We have the international expertise needed to evaluate the specific economics of your project and decide if cave mining is a viable option. Our geotechnical engineers, mining engineers, and geologists also have the first-hand knowledge and experience required to make this technique a success.
Cave mining has spread over the last 20 years due to the depletion of shallow ore bodies (typically mined via open pits) and the drive for the high underground production rates and low operating costs that cave mining offers. This method also suits scenarios where ore continues below final open pit bottoms. Because caving techniques can be used across all mineral commodities with the correct geological and geotechnical conditions, we conduct geotechnical and structural geology investigations and economic reviews and confirm infrastructure requirements.
Environmentally, while cave mines have a significantly smaller footprint than comparable open pit mines, they come with their own set of challenges. We have the technical expertise to help overcome environmental and closure problems during the study stage and later operations.
Services
- Mining method selection and mine design, including:
- Selecting block, panel, incline, or front caving mining methods
- Planning fixed underground infrastructure to provide a long-term production platform
- Pre-conditioning stronger rock with hydraulic fracturing and confined blasting to improve fragmentation
- Increasing cave heights and planning for high production rates
- Geotechnical characterisation to avoid risks associated with poor ground conditions, fragmentation, underestimation of ground support, etc.
- Numerical modelling and model calibration using data from reliable instrumentation
- Draw control optimization
- Risk assessments to balance advantages of increased cave heights with risks of resource sterilization, dilution, drawpoint failure, and extraction level instability
- Economic optimisation
