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INTRODUCTION
The principal mission of the Mining Department is to
provide to the processing plant a mineral in optimal
condition for its subsequent treatment, either at the lowest
cost or at the highest possible production rate, depending
on the management philosophy of the mining operation. Of
high importance also are the requirements to minimize the
environmental impact, to ensure a strong community
benefit, and to provide a safe and rewarding working
environment.
To win the mineral, it is usually necessary to remove
large quantities of waste or low-grade material, the
quantities of which are generally much greater than the
quantities of ore being mined and processed. It is
common, in the copper mining industry of Chile and Peru,
to have a stripping ratio in the order of 3/1; this being
larger still in the mining of gold, reaching levels
approaching 20/1. As far as the operations in the pit are
concerned, the primary cost item then becomes the
waste, not the ore, due to the greater quantities and
longer haul distances. It isnt unusual to see the primary
focus directed towards the production of mineral to the
plant, while the extraction of waste attracts insufficient
attention to permit optimization of the total mineral
recovery process. The specific mission of blasting is,
therefore, to pre-condition the rock, either mineral or
waste, for its subsequent treatment in the most
economical way possible for the whole business.
The first step of the comminution process is blasting.
This is nothing more than the application of external
energy for the size reduction of the material. The task
therefore, is to utilize the explosive energy in the most
efficient means, such that all the subsequent processes
can generate the highest possible value to the operation.
In this context, blasting complements the subsequent
crushing and grinding stages of the comminution
process, since breakage occurring in the pit represents
a reduction in work required in the crushers and grinding
circuits.
When we speak of material pre-conditioning for its
subsequent treatment, the first and obvious
beneficiaries of optimized pre-conditioning are the
excavators and trucks. Well fragmented material
promotes high shovel productivity, reduced truck
loading times, reduced maintenance, and reduced wear
rates on bucket teeth and tray bodies. The data is
difficult to procure, but there is strong evidence
(McKenzie, 2005,) that good fragmentation leads to
reduced bucket-fill times (Figure 2), increased bucket
fill factors (Figure 2), and reduced shovel and truck
maintenance costs, and these benefits apply equally to
both ore and waste. The influence of fragmentation is
perhaps a little surprising when the size of the
excavating equipment is considered the data in
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SUMMARY
REFERENCES
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