Metal price is one of the most important parameters in the calculation of cut- off grade. The cut- off grade has the main role in determination of mine layout. Mine layout actuates mineable reserve, mine life and economic profitability. Not considering the uncertainty in metal prices can lead to a non-optimal layout. In this paper optimum underground mine layout is determined by expected utilit...

A large number of metal deposits are initially extracted via surface methods, but then transition underground without necessarily ceasing to operate above ground. Currently, most mine operators schedule the open pit and underground operations independently and then merge the two, creating a myopic solution. We present a methodology to maximize the NPV for an entire metal deposit by determining ...

The exposure of mine workers to diesel particulate matter (DPM) and gases is an issue of great concern to the underground mining community in the United States. Approximately 30,000 underground miners are potentially exposed to high concentrations of DPM. In January of 2001, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) promulgated rules setting compliance standards for both underground...

The underground uranium mine Königstein (Saxony, Germany), currently in the process of remediation, represents an underground acid mine drainage (AMD) environment, that is, low pH conditions and high concentrations of heavy metals including uranium, in which eye-catching biofilm formations were observed. During active uranium mining from 1984 to 1990, technical leaching with sulphuric acid was ...

Elemental carbon (EC) is used as a surrogate for regulating the exposure to diesel particulate matter (DPM) of underground metal/non-metal miners. EC was chosen as a surrogate because EC is selective to DPM and is a major component of DPM. Using EC as a surrogate also gives one the advantages of no sampling artifacts and being able to sample at all locations in the mine. Currently, EC represent...

Underground mine production scheduling possesses mathematical structure similar to and yields many of the same challenges as general scheduling problems. That is, binary variables represent the time at which various activities are scheduled. Typical objectives seek to minimize costs or some measure of production time, or to maximize net present value; two principal types of constraints exist: (...

The Schneeberg mine in the south-western part of Saxony (Germany) is flooded up to the overflow level. The mine water discharges via a historical adit to the Zwickauer Mulde river. Although the Schneeberg mine has been flooded for a 50 years period, and it is relatively small, the mine discharges a significant arsenic load at a nearly constant level, which seems to be typical for base metal/ ur...

Many coal mine companies have established underground safety monitor and control systems. However, the safety management information can only be displayed on the 2D maps or as reports. In this paper, a new method that combines the VR technologies with underground mine safety monitoring technologies was explored. A desktop virtual reality program for underground coal mine, called VRLane, was dev...

We use mathematical optimization to determine a production schedule (i.e., a schedule of extraction and subsequent filling of the voids) for a complex underground mine in Ireland. The goal of the mining operation is to maximize metal production over the life of the mine, subject to constraints on maximum monthly extraction and backfilling quantities, maximum and minimum monthly metal production...