Prospecting and exploration
News •
Various techniques are used in the search for a mineral deposit, an activity called prospecting. Once a discovery has been made, the property containing a deposit, called the prospect, is explored to determine some of the more important characteristics of the deposit. Among these are its size, shape, orientation in space, and location with respect to the surface, as well as the mineral quality and quality distribution and the quantities of these different qualities.
Prospecting
In searching for valuable minerals, the traditional prospector relied primarily on the direct observation of mineralization in outcrops, sediments, and soil. Although direct observation is still widely practiced, the modern prospector also employs a combination of geologic, geophysical, and geochemical tools to provide indirect indications for reducing the search radius. The object of modern techniques is to find anomalies—i.e., differences between what is observed at a particular location and what would normally be expected. Aerial and satellite imagery provides one means of quickly examining large land areas and of identifying mineralizations that may be indicated by differences in geologic structure or in rock, soil, and vegetation type. In geophysical prospecting gravity, magnetic, electrical, seismic, and radiometric methods are used to distinguish such rock properties as density, magnetic susceptibility, natural remanent magnetization, electrical conductivity, dielectric permittivity, magnetic permeability, seismic wave velocity, and radioactive decay. In geochemical prospecting the search for anomalies is based on the systematic measurement of trace elements or chemically influenced properties. Samples of soils, lake sediments and water, glacial deposits, rocks, vegetation and humus, animal tissues, microorganisms, gases and air, and particulates are collected and tested so that unusual concentrations can be identified.
Exploration
On the basis of such studies, a number of prospects are identified. The most promising of these becomes the focus of a field exploration program. Several exploration techniques are used, depending on the type of deposit and its proximity to the surface. When the top of a deposit intersects the surface, or outcrops, shallow trenches may be excavated with a bulldozer or backhoe. Trenching provides accurate near-surface data and the possibility of collecting samples of large volume for testing. The technique is obviously limited to the cutting depth of the equipment involved. Sometimes special drifts are driven in order to explore a deposit, but this is a very expensive and time-consuming practice. In general, the purpose of driving such drifts is to provide drilling sites from which a large volume can be explored and a three-dimensional model of the potential ore body developed. Old shafts and drifts often provide a valuable and convenient way of sampling existing reserves and exploring extensions.
The most widely used exploration technique is the drilling of probe holes. In this practice a drill with a diamond-tipped bit cuts a narrow kerf of rock, extracting intact a cylindrical core of rock in the centre (see core sampling). These core holes may be hundreds or even thousands of metres in length; the most common diameter is about 50 mm (2 inches). The cores are placed in special core boxes in the order in which they were removed from the hole. Geologists then carefully describe, or log, the core in order to determine the location and kinds of rock and mineral present; the different structural features such as joints, faults, and bedding planes; and the strength of the rock material. Cores are often split lengthwise, with one half being sent to a laboratory so that the grade, or content, of mineralization can be determined.
Delineation
Normally, core holes are drilled in a more or less regular pattern, and the locations of the holes are plotted on plan maps. In order to visualize how the deposit appears at depth, holes are also plotted along a series of vertical planes called sections. The geologist then examines each section and, on the basis of information collected from the maps and core logs as well as his knowledge of the structures present, fills in the regions lying between holes and between planes. This method of constructing an ore body is widely used where the boundaries between ore and waste are sharp and where medium to small deposits are mined by underground techniques, but, in the case of large deposits mined by open-pit methods, it has largely been replaced by the use of block models. These will be discussed in more detail below (see Surface mining).
Mineral deposits have different shapes, depending on how they were deposited. The most common shape is tabular, with the mineral deposit lying as a filling between more or less parallel layers of rock. The orientation of such an ore body can be described by its dip (the angle that it makes with the horizontal) and its strike (the position it takes with respect to the four points of the compass). Rock lying above the ore body is called the hanging wall, and rock located below the ore body is called the footwall.
The concentration of a valuable mineral within an ore is often referred to as its grade. Grade may exhibit considerable variation throughout a deposit. Moreover, there is a certain grade below which it is not profitable to mine a mineral even though it is still present in the ore. This is called the mine cutoff grade. And, if the material has already been mined, there is a certain grade below which it is not profitable to process it; this is the mill cutoff grade. The grade at which the costs associated with mining and mineral processing just equal the revenues is called the break-even grade. Material having a higher grade than this would be considered ore, and anything below that would be waste.
