Sublevel Stoping Method

(orBlastholeStoping)

Introduction

Figure shows the general approach. Drilling and blasting is the

main means of breaking the ore. The method extracts ore and
leaves the stope empty.

The stope is often very large with the largest dimension in the
vertical direction. The method only applies to vertical or steeply
inclined ore bodies.

To prevent the collapse of the hanging wall, large ore bodies are
divided into 2 or more stopes. Pillars are left between the stopes to
ensure the stability of the hanging wall. These pillars could be
horizontal or vertical.

The thickness of these pillars depends on many factors such as:

- Competence of the hanging wall
- Size of the stopes
- Method of drilling and blasting
- Importance of subsidence
- Value of the ore, and many other minor parameters.

In some cases, pillars can be designed to be extracted later,

partially or fully. In such cases, this would be done during the
final stages of mining activities, when the collapse of the hanging
wall does not affect mining operations.

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Main levels are driven at pre-determined places and between these,
sublevels are driven. The ore is attacked from both main levels and
sublevels.

The ore is drilled and blasted from the sublevel and main level
drifts. Large pieces of ore fall into the empty stope and transported
from the bottom of the stope to the loading stations.

Applications

The most important conditions of the ore body in order to be able

to use sublevel stoping method are:
1) The ore body must have a steep dip i.e the inclination of the
footwall must exceed the angle of repose.
2) The hanging wall and the footwall must be strong. Weak
hanging wall means collapse and dilution. Weak foot wall
means distortion of operations and plans.

Developments

The method needs a relatively comprehensive set of developments:

- A transport drift below the stope
- Raises between the sublevels for access to sublevels
- Production drifts or sublevels
- An undercut below the stope
- A loading system

Production

Drilling and blasting is the means of production. Generally there

are two methods of production:

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 1) The traditional and conventional method called Ring
Drilling. The method uses long hole extension rods to
achieve the required length.

These rods are normally 1.2 – 1.8 m (4 – 6 ft) long. The bit
diameter is approximately 5 cm. The hole length varies but it
cannot usually exceed 24m. Longer holes are possible but due to
the increased risk of deflection, they are not usually applied.

2) Recently the application of down-the-hole hammers has

made the Parallel Drilling more attractive.

In this system the hole diameter is 10-18 cm and the usual

maximum applied is 20 cm.

Larger holes cover more volume of ore. Therefore

fewernumber of holes are required because spacing between
the hole is more. This means that fewer drilling machines are
needed. The mine applying this system can therefore afford
to buy more advanced machines.

Also, larger holes allow deeper holes to be drilled since the

technique minimizes deflection. Holes of 45-60 m long are
easy and the maximum applied is 90-100 m.

Longer holes are advantageous because the vertical spacing

is increased between the sublevels. Therefore fewer
developments are needed.

To date, no disadvantage has been noted by he use of these

machines.

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 In sublevel stoping, drilling can be done independently of the
other operations. Large sections of the ore can be drilled and
left in place for blasting later. Machine utilization factor is
therefore high and hence the method can afford to use highly
specialized andexpensive machines. These machines allow
controlled and accurate hole alignment.

Mineral Transport

One of these systems can be used and at the bottom of the

stopeAppropriate development layout should be prepared:

i) The ore may be loaded through chutes and directly into the
cars.

The fact that sublevel stoping may produce boulders to great

extent, makes this system of transport inconvenient. If
blockage happens in the chutes, blasting has to be done there.
This can be complicated and troublesome. Generally, in such
cases, the overall production can be affected seriously.

ii) Slushers may be used to draw the ore from the draw points
and load it into mine cars. This system solves the problem of
boulders.

iii) Overhead loaders can be used to load the ore from the draw
point into mine cars. LHD loaders are used in practice in
many large mines that have a trackless transport design.

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Conclusions

With normal short hole drilling, the method is not particularly

attractive. However, the recent introduction of the long and large
holes has made sublevel stopingsomewhat popular.

The complicated and comprehensive development is a

disadvantage.

Production operation is efficient since drilling, blasting and

loading can each be done independently of the others. This gives
the method potentials for using high degree of mechanization.

Mechanizability is high. Concentration is also high because there

are few faces with a high output from each one.

The method in itself is not continuous in production but with a few

stopes (2 or 3) the mine output can become continuous.

Generally, continuous production means highest production.

Sublevel stoping requires a regular layout of the stopes and ore

boundaries. Stopes have to be in exact cubical or other similar
shapes. Inside the shape, everything is mined and outside the stope
nothing can be mined. Therefore no selective miningis possible at
all. After blasting separation is also impossible. Sublevel stoping
therefore needs regularity of the ore body more than most other
methods.

