Assignment Cover Sheet Faculty of Science and Technology

Student ID _______________ Student Name _____________________________________

Course Code _____________ Course Name ______________________________________

Date Submitted 23/03/2023 Lecturer’s Name __Greg You________________________

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ASSIGNMENT TITLE: ____________________________________________________________

PLAGIARISM

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properly acknowledging that person. You must not allow other students to copy your work and must take care to
safeguard against this happening.

Plagiarism is a serious offence. As set out in University Regulation 6.1.1., students who are caught plagiarising
will, for a first offence, be given a zero mark for that task. A second offence will result in a failing grade for the
Course(s) involved and any subsequent offence will be referred to the Student Discipline Committee.

Declaration

Except where appropriately acknowledged, this assignment is my own work, has been expressed in my
own words and has not previously been submitted for assessment. I have also retained a copy of this
assessment piece for my own records.

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Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University

Mt Helen Campus: PO Box 663 Ballarat Vic 3353
Gippsland Campus: PO Box 3191 Gippsland Mail Centre Vic 3481
Deposit 1:
Mining Method 1: Square set stoping method is the most effective and the suitable mining
method to recover this ore deposit as it has following characteristics:
 Shape:Tabular
 Grade:High
 Thickness:Medium in thickness
 Dip:Steep
 Concentration: High
Other Factors:
The footfalls and hanging walls are weaker in strength where as the main roof and floor are
stronger.
Because of the fact that the footfalls and hanging walls are weaker and it has deformities such
as fractures, it cannot be self supported, hence an artificial supporting system is required.
Square set timbers are utilised as supports during mining operations. It can be filled using the
weak soil/rock waste recovered during mining operations.

Mining Method 2: Cut and fill stoping method can be suggested as the secondary suggestion
considering the orientation and grade of the deposit. As there are no information available about
the concentration of the deposit at this stage, assuming presence of both high concentrated and
low concentrated minerals cut and fill stoping method was suggested. That method is very flexible
and hence recovery can be minimised using horizontal stripping.
Other Factors: Mining shall be done from bottom to top means advancing upwards and back fill
can be done using the waste.

Mining Method 3: Shrinkage stoping method is a flexible method which can be adapted in this
scenario considering the steepness of the ore body and the strength of the ore body.
Other Factors: In developing the mine, the broken ore is remained in the stopes until they are
taken up on to the surface, that leaves the miner with no control over the grade of the ore. Further,
as the ore is remained inside the mine, this method needs many labour to do operational work to
take the minerals out.

Deposit 2:
Mining Method 1: Long wall method is suggested as the best method to mine out the coal seam
in this scenario. It consists of following characteristics of the coal deposit.
 Thickness:Medium in thickness (Anon, n.d. ENMIN 3501 Underground Production Systems,Pg4)

 Dip:Flat (Anon, n.d. ENMIN 3501 Underground Production Systems,Pg4)

 Depth:Deep
Mining Method 2: Stope and Pillar method is also suitable in this case. However mining of
stopes to access the coal deposit is required in this method. This method is relatively expensive
than the room and pillar method when considering the method of mine development.

Mining Method 3: Room and Pillar method is another method suggested to extract the coal
deposit.
Significant Factors:
The overburden and the floor of the proposed mine is strong enough that pillars can bear the
stress exerted from the overburden.
Hence it can be self supported in this case.
The pillars will support the hanging wall (Veikko Suvanto n.d.)
However, it is not easy to work deeper depths in room and pillar method due to higher
overburden pressure.(room and pillar method n.d.)


Deposit 3
Mining Method 1: Block caving mining method is the most suitable method to recover the
minerals in this given scenario, after considering the following characteristics of the deposit.
 Shape:Massive
 Grade:High in Cu and medium in Gold
 Strength: High but with discontinuities
 Depth: Very low
Deposits which are massive in nature and low grade Cu deposits adopt block caving mining
method mostly (Veikko Suvanto n.d.)
Other Factors:
Higher production rate
Higher recovery
Safer for the workers
High productivity

Mining Method 2:Open pit mining method is another suitable method to recover the minerals
with respect to the properties of the deposit.
As the deposit lies very closer to ground level, another suitable technique to adopt is to remove
the overburden and then develop benches to reach where the minerals are explored.
Other Factors:
As both the deposit and the country consist of high level of discontinuities, a special attention
need to be taken about the slope stability when designing the slopes and working on the surface as
ore body and the country rocks are fractured.
Further as this is located in a densely populated area, water pollution and subsidence can be
serious issues.
Mining Method 3:Cut and fill method is another method which can be proposed.As the
subsidence can be minimised by filling the void created by the cut, this can be considered suitable.
Other Factors:
However, productivity is low in this method compared to the other two.

Deposit 4
Mining Method 1: Long wall mining method is the most suited mining method to recover coal
in the given situation
 Dip:Horizontal
 Thickness:Thick
 Strength of country rock: Competent
 Depth: Closer to ground surface
It is the most suited method used in areas where the underlain and overlain sub strata is competent
enough, which means where the discontinuities such as joints and fractures are low.
Other Factors:
Safe to work in such an environment
Productivity and efficiency is very high

Mining Method 2: Room and pillar mining method is suggested as the second most suitable
option in this case.
Factors effecting the selection:
The overburden stress is relatively low in this mine as the deposit is placed closer to surface.
Subsidence is minimised as the rocks are competent enough.

Mining Method 3: Open pit mining method shall be suggested in this case as the overlaying
rock layer is about 300m thick.
Other Factors:
The coal deposit can be accessed by removing the upper layer using suitable machinery.
Safety factor of the workers is a major concern in this case.
Stability of the benches should be given a special attention when designing them.
Deposit 5
Mining Method 1: Sub level stoping mining method is essentially suitable to extract lead zinc
deposit due to following characteristics of the deposit.
 Dip:constant at 55-Steep
 Shape:Tabular
 Strength of country rock: Moderate
 Depth: 500m to ground surface
The layers can be extracted effectively using this method and the the different sets can be
accessed efficiently using the components in stoping mine development components.

Mining Method 2: Shrinkage stoping method is the next most suitable method of mining for
this type of a deposit.
Other Factors:
The deposit can be mined in horizontal slices
Bottom to top mining method shall be utilised in here
The ore and surrounding rock is stable, hence support is a lesser significant factor.

Mining Method 3:Step Room and pillar method shall be optimised in this combined deposit.
Other Factors:
Steps can be developed in the country rock to access the deposit effectively.
Hence mechanisation is well utilised in this mining method.
Subsidence and water pollution are the adverse effects of this method.

List of references

1. Anon, n.d. ENMIN 3501 Underground Production Systems, pp.4–11.

2. Veikko Suvanto n.d. underground mining methods hand book, pp 10-26
3. Anon, n.d. 8.3.1: Room and pillar method. [online] 8.3.1: Room and Pillar Method | ABC
123: Testing Site / Course. Available at: <https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog000/node/900>
[Accessed 23 Mar. 2023].