
methods or adit systems.
– deeper than 300m
– Horizontal distance from the ore body is minimized,
but still allowing shaft pillar
– Typically circular or elliptical (Geotech or Environ)
 Vertical Shafts
Advantages
– Support high production rate
– Efficient for transportation
Disadvantages
– High initial capital
– Long lead time to production
– Difficulty in transporting large equipment
Cross section of a Circular Shaft
Shaft
 Shaft
Purpose of a Shaft
Shafts are generally used for the following functions:
• To access an ore body
• To transport men and materials to and from underground
workings
• For hoisting ore and waste from underground
• To serve as intake and return airways for the mine
(ventilation)
• To provide a second egress as required by mining law
• Storage of nuclear waste
 Shaft
• play a major role in the general planning of
mine development

• location is usually pre-determined

• changed when adverse geotechnical site

conditions are encountered
 Shaft
Design parameters include:
• depth of shaft,
• ore and waste tonnage to be handled,
• shift handling (work force),
• materials handling, mining machinery handling,
• ventilation requirements,
• capital costs, operating costs, and
• selling price of the mineral commodity.
 shaft sinking
• excavation from the surface of an opening into
the earth
– Solid rock
– Loos Soil/water bearing
• Lined with wood, masonry, concrete, steel, cast
iron
• Of all the headings driven in hard rock mines,
shafts are the most costly and time consuming.
 Shaft Sinking
• drill and blast
• smaller mines -rectangular and timber for
support.
• Larger mines -circular shafts lined with
concrete poured in place as the sinking
advances.
 Shaft Sinking
A shaft-sinking plant consists of a
– headframe,
– hoisting equipment,
– air-compressor for drills,
– concrete mixing equipment and pumps
 Methods of Shaft Sinking-Hard Rock

Sinking a shaft in solid rock usually consists of

the following cycle:
– Drilling a round of holes
– Blasting
– Removing the broken rock
– Trimming the shaft to form
– Placing the sets in position
• Preparing to drill the next round. An eight-
hour cycle from blast to blast is common.
 Methods of Shaft Sinking
• Wood/Steel Piling
• Open Caisson
• Cementation Process
• Freezing Process
 Wood/Steel Piling
• The first set of piles, forming a circle around
the shaft site is started at the surface. As the
piles are driven down, the ground is
excavated, and a circular crib is put in every
few feet. In this way the shaft is sunk in a
series of short wooden cylinders
 Open Caisson
• In this method the shaft is started by digging
a shallow excavation and placing a cutting
shoe on the bottom of the pit. The ground
inside and just under the shoe is excavated
and the lining is built up as the shoe sinks.
 Freezing
• artificially frozen and then blasted and
excavated
• 20 to 50 holes are drilled on the
circumference of a circle.
• Circulating pipes – Brine pumped
 Cementation
Cavities and fissures are filled with quick-
setting cement under high pressure then
allowed to set.
 Specialized Development
• Vertical Shaft sinking Machine -VSM
• Shaft Boring System –SBS
• Moranbah Mine Shaft.mp4
• Vertical Shaft Sinking Machine (VSM).mp4
 Lateral Development

horizontal headings in a mine,

• drifts
• crosscuts on a mine level
• inclined headings (ramps and declines)
between levels.
– drill and blast method
 Underground Mining Methods
a large number of underground mining methods
have been developed primarily in response to
the requirements of differing
• geometry
• geomechanical
• The many underground mining methods are
difficult to categorize rationally because each
application depends not only on orebody
geometry, but includes other considerations,
such as ground conditions, grade distribution,
scale of operations, as well as the presence of
structures (i.e. faults, dykes, etc.).
 Mining Method Selection

• Once an orebody has been delineated and sufficient information

collected to warrant further analysis, the mining method must
be selected.

• At this stage the selection is only preliminary, but it serves as a

basis for project layout and feasibility assessment

• When selecting a mining method, it is important to maintain

flexibility within the method, in case something goes wrong.
 Variables Influencing Mining Methods
• Physical Properties
• Orebody Dimensions
• Orebody Orientation
• Ore Grade
• Structural Features
• Depth of Operation
• Proximity of Other Orebodies
• Ground Surface Effects
• Labor and Supplies
• Capital Available
• Physical Location
Variables Influencing Mining Methods

Physical Properties of the mined rocks and ore.

