Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9107-2453

Date Available

8-5-2024

Year of Publication

2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Engineering (DEng)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Engineering

Department/School/Program

Mining Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Zach Agioutantis

Second Advisor

Dr. Josh Calnan

Abstract

More than 40 years ago, the mine-to-mill concept was introduced in the mining industry by establishing a relationship or link between processing and mining activities. To date, many successful case studies have documented the evident benefits of the mine-to-mill approach. In most cases, the basis of the mine-to-mill approach is to tailor the details of a blast design and its proper execution in order to satisfy specific mineral processing requirements downstream. Most of the available literature and case studies deal with surface mine operations. Due to the relative simplicity of surface mining, the relationship between the powder factor, defined as the amount of explosives (weight) used to blast a certain amount of rock (weight or volume), can be easily correlated to downstream cost optimization. However, the relationship between powder factor, fragmentation, and downstream costs is not as evident for underground mine operations. In underground operations the confinement conditions, the stability of the excavation, as well as other variables, make changes in the powder factor difficult to correlate with fragmentation. Consequently, it is also difficult to correlate changes in powder factor with downstream processing benefits. Application of the mine-to-mill approach in underground mine operations is inextricably linked to fragmentation models and the capability to alter the blast design to obtain a required fragmentation which will result in the optimization downstream of the processing and beneficiation of the minerals. This dissertation explores the following topics of novel contribution:

• The development of a blast fragmentation model for use in underground aggregate mining operations which explores alternatives to using the Rosin-Rammler/Weibull distribution model and uses a probabilistic approach rather than a deterministic approach.

• The optimization of a blast design incorporating energy partition values as a way to evaluate fragmentation efficiency.

• The development of an underground aggregate mine-to-mill approach which incorporates the Bond Work Index for efficiency evaluation of a size-reduction circuit.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.270

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