Therefore, in determining which portion of a mineral can be considered an exploitable ore reserve, it is necessary to estimate extraction costs and the price that can be expected for the commodity. Extraction costs depend on the type of mining system selected, the level of mechanization, mine life, and many other factors. This makes selecting the best system for a given deposit a complex process. For example, deposits outcropping at the surface may initially be mined as open pits, but at a certain depth the decision to switch to underground mining may have to be made. Even then, the overall cost per ton of ore delivered to the processing plant would be significantly higher than from the open pit; to pay for these extra costs, the grade of the underground ore would have to be correspondingly higher.
Surface mining
It has been estimated that more than two-thirds of the world’s yearly mineral production is extracted by surface mining. There are several types of surface mining, but the three most common are open-pit mining, strip mining, and quarrying. These differ from one another in the mine geometries created, the techniques used, and the minerals produced.
Open-pit mining often (but not always) results in a large hole, or pit, being formed in the process of extracting a mineral. It can also result in a portion of a hilltop being removed. In strip mining a long, narrow strip of mineral is uncovered by a dragline, large shovel, or similar type of excavator. After the mineral has been removed, an adjacent strip is uncovered and its overlying waste material deposited in the excavation of the first strip. Since strip mining is primarily applied to thin, flat deposits of coal, it is not discussed here (see coal mining).
There are two types of quarrying. There is the extraction of ornamental stone blocks of specific colour, size, shape, and quality—an operation requiring special and expensive production procedures. In addition, the term quarrying has been applied to the recovery of sand, gravel, and crushed stone for the production of road base, cement, concrete, and macadam. However, since the practices followed in these operations are similar to those of open-pit mines, the discussion of quarrying here is limited to the excavation of ornamental stone.
Open-pit mining
Pit geometry
Deposits mined by open-pit techniques are generally divided into horizontal layers called benches. The thickness (that is, the height) of the benches depends on the type of deposit, the mineral being mined, and the equipment being used; for large mines it is on the order of 12 to 15 metres (about 40 to 50 feet). Mining is generally conducted on a number of benches at any one time. The top of each bench is equivalent to a working level, and access to different levels is gained through a system of ramps. The width of a ramp depends on the equipment being used, but typical widths are from 20 to 40 metres (65 to 130 feet). Mining on a new level is begun by extending a ramp downward. This initial, or drop, cut is then progressively widened to form the new pit bottom.
The walls of a pit have a certain slope determined by the strength of the rock mass and other factors. The stability of these walls, and even of individual benches and groups of benches, is very important—particularly as the pit gets deeper. Increasing the pit slope angle by only a few degrees can decrease stripping costs tremendously or increase revenues through increased ore recovery, but it can also result in a number of slope failures on a small or large scale. Millions of tons of material may be involved in such slides. For this reason, mines have ongoing slope-stability programs involving the collection and analysis of structural data, hydrogeologic information, and operational practices (blasting, in particular), so that the best slope designs may be achieved. It is not unusual for five or more different slope angles to be involved in one large pit.
As a pit is deepened, more and more waste rock must be stripped away in order to uncover the ore. Eventually there comes a point where the revenue from the exposed ore is less than the costs involved in its recovery. Mining then ceases. The ratio of the amount of waste rock stripped to ore removed is called the overall stripping ratio. The break-even stripping ratio is a function of ore value and the costs involved.
Ore reserves
The first step in the evaluation and design of an open-pit mine is the determination of reserves. As was explained above, information regarding the deposit is collected through the drilling of probe holes. The locations of the holes are plotted on a plan map, and sections taken through the holes give a good idea of the ore body’s vertical extent. From these vertical sections the tentative locations of the benches are selected. However, since the deposit is to be mined in horizontal benches, it is also convenient to calculate the ore reserve in horizontal sections, with the thickness of each section equal to the height of a bench. These horizontal sections are divided along coordinate lines into a series of blocks, with the plan dimensions (i.e., the length and width) of each block generally being one to three times the bench height. After the grade of each block has been determined, the blocks are assembled into a block model representation of the ore body. (This model must be significantly larger than the actual ore reserve in order to include the eventual pit that must be dug to expose the ore body.)
Economic factors such as costs and expected revenues, which vary with grade and block location, are then applied; the result is an economic block model. Some of the blocks in the model will eventually fall within the pit, but others will lie outside. Of the several techniques for determining which of the blocks should be included in the final pit, the most common is the floating cone technique. In two dimensions the removal of a given ore block would require the removal of a set of overlying blocks as well. All of these would be included in an inverted triangle with its sides corresponding to the slope angle, its base lying on the surface, and its apex located in the ore block under consideration. In an actual three-dimensional case, this triangle would be a cone. The economic value of the ore block at the apex of the cone would be compared with the total cost of removing all of the blocks included in the cone. If the net value proved positive, then the cone would be mined. This technique would be applied to all of the blocks making up the block model, and at the end of this process a final pit outline would result.
Unit operations
The largest open-pit operations can move almost one million tons of material (both ore and waste) per day. In smaller operations the rate may be only a couple of thousand tons per day. In most of these mines there are four unit operations: drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling.
In large mines rotary drills are used to drill holes with diameters ranging from 150 to 450 mm (about 6 to 18 inches). The drill bit, made up of three cones containing either steel or tungsten carbide cutting edges, is rotated against the hole bottom under a heavy load, breaking the rock by compression and shear. An air compressor on the drilling machine forces air down the centre of the drill string so that the cuttings are removed. In smaller pits holes are often drilled by pneumatic or hydraulic percussion machines. These rigs may be truck- or crawler-mounted. Hole diameters are often in the range of 75 to 120 mm (about 3 to 5 inches).
Holes are drilled in special patterns so that blasting produces the types of fragmentation desired for the subsequent loading, hauling, and crushing operations. These patterns are defined by the burden (the shortest distance between the hole and the exposed bench face) and the spacing between the holes. Generally, the burden is 25 to 35 times the diameter of the blasthole, depending on the type of rock and explosive being used, and the spacing is equal to the burden.
There are a number of explosives used, but most are based on a slurry of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO), which is transported by tanker truck and pumped into the holes. When filled with ANFO, a blasthole 400 mm (about 16 inches) in diameter and 7.5 metres (about 25 feet) deep can develop about one billion horsepower. It is incumbent upon those involved in the drilling and blasting to turn this power into useful fragmentation work. To achieve the proper fragmentation, a series of blastholes is generally shot in a carefully controlled sequence.
The object of blasting is to fragment the rock and then displace it into a pile that will facilitate its loading and transport. In large open pits the main implements for loading are electric, diesel-electric, or hydraulic shovels, while electric or mechanical-drive trucks are used for transport. The size of the shovels is generally specified by dipper, or bucket, size; those in common use have dipper capacities ranging from 15 to 50 cubic metres (20 to 65 cubic yards). This means that 30 to 100 tons can be dug in a single “bite” of the shovel. The size of the trucks is matched to that of the shovel, a common rule of thumb being that the truck should be filled in four to six swings of the shovel. Thus, for a shovel of 15-cubic-metre capacity, a truck having a capacity of 120 to 180 tons (four to six swings) should be assigned. The largest trucks have capacities of more than 350 tons (about 12 swings) and are equipped with engines that produce more than 3,500 horsepower; their tire diameters are often more than 3 metres (10 feet). Because of their high mobility, very large-capacity wheel loaders (front-end loaders) are also used in open-pit mines.
As pits became deeper—the deepest pits in the world exceed 800 metres (2,600 feet)—alternate modes of transporting broken ore and waste rock became more common. One of these is the belt conveyor, but in general this method requires in-pit crushing of the run-of-mine material prior to transport. For most materials a maximum angle of 18° is possible. To transport directly up the sides of pit walls, special conveying techniques are under development.
After loading, waste rock is transported to special dumps, while ore is generally hauled to a mineral-processing plant for further treatment. (In some cases ore is of sufficiently high quality for direct shipment without intermediate processing.) In some operations separate dumps are created for the various grades of sub-ore material, and these dumps may be re-mined later and processed in the mill. Certain dumps can be treated by various solutions to extract the contained metals (a process known as heap leaching or dump leaching).
