In Fulfillment of the Doctoral Degree
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BEST PRACTICE FOR PERSONNEL, MATERIAL AND ROCK TRANSPORTATION IN ULTRA DEEP LEVEL GOLD MINES In fulfillment of the Doctoral degree Steven Michael Rupprecht November 27,2003 Professor Verijenko ii Acknowledgements The author would like to acknowledge the Deepmmine Collaborative Research Programme for granting permission to publish and allowing the outputs of several of the research tasks to be used in this thesis. A special thanks goes to the Deepmine and Futuremine Technical Management Committee, Dave Deiring, Ray Durheim, John Herricourt, Christo Jooste, Johan Klokow, Alwyn Pretorius, Raymond Tarr, and Neil Westgate who gave their advice openly and willing throughout the period of working on transportation issues in ultra deep level mining. In addition, the author would like to thank work colleagues for their support and fruitful discussion regarding the various aspects of deep level transportation. These include Valery Kononov, Bernice Leong, Nick MacNulty, Andrew Peake, Gary Rapson, Joachim Schweitzer, and Steven Williams of CSIR:Mining Technology; Herman Lombardand Rob Wilson of SRKfTurgis Technologies; and Richard Burden and Niel Maslen of Robertson and Hitchins. This thesis wouldn't be possible without the assistance and cooperation of the gold mining industry and special thanks must be given to all those mines, mining engineers and suppliers that shared information regarding the field of underground transportation. Finall~, I would further wish to acknowledge the assistance and gUidance of my supervisor, Dr Verijenko. iii ABSTRACT Ultra deep mining presents many challenges to the mining engineer, one of which is the logistics to support mining operations quickly and efficiently. Typically, Witwatersrand gold mines operate at depths in excess of 2000 m with stoping taking place to 3500 m and investigations underway to mine to a depth of 5000 m. As mining progresses deeper and further from the shaft, the role of logistics becomes increasingly important if production targets are to be achieved. Access to the workings is often via sub vertical and even tertiary subvertical shaft systems with working faces as far as five kilometers from the shaft. It is inevitable therefore, that distance will negatively impact the working time available at the stope face, material transportation and distribution, as well as the removal of broken ore. Possible solutions to these logistical problems may be found in the use of different transportation systems or by applying sound design and operational principles to transportation systems, both in the horizontal and in stope areas. This thesis investigates the challenges of logistics for ultra deep level gold mining in the Witwaterstrand basin for mining layouts planning to mine between 3000 m and 5000 m underground with typical horizontal distances of over 3000 m. The transportation needs analysis recognised that vertical transportation is a well managed and organised system and is mainly the same for both shallow and deep level operations. As a result of this, the thesis only focuses on the logistical issues of the horizontal and in-stope processes. The literature review indicates that the majority of work previously conducted on transportation focused around the area of horizontal transportation with limited inputs to in-stope transportation systems. The review concludes that the traditional locomotive transportation system is the most applicable mode of horizontal transportation. Thus, special emphasis is given to trackbound transportation. An integrated approach is taken towards mine transportation advocating that underground logistics be considered as equally important as any other discipline, Le. rock engineering, ventilation, etc. In addition, the transportation process should consider each area equally important. All to often, the transportation of rock is considered of paramount importance over the transportation of personnel iv and material. Thus, the planning any transportation system should incorporate personnel, material and rock. To enable this, scheduling, communication and control are important with special attention required for transfer points in the transportation system. As each site has its own particular requirement, thus the final transportation systems must be drawn up based on the specific requirements of each mine. A guideline is proposed for the design of ultra deep level underground transport systems for personnel, material and rock transportation. Thus, providing mining engineers with sufficient information and data to select an appropriate transportation system to meet specific mine requirements. The thesis highlights areas requiring consideration by mine engineers when designing a transportation system from shaft to the working face. v Glossary 9f Terms ADT Articulated Dump Truck DME Department of Minerals and Energy COMRO Chamber of Mines Research Organisation CSDP Closely Spaced Dip Pillars GHz Gigahertz h Height HPE Hydro Power Equipment hr hour Hz hertz Kg Kilogram Km Kilometre kW Kilowatt I Length LDV Light Duty Vehicle LHD Load Haul Dump vehicle LSP Longwall mining with Strike Pillars m metre MCF Mine Call Factor Mhz Megahertz mm millimetre MRAC Mining Regulatory Advisory Committee PGM Platinum group metals R.A.W. Return Air Way RFID Radio Frequency Identification system s Seconds SDD Sequential Down Dip SGM Sequential Grid Mining t ton t-m/hr tons - metre per hour T/w Travelling way w Width o Degree % Percentage vi Table of Content 1. Introduction 1 1.1 MOTIVATION 1 1.2 METHODOLOGY 2 2. Background 3 2.1 TRANSPORTATION NEEDS ANALYSIS .4 3. Literature Review 6 3.1 GENERAL TRANSPORTATION ISSUES 6 3. 1. 1 Supply chain 6 3. 1.2 Management structure 7 3. 1.3 Communication and tracking 8 3. 1.4 System automation 10 3.2 HORIZONTAL TRANSPORTATION 11 3.2.1 Trackbound transport 11 3.2.2 Monorails 20 3.2.3 Conveyors 22 3.2.4 Chairlifts 26 3.2.5 Trackless vehicles 27 3.3 IN-STOPE TRANSPORTATION 29 4. Horizontal transportation 31 4.1 GENERAL TRANSPORTATION ISSUES 31 4.1.1 Mine planning and simulation 32 4.1.2 Transportation management structure 35 4. 1.3 Communication 36 4.1.4 Traffic control systems 38 4.1.5 Automation 39 4. 1.6 Illumination ofhaulages 41 4.1.7 Track work and track maintenance 41 4.2 PERSONNEL TRANSPORTATION .43 4.2. 1 Principles ofpersonnel transportation 43 4.2.2 Personnel loading bays 44 4.2.3 Carriages 45 4.3 MATERIAL HANDLING 49 vii 4.3.1 Principles ofmaterial handling .49 4.3.2 Shaft Station 51 4.3.3 Horizontal material transportation 52 4.3.4 Cross cut. 52 4.4 ROCK TRANSPORTATION 53 4.4. 1 Principle of ore transportation 53 4.4.2 Ore tramming control and automation 53 4.4.3 Orepass storage measurements 54 4.4.4 Position monitoring 55 4.4.5 Belt weighers 55 4.5 HORIZONTAL TRANSPORTATION AUDIT 56 4.5.1 Audit oftrackbound transportation 56 4.5.2 Evaluation oftrackbound transportation 80 4.6 MONORAIL SYSTEMS 85 4.6. 1 Audit ofmonorail system 85 4.6.2 Evaluation ofmonorail system 96 4.7 CONVEYOR BELTS 101 4.7.1 Audit ofconveyor belt system 101 4.7.2 Evaluation ofconveyor belt system 120 4.8 CHAIRLlFTS 123 4.8. 1 Audit ofchairlift system 123 4.8.2 Evaluation ofchair/ift system 127 4.9 TRACKLESS TRANSPORTATION 129 4.9. 1 Audit oftrackless system 129 4.9.2 Evaluation oftrackless system 133 4.10 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSiONS 135 5. In-stope transportation 137 5.1 PERSONNEL. ~ 137 5. 1. 1 Audit ofin-stope personnel transportation 137 5.1.2 Evaluation ofin-stope personnel transportation 143 5.2 MATERIAL HANDLING 145 5.2. 1 Monowinch systems 146 5.2.2 Monorail systems 155 5.2.3 Evaluation ofmonowinch and monorail 159 5.3 ROCK HANDLING ·.. ·· 162 5.3.1 Introduction 162 5.3.2 Cleaning constraints 163 viii 5.3.3 Face cleaning 165 5.3.4 Strike gully cleaning 169 5.3.5 Dip gully cleaning 171 5.3.6 Sweeping and vamping 175 6. Guidelines 177 6.1 INTRODUCTION 177 6.2 SIGNIFICANT GENERAL FINDINGS 177 6.3 HORIZONTAL TRANSPORTATION 178 6.3. 1 General horizontal transportation issues 179 6.3.2 Horizontal transportation ofpersonnel 181 6.3.3 Horizontal material transportation 182 6.3.4 Horizontal rock transportation 184 6.4 IN-STOPE TRANSPORTATION 186 6.4.1 In-stope personnel transportation 186 6.4.2 In-stope material transportation 187 6.4.3 In-stope rock transportation 190 7. Bibliography 196 ix LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2-1: TYPICAL STOPE LAYOUT (BRADY AND BROWN) 3 FIGURE 3-1: 20-TON TROLLEY LOCOMOTIVE (GOODMAN, 1999) 15 FIGURE 3-2: TYPICAL BOARDING AND ALIGHTING ARRANGEMENT (HUGHES, 1999) 25 FIGURE 3-3: CHAIRLlFT IN DECLINE (WEBERS, 1999) 26 FIGURE 4-1 : TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE (MASLEN, 1997) 35 FIGURE 4-2: PROCESS MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE (MASLEN, 1997) 36 FIGURE 4-3: HORIZONTAL LOCOMOTIVE OPERATING SCHEDULE OVER 24 HOURS 39 FIGURE 4-4: REMOTE CONTROLLED VENTILATION DOOR (KONONOV, 2000) .40 FIGURE 4-5: HOPPER DERAILMENT 42 FIGURE 4-6: PERSONNEL LOADING BAY AT GREAT NOLlGWA GOLD MINE .44 FIGURE 4-7: DIESEL HYDROSTATIC 9-TON LOCOMOTIVE 60 FIGURE 4-8: BADERY LOCOMOTIVE (CLAYTON EQUIPMENT LTD, 1999) 61 FIGURE 4-9: BADERY LOCOMOTIVE WITH BADERY TENDER (MASLEN, 1999) 61 FIGURE 4-10: 15-TON 500 V TROLLEY LOCOMOTIVE (MASLEN, 1999) 62 FIGURE4-11: GOODMAN 8 TON HYBRID LOCOMOTIVE (DREYER, 2001) 63 FIGURE 4-12: MONORAIL OPERATING ABOVE MATERIAL CAR (DEALE, 2002) 68 FIGURE 4-13: TRAPPED RAIL SYSTEM (WEBERS, 1999) 69 FIGURE 4-14: 12 PERSON CARRIAGE (GALlSON, 2003) 70 FIGURE 4-15: 40 PERSON CARRIAGE (GALlSON, 2003) : 71 FIGURE 4-16: MATERIAL CAR WITH SIDINGS 72 FIGURE 4-17: FLAT TIMBER CAR 72 FIGURE 4-18: PALLETISED MATERIAL CARRIERS STACKED ON FLAT MATERIAL CAR 73 FIGURE