OPEN CAST MINING

METHOD

Open Cast Mining Method

Open cast mining is a surface
exploitation method, used mainly
for coal. It resembles open pit mining
but differs in one unique respect:
The overburden is not
transported to waste dumps for
disposal but cast or hauled
directly into adjacent mined-out
panels.

Continued
OC Mining is subdivided into two methods
i. Strip Mining
ii.Terrace Mining
i. Strip Mining
This method is ideal under the following
conditions:
a)Relatively thin overburden
b)Extensive area of reserves
c)Regular horizontal/flat topography and seams

Strip Mining- cont.

The deposit is mined in a series of
strips.

Strip mining- cont.

The overburden from each strip is
cast directly into the void created by
the previous coal extraction.
Strip Mining is normally a large
tonnage operation using large
mining machines such as Draglines
and Power shovels for Coal and
Overburden stripping
respectively.

ii) Terrace Mining

a) This method is used where :
The overburden is too thick or
The floor is too steeply dipping
to permit direct across the pit casting of
overburden material,. The
overburden (spoil) must be
transported by other means and
tipped back into the void left back
by previous mining.

Cont.
b)This is a multi bench lateral advance
method, the whole mine moving
across the deposit, but not in a
single stage operation as with
strip mining

Cont.
c) Upper levels are usually transported
by truck and shovel, or by a
combination of bucket wheel excavators
(BWE), conveyors and stackers
d) If a dragline is used in terrace mine
it can only operate on the bottom
benches where direct casting of
overburden is possible.

Terrace mining- cont.

Terrace Mining-cont.

Opening up into a coal

seam;
The initial opening into a coal seam is
called a Box cut. a trench or box cut
is made through the overburden to expose
a portion of the coal seam. This trench is
extended to the limits of the property
(Deposit) in the strike direction
. After coal removal, a second cut is made
parallel to the first one, and the
overburden material from this cut is placed
in the void of the first cut.

Position of box cut

A box cut is either made in the shallowest
part of a pitching deposit, to mine to the
dip or

box cut
For a thick deposit a box cut may be made
near the center, or at the highest part, so that
a series of benches may be taken outwards

Box cut - cont..

Box cut cont.

From the box cut coal mining
proceeds down the dip or across
the mining lease. Overburden is
removed from in front of the
advancing highball and thrown into
the mined out area as in figure
bellow

Box cut- cont.

Striping Dragline

Back filling or Back Casting

When the dip angle; , of a coal
deposit is less than the angle of
repose of the spoil heaps plus a
factor of safety, it is possible to
dump spoil/overburden waste inside
the excavated area (Backfill) Dip angle
of coal seam =

Direct Back filling

Where possible the overburden
waste is direct back-cast across
the cut with a Dragline .or stripping
Power shovel.

Indirect Backfilling
When either the overburden or
coal seam is too thick the reach
of the dragline or stripping shovel
becomes small, and the overburden
has to go round the pit and be filled
in from behind.

Indirect backfilling-cont.

Major Open Cast Operations

Major O.C operations cont.

i)

Bush clearing and leveling

This involves the removal of the vegetation to

ensure homogeneous topsoil. A bulldozer or
tractor does this with a ripper behind. The area is
then graded to allow smooth traveling of haul
Trucks.

ii) Top soil removal:

[The mining
(environmental management and Protection)
Regulations 1999]
Topsoil is removed separately, and ultimately replaced upon graded spoils (overburden waste
dumps).

Cont.
Top soil can be stockpiled at the side
of the pit area for later redistribution
or may be hauled immediately to the
graded area for redistribution.
The method of redistributing the topsoil
is dictated by economics considering
quantity and distance it may be by
Loader/Truck method or by selfelevating scrapers, etc

cont.

iii) Overburden stripping

The overburden benches may be one
or more depending on ;
- The thickness of the overburden and
the reach of the stripping equipment.
- In a bench where a dragline is used,
cast or buffer blasting is used to
loosen the rock before the dragline can
work on the material.

Cont.
Where the overburden is very thick,
e.g. 41m. At Wankie colliery in
Zimbabwe, overburden stripping is
divided into 2-Benches.
15 m on top is worked by a power
- shovel bench, or (supplementary
strip bench) and
The bottom 25m. is worked by a
Dragline hence called Dragline bench.

Cont.
iv) Coal Extraction
Coal mining may be by :
A single bench or two depending on
thickness or quality of the coal seam.
E.g at wankie colliery in Zimbabwe a 10 m
thick seam is mined in two benches
because the top 5 m is power coal and
the bottom 5 m is coking coal. The main
equipment here is the power shovel.

OC operations
v) Regrading of Spoils
Large Bulldozers and Graders grade
filled mined out areas before topsoil is
re-placed.

vi) Top Soil Replacement

Scrapers, dozers, loaders and trucks are
used in this operation. A layer of fertile
soil is spread on top of graded spoils

OC Operations
vii) Re-vegetation or
replanting :
[The mining (environmental management
and Protection) Regulations 1999]
Planting of vegetation is accomplished by
a convenient farm implement, and is done
as soon as practical. Seed selection is
based on post mining land use.

Classification of bedded/
deposits for open cast
mining.

Coal Open Cast machines

Dragline Excavators
The dragline is a versatile attachment
capable of a wide range of operations at
and belowground level. The dragline can
dig through loose to medium
compacted soil.
The biggest advantage of the dragline
over other machines is its long reach for
both digging and dumping. Another
advantage is its high cycle speed..

Cont.
The rocks that is to be handled must be of low
density of 1-2.5 T/ M3 and with low abrasive
property.
The machines are electrically operated. A
dragline bucket system consists of a large
bucket which is suspended from a boom (a
large truss-like structure) with wire ropes. The
bucket is maneuvered by means of a number
of ropes and chains.
The hoist rope, powered by large diesel or
electric motors, supports the bucket and hoistcoupler assembly from the boom.

