Cave Mining

LU_05_02: Sublevel Caving

11 May 2023
Outcomes

By the end of this module the student will be able to:

• Describe briefly the sublevel caving method
• List the conditions under which sublevel caving can be applied
• Describe in detail the development of sublevel caving operation
• Describe in detail the extraction technique of sublevel caving
• State the advantages and disadvantages of sublevel caving

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Sublevel Caving
Sublevel Caving

• This method owes the first part of its name to the Add picture
fact that work is carried out on many
intermediate levels (that is, sublevels) between the
main levels.
• The second half of the name derives from the
caving of the hanging wall and surface that takes
place as ore is removed

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Description

• In Sublevel Caving, mining starts at the top of the Add picture

orebody and develops downwards.
• Ore is mined from sublevels spaced at regular
intervals throughout the deposit.
• A series of ring patterns is drilled and blasted from
each sublevel, and broken ore is mucked out after
each blast.

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Application

• Sublevel Caving can be used in orebodies with very different properties and is an easy method to
mechanize.
• This method is normally used in massive, steeply-dipping orebodies with considerable strike length, and
usually has a high amount of dilution and low recoveries.
• Thus, Sublevel Caving is usually used to mine low-grade, low-value orebodies.

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Development
Development

• Sublevel caving operations involve a large amount of development before the mine can go into production.
• The entire mine must be developed with the exception of the production headings on the lower sublevels.
• They will be developed after the mine has gone into production since the orebody is mined out from top to
bottom.

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Primary Development

• Production Shaft
• Usually Located in the footwall
• Sized based off of the production rate

• Internal Ramp
• Developed in the footwall
• Grade of around 15% with flattening at sublevel access drifts
• Follows the dip of the orebody
• Allows equipment to travel freely from level to level without the use of the shaft
• Designed to be approximately 1.5m wider and higher than the largest piece of equipment

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Secondary Development

Sublevels
• Sublevels are established at pre-determined vertical intervals.
• They are usually accessed from a ramp system
Footwall Drive
• A haulage (footwall) drive is driven down the strike of the ore body, but in the waste
• The footwall drive is developed to access the production crosscuts for ore transportation, services, and ventilation.

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Tertiary Development

• Production crosscuts are turned off the footwall drive at

pre-determined intervals and driven across the ore body to the hangingwall contact
• To enable optimal coverage for drilling and to allow for the downward flow of caved material, they are
staggered between the levels

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Extraction
Extraction Sequence

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Slot

• The production ore extraction process commences by placing either a slot drive on the far ore–waste contact
or placing individual slot raises at the end of each production crosscut.
• In the former option the slot drive will have a slot raise at one end and a series of parallel rings ,the width of the
drive, reaching up to the level above.
• In the latter slot raises are driven at the end of the crosscuts near the ore-waste contact and the slot is
expanded to the shape of the fan drilling.

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Production Drilling

• Once the slot has been opened, long holes are drilled through the orebody in a fan-shaped pattern, a so-called
fan cut, to break towards the slot.

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Production Drilling

• The first production rings, some slashing rings, will Add picture
start the production rings in the crosscuts until the
production rings reach full height.
• The production rings will usually be angled forward
by 10° to 20° from vertical to assist the breakage
and flow of the ore in the confined blasting
environment and to help maintain geotechnical
stability at the brow.

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Production Drilling

• The production rings drill up through the pillar Add picture

between the production drifts on the level above i.e.
they are drilled past the next sublevel to the
production crosscut immediately above

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Charging up

• When drilling is ready throughout the drift an Add picture

explosive with the consistency of heavy cream is
pumped into the holes.

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Choked Blasting

• Finer fragmented material flows more readily than coarse material; Waste should be coarser than the ore
• Therefore blasting must break the rock to the right fragmentation, even but not too fine and without causing too
much damage but enough to fluff the ore
• The action of the blast must also compact and consolidate the waste in front of the fresh ore as the compacted
material does not flow as readily as freshly blasted material

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Loading

• Once the blast fumes have been ventilated away the ore is removed from the production crosscuts by
electrically driven underground loaders which may be operator-controlled or remotely controlled.
• As the broken ore is removed, caved material from the hanging wall and above follows, so that, as more and
more ore is drawn, the amount of waste removed with it increases.
• When the amount of waste reaches a certain level, loading is stopped, and the next fan is blasted.

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Material Handling

• The following steps outline the material handling process in sub level caving operations following production
blasting and sufficient drawpoint ventilation:
• The ore is mucked out of a drawpoint and transported using an LHD to an orepass located in the sublevel extraction drift
• The ore is dumped down the orepass to the main haulage level
• The ore is pulled from chutes at the bottom of the orepass and transported by rail to the main crushing station located
near the shaft
• The ore is crushed, loaded into skips, and sent to surface for processing

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Characteristics
Dilution Control
• Differential fragmentation: finer fragmented material flows more readily than coarse material; dilution should be coarser than the ore; (fine
material can easily flow "through" coarse material)
• Compaction: compacted material does not flow as readily as freshly blasted material; the blast must compact the "waste" in front of the
fresh ore so that it does not flow as readily as the freshly blasted ore
• Temporary arching: coarser material at the top of the ring impedes flow of waste from above; coarser material draws over a much wider
"arch" than fine material; coarse material can temporarily "hang-up" whilst the finer material below the arch is drawn (but very coarse or
unblasted material will allow waste to flow around the ore and reduce recovery – a delicate balancing act) draw coverage: the more the ore
is undercut by development the more likely it is that the ore will flow into the draw point
• Interactive draw: draw points drawn together along a flat face result in a much wider zone of moving material; the increase in recovery can
be significant; the material in the ring can be drawn to much flatter angles (allowing flatter ring angles)
• Ground support: the support is primarily for the brow; the brow has to stay stable for that short period of draw and then charging of the
next ring; support intensity will be much more than required for normal tunnel stability; the brow has to accept the blast damage and has an
extra degree of freedom
• Blasting: have to break the rock to the right fragmentation, even but not too fine and without causing too much damage but sufficient to fluff
the ore and compact the waste; powder factors are generally more than 30% greater than for un-choked blasting

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Interactive Draw

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Subsidence

• As a caving method, sublevel caving will create a Add picture

surface expression and a crater that deepens with
time.
• This surface movement zone is referred to as the
subsidence area.

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STAGES OF
SURFACE
SUBSIDENCE

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STAGES OF
SURFACE
SUBSIDENCE

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STAGES OF
SURFACE
SUBSIDENCE

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STAGES OF
SURFACE
SUBSIDENCE

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STAGES OF
SURFACE
SUBSIDENCE

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Advantages

• Inexpensive method that yields a large amount of ore

• Highly mechanized process:
• in most cases the drifts and tunnels are sufficiently large enough to introduce large trackless mining equipment
• High efficiency:
• with the repetitive nature of this mining method you can standardize all the mining activities
• High amount of flexibility with production rates
• Because all the mining activities are executed in or from relatively small openings, sublevel caving is one of the
safest mining methods

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Disadvantages

• High level of dilution

• Low recovery
• Ore loss:
 when the extraction limit (point with maximum allowable dilution) is reached, the remaining diluted ore represents an ore
loss
 Losses are larger as the inclination of the orebody and footwall is reduced
• Large amount of development required

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REFERENCES

• SME Mine Engineers Handbook; 1992

 Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration
• Underground Mining Methods Handbook; 1982
 Hustrulid W.A., Society of Mining Engineers
• Surface and Underground Excavations; 2005
 Tatiya R.R.
• Introductory Mining Engineering:2nd Ed; 2002
 Hartman H.L.; Mutmansky J.M.

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