Ore Pass Design And Placement

Abstract

A current trend in mining is towards lower grade deposits when easy to access mineral deposits are depleted in the world. Therefore, to make the current deposits accessible, a cost of mining need to be economic. Costs can be decreased in equipment and mine planning to maximize the availability and utilization of equipment for example by decreasing travelling and hauling distances in daily production. Ore passes are one of the possibilities to decrease hauling costs when mine is evolving the greater depths.

Ore pass design and placement is conducted using modified Bieniawski’s design strategy for rock structures. Thesis studies in detail all parameters affecting to the ore pass design and placement. With the strategy and data available from mine and literature, a case study for Kittilä Mine had been carried out.

Data collection from literature review and data acquired from the mine site was made and applied in the Bieniawski’s design strategy. Production related factors were weighted more in the design process in order of mining to assess the ore pass design and placement. The location and design of the ore pass were optimized using a state-of-the-art technology and best practices in combination with mathematically optimized location.

Via strategy it was possible to identify the project risks, technical viability and feasibility of the ore pass project. Case study shows that via applying the design strategy it is possible to show that mine can benefit from using ore passes in its operations and that ore passes are financially viable solution if ore passes can be operated the way presented in this study.