Cont.
The dragrope is used to draw the
bucket assembly horizontally. By
skillful maneuver of the hoist and the
dragropes the bucket is controlled for
various operations. A schematic
diagram of a large dragline
bucket system is shown below

Dragline cont.

Dragline operation
In a typical cycle of excavation:
the bucket is positioned above the material to be
excavated.
The bucket is then lowered on the material
The dragrope is then drawn or pulled so that the
bucket is dragged along the surface of the material.
The bucket is then lifted by using the hoist
rope.
A swing operation is then performed to move the
bucket to the place where the material is to be
dumped.
The dragrope is then released causing the
bucket to tilt and empty. This is called a dump
operation.

Draglines in mining size

and cost
A large dragline system used in the open
pit mining industry costs approximately
US$ 50-100 million. A typical bucket has
a volume ranging from 30 to 60 cubic
metres, though extremely large buckets
have ranged up to 168 cubic metres. The
length of the boom ranges from 45 to
100 metres. In a single cycle it can
move up to 450 metric tonnes of
material.

Dragline _ power source

Most mining draglines are
electrically powered.. Their power
consumption is so great that they
have a direct connection to the highvoltage grid at voltages of between
6.6 to 22kV. A typical dragline, with
a 55 cubic metre bucket, can use up
to 6 Megawatts during normal
digging operations.

Dragline power source

&movement
In all but the smallest of draglines,
movement is accomplished by
"walking" using feet or pontoons, as
caterpillar tracks place too much
pressure on the ground, and have
great difficultly under the immense
weight of the dragline.
Maximum speed is only at most a few
hundred metres per hour since the feet
must be repositioned for each step..

Limitation of Use of
Draglines
The primary limitations of draglines are :
boom height and
boom length,
which limits where the dragline can dump
the waste material.
dig depth, which is limited by the length
of rope the dragline can utilize. Inherent
with their construction, a dragline is most
efficient excavating material below the
level of their base. can).

Draglines cont.
Despite these limitations, and their
extremely high capital cost,
draglines remain popular with many
mines, due to their reliability, and
extremely low waste removal cost

POWER SHOVEL
A Power shovel (also called a Stripping or
Front Shovel in some markets) is a bucket
equipped machine, usually electrically
powered, used for digging and loading earth
or fragmented rock, and mineral extraction
A power shovel is second to the dragline in
size, but is more powerful when it comes
to digging hard coal or overburden.
Large machines are electrically operated.
Small size of shovels may have: a.c, dc,
diesel, diesel hydraulic or diesel electric,
transmission.

Power Shovel Design

Shovels normally consist of a revolving
deck with a power plant, driving and
controlling mechanisms, usually a
counterweight, and a front attachment,
such as a boom or crane which supports a
handle with a digger at the end. The
machinery is mounted on a base platform
with tracks or wheels[2]. The bucket is also
known as the dipper. Modern bucket
capacities range from 8 m 3 to nearly 80 m3 [3].

Capacity of shovels and

draglines;
measured in bucket volume. The
regular range of shovel buckets is (0.419) m3, popular sizes
For truck loading in metalliferous open
pits or quarries
3.7-4.6 m 3.
For truck loading in opencast coalmines,
large iron ore mines, and large copper
mines 10.5-11.5 m3

Power Shovel digging

overburden

Cont.
Overburden stripping in opencast
coalmines.
(Not used for truck loading) up to 138 m 3
Bucket fill factor for hard rock is about
65%, but small buckets in soft rocks can
have over 90% fill factor.
A shovel should fill a truck in 4-5 passes,
as a rule of thumb.

Cont.
Normally a shovel runs on the floor
level it digs for itself and works from
that height up.
A bulldozer is kept for clean up
duties and floor grading, the shovel
is not sufficiently mobile to perform
its own cleanup.

Size of Power
shovel/Draglines
Marion 5760 The Mountaineer - The Story
Imagine a machine that stood as high as a 16story building that was still able to move by its
own motive power. A machine that had an
operating weight of 2570 tons, swung a 65
cubic yard bucket that took 100 ton bites of
earth and rock, and moved it over the length
of a football field to place it on top of a giant
spoil pile. this stripping shovel, was type 5760
and was manufactured and erected by the
Marion Power Shovel company during 1955 / 56
in USA This shovel was better known under its
unofficial name, the Mountaineer.

POWER SHOVEL WORKING

PRINCIPLE
There are three to four motions on
the shovel;,
a) Dig by pulling on the rope that goes
over the end of the boom to the bucket or
dipper thus lifting it through the rock pile.
b) Crowd by rolling the dipper down past
the boom to the bucket this forces the
bucket into the rock pile as it moves
forward.

Cont.
c) Swing -to take the bucket round and empty it
through its back door.
d) propel - moving the shovel unit to different locations
or dig positions

A shovel's work cycle, or digging cycle, consists of four

phases:
digging
swinging
dumping
returning

Cont.
The crowding action of the dipper stick
and its heavy, stiffly-mounted bucket, give
a shovel a much stronger loading
breakout force than either a dragline or
a front end loader, e.g. a 4.6 m3 power
shovel has a breakout force of 90T
while a 7.6 m3 loader has a breakout
force of 35T. A shovel can break out
shales or coal without blasting and
also give a smooth bench surface.

Choice between a Dragline

and a power shovel.

Cont.
There are other small machines
used in open cast mining for auxiliary
operations e.g. Backhoes for
ditching etc, wheel loaders,
graders, Bulldozers, scraper
loaders, tractors etc.

Other machines- the

Backhoe

-The Bull dozer

-The Wheel loder

Grader

Scraper loaders

Tractor