Open Pit

With the increased drive towards deeper and more complex mine designs, geotechnical engineers are often forced to reconsider traditional deterministic design techniques in favour of probabilistic methods. These alternative techniques allow for the direct quantification of uncertainties within a Read more... about A Comparison of Traditional, Step-Path, and Geostatistical Techniques in the Stability Analysis of a Large Open Pit

Open pit strip mining requires a lot of mine planning effort to provide quality product at lowest cost possible. Appropriate approach and mine planning methods facilitate this task and add value to the business. Many approaches can be taken when planning a stratified open pit project for the Read more... about 10 Things You Should Know About Mine Planning for Open Pit Stratified Deposits

A Strategic Mine Plan is the first stage of mine planning that sets the economic and technical direction for your project. The correct strategy is vital for the economic, social and environmental success of your project. You may be currently operating with a sub-optimal plan, so take this Read more... about 10 things you should know about Strategic Mine Planning for Open Pits

Water is a key component in the development of the mining industry; from potable water for human use to industrial water for mineral recovery. The rational and efficient use of water resources has became relevant in the evaluation and mine planning, since the exploration phase to closure, once Read more... about Groundwater Flow Modelling Applications in Mining: Scopes and Limitations

Remote sensing techniques such as ground-based photogrammetry and LiDAR have become routine supplements to traditional rock mass characterisation approaches, greatly enhancing discontinuity survey capability. Concurrently, discrete fracture network simulations, constructed using field Read more... about Discontinuity survey and brittle fracture characterisation in open pit slopes using photogrammetry

Cerro Vanguardia is a gold-silver mine located in the central steppe of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. The deposit consists of several veins 3.5–10 m in width and 19 km in length. Mining is currently carried out by means of open pits averaging 100–200 m in depth and, more recently, underground Read more... about Geomechanical analysis of open pits at Cerro Vanguardia

Porphyry copper deposits are characterized by a rock mass with a stockwork of mineralized veins and veinlets affecting the strength behavior of the intact rock and rock mass. The observation of tested samples and blocks at draw points pointed out that veinlets and veins have a high participation Read more... about A methodology to select valid results from Lab tests to estimate properties of intact rock with microdefects

In open pit mines, bench and berm design plays a critical role in minimising kinematic failures and reducing and controlling rockfalls.  Where kinematic failure mechanisms and rockfall risk—rather than rock mass failure—are the dominant controlling factors for slope failure, benches and berms Read more... about Comparison of methods for estimating volume of failed wedges

Cerro Vanguardia is an Au-Ag mine located in the central plains of Santa Cruz, Argentina. The deposit consists of several veins 3.5-10m wide and 19km long, related to epithermal mineralization of the Chon-Aike formation by Jurassic volcanism episodes. The exploitation is carried out by means of Read more... about Cerro Vanguardia Open Pit Mining: Database Management for Stability Analyses