– The stress/strength relationships---horizontal and
vertical stope dimensions which will stand w/out
support----methods
• naturally supported
• artificially supported
• unsupported (caving)
Variables Influencing Mining Methods
Orebody Dimensions
- the strike length, width (footwall to hanging wall) and
height of the orebody determine the maximum spans
that are possible, which in some cases will exceed the
permissible spans.
- For greater orebody widths, longitudinal stopes will
give way to transverse stopes.
- Longitudinal stopes constitute mining along strike and
transverse stopes are perpendicular to strike.
- Stope and pillar dimensions must be established.
Variables Influencing Mining Methods

Orebody Orientation - the dip of the orebody

determines the part gravity will play in the
mining operation.
• flat dip: 0–20
• medium dip: 20–50
• steep dip: 50–90
Variables Influencing Mining Methods

Ore Grade - the grade of the orebody influences

considerations of selective or mass production
methods and thus the need and method for
pillar recovery.
 Variables Influencing Mining Methods
• Structural Features - major faults, dykes, and rock mass jointing
influence the location and size of stopes and pillars.

• Depth of Operation - this is a factor insofar as stress increases with

depth. In addition, hoisting heights, and hence costs, also increase.

• Proximity of Other Orebodies - orebody proximity determines the

method of mining one orebody or lens with respect to an adjacent
ore block. It also determines extraction sequences, location of
access, pillar sizes, etc., and whether mining progresses from
hanging wall to footwall or footwall to hanging wall.
Variables Influencing Mining Methods
• Ground Surface Effects - considerations with
respect to restriction of subsidence, e.g.
where there are lakes, towns, etc. above; the
requirements of land reclamation and waste
and tailings disposal; and the control of
effluents in surface water discharge may all
impact on the choice of mining method. The
climate and topography must also be
considered.
Labor and Supplies - cheap, locally available labor
does not necessarily mean low costs. Instead,
mining methods must generally be modified for
different parts of the world in accordance with the
competency of available labor. The presence of
skilled labor that is in short supply influences the
choice of methods and equipment. Local
availability of supporting materials such as timber,
fill, tailings, cement, etc. also influence mining
practice.
Capital Available
• capital
• operating
Physical Location - the location and jurisdiction
of the orebody
• political, provincial, federal, foreign,
ownership
• park, reservation, private, common property,
boundary with another mining operation
 Longwall mining
• Longwall mining involves the essentially
complete extraction of the coal contained in a
large rectangular block or “panel” of coal, and
the roof in the mined-out area is allowed to
collapse.
• hard rock
• caving method
• flat lying, thin tabular deposits
• A long face is established across a panel
between sets of entries, and retreated or
advanced by narrow cuts, aided by complete
caving of the roof or hanging wall behind.
Typical longwall dimensions in coal mining are as
follows.
panel length: 900–2700 m
face length (panel width): 150–500 m
face width: 2.4–3.6 m
face height (seam height): 0.9–4.5 m
depth of cut (plow/shearer): 76–762 mm
• The width of the working place is narrow and
measured in meters.
• The longwall is kept open by a system of heavy-
duty, powered, yielding supports that protect the
face.
• As a cut or slice is taken along the length of the wall,
the supports retract, advance and re-engage
allowing the roof to cave behind.
• The caved area is called a "gob"
 Development

• similar to room and

pillar
• main entries are
driven across the
property
• orthogonal panel
entries divide the
coal into large blocks
 Production
• Longwall equipment involves
– breakage
– roof support
– haulage by flexible chain and flight conveyors
 Production
breakage
two continuous types of mining machines are
employed, plows and shearers.
– A plow takes a shallow cut and is limited to thin
or moderately thick seams
– A shearer mines a deep cut and is applicable to
moderate to thick seams
Support
series of hydraulic roof supports
– temporary hold up roof strata
– Provide working space
– 450 tonnes each
 Production
• When the entries are completed to the
longwall face, along with the bleeders (for
ventilation), then the first cut is taken across
the face.
• The hydraulic supports then advance,
allowing the roof behind to cave.
• The conveyor used to transport coal along the
face is moved forward by the supports while
the mining machine is advanced.
 Longwall mining in Hard Rock
• Longwall mining in hard differs substantially
from coal mining
• The principal differences are in rock breakage
and loading as well as in roof support.
• Because of the hardness of the ore, blasting
and a conventional mining cycle must be used.
• LHDs or scrapers load and haul the ore.
• Timber, steel or concrete posts provide the
support.
• ..\Principles\Principles of Longwall Mining.m
p4
• C:\Users\yodit\Desktop\Principles\Longwall
Mining Operation - F.T.I. Pty Ltd.mp4
• C:\Users\yodit\Desktop\Principles\Typical Un
derground longwall coal mine development la
yout.mp4
• C:\Users\yodit\Desktop\Principles\Longwall
Mining.mp4
 Features of Longwall Mining
Advantages
• highest underground productivity
• fairly low mining cost
• high production rate
• suitable for total mechanization, remote control, and automation
• low labor requirement
• high recovery (70-90%)
• concentrated operations, facilitating transport, supply, and
ventilation
• applicable to deep seams under bad roof conditions
• very good health and safety record
 Features of Longwall Mining
Disadvantages
• Caving and subsidence occur over wide areas, approaching 10-80% of
mined height
• Very inflexible and rigid in layout and execution
• Mining rate should be uniform to avoid roof-support and subsidence
problems (interruptions in production caused by strikes or lengthy
delays should be minimal)
• High capital cost
• Reliance on single production unit means costly delays, interruptions
in production
• High moving costs
• Heating in gob (caved area) may create temperature-humidity
problem and spontaneous combustion
 Shortwall Mining
• Shortwall mining is a production method in
which excavation and loading are carried out
by continuous miner under the protection of
roof supports.
• similar to longwall mining but with shorter
face lengths
– Panel length : 600–1200 m
– Panel width (face length) : 40–90 m
– Slices thickness (face height) : 2.5 m
Design Parameters for Underground Mining

