Strip Mining and Sario, Kachel Joy S.

2018103828

Nickel Mining GEO107-2

Strip Mining
The removal of soil and rock (overburden)
above a layer or seam (particularly coal),
followed by the removal of the exposed mineral.

It is most commonly used to mine coal and

lignite, and is only practical when the ore body
to be excavated is relatively near the surface.

It uses some of the largest machines on earth,

including bucket-wheel excavators which can
move as much as 12,000 cubic meters of earth
per hour.
 Common Strip Mining Techniques
These are classified on the basis of deposit geometry and
type.

Area mining - appropriate for extraction of near-surface,

relatively flat-lying, and thin deposits of coal, phosphate,
and similar minerals.
- progresses in a series of parallel deep trenches referred
to as furrows or strips which may be hundreds of meters
in length.

Contour mining - involves removing the burden above the

mineral seam near the outcrop in hilly terrain, where the
mineral outcrop usually follows the contour of the land.
- often followed by auger mining into the hillside to
remove more of the mineral
-commonly leaves behind terraces in mountainsides.
 soil
drilling and
removal
blasting of
Strip Mining Cycle overburden
of Operation

vegetation
The cycle of operations applies clearing
stripping;
for both techniques area and
removal of
contour mining.
the mineral
or coal

reclamation
 Nickel Ore Types
Nickel Sulfides
Derived from volcanic or hydrothermal processes
Historically preferred and comprises about 40% of the
world's nickel resource.
Includes copper, cobalt, selenium, tellurium; sometimes gold,
silver, platinum, or palladium.
Pentlandite, pyrrhotite, with chalcopyrite and cubanite.

Nickel Laterites
result of long weathering of peridotite initially containing a
Primary Nickel Ores: small percent of nickel.
pentlandite found near the surface as a soft, claylike material with nickel
nickel-bearing pyrrhotite concentrated in strata
garnierite (a mixture of Currently preferred and comprises about 60% of the world's
népouite, pecoraite and nickel resource
willemseite) Garnierite
Exploration

Nickel ore environments generally have the following characteristics

which may be geophysically detectable:

1. a relative thickening of the basal ultramafic flow units;

2. a lack of interleaved sedimentary units between the mafic rocks and overlying
basal ultramafic rocks, and between successive ultramafic flows; and
3. structurally enhanced embayments (oretroughs) in the footwall mafic rocks.

Nickel is mined in 23 countries around the world. Of these, some of the most
important nickel mining places are located in Russia, Canada, Australia – such as
Mincor, near Kambalda, Indonesia, China, South Africa and Columbia. Refineries
are located in Finland, Norway, Japan, France and the United Kingdom. More than
1.4 million tons of primary or new nickel is produced worldwide. This compares to
800 million tons of steel and 10 million tons of copper.
Exploration

Nickel Sulfides
Detailed airborne and surface magnetic in targeting favorable ore
environments, structures, and prospective ultramafic-mafic contacts.
Surface and downhole electrical and electromagnetic techniques applied to
optimize prospect drilling and directly detect nickel sulfides.

Nickel Laterites
Sampling techniques involve test pitting, drilling, augering, and trenching
Surveying using Global SRTM Digital Terrain Model, topographic Maps, tape
and compass surveys, GPS Measurement, and plane surveying
Surface modelling using ground-penetrating radars and seismic methods.
Grade estimation using geometric methods, inverse distance methods,
geostatistical methods.
Production

After mining, nickel ores (1–4% Ni) are further processed to

upgrade their nickel content. The resulting concentrates
typically have nickel content in the range 10–20%.
Concentration is normally carried out at, or close to, the mine
site and involves crushing the ore and separating nickel-
bearing and gangue minerals, using suitable physical and
chemical processes.

Smelting and refining may be carried out at or near the mine,

or ore may be transported or exported for processing to
metal. Pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical processes may
be used in processing ores, although different procedures may
be preferred in processing magmatic sulphide ores and
laterite-hosted ores due to their chemical and textural
differences.
 Production
Processing of Magmatic
Sulfide Ores
Sulfide is fed into a primary crusher,
and then undergoes one or more
stages of secondary crushing. At
each stage vibrating screens allow
material of the appropriate size to
pass on to the next part of the
processing circuit.

