Bulk mining explored

The future of bulk mining will be addressed at MassMin 2000, a conference slated for Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in Brisbane, Australia.

Bulk mining refers to any large-scale, mechanized method of mining massive underground orebodies, usually involving relatively few workers.

Among the topics scheduled for discussion at the 4-day event are:

– orebody delineation and reserve estimation;

– defining the mining environment and geomechanical factors fundamental to mine design;

– selecting a mining method;

– sub-level caving; and

– equipment selection.

These and other aspects of bulk mining will be addressed by such speakers as David Humphreys, chief economist for Rio Tinto, and Robin Batterham, Rio’s managing director of technology. The keynote speaker will be Anders Ilstam, chief executive officer of Sweden-based Sandvik Tamrock.

Dr. Gideon Chitombo, conference chairman and research manager at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre in Brisbane, stresses that the operational cost of bulk mining is generally low:

“While a capital investment of up to US$400 million may be required to establish a block/panel cave operation, the mining operation cost can be less than US$7 a tonne,” says Chitombo.

“Experience has taught us that caving methods are practical at increased depth and that underground mass mining is as cheap as large open-pitting, especially on mines where stripping ratios are high.”

The conference is being organized by the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. For more information, contact Gideon Chitombo at +61 7 3365 5888 or visit the conference’s web site at www.massmin.conf.au