Key factors in successful operation of sublevel stoping are:

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 - A thorough knowledge of the geology of the area. This is
important when designing the stope. Also important when
mining. It is enhanced by concentration.
- Good knowledge of ore boundaries
- Careful hole alignment control specially in parallel system

Another characteristic in production is that output is low in the

beginning, increase towards the middle of the stope and then
decreases again towards the end of production in each stope.
Careful production planning is therefore necessary.

Recovery expected from a non-extracting pillar sublevel stoping is

35-50%. Pillars usually represent the majority of the ore lost.

If pillars are to be mined, thensuch decision must be made in the

early stage of planning so that the same developments can be used
for this operation.

If pillars are to be extracted, it should be done as soon as possible

after the stope is mined out.

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Advanced sublevel Stoping

The following are said with mechanized modern systems in mind.

Stope design

1) Length and width

Indeed the most important decision in the design process is

the dimensions of the stope.

Factors affecting the length and width of the stope are:

- Ore body geometry

- Principal stress direction
- Competence of the hanging wall
- Optimum drill pattern
- Production drift layout

In sublevel stoping, planning is done before entry to the mine i.e.

the stope dimensions are decided in advance. Therefore utmost
care must be taken in design. What is required is good knowledge
of the area and preferably some local experience.

2) Stope height

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Factors affecting the decision are

- Competence of stope pillars and walls

- Slenderness ratio (pillars/empty stopes)
- Ore body dip
- Ore body thickness
- Hole depth capacity of drilling machines
- Fragmentation characteristics of the ore
- Level intervals in existing mines

In practice, where the ground is known to be competent, i.e. recent

experience available etc, then the drill-hole length and its accuracy
is the limiting factor for the stope height.

With the machinery available now, often the sublevels are

eliminated. This represents a considerable saving in development
cost.

3) Drawpoint location and design

There are important matters to note:

- Optimum spacing of drawpoints, within the constraints of

thestope dimensions. This is for uniform movement of
broken ore and hence maximum recovery.

- Drawpoints should be designed with ground stability in

mind. They should be made to last for the life of mine and
when recovering pillars. They must be solid and durable.

- Floor surface, grade (for water) etc must be considered.

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 - Orientation with the main transport level for optimum
loader maneuverability and ground stability at
intersections.

- Length, to allow articulated loaders to load when standing

straight.

Generally, in sublevel stoping, careful design and construction of

drawpoints are essential for successful operation. Therefore:

- Extra care must be taken when driving the developments

i.e. in blasting etc since blasting produces cracks in the
strata.
- Rockbolts, grouts, wire mesh and shotcrete are all useful to
increase the life of drawpoints.

Also from safety point of view, it is essential that these are kept
stable and safe since the presence of workers is more in here than
anywhere else.

More particularly, when pillars are to be mined, all efforts to

construct the draw points well, are justified.

It must be noted that secondary blasting of boulders in chutes

weakens the structure of the drawpoints greatly.

The best design for floor is a smooth surface, reinforced with

concrete and poured with grout with an inclination of 3-4%
towards the broken ore for:
- Water to run away from the drawpoint and roadways.
- Better penetration of the bucket loaders into the ore.

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Undercutting

Proper and efficient undercutting is essential to the success of

sublevel stoping. It affects blasting (better and higher output) and
helps loading.

Undercut should not be more than a few (2-4) steps in front of the
blasting on the sublevels (for back stability).

Undercut could be eliminated, but its presence is always preferred.

In narrow stopes it is sometimes not made, mainly due to difficulty
in access and operational activities caused by limitation of space.

Production drilling

This is the most important operation in the production process. The

factors affecting the drilling operation and design are:

a) Drillability of the ore:

- Hardness
- Abrasiveness
- Fractures
- Specific gravity
b) Fragmentation characteristics of the ore
c) Type of hole and accuracy expected from drilling machine
d) Orientation and spacing of holes
e) Hole diameter and length

As mentioned before, sublevel stoping has recently become

attractive, mainly because of the new drilling machines. Since the
1970’s the ring system has started to be replaced by parallel and
hence using one of these drilling machines:
- High pressure pneumatic down-the-hole drills
- Electro-hydraulic rotary drills

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- Electro-hydraulic rotary-percussive drills

These machines are capable of drilling 20 cm diameter holes

to the depth of 100 m with less than 2% deviation.

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