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By The Staff

Introduction For many years the necessity of mechanization of all the underground services in the collieries of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation in the Sydney, Pictou, and Cumberland coalfields has been foremost in the minds of those concerned with the engineering and operating policies of the Corporation, and a gradual policy of the mechanization of these services has been undertaken over the years, until nearly all the underground services, except the actual loading of the coal at the face, have been mechanized. Early in 1928, experiments in mechanical loading were conducted which finally culminated in the installation of mechanical loading units in our No. 20 colliery in 1938. This attempt at mechanization of the final underground services proved unsuccessful because the workmen were not ready to accept complete mechanization, and the fruition of many years of study was delayed until the year 1947. During the ensuing years, the engineers and operators of the Corporation had studied the possibility of adapting to conditions prevailing in Nova Scotia mines the many types of loading equipment in use in the United States and Europe. The varied physical conditions which exist in the fields operated by the Corporation rendered it extremely difficult to apply the equipment and technique successfully employed in the United States, and more recently in Europe, and special techniques have had to be devised to meet the need of each individual colliery. Prevailing physical conditions in the Nova Scotia fields find no parallel for mechanization with those of any other part of the American continent.

Jan 1, 1949

By Akira Kaneda, Nozomu Hasegawa

"In the Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process, slag/matte mixture overflowed from the smelting furnace is separated continuously in an electric furnace (slag cleaning furnace, CL-furnace). In order to improve the separation efficiency of slag and matte and to minimize power consumption, the design and the operating conditions of the CL-fumace should be optimized. In the previous study, the authors developed a mathematical model for simulating phenomena in the CL-furnace. The model consisted of 3 modules, electric field analysis, heat and fluid flow analysis and the particle tracking method. In this study, the model was partially modified: k -E. model was adopted, and the effects of various conditions, such as furnace shape (including accretion) and scale, electrodes configuration, immersion depth of electrodes, and thickness of slag layer, were evaluated. And the optimum design and operating conditions were discussed.IntroductionUnder the recent environmental restriction, advantageous features of the Mitsubishi process have attracted much attention. The process uses 3 furnaces connected by launders. Mixture of matte and slag formed in a smelting furnace flows continuously to a slag cleaning furnace (CL-furnace), where the matte is separated from the slag. The matte is continuously siphoned out to a converting furnace and converted to blister copper. The slag overflowed from the CL-furnace is discarded. Because the slag contains about 0.6 % copper, improving slag/matte separation efficiency and decreasing copper loss make a great profit. Moreover the process requires a large amount of electric energy, so reduction of electric power consumption brings in enormous benefit.The objective of this study is to optimize the design and the operating conditions of the process, especially the CL-furnace. This will be achieved by developing the mathematical model and clarifying relations between the design or the operating conditions and various phenomena in the furnace. Fig. 1 shows an outline of the CL-furnace. The mixture entering through an inlet is separated to slag layer and matte layer . In order to maintain the temperature of the melt at a predetermined level, 6 electrodes are immersed into the lag and Joule's heat is generated by 3-phase alternating current flowing."

Jan 1, 2000

By Afshin Sadri, Wai Lai Ying, Brycklin Wilson, Zoe Coull

"Although there have been great steps forward to integrate corrosion engineering into operations, there is still an underlying tendency for maintenance tasks to be performed in a reactive manner. This is especially true when strategies focus on lagging indicators such as visual inspections, RCA (root-cause analysis), and FMECA (failure mode, effects and criticality analysis). This trend to “reactive maintenance” can be avoided by utilizing more inspection and monitoring methods to identify leading indicators of failures. Prevention is generally less costly than repairs; moreover, when paired with appropriate monitoring techniques, intervention of corrosion protection can be more effectively timed and based on more accurate data. Hatch asset reliability studies show nearly 80% of defects are introduced through operations and maintenance. Therefore, proactive corrosion management can provide the necessary feedback to optimize operations and maintenance strategies preventing costly corrosion losses. Understanding corrosion risks gives a clear picture of the benefits of a proactive approach to asset performance. Monitoring techniques (Non-Destructive Testing, field testing, sampling, etc.) by nature are a more effective means of improving maintenance efforts and preventing corrosion losses than other methods (RCA, FMECA). This paper will outline the importance of proactive corrosion management and demonstrate its benefits through industry examples.INTRODUCTION Over the past few decades, with the growth of technology and awareness of sustainable development many studies have shown the benefits of a proactive approach to maintenance strategies. However, in practice there is still an underlying tendency for maintenance tasks to be performed in a “reactive manner”. This is especially true when strategies focus on lagging indicators such as visual inspections, RCA (root-cause analysis), and FMECA (failure mode, effects and criticality analysis). This trend to “reactive maintenance” can be avoided by utilizing more inspection and monitoring methods to identify defects and leading indicators to failures."

Jan 1, 2017

By D. R. Lentz, C. J. Beaumont-Smith, S. H. Mcclenaghan

"Abstract - The Louvicourt Au-Ag-Cu-Zn-Pb sulfide deposit is hosted by a Middle Ordovician calc-alkaline sequence of aphyric rhyolite flows and associated fragmental rocks at the top of the Flat Landing Brook Formation. The Zr/TiO2 (average = 0.110) and Y/TiO2 (average = 0.021) ratios in the footwall felsic volcanic rocks are consistent with known values for the Reids Brook member. The deposit consists of two concordant lenses of semi-massive to massive sulfides, approximately 150 m long and up to 9 m thick, which represent a fold repetition of a single exhalative horizon. The deposit contains a geologic resource of 136 000 tonnes grading 1.2% Pb, 1.0% Zn, 0.4% Cu, 90.9 g/t Ag, and 0.96 g/t Au; the deposit locally contains elevated Au (2.9 ppm) and Ag (320 ppm) contents. A laterally continuous iron formation that contains barite caps the deposit, and is gradational vertically and laterally into laminated siltstone. The exhalite confirms the stratiform nature of this deposit, but a large percentage of sulfides occur as late replacements of altered felsic fragmental rocks in the footwall. Abundant examples of colloform pyrite and perlitic and spherulitic textures in volcanic clasts are well preserved. The base- and precious-metal content of the Louvicourt deposit is atypical of the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC). Reported assay data (n = 27) indicate an average Pb/Zn ratio of 2.6, the highest in the BMC (average = 0.39). Lead exhibits a strong Spearman Rank correlation (r' = 0.92) with base metals throughout the sequence, indicating a preponderance of galena in both the stockwork and stratiform zones. The Ag and Au contents in this deposit are among the highest in the BMC and exhibit a Au-Ag- Cu-Pb association. Barite-rich exhalative pyrite exhibits a moderate Au correlation with Ag (r' = 0.77; n = 10) and Cu (r' = 0.76) and occurs in portions of the exhalative sulfides that are enriched in Pb. Chemical exhalative rocks are conformably overlain by trachy-andesitic volcaniclastic (possibly pyroclastic) rocks that are assigned to the Little River Formation. These are enriched in Nb (average = 38.4 ppm) and P2O5 (average = 0.17 wt.%), and have much lower Zr/TiO2 (average = 0.056) and Y/TiO2 (average = 0.0062) relative to rocks higher in the hanging wall. The intermediate volcanic rocks are conformably overlain by massive to pillowed basalt flows and related hyaloclastite that have Nb/Y = 0.60 and high TiO2 contents (average = 2.8 wt.%). This chemistry is consistent with rocks of the Brunswick Mines member (Little River Formation), except that these rocks are considerably enriched in P2O5 (average = 0.82 wt.%). This syngenetic exhalative deposit is unique for the BMC with a high Pb/Zn and elevated Au and Ag contents, as well as an epithermal signature (Sb-Ag-Au-Tl-Hg), analogous to high sulfidation volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. Its intimate relationship with an emergent felsic dome (Flat Landing Brook Formation), chlorite-silicate-oxide-sulfide exhalite (locally hematitic), and the abundance of barite are classical features of many of the Kuroko deposits."

Jan 1, 2006

By Timothy M. Barton

The U.S. Bureau of Mines is conducting research to assess the effectiveness of different chain pillar designs in maintaining gate entry stability. A particular concern is ground control for deep-cover 1ongwalls located at depths in excess of 1,000 ft. The study described in this report was performed in two experimental sections in one longwall headgate section which contained three different pillar designs. Two of the designs used conventional abutment pillars, while the third was a total-yielding pillar system. Both of the test areas were located under 1,800 ft of cover. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of these three pillar designs for gate road stability. As the longwall mined passed the test areas, Bureau engineers monitored entry convergence, roof sag, and changes in roof quality. The study indicated that the all-yield system performed nearly as well as the better of the two abutment pillar systems; but all of the three designs would have failed to provide acceptable stability for second panel mining without considerable artificial support.

Jan 1, 1989

By B. Seymour

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is conducting research to develop safe practices for the use of shotcrete as ground support in underground mines, particularly mines operating in weak host rock. As part of this research, tests were conducted with a commercial poly-fiber reinforced shotcrete mix to develop a practical means of measuring shotcrete adhesion strength. Full-scale tests were conducted in a test frame equipped with concrete panels having three distinct surface roughness profiles. Adhesion test fixtures either embedded or epoxied in the shotcrete were overcored into the underlying concrete, and direct tensile tests were conducted to determine the bond strength of the shotcrete cores to the substrate after a selected shotcrete curing interval (1, 3, 7, 14, 28, or 90 days). Measured adhesion strengths typically ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 MPa depending on the curing age of the shotcrete samples. This paper presents the results of these tests, describes the portable test system components, and addresses some of the design issues encountered in the development of a rugged and reliable method for determining shotcrete adhesion strength in underground mines.

Jan 1, 2010

By T. W. Wlodek, Zygmunt Kowalczyk

In the period from 1946 to 1964, the annual output of co al from Polish mines increased from 4 7.3 to 117.35 million tons. In this paper, the methods of bringing about this increase in productivity through the building of some twelve new collieries (producing some 15 million tons annually) and the modernization, reconstruction and extension of some thirty-six older collieries are discussed.

Jan 1, 1967

By R. E. Phelan

Introduction The Flin Flon deposit was discovered by Tom Creighton, an experienced prospector and trapper, who in 1914 made his headquarters at The Pas, Manitoba, and still lives there. The discovery was made in the fall of 1914, and Creighton and his associates spent the next summer in investigating the find. In August of 1915 the first claims were located. The property was optioned to Hayden Stone & Company, and in the spring of 1916 they started a diamond-drill campaign. Hayden Stone spent $50,000 on the property and, among other things, completed over 7,500 feet of diamond drilling. The ore not being as high grade as expected, and also being complex in character, Hayden Stone then abandoned their option. In the spring of 1917, Messrs. Earle, Faskin and associates took an option on the property and started an extensive drilling campaign. This campaign accomplished approximately 18,000 feet of drilling and secured for the Faskin interests a 32 per cent interest in the property. In 1920, W. B. Thompson and The Mining Corporation of Canada secured an option, and, while this option was in force, sunk two shafts in the ore-zone and did a considerable amount of drifting and cross-cutting in the ore to study the manner in which it occurred in place, and, by actual channel sampling, to check the grade indicated by the previously accomplished diamond drilling. All of this work had indicated that an ore-body existed on the property containing at least 18,000,000 tons of ore, assaying as follows: gold, 0.074 oz./ton; silver, 1.06 oz./ton; copper, 1.71 per cent; and zinc, ). 45 per cent (1). Complete analyses of composites from the drill holes showed that the ore was very complex in character. It contained the above values in gold, silver, copper, and zinc, as well as large amounts of sulphur and iron, and traces of lead, arsenic, antimony, cobalt, and various other metals. Although the ore was obviously pyritic in character, pyritic smelting, the usual method of treating this class of ore, could not be used to beneficiate the ore with any reasonable expectation of making such a venture a financial success, since coke and coal landed at Flin Flon would be expensive, and siliceous flux was known to be scarce locally and low in grade. The property therefore lay idle until 1925.

Jan 1, 1935

By Chunhui Zhang, Enton Bedini, Jiang Chen, Fengchao Yang, Hang Dong, Xiaoyan Chen

The alteration formed by the reaction of ore-bearing fluid and wall rock is often used as an important prospecting indicator, resulting in the dilution or enrichment of metals or related trace elements. A variety of rock-forming and metallogenic elements have been analyzed in regional stream sediments so that the relationship between the ore-bearing altered rock and the change in the geochemical elemental content can be obtained. Therefore, by using appropriate models, such as matched filtering, the abundance of the distribution of wall rock alteration, similar to the discovered deposits, can be modeled by using the distribution of geochemical elements in the region, and the areas with high distribution abundances are usually favorable prospecting targets. The alteration types related to gold mineralization in the Baiyun gold deposit are potassium feldspar alteration, silicification, pyritization, sericitization, and chloritization. In this paper, the geochemical data of the Qingchengzi ore field (1:200,000 and 1:50,000) have been used to form geochemical images through rasterization. In the three sections of the Baiyun gold deposit, binary-coded curves have been formed, revealing the differences in geochemical elements in stream sediments between altered rocks and the rocks surrounding the Baiyun gold mine. Among them, Au, W, and Mo are enriched elements, while Sn, Zn, and Hg are depleted elements. Several gold deposits are found in the predicted altered rock area by using the matched filtering method during fieldwork, which shows the effectiveness of the method.

Dec 30, 2023

By J St George

Much of AucklandÆs transport infrastructure has been developed on surface with little or no consideration of underground options. Current and planned transportation routes are now facing high costs due to land values and increasing environmental resistance to surface development. The option of utilising underground space becomes a feasible investment decision for these links as well as being the only option to develop the rail network within the inner city area. Transportation tunnels offer a quieter, more energy efficient means of getting around with minimal impacts on the surface environment. One of the major impediments to tunnelling is the high construction cost, which is partly related to the risks of encountering unexpected ground conditions and/or the possibility of causing surface ground deformations which could damage structures. The geology of Auckland has had substantial investigation through various studies and projects. The sediments of the East Coast Bays Formation (ECBF) underlie most of the Auckland urban area. It is classified as a soft rock and is a suitable material to tunnel through using either a tunnel boring machine or a roadheader. This paper reviews the limited amount of tunnelling completed in the urban Auckland area, together with the international advancements that have been made in the tunnelling industry. From the known features of the local geology and the problems encountered historically, the likely risks of tunnelling in Auckland are presented and ways in which those risks could be reduced and managed, are discussed. In addition, contractual arrangements between client and contractor are assessed with respect to complicated projects (such as tunnelling), so that the risks can be managed to create efficient infrastructure routes with reduced costs.

Jan 1, 2008

By Jon C. Volkwein

The Bureau of Mines conducted a series of tests to evaluate the effectiveness of mixing a compressed-air-generated foam with dried whole-grain silica sand to suppress dust in minerals processing plants. Dust at downstream transfer points was monitored with personal gravimetric samplers and with Real-Time Aerosol Monitors (RAM's) that were connected to strip' chart recorders. Results showed dust reductions of 80 to 90 pct on three separate occasions at two different plants. The mechanism by which foam suppresses dust is discussed, as are the constraints on the use of foam, which may include incompatibility of the foam with the mineral product, difficulty in controlling the foam generator, and cost.

Jan 1, 1983

By J-P Strydom, J P. Z, S. Schafrik, M. Beck, Z. Agioutantis

Developing a method to accurately determine the weight and distribution of the load within a shuttle car bed eliminates the need for manual activation of the flight chain. Accordingly, this experimental study characterized the thermo-mechanical response of two unique load cells in force shunt, implemented as an engineering control to quantify load position and distribution without human intervention. The influence of environmental and installation conditions on the measurement accuracy was quantified and determined to be indirectly dependent on the characteristics of the material load cells that are mounted to.

Feb 22, 2026

By R. W. Nice

Presently about 60% of the world's nickel resources are tied up with lateritic ores while about 25% of the world's nickel is produced from sulphides. Based on this the industry has to focus on improving lateritic nickel economics in order to maintain the high use of the metal worldwide. In 1997 three junior mining companies in Australia organised finance against all odds and commenced development of three separate nickel and cobalt extraction plants treating lateritic nickel ores. All three projects utilise similar pressure acid leaching (PAL) technologies while each has unique metal recovery technologies All projects have experienced numerous processing and maintenance related difficulties such that full ore throughput has been reached by only one operation after five years. This shortfall in performance has caused the owners considerable angst and financial pain. In 2000 Cawse went into receivership and was purchased by an international corporation. Recently, Bulong also went into receivership and has undergone an orderly shutdown, awaiting sale to a new buyer. Murrin Murrin has settled with its financiers and is in a position to operate as planned for many years forward. This paper will discuss a number of the technical difficulties that affect the ore preparation, PAL and solution treatment circuits of these plants. The objective is to identify the cause of some of the difficulties and propose possible solutions so that the next generation of lateritic operations can emerge as technically and, more importantly, economic successes. A number of these process improvements have been identified by the existing operators and in many instances have been or are being implemented into the existing operations.

Jan 1, 2004

By N. Demirel

Estimating productivity of a walking dragline is of paramount concern to mining engineers and mine planners. Risk based evaluation of the dragline productivity is a valuable tool to estimate the dragline?s long-term performances and availabilities, to develop preventive maintenance plans, and to make future projections about the machine?s performance. This paper aims to provide mining professionals with an overview of risk assessment methodology for productivity of two walking draglines, PAGE 736 and MARION 7820, which have been operating in Tunçbilek open cast coal mine of Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKI) in Turkey. The study encompasses three main stages as: (i) acquiring of monthly maintenance records, operating hours, mechanical and electrical failure hours between 1998 and 2009; (ii) reliability modeling using mean time between failure data; (iii) determining hazard rate and consequences to compute risk associated with dragline productivity. The results showed that that Page 736 (20 yd3) is seemed to be more reliable and less likely to fail when compared with Marion 7820 (40 yd3). The operating hours without failure range from 41 to 51 hours with 50 percent reliability.

Jan 1, 2011

By K. V. Lindell

Introduction This paper describes a recent innovation in the design and construction of mine headframes. A reinforced concrete headframe was built by using sliding forms. A concrete headframe of conventional design was originally considered, but investigation of this project showed that it was doubtful if the bearing strength of the soil was sufficient to support the great weight of a structure of this type. In addition, the slope and the fractured condition of the serpentine bed-rock did not permit satisfactory piling. A conventional steel headframe with storage bins was then designed, but, due to the steel situation, delivery promises were set back many months. The concrete headframe was again investigated, and a design was adopted incorporating a circular headframe lower in height than that first considered, with skips discharging into a smaller surge bin. The upper section of the shaft collar was strengthened to result in a stable structure which would be supported by bed-rock, as well as by the concrete and steel lining of the shaft itself.

Jan 1, 1948

Mount Isa Mines Limited (MIM) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) have, over the past 15 years, jointly developed the Isasmelt process. This process is based on the use of the Sirosmelt top-entry, submerged combustion lance, developed by the CSIRO in 1973. While the Isasmelt technology was first applied to lead smelting, it has more recently been adapted to smelt copper concentrate. A 15 t/h demonstration Copper Isasmelt plant was commissioned in MIM's Mount Isa copper smelter in April 1987. The success of the Copper Isasmelt demonstration plant, which smelted over 532,000 metric tons of copper concentrate, has led to the construction of two full-scale furnaces: a 104 t/h furnace in the Mount Isa copper smelter, and a 585,000 t/y (650,000 short t/y) furnace at the Cyprus Miami Mining Corporation smelter at Miami, Arizona. The commissioning of these furnaces commenced in August and June 1992, respectively. The MIM Copper Isasmelt furnace will raise the Mount Isa copper smelter's capacity to 265,000 t/y of copper. The plant includes several innovative features, including: Andritz pressure filters, a rotary holding furnace, and an Ahlstrom flux-flow boiler.

Jan 1, 1993

By Gabriel Böde Jimenez Leon, Michael Karmis, Christopher Newman, Zach Agioutantis

"When utilizing high recovery underground mining methods, such as longwall or high-extraction room-and-pillar mining, the movement and deformation of the overburden propagate toward the surface and may affect the integrity of overlying surface streams (Peng et al, 1996). Published studies cite three major mechanisms of subsidence as most likely to impact streams: displacement, slope and strain. While subsidence-induced vertical displacement cause little structural damage to the stream bed, it may create adverse drainage and stream flow issues as the subsidence trough allows for ponding (Dawkins, 2003). Subsidenceinduced changes to the slope, or tilt, of a stream may have adverse effects on water flow. As the stream enters the subsidence trough, the gradient increases providing potential erosion control problems. When exiting the subsidence trough, a reduction of the gradient may inhibit stream flow, causing localized ponding (Peng, 2008). While vertical displacement and tilt both may have detrimental effects to surface streams, the resulting strains have been documented as being the most damaging to surface streams and structures causing distortion, fractures, or failure (Singh, 1992). When stream beds are subjected to high tensile strain, tensile cracks may form at the surface level allowing for the direct loss of stream flow through fissures. When stream beds are located in areas of high compressive strain, rock layers forming the stream bed can fail as the stream bed ruptures, upward, blocking stream flow or having the stream diverted into the fracture zone at the base (Iannacchione, et. al., 2010).Recent investigations on the effects of underground mining on surface bodies of water suggest that to determine the degree of stream impact one must also consider the geologic structure and thicknesses, surface topography, watershed drainage areas, width of river bed and rate of mining. Due to the complex nature and number of parameters affecting surface streams, subsidence modeling tools and software packages should be implemented throughout all stages of subsidence planning, prediction and control. The Surface Deformation Prediction System (SDPS) utilizes the influence function for the calculation of final subsidence deformations with respect to the angle of influence, supercritical subsidence factor as a function of the percent hard rock, edge effect offset distance, and surface topography. Developed more than 25 years ago, SDPS has been continually updated with new analysis and prediction features, providing a reliable and versatile program for subsidence management methodologies. Most recently, the program has been updated to evaluate the effect of varying surface topography in the prediction of horizontal displacements, referred to as ground strain, allowing for the accurate three-dimensional representation of surface deformations in mountainous terrain (Agioutantis and Karmis, 2014). Ground strain has become one of the predominant deformation indices used in the evaluation of potential damage to surface structures (Karmis et al., 1995). Ongoing work with SDPS software seeks to investigate the calculation of ground strain in SDPS and its ability to accurately and realistically predict damage to surface streams due to underground mining operations."

Jan 1, 2015

By Michael Kynett, Francke Walberg, Richard Millet, Khaled Chowdhury, Mary Perlea

"Cutoff walls are the most common seepage improvement measure for levee flood control projects throughout California’s Central Valley. Cutoff walls are widely used because they can be implemented within an existing right of way in either heavily urbanized areas with limited access, or in high-value crop agricultural areas. The most commonly used seepage cutoff wall types are soil-bentonite (SB), soilcement- bentonite (SCB), and cement-bentonite (CB). Contract values for cutoff wall rehabilitation projects in the Central Valley range from several millions of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars, and play a significant role in the reduction of flood risk in urban and rural areas. However, recentlycompleted construction of several levee improvement projects has shown limitations and inconsistencies among the commonly used technical specifications for construction of seepage cutoff walls. These limitations were evaluated by practicing engineers involved in different stages of cutoff wall design and construction. This paper describes the specification areas that typically generate design and construction issues. Recommended improvements to specifications are suggested to address these issues. The paper’s topics include: the applicability of the different types of cutoff wall materials and construction methods, quality control testing requirements, backfill gradation requirements, mixing procedures, and settlement criteria for backfill.INTRODUCTIONFlood control projects on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in the Central Valley region of Northern California consist of a large system of reservoirs, bypasses, and levees. The thousands of miles of levees within the system were largely constructed and raised by local entities as need arose; this construction occurred prior to the development of modern design and construction techniques. The majority of these levees were initially constructed to protect land for agricultural development; however, a significant portion of these areas have become or will soon be urbanized. This urbanization has historically occurred in locations right up to the levee footprint. This expedient form of historical levee construction, when combined with adverse riverine geomorphology, urban development, and productive agricultural regions, has led to a levee systems with severe seepage performance issues in a real-estate-constrained setting."

Jan 1, 2015

By C. Musingwini, A. S. Nhleko, P. M. Muke

Open-pit mine planning includes the determination of a long-term open-pit mine production scheduling (OMPS) plan. The OMPS plan is generally a three-dimensional (3D) block extraction sequence that seeks to maximise the net present value (NPV) of future cash flows, while complying with technical and operational constraints. The OMPS problem is computationally complex because it involves the analysis of large datasets, while simultaneously incorporating both multiple hard and soft constraints. The OMPS problem has been solved using deterministic or exact approaches, heuristic, and metaheuristic models. When compared to heuristic and metaheuristic models, deterministic approaches tend to take much longer to solve the OMPS problem when the number of constraints increases. Therefore, this paper presents a metaheuristic model which utilises a genetic algorithm (GA) framework to solve the OMPS problem. The GA-based model was applied to the Newman1 and Zuck Small mining instances, which are publicly available from the online MineLib database. The NPVs for the OMPS plan generated using the GA-based model for the two case studies were compared to the best-known published MineLib solutions obtained using the TopoSort heuristic model at the time of this study. For the Newman1 instance the equivalent annual NPVs were approximately US$6.6 million for the GA-based solution and US$5.1 million for the TopoSort solution. For the Zuck Small mining instance, the equivalent annual NPVs were approximately US$99.8 million for the GA-based solution and US$102.5 mil for the TopoSort solution. These results show that the GA-based model produced comparable solutions to some of the best-known solutions, thus, indicating strong potential application of GA-based models to solve OMPS problems.

Sep 1, 2021

By R. Jacob Cefalo, Miguel Valenzuela

The modern drill and blast engineer operates in an environment often rich with data from drilling data and blast designs vs. actuals to fragmentation distributions and vibration records. Despite this abundance, much of the information generated remains underutilized, often collected as a matter of routine rather than for a means to an end. This paper explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can bridge that gap, transforming raw operational information into actionable insights that lead to more consistent and optimized blasting outcomes. Through AI-driven analysis of drilling logs, burden and spacing measurements in design vs. actual, fragmentation distributions, and vibration records, we can identify hidden patterns and correlations that traditional analytics overlook or that we may not be aware of. These insights enable engineers to proactively adjust designs and loading strategies, ultimately improving performance aspects such as improving fragmentation, minimizing ground vibration, and lowering overall operational costs. The paper examines the industry's reliance on lagging indicators, such as post-blast fragmentation surveys or actual powder factors, and suggests the need to shift toward leading indicators like real-time drill data monitoring and predictive fragmentation modeling. Utilizing AI to forecast outcomes before a blast is carried out allows engineers to take corrective actions early in the process, thereby creating a feedback loop that continuously improves performance. This integration of AI into drilling and blasting practices marks a pivotal opportunity for the explosives engineering field to evolve from reactive to predictive methodologies unlocking a new level of operational intelligence and value creation.

Jan 26, 2026