• Stress
• Rock Mass
• Structures
 Stress
In situ Stress
Induced Stress
 In situ stresses
• In situ stresses
– geological
– tectonic processes
• Depending on their magnitudes and mine
geometries, in situ stresses will dictate
– the level of high pressure buildup that may occur
– the depth of relaxation (low pressure / tensile
zones) that may result around mine openings which
would dictate which failure mechanism would prevail
 in situ stresses
The insitu stresses within a rock mass are
influenced by many factors such as:
• depth of mining
• geology -- faulting, folding, jointing, lithology
• tectonic history
 In Situ Stress
• Vertical stress is largely a function of depth
and, in turn, is related to the overburden
weight. It can be expressed as:

• Horizontal stress is related to the prevailing

tectonics / geology within the area.
 Rock Mass
Rock mass properties are largely comprised of
three parameters that define the mine
structure:
• intact strength
• joint strength
• size and shape of individual blocks
 Rock Mass
Joints or discontinuities have significant
influence on
– strength
– deformability
– permeability and stability of the rock mass
Depending on the degree of fracturing,
discontinuities will reduce rock mass strength
The parameters that are most critical to the
design of mine structures, especially in hard rock
mines, are as follows:
• Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS)
• Young's Modulus or Modulus of Deformation
• Poisson's ratio
Intact Rock Vs Rock Mass
 Discontinuities

Discontinuity in rocks represents planes of

weakness across which the rock material is
structurally separated

any separation in the rock continuum having

effectively zero tensile strength
Types of discontinuities
***
Type Definition

Fracture A general name given for any

separation or break in the rock mass
Joint A fracture along which no displacement
or movement occurred between the
adjacent block of rocks
Fault A fracture along which movement
occurred between the two adjacent
blocks of rocks
Foliation planes Series of parallel layers resulted from
parallel orientation of minerals crystals
during metamorphism
Bedding planes Contact between sedimentary rock
layers or strata
Cleavage Stress fractures from folding
folded rocks syncline with cleavage
A rock mass contains:
(i) rock material, in the form of intact
rock blocks of various sizes, and
(ii) rock discontinuities that cuts
through the rock, in the forms of
fractures, joints, faults, bedding planes,
and dykes
Rock mass = Rock materials + Rock discontinuities
Rock mass components
***

• In the engineering context discontinuities can be

– the single most important factor governing the
deformability, strength and permeability of the rock
mass

– persistent discontinuity could critically affect structures

Rock Quality Designation
• Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is defined as the
percentage of rock cores that have length equal or
greater than 10 cm over the total drill core
 RQD
• the Rock Quality Designation (RQD) index is measured
on borehole cores
• RQD only represents the degree of fracturing of the
rock mass
< 25 Very poor
25 – 50 Poor
50 – 75 Fair
75 – 90 Good
90 – 100 Excellent
Actual rock core recovered
• Palmström (1982) suggested that, the RQD
may be estimated from the number of
discontinuities per unit volume:
RQD = 115 - 3.3 Jv
where Jv is the sum of the number of joints per
unit length for all joint (discontinuity) sets
known as the volumetric joint count
RMR and Q Rock classification systems

• Primary use of RQD is as a parameter in more

widely used
– RMR (Bieniawski, 1976) and
– Q Rock (Barton et al., 1974)
classification systems
Rock Mass Rating (RMR),
Bieniawski (1976, 1989)

• Classifies rock according to 6 parameters:

