Mining_Methods_UnderGround_Mining - Mining and Blasting

kure, Turkey
Rocket Boomer 282 on surface. Unique Flexowell vertical conveyor installation.
sublevels, and the extraction drives are
4.5 m-high. The latest stope, which lies
between 894 m and 912 m levels, has a
height of 12 m, and this larger dimension
will be increasingly used.
rock handling
The 2.5 m-diameter main orepasses are
also longhole drilled using the Rocket
Boomer 282, or hand drilled. An orepass
system to the 804 level feeds the
underground crusher. Crushed ore sized
at –10 cm travels along a conveyor belt
to a feeder, and into a Flexowell vertical
conveyor belt system at 792 level.
A trunk conveyor at average grade of 8
degrees transfers the ore to the surface
primary crusher.
There are four vertical shafts for
backfilling at Asikoy, with three subvertical
shafts.
Two types of fill are used for backfilling.
These are cemented rock fill (CRF)
and uncemented waste fill (WF). CRF,
with a cement content of 5% by weight,
is used for backfilling of prim ary stopes.
Secondary stopes are waste filled.
Minetruck MT2000 trucks are used for
both types of backfilling.
SFTA has a ten-year contract
to produce 30,000 t/month of ore
grading 2% copper at a fixed price per
tonne, although 414,000 t was produced
over the last year. The ore is concentrated
to 17% at site, and is trucked to
the port of Inebolu, some 25 km away,
from where it is shipped to a smelter
located in Samsun, along the Black Sea
coast, and to export markets.
Training
This is the first mining operation where
SFTA has been involved and, being the
only Turkish-operated mechanized
mine, the company takes education
and training very seriously. Atlas
Copco undertook the training of the
mine instructors, and SFTA has carried
on, giving every man on the mine
specific education, each with a course
every three months. The average age of
operators is around 30, and most have
been with the group for many years.
Minetruck MT2000 discharges cemented backfill into a primary stope.
There are 140 men on the mine. In total,
thirteen engineers have been employed
for production and engineering. Atlas
Copco has a maintenance contract for
its equipment at the mine, and provides
a workshop container manned by a
fitter.
acknowledgements
Atlas Copco is grateful to the management
of Asikoy copper mine for
the opportunity to visit the project.
Particular thanks are due to Kenan
Ozpulat, project manager, and Serkan
Yuksel, chief mine engineer, for their
assistance at site and in reading draft.
76 underground mining methods