MODES OF ACCESS


MODE OF ACCESS:
“It may be defined as an opening or
an excavation made in the strata in order to provide
an access to the mineral deposit and link it with the
surface.”

It provides access and transport facilities for men,
material and the excavated mineral.

Permits arrangement for drainage of water and
ventillation of mine
The figure below shows how mode of
access acts as the lifeline of a mine:
 Modes of access to a sub-surface
mineral deposit can be broadly
classified under three basic categories
namely:
 ADITS : For accessing deposits above the ground level.
 INCLINED SHAFTS : For accessing deposits at a shallow
deposit.
 VERTICAL SHAFTS : For accessing very deep mineral
deposits.
 ADITS
An Adit is a nearly horizontal passage
from the surface by which a mine is
entered and dewatered.
It is a blind horizontal opening into a
mountain, with only one entrance.
Adits are generally made for mineral
deposits lying above the ground level
e.g. A pocket inside a mountain.

An adit offers the most flexible means from the point
of view of ease of transportation.

Any type of transportation system can be installed in
an Adit whether it be locomotive haulage, u/g trucks,
conveyor belts etc.

Adits provide scope for highest level of
mechanization.

Adits are deliberately made dipping outbye as it
serves two important purposes:

It provides gravitational assistance to the loaded
train (if deployed) coming out of the mine

It also prooves to be a natural drainage assistance
for the mine
 ADVANTAGES OF AN ADIT
Expenses on an adit is 1/5th to 1/7th of an vertical
shaft.
Speed of drifting is higher 3 to 5 times.
Mine pumping cost is minimum because of gravity
drainage.
Haulage of ore is simpler and cheaper.
Movement of men and ore is more cheaper.
Expenses on surface structure is minimum.
Support maintenance is simpler and cheaper.
 INCLINED SHAFTS
It is an entry to a mine that is not vertical (shaft) or
horizontal (adit).
Often incline is reserved for those entries that are too
steep for a belt conveyor (+17 degrees -18 degrees), in
which case a hoist and guide rails are employed.
A belt conveyor incline is termed a slope.
Alt: Secondary inclined opening, driven upward to connect
levels, sometimes on the dip of a deposit; also called
"inclined shaft
Conditions for selection of an Inclined
shaft:

Inclined shafts are used for gently dipping ore

bodies ( less than 40deg.)
Regular mode of occurrence of ore deposit.
Absence of faults and pitch variations in the ore
body.
Advantages:

Efficiency of an inclined shaft equipped with a belt
conveyor is very high.

It ensures independence at the capacity of hoisting
facilities from the mine depth.

Provides maximum possible degree of automation

Inclined shaft sunk in deposits allow supplementary
exploration required before commencement of
stoping.
 VERTICAL SHAFTS

“A primary vertical or non-vertical opening
through mine strata used for ventilation or
drainage and/or for hoisting of personnel or
materials.”
It connects the surface with
underground workings.

Vertical shafts are made to access very deep mineral
deposits.

Generally it is made in the foot wall side of the
deposit vein out of the rock shift zone of the strata.

The work of level driving at upper horizons and the
shaft sinking may go on si8multaneously as this
ensures speedy development of upper horizons.

Men, materials and minerals are transported in a
shaft with the help of windings and cages suspended
in it. Skips are specifically designed to handle high
amount of minerals.
Apart from the above mentioned basic
modes of accesses there are some cases
where only a single mode appear
insufficient .
In such cases a
combination of the above mentioned
modes is made.
These modes are named
as COMBINED METHODS of access.
Few of them have been shown in the
consequent slides.

a) Openingup through an adit with
change over to blind vertical and inclined
shaft:
b) Opening up through adit from ground
surface and change over to blind inclined
shaft:
 VARIABLES
AFFECTING CHOICE
OF MODE OF ACCESS
The selection of mode of access for a mine is a very
important part of planning for a mine. The
adjoining figure shows how different modes of
accesses described above can be made.
While selecting a mode of access to a mineral
deposit the following factors play a very vital role.

DEPTH:
It is the most important factor in choosing a
particular mode of access for a mineral
deposit.The main reason is that mode of access
must be such that it traverses the minimum
distance or proves to be the shortest route to the
surafce

For deposits above the ground level,Adit is made

for shallow deposits inclined shafts are made and

for very deep deposits vertical shafts are made.
NATURE OF THE DEPOSIT:

This factor is taken into consideration because the
access made to a deposit must be such that it serves
the different parts of the deposit to the maximum
extent.e.g.

Case1: For a mildly dipping lode if a vertical shaft
is made it may not be able to serve the lower points
as the shaft and vein are divergent in nature and
thus those ores can be missed. In such a case an
inclined shaft along the direction of the lode is more
preferable than a vertical opening.

Case2: For ore in pockets a directional access is less
preferred because as the ore deposit has been
distributed erratically , it will not serve pockets on
the other side with such ease as some of the
pockets .In such cases access is chosen such that it
would serve most of the pockets with a maximum
ease.
A vertical shaft through the middle of the
property having a mean distance from all the pockets
in the deposit is a better option as compared to a
directional access.

PRODUCTION EXPECTED:
This factor mainly decides the size of the
access.As the access connects the mine from the
surface and thus is the neck in terms of
transportation of minerals thus constraining the
production of the mine.

Adits and inclines offer least transportation
restriction e.g. Continuous belt conveyors can be
installed in them to handle larger production

Shafts on the other hand cannot support continuous
transportation installations but have windings to
hoist cages with minerals or skips where larger
production is required.

ECONOMY:
The opening must be economical from the
point of view of its construction and also from the point
of view of its maintenance. The mine life ,mineral
raised, production expected from the mine etc also
dictate the size & type of the access.

e.g for deep deposits even inclined shafts can be made
but as they traverse large distance they prove to be less
economical than shafts.