– UCS
– RQD
– Spacing of discontinuities
– Condition of discontinuities
– Groundwater conditions
– Discontinuity orientation
RMR or ‘Geomechanics Classification’
RMR rock classes and their meaning
 Rock Tunnelling Quality Index, Q

where RQD is the Rock Quality Designation

Jn = joint set number
Jr = joint roughness number
Ja = joint alteration number
Jw = joint water reduction factor
SRF = stress reduction factor
Rock Classes for Q-System
 Classify using the RMR
A rock mass of Granite containing 3 joint sets has average RQD
72%, average joint spacing is 0.34 m, joint surfaces are
generally stepped and rough, tightly closed and unweathered
with occasional stains observed, the excavation surface is
wet but not dripping, average rock material uniaxial
compressive strength is 180 MPa, the tunnel is excavated to
150 m below the ground where no abnormal high in situ
stress is expected.
 Assignment
25 pts
Due on Monday, December 31
1. What are the advantages of underground over
surface/open pit mining?
2. List the factors that determine mining method
selections
3. What are the purposes of a shaft? What are the
advantages of inclined shafts over vertical shafts?
Name and describe the methods of shaft sinking
in soft and hard rock
4. What is the difference between a rock mass and
an intact rock?
5. Describe longwall and shortwall mining
 Room -and -Pillar
Room and pillar is designed for mining of flat,
bedded deposits of limited thickness.
• sedimentary deposits like copper shale
• limestone or sandstone containing lead, coal
seams, salt and potash layers, limestone and
dolomite.
• The method recovers the mineralization in
open stopes, leaving pillars of ore to support
the roof.
Room and Pillar
 Room and Pillar
• To recover the maximum amount of ore, miners aim
to leave smallest possible pillars behind

• The roof must remain intact, and rockbolts are used

extensively as rock reinforcement

• Rooms and pillars are normally arranged in regular

patterns, and can be designed with circular pillars,
square pillars, or elongated walls separating the
rooms
 Room-and-Pillar
Dimensions of the stopes and pillars depend
upon factors such as
• the stability of the back
• stability of the ore
• thickness of the deposit
• rock stresses
 Room-and-Pillar
• The method requires horizontal or flat dips with <30°.

• In addition, the hanging wall and the ore should be

relatively competent.

• Increasing the number of pillars and reducing spans can

compensate for poor ground conditions, but ore recovery
will decline as a result.

• Generally room and pillar is the only feasible method for

mining relatively flat deposits of limited thickness.
• Classic Room and Pillar
• Post Room and Pillar
• Step Room and Pillar
Classic Room and Pillar
 Classic Room and Pillar
Classic room and pillar applies to:-
– flat, bedded deposits with moderate to large thickness
– inclined deposits with larger thickness
• Mining the orebody creates large openings, where
trackless machines can travel on the flat floor.
• Orebodies with large vertical height are mined in
horizontal slices, starting at the top and benching
down in steps.
 Development
• Minimum development is required prior to
mining in flat or nearly horizontal orebodies.
• Roadways are required for exporting broken
ore and providing access between working
areas.
• Development can be incorporated into the
stoping process.
• Thus revenue can be obtained quickly as
development proceeds in ore.
 Post Room and Pillar
Post room and pillar applies to:-
• inclined orebodies, of dip angle from 20 to 55
degrees, with large vertical height, where
mined out space is backfilled.
• The fill keeps the rock mass stable, and serves
as the work platform while mining the next
ore slice.
Post Room and Pillar
 Development
• requires the development of several
horizontal levels at specific vertical intervals.

• For each level a haulage drift is prepared that

follows the footwall of the orebody, providing
access to the production area and allowing for
export of the broken muck to a shaft.
 Step Room and Pillar
• Step room and pillar is an adaptation of trackless
mining to orebodies with too steep a dip for
rubbertyred vehicles to operate in a regular room
and pillar layout.
• Haulage drifts and stopes are therefore angled
diagonally across the dip, to create work areas with
level floors off which trackless equipment can
work.
• Mining advances downward, along the step room
angle.
 Pillar design, strength based
i. estimation of the pillar stress
ii. estimation of pillar strength
iii. Evaluation of the safety factor (FOS) as pillar
strength over pillar stress
Pillar Loading/Estimation of Pillar Stress
• Tributary Area : a pillar takes the weight of
overlying rock up to a distance of half the
opening width surrounding it
Pillar Strength
 Tributary Area Analysis (calculate FOS)

• An orebody of horizontal thickness 2.5 m is located at a

depth of 80 m, with the rock cover having a unit weight of 25
kNm−3. The initial mining layout is has a 6.0 m room spans
and 5.0 m square pillars, with the full orebody thickness of
2.5m being mined. The pillar strength is defined empirically
by the formula

where S is in MPa, and h and wp are in m.

1. Estimate the pillar stress

2. Estimate the Pillar Strength
3. Calculate Factor of Safety