Design Topics

This page contains the master Table of Contents for all topics that might be considered for mine design
studies, from scoping through to feasibility level. It is quite comprehensive but may not be in the correct
order, may be too detailed, or might have omissions for a particular mine design study. Therefore, this does
not represent a Table of Contents that would be appropriate for any specific mine design project.

To help with overall navigation, a summary Table of Contents showing major topics is provided immediately
below. Clicking on these topics will take you to the list below, which contains more detailed list of sub-
topics.

Blue links represent topics for which pages have been created, red links and black text titles represent still
to be completed topics (more opportunities for potential authors).

To browse a list of pages in the wiki, organized by topic, use the navigation link to Completed articles, or
click here.

Contents
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 1 The general environment in which the mine exists

 2 The stages of mine design

 3 The information required for the mine design

 4 Selection of mining method

 5 Stope design and layout

 6 Infrastructure design

 7 Scheduling

 8 Simulation

 9 Economic evaluation and risk analysis

 10 Risk management

 11 References

The general environment in which the mine exists

 Company objectives


 Description of objectives

 General mine site considerations

 Location and access

 Confirmation of legal ownership of property

 Exploration and development committments

 Previous production

 The social commitments

 Social engagement

 Environmental Permitting

 Legal environment

 Business drivers

 Risks and Benchmarking

 Organizational Design
The stages of mine design

 The stages of mine design

 Pre-evaluation study

 Scoping study

 Pre-feasibility study

 Feasibility study

 Detailed design

 Project management principles

 The geological model

 General geology

 Geological control of mineralization and metal content

 Mineral domains

 Structural model

 Faults

 Dykes

 Foliation and shearing

 Resource model

 Methods of estimation

 Disrtibution of metals in space

 Polygonal estimates

 Geostatistical methods
  Grade simulation models

 Grade-tonnage curves

 Condemnation drilling

 The geotechnical model

 Overview of geotechnical program


 Site investigation

 Rock mass characteristics: planning a field visit; intact strength determination; joint data
collection; data analysis

 Rock mass classification

 Faults, dykes, large scale structural features

 Rock stress conditions

 Seismic activity

 Hydrogeology & surface hydrology: field program; data collection and analysis; estimation of
mine inflows

 Metallurgical model

 Ore mineralogy

 Mineralogical domains

 Gangue mineralogy

 Nuisance metals (mill and proces toxins)

 Bench-scale mill tests

 Factors influencing mining method selection

 Ore grade and recovery

 Cost of infrastructure

 Ore extraction

 Labour and machine costs

 Underground support costs

 Geotechnical factors

 Waste disposal

 Geotechnical design

 Anticipated rock mass behaviour

 Span design for non-entry stopes: Stability graph method

 Span design for man entry stopes

 Mine layout and extraction sequence: general considerations; numerical modelling

 Ground support

 Significant properties of support elements

 Empirical support design

 Installation methods and equipment requirements

 Backfill

 Types of backfill

 Plant requirements

 Backfill distribution

 Mineralogy and the milling process

 Review of the main mining methods


 Hard-rock room and pillar

 Shrinkage stoping

 Sub-level open stoping

 Longitudinal long-hole retreat

 Cut and fill

 Underhand cut-and-fill

 Sublevel caving

 Block and Panel caving

 Vertical crater retreat

 Blasthole stoping

 Preliminary selection of mining method


 Cut-off grade selection

 Selection of mining methods, sizing of stopes

 Estimation of the resources and reserves for each

 Grade and tonnage distribution

 Dilution and ore recovery

 Presence of mineral domains and blending requirements

 Preliminary estimation of mining cost per tonne

 Preliminary estimation of mining cost per tonne

 Rough estimate of revenues, operating costs, and margins

 Selection of the most promising options

 Refined selection of mining method


 Rough layout and costing of the ore, waste, backfill, materials, labour transport development

 Rough layout and costing of ventilation infrastructure

 Risk assessment matrix

 Risk mitigation profile

 Selection of mining method(s) for detailed design

 Value addition
Stope design and layout

 Stope design


 Dimensioning of stopes

 Determination of operational constraints and productive capacity

 Determination of the number of production levels required

 Sequencing numerical simulation

 Stope layout


 Ore development

 Waste access drifts

 Transportation drifts

 Access ramps
Infrastructure design

 Transport infrastructure


 Material handling

 Ore passes

 Waste passes

 Storage capacities

 Crusher / rock breaker

 Shaft construction

 Hoist configuration

 Surface installations

 Shaft vs. Ramp Access

 Backfill


 Required capacity

 Types of backfill

 Distribution circuit

 Ventilation


 Ventilation requirements estimation

 Design of the primary circuit, development and fan requirements

 Design of the local distribution of the air. Sizing of fans and openings

 Mine services


 Mechanical service shops, location, access, size, fixed equipment

 Fuel and oil service bays, infrastructