Early cave management at the Carrapateena sublevel cave

Hocking, Rodney; Balog, Glen; Ormerod, Tessa; Pearce, Heather

doi:10.36487/acg_rep/1815_32_hocking

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Particle size distribution (PSD) testing of the orebody and waste domains including the BROC waste fines was conducted to determine inrush potential during operation of the SLC. An additional PSD test was conducted after placing each sample in a cement mixer for approximately 15 minutes to simulate the impact of material flow through the cave (abrasion and gravity stresses) to quantify fragmentation of secondary and tertiary draw (Hocking et al 2018).…”

Section: Fragmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unearthing the Black Rock orebody with sublevel caving

Shiels¹

2022

Caving 2022: Fifth International Conference on Block and Sublevel Caving

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Black Rock orebody is located at Mount Isa Mines, in northwest Queensland, Australia. Owned and operated by Glencore, the mine has been in operation for almost 100 years. The orebody was last mined as an open cut from 1957 to 1965. It was closed due to two major wall failures and ongoing stability issues one bench short of completion, leaving behind a large quantity of high-grade ore. The remaining orebody is being extracted using the sublevel cave (SLC) mining method. The orebody is located in extensively altered and weak kaolinic shales, with zones of hot and reactive ground. Other challenges include naturally occurring and historic voids, and mining proximity to fixed surface infrastructure. The small SLC has a planned draw of approximately 1.5 million tonnes at 4.5% copper over four years, which commenced in September 2020. This paper discusses the work completed during the project phase and the key learnings during the initial execution phase. This includes geotechnical characterisation, caveability and subsidence assessments, fragmentation testing, cave flow and rock cutter trials, and development of a real-time instrumentation system to monitor surface infrastructure.

show abstract

Section: Fragmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unearthing the Black Rock orebody with sublevel caving

Shiels¹

2022

Caving 2022: Fifth International Conference on Block and Sublevel Caving

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The devices are made in a range of sizes and are generally much smaller than SMART markers. Some mines are considering the use of SmartTags, in addition to SMART markers and other devices, as a means to track the flow rate of small particles and measure fines flow (Hocking et al 2018).…”

Section: Cave Markersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery and flow in cave mining: current knowledge gaps and the role of technology in the future

Campbell¹

2020

Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Underground Mining Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gravity flow of granular material in a caving mine is complex. Ore recovery and cave flow is impacted by wide particle size distributions, particle interlocking, an evolving cave geometry, and the mine draw strategy. However, these factors are rarely quantified in forecasts of cave performance at key stages in the planning process. Reliable tools for simulating cave flow and the technology to measure cave flow and footprint deformation have only emerged in the last 10 years. This includes technology such as electronic cave markers and tracker systems, 3D laser scanning for tunnel deformation and fragmentation measurement as well as coupled cave flow-deformation numerical simulations. This paper provides an overview of how the current state of cave flow knowledge has evolved and the knowledge gaps that still exist. The impact of these knowledge gaps is described in context with mine design and current design guidelines. A series of experiments to address these knowledge gaps have been conceptualised for future trials in existing and future caving mines. A methodology including instrumentation, monitoring requirements and operational practices is outlined for each experiment.

show abstract

“…The Metso RFID tags will not be discussed, as they are currently, purely a flow monitoring tool and have not been used to interpret the cave back position. Their use at Carrapateena is discussed in Hocking et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geotechnical monitoring of the Carrapateena cave

Poulter¹,

Ormerod²,

Balog³

et al. 2022

Caving 2022: Fifth International Conference on Block and Sublevel Caving

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Carrapateena is a copper-gold deposit hosted in a brecciated granite complex, located 460 km north of Adelaide, South Australia. The deposit is currently mined using the sublevel cave (SLC) mining method, with future mining to incorporate a block cave footprint beneath the SLC. The ore is located below 500 m of unmineralised rock cover.Monitoring of the cave is a critical activity at Carrapateena, in order to understand the cave geometry, and effectively manage geotechnical risk related to cave propagation (air blast and subsidence). The SLC has no overlying monitoring level underground, and as such all monitoring is conducted remotely, or from surface. The cave monitoring system incorporates many different tools and techniques in order to reduce the uncertainty related to cave back interpretation. The critical analysis methods used in cave monitoring and interpretation at Carrapateena are: Networked Smart Markers (Elexon), Cave Tracker Beacons (Elexon), open hole camera surveys into the cave, active seismic tomography, a dense array of microseismic sensors around the cave back to monitor cave-related seismicity, and utilisation of volumes mined from the cave, to facilitate mass balance analyses.There have been many learnings throughout the time the Carrapateena cave has been monitored. Firstly, the certainty provided by physically inspecting both the cave back and muckpile through a camera in an open hole, is currently, and in the opinion of the authors, the most valuable monitoring tool for cave back and airgap interpretation out of all the tools in place at Carrapateena. Contingency in the form of multiple holes should be accounted for in design.Secondly, defined limits and forward planning is required for when surface restrictions will be necessary due to potential subsidence, to allow time to convert any monitoring systems to remote setups. Ideally, this functionality could be incorporated from the beginning.Lastly, thorough analysis should be undertaken prior to installing monitoring systems to understand the most likely cave shape and potential propagation. Monitoring arrays should be treated holistically as a combined monitoring system, instead of individual systems, with an understanding of the risks associated with each, and the resulting uncertainty for various areas that will be monitored.

show abstract

Early cave management at the Carrapateena sublevel cave

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Unearthing the Black Rock orebody with sublevel caving

Unearthing the Black Rock orebody with sublevel caving

Recovery and flow in cave mining: current knowledge gaps and the role of technology in the future

Geotechnical monitoring of the Carrapateena cave

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About