Elements of Surface Mining

Lecture - 3

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Elements in Surface Mining OPEN PIT PLANN

Fig. 13.1.1.2. Section through an open pit in an idealized tabular

Thursday, April 18, 13
 Bench Height

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Height

• It is the vertical distance between two horizontal

levels of the pit.

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Height

• It is the vertical distance between two horizontal

levels of the pit.

• Unless geological conditions dictate otherwise all

benches should have the same height.

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Height

• It is the vertical distance between two horizontal

levels of the pit.

• Unless geological conditions dictate otherwise all

benches should have the same height.

• The bench height should be set as high as

possible within the limits of the size and type of
equipment selected for the desired production.

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Height

• It is the vertical distance between two horizontal

levels of the pit.

• Unless geological conditions dictate otherwise all

benches should have the same height.

• The bench height should be set as high as

possible within the limits of the size and type of
equipment selected for the desired production.

• Too high benches are dangerous since it is

difficult the clear loos material on the bank slope.

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Height

• It is the vertical distance between two horizontal

levels of the pit.

• Unless geological conditions dictate otherwise all

benches should have the same height.

• The bench height should be set as high as

possible within the limits of the size and type of
equipment selected for the desired production.

• Too high benches are dangerous since it is

difficult the clear loos material on the bank slope.

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Factors Affecting Bench Height

• Thickness of the deposit

• Equipment available

• Nature of the rock forming the bench

• Wetness of the pit

• Presence of planes of weakness

• Regularity of mineralization

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Thickness of the Deposit

• If the deposit is flat, the thickness of the deposit often determines the bench
height

• If the limiting height of the bench from other considerations is ‘h’, and
thickness of the deposit is ‘t’ then a single bench height will be equal to
thickness of the deposit ‘t’. As long as ‘t’ is less than ‘h’

• When thickness ‘t’ exceeds ‘h’, say t = x*h, then the number of benches ‘n’ is
given by the following relation

• x+1 > n > =x (n is whole number)

• The actual bench heigh ha = xh/n

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Equipment Available

• Drilling machines may restrict the bench height by their drilling depth capacity

• Churn drills can drill efficiently down to a depth of 12-18 m only, wagon drills
only up to 10 m, while down-the-hole drill can drill even down to 50-60.
Diamond and other rotary drills can drill further

• Power shovels and multi bucket excavators digging in soft material restrict
the bench height maximum of digging height of the bucket

• In case of dragline the maximum bench height should be less than the
digging depth of the dragline

• Despite the power shovel excavate the blasted material, they should able to
dislodge the loose material whenever necessary from the bank slopes, hence
the bench height is restricted

Thursday, April 18, 13

Thursday, April 18, 13
 Nature of Rock Forming Bench

• Strong and solid rock can stand in high benches, later becomes unstable in
weak and fractured rock

• Usually bank angles exceeds 70o except in loose rock

• Critical height (h) of the bench at which bank (slope) starts failing is

4C
h=
⎛ o φ⎞
ρ × tan ⎜ 45 − ⎟
⎝ 2⎠

• where C = Cohesion , ρ = density of rock forming the bench, Φ = angle of

internal friction

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Other Factors

• When bench rock is saturated with water, the stability of the bench decreases
hence critical height of the bench reduced

• Pore water pressure tend to neutralize normal stress across the failure plane
as a result frictional resistance to sliding decreased

• Planes of weakness such as fault planes or weak bedding planes reduces the
stability of bench hence critical height of the bench

• Vertical variation of grade or physical nature of mineral, presence and vertical

extent of waste patches may influence the choice of the bench height for
minimizing the dilution or grade control

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Height and Dilution

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Width of the Bench

• Width of the bench depends on height of bank, mode of blasting and

transportation system used

• For rail transportation system the width of the bench is sum of the with of the
muck pile, clearance between muck pile and track, width of the track and
some clearance for the safety of the track

• With truck haulage bench width is generally less than that with rail haulage

• For a single lane traffic a space of 4-6 m is sufficient while double lane traffic
twice this width has to be provided

• A larger bench width causes delay in starting lower benches

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Slope Angle

• In loose rock, the angle of slope after the excavation automatically equals the
angle of the repose of bank rock

• In semiloose and friable rocks it is desirable to dress the bank slope to the
angel of repose in order to prevent subsequent rock falls

• With conventional bench blasting with vertical holes bank angles varying
between 70o and 85o in competent rocks

• Bank slope is automatically obtained by varying the angle of blast holes

• Bedding planes dipping opposite to bank slope are very stable

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Angle of Repose of Rocks

Rock Angle of Repose, Degrees

Loose sand 32-34
Wet sand 22
Loose sand with clay 37
Loose gravel 37
Loose clay (dry) 37
Solid clay 40-45
Moist clay 20-25
Wet clay 16
Broken rock 34-40

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Bench Slope Angle

• Bedding planes dipping opposite direction are very stable

• Bedding planes dipping in the same direction as the bank slopes and dip
angle is less than the bank angle, it is preferable to dress the bank angle to
coincide with the dip angle.

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Overall Pit Slope

• Careful choice of the overall pit slope is essential in deep open pits where
huge rock masses on the pit slope can fall causing danger to men and
machinery

• Steeper slopes increase chances of slope failure

• Flatter slopes increases the overburden to mineral ratio, which is substantially

affected small change in overall pit slope

• To correct the pit slopes by decreasing slope angle is tedious task and may
take too long time to avoid failure

• Major planes of weakness, if cutting across the pit should as far as possible
kept dry

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Overall Pit Slope
Stable pit slope,
Type of rock
Degrees
Soft clay 25-35

Compact clay 30-40

Hard shale, sandstone, limestone 40-45

Hard sandstone, hard limestone, dolomite, weathered

40-50
igneous rock

Very hard sandstone, limestone, dolomite,

50-60
metamorphic and igneous rocks

Very hard metamorphic and igneous rock, particularly

60-70
hard quartzite

Thursday, April 18, 13

 Next Lecture - Stripping Ratio Calculations

Thursday, April 18, 13