What is open-pit Underground mining?
Open pit mining is a technique used to extract copper ore near the earth’s surface. Underground mining is used when the copper ore is not near the earth’s surface. Miners dig a shaft into the ore deposit vertically or a horizontal tunnel (or adit) in order to do this.
What is the opening of a mine called?
adit
An adit (from Latin aditus, entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits are also used to explore for mineral veins.
How do you open-pit mine?
To create an open-pit mine, the miners must determine the information of the ore that is underground. This is done through drilling of probe holes in the ground, then plotting each hole location on a map. The information gained through the holes with provide an idea of the vertical extent of the ore’s body.
Is open cut or underground mining better?
After the mineral deposits have been exposed, the area is drilled, fractured and the mineral extracted. This method has a high recovery rate when compared to the underground, as 90 percent of mineral deposits are recovered. Overall when compared to other methods, open-cut is much safer.
What happens after open pit mining?
Open-pit mines are typically enlarged until either the mineral resource is exhausted, or an increasing ratio of overburden to ore makes further mining uneconomic. When this occurs, the exhausted mines are sometimes converted to landfills for disposal of solid wastes.
Is open pit mining safe?
Open-pit mining is much safer than shaft mining. In underground mining, the threat of a cave-in or release of toxic gas is a constant concern. When shaft mining was the most common method of ore extraction, thousands died in cave-ins, gas events and accidents involving equipment.
What are tunnels in a mine called?
So-called drifts are tunnels created by mining ore; stopes are vertical shafts created by mining ore. The surrounding waste rock is left behind.
What is the process of underground mining?
It involves drilling a section of ore at the very bottom of the deposit and then blasting to make the roof collapse. Gravity then takes over, as the ore above the blast site fractures and collapses in succession as support is withdrawn. The collapsed ore is hauled out the mine for processing [source: Great Mining].
Is strip mining the same as open pit mining?
Strip mining is a practical type of mining when the ore body that is to be extracted is near the surface. Open-pit mining is the process of extracting rock or minerals from the earth through their removal from an open pit or borrow.
What do you call an open pit mine where rocks can be extracted?
Open-pit mining, or open-cast mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. Open-pit mines that produce building materials and dimension stone are commonly referred to as “quarries.”
What mining method is best?
Underground mining is best suited to extract minerals that are located deep under the surface of the earth. Common minerals extracted using underground mining include gold, lead and silver. It is important to remember that many minerals can be extracted using either surface or underground mining.
Which is the best description of open pit mining?
Open-pit, open-cast or open cut mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. Contents. Description. This form of mining differs from extractive methods that require tunnelling into the earth, such as long wall mining.
Why do they have to keep the openings small in underground mining?
If the defects are very close together, filled with crushed materials, and unfavourably oriented, then the underground openings must be kept small. As one goes deeper into the Earth, the thickness and, consequently, weight of the overlying rock increase.
What are the different methods of underground mining?
Underground Mining Methods UNDERGROUND MINING METHODS Soft rock Mining Methods Hard rock Mining Methods Mining can be done by any one of the following methods:- 1) Longwall mining. 2) Room-and-pillar mining. 3) Blast mining. 4) Shortwall mining. 5) Coal Skimming.
How does an underground mine get to the ore body?
The principal means of access to an underground ore body is a vertical opening called a shaft. The shaft is excavated, or sunk, from the surface downward to a depth somewhat below the deepest planned mining horizon. At regular intervals along the shaft, horizontal openings called drifts are driven toward the ore body.