Kunaev Institute of Mining, Almaty, Kazakhstan:

A. P. Volkov, Head of Laboratory, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, apv51@mail.ru
N. S. Buktukov, Director, Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences

Kazakhmys Corporation, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan:

S. Kuanyshbaiuly, Head of the Mining Department

For mining of thin (1–3m) tilt (15–45°) ore bodies, it is recommended to use the mining method with induced mud–water–stone flows to deliver broken ore up-dip the bodies in combination with scraper handling of ore along the strike and water jet washing of ore when forming columnar pillars, including underhand ore cutting, with division of blocks into many long stopes along the block strike, heading of one or two tilted accumulation and haulage rooms to be close-looped with the long stopes, scraping of broken ore to the tilt accumulation and haulage rooms and mud flow of ore along these rooms. This method can increase the stoping capacity as per the number of stopes in a block: for example, in a 160 m wide, only two tilt rooms are required to be headed between levels. The artificial mud flows in mining (or re-mining) of thin and steeply dipping ore bodies which have their girtwise bottom boundary skewed at 15–45 °, are no less effective. For the purpose of mining (re-mining) of such reserves, it is proposed to use a process flowsheet as follows: broken ore flows under gravity to the lower part of the extraction block and, then, along the tilted bottom of the block, it goes down under the action of gravity and energy of water flow in the mode of the mud–water–stone flow to the ore intake room on this level. In this case, as against mechanical haulage, the mud flow of broken ore essentially enhances the ore production output owing to the high capacity of the mud flow, and greatly reduces the scope of the preparatory and actual mining operations connected with the block bottom formation.
The study was supported in the framework of the Target Financing Program of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Program No. 2018/ВR05236712.

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