Mining_Methods_UnderGround_Mining - Mining and Blasting
Mining_Methods_UnderGround_Mining - Mining and Blasting
Mining_Methods_UnderGround_Mining - Mining and Blasting
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
MelBOurne, auSTralia<br />
High speed haulage at Stawell<br />
keeping on<br />
track<br />
Trucking ore from a depth of one<br />
kilometre beneath the surface can<br />
be a slow <strong>and</strong> expensive process,<br />
but it’s a thing of the past for the<br />
Stawell Gold Mine in Australia,<br />
where high speed haulage using<br />
a fleet of the latest Atlas Copco<br />
Mintruck MT5010 trucks plays a<br />
major role in the operation. Getting<br />
the ore out involves a long drive<br />
up the sublevel ramps at 1:8 to the<br />
400 m level, <strong>and</strong> then on an in-<br />
cline of 1:10 to surface, a journey<br />
of 8-9 km. The drivers report that<br />
the MT5010 is the smoothest ride<br />
in all their experience, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
management is obtaining their<br />
lowest-ever cost/t. The MT5010 is<br />
providing a very good return on<br />
investment!<br />
long history<br />
Stawell Gold Mine, located about 250<br />
km west of Melbourne, was first mined<br />
in 1853. It was closed in 1926, <strong>and</strong> stayed<br />
dormant for more than 50 years. It then<br />
re-opened in 1982, <strong>and</strong> has been in<br />
operation ever since.<br />
From 1992 until 2005, Stawell was<br />
owned by MPI Mines, who instituted a<br />
plan to increase gold production from<br />
100,000 oz/yr to 130,000 oz/yr by<br />
end-2006. However, the mine recently<br />
changed h<strong>and</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> is now operated by<br />
Leviathan Resources, who have adopted<br />
the same objective. To meet these tar-<br />
gets, bench stoping with cemented rock<br />
fill pillars in primary stopes is used.<br />
With this mining method, approxi-<br />
mately 80% of the ore is recovered from<br />
the stopes. Remote-controlled loaders<br />
shift the ore out of the stopes, from where<br />
a fleet of four Atlas Copco Minetruck<br />
MT5010 trucks is employed hauling<br />
it to the surface along a gravel roadbed<br />
maintained by two graders in continuous<br />
operation. Stawell management is<br />
convinced that the MT5010 is the best<br />
truck on the market in terms of load<br />
capacity <strong>and</strong> performance.<br />
Visual inspection of a Minetruck MT5010 with full load near Stawell portal.<br />
Faster is better<br />
Stawell is a very deep mine with incline<br />
access. Inevitably, the adit is the<br />
bottleneck in the production operation,<br />
because it limits the size of truck that<br />
can be employed hauling ore to surface.<br />
However, within the normal underground<br />
speed constraints, the faster the<br />
trucks, <strong>and</strong> the cleaner they run, the<br />
greater will be the amount of ore that<br />
gets to surface.<br />
At Stawell, getting the ore to surface<br />
involves an 8-9 km drive, which, even<br />
with the MT5010, involves a round trip<br />
of 100 minutes. On the 1:8 gradient, its<br />
speed under full 50 t load is 12 km/h,<br />
some 2-3 km/h faster than the next fastest<br />
truck on the current market.<br />
This is because the MT5010 has the<br />
greatest power-to-weight ratio of any<br />
truck in its class, giving it the highest<br />
possible travel speeds per tonne.<br />
Based on the success of the site’s<br />
first MT5010, commissioned in 2003,<br />
the mine subsequently ordered another<br />
three, with the latest arriving on site in<br />
early January, 2005. Together, the new<br />
fleet has helped Stawell to its medium<br />
term objectives while reducing the mining<br />
cost/tonne to the lowest it has ever<br />
been.<br />
Comfortable power<br />
The Atlas Copco Minetruck MT5010 is<br />
currently offered with the Cummins<br />
QSK-19-C650 engine as st<strong>and</strong>ard. This<br />
underground mining methods 105