The purpose is to maximise

separation of the ore minerals from
the gangue without overmilling, due
to the high cost of this process. The
particles containing pyrrhotite are
magnetically separated and removed
for further processing in order to
maximise nickel recovery through
removal of iron-rich pyrrhotite.
 Production
Processing of Laterite Ores

Silicate lateritic ores which comprise

mainly saprolite and garnierite are
best suited to pyrometallurgical
processes. The dried ore is smelted in
an electric furnace at around 1600ºC
with carbon as a reducing agent.

If matte is required, sulphur is also

added to this process. Further
refining to produce ferro-nickel or
matte completes this process. This is
an energy intensive process, requiring
heat to remove free moisture and
combined water in addition to
calcining and smelting.
Production
Mond Process
One of the most well-known purification processes which is an extracting and purifying
process developed by Ludwif Mond in 1899

1. Nickel oxide is reacted with hydrogen at 200 °C to remove oxygen, leaving impure nickel.
Impurities include iron and cobalt.
→
NiO (s) + H2 (g) Ni (s) + H2O (g)
2. The impure nickel is reacted with excess carbon monoxide at 50-60 °C to form nickel carbonyl.
→
Ni (s) + 4 CO (g) Ni(CO)4 (g)
3. The mixture of excess carbon monoxide and nickel carbonyl is heated to 220-250 °C. On
heating, tetracarbonyl nickel decomposes to give nickel:
→
Ni(CO)4 (g) Ni (s) + 4 CO (g)
Production
The ore must be classified as to low, medium, high Ni grade and whether low or high Fe
grade prior to mining and hauling/transport

The ore must be aggregated/ reclassed, scalped/ crushed to avoid oversize fragments
which incur penalties

The ore must be segregated into final grade and matrix-matched stockpiles to enable
fine blending

The ore stockpiles need to be sun- and air-dried and protected from rain,

There must be timely, accurate, and precise assays and moisture determinations for
proper blending during shipment.
Rehabilitation
Based on Mine Rehabilitation Practices of Rio Tuba NIckel Mining Corporation

Principal Objective Secondary Objectives

Conserve local Economic welfare and

Fast vegetation of biodiversity preservation of the cultural
mined-out areas. (Wildlife Conservation heritage of the Indigenous
Act) People (IPRA Law)

Make mined-out areas Improvement of the role of

produce food (Govt women (Gender and Devt.
priority) Act)
Rehabilitation
Based on Mine Rehabilitation Practices of Rio Tuba NIckel Mining Corporation
Soil Amelioration to
improve fertility
To improve soil condition
- Organic fertilizer screening
- Collection and screening for
possible
production of rhizobium, VAM
mycorrhiza
and other microbial inoculants
Biodiversity Conservation
To enhance post-mining
ecosystems restoration
- Floral and faunal assessment
- Taxonomic assessment
- Phenological study of endemic
tree species
Silviculture, AgroForestry /
Aquaculture Combination Trials
To optimize land use and enhance
food productivity of mined-out
areas
- Mensurational and tree biomass
yield studies
- Cropping trials
Rehabilitation
Based on Mine Rehabilitation Practices of Rio Tuba NIckel Mining Corporation

Socio-cultural Attributes of IPs Gender and Development

To identify and elevate the role of women

To enhance the capacitation of the IPs
in mining rehabilitation
in preserving their cultural heritage
- Demographic and perceptional surveys
- Socio-economic surveys
- Training needs assessment
- Others
- Others
References

https://www.britannica.com/technology/strip-mining
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_mining#:~:text=%22Strip%20mining%22%20is%2
0the%20practice,and%20lignite%20(brown%20coal).
http://www.minsocam.org/msa/collectors_corner/article/oremin.htm
https://www.britannica.com/technology/nickel-processing/Extraction-and-refining
https://www.slideshare.net/dwillard/mining-practices-impacts
https://www.generalkinematics.com/blog/nickel-mining-processing-everything-need-
know/
https://www.agiboo.com/commodity-knowledge-center/commodities/nickel/
https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Mond_process.html
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1071/ASEGSpec07_10
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/58868.pdf
https://www.nast.ph/index.php/downloads/category/57-rehabilitation-of-mined-out-
sites