Copper Mining
Mining Assignment #4
By Siyuan Wei, Yifei Pei, Amrita Sur and
Clinton Huynh
Mineral: Copper
Dip: 60
Depth: 650m
Location/Terrain: Under River
Chosen Mining Method:
Sublevel Stoping
- Sublevel Stoping is designed for mineral deposits which consists of fairly stable rocks and have a steep dip. - This method is quite commonly used to mine copper at varies sites around
Australia. For example, Mount Isa,
Olympic Dam etc…
Mining Process
- Sublevels are created within the solid ore and below, a transport and drawpoint drift are created. The orebody is also divided into separate stopes and are supported by the pillars.
- To obtain the highest mining efficiency, stopes need to be as large as possible
- Between each main level, blast patterns are drilled using the sublevel drifts. - The drill patterns specify where the blast holes are collared and the depth and angle of each hole.
- The Blasted and broken ore is then transported using the transport drift.
Start
Transport drift is created at the bottom of the
Ore body
Sublevel drifts are created within the Ore body The Iron in the
Chalcopyrite ends up converted into an iron(II) silicate slag which is removed Concentrated ore is heated strongly with silicon dioxide and air or oxygen in a series of furnaces
Specific regions are drilled for accurate blasting
Chalcopyrite
Each specific region is then blasted Ore is then transported out using transport trucks Broken ore is then collected through the transport drift
Other ores
The sulphur in the chalcopyrite turns into sulphur dioxide gas. Which is then used to make sulphuric acid.
Reaction of the ore with a dilute acid produces a very dilute copper(II) sulphate solution Concentration of the copper(II) sulphate solution by solvent extraction. Copper(II) ions are then extracted using the process of electrolysis ·
Steep dip, the footwall inclination must
By Siyuan Wei, Yifei Pei, Amrita Sur and
Clinton Huynh
Mineral: Copper
Dip: 60
Depth: 650m
Location/Terrain: Under River
Chosen Mining Method:
Sublevel Stoping
- Sublevel Stoping is designed for mineral deposits which consists of fairly stable rocks and have a steep dip. - This method is quite commonly used to mine copper at varies sites around
Australia. For example, Mount Isa,
Olympic Dam etc…
Mining Process
- Sublevels are created within the solid ore and below, a transport and drawpoint drift are created. The orebody is also divided into separate stopes and are supported by the pillars.
- To obtain the highest mining efficiency, stopes need to be as large as possible
- Between each main level, blast patterns are drilled using the sublevel drifts. - The drill patterns specify where the blast holes are collared and the depth and angle of each hole.
- The Blasted and broken ore is then transported using the transport drift.
Start
Transport drift is created at the bottom of the
Ore body
Sublevel drifts are created within the Ore body The Iron in the
Chalcopyrite ends up converted into an iron(II) silicate slag which is removed Concentrated ore is heated strongly with silicon dioxide and air or oxygen in a series of furnaces
Specific regions are drilled for accurate blasting
Chalcopyrite
Each specific region is then blasted Ore is then transported out using transport trucks Broken ore is then collected through the transport drift
Other ores
The sulphur in the chalcopyrite turns into sulphur dioxide gas. Which is then used to make sulphuric acid.
Reaction of the ore with a dilute acid produces a very dilute copper(II) sulphate solution Concentration of the copper(II) sulphate solution by solvent extraction. Copper(II) ions are then extracted using the process of electrolysis ·
Steep dip, the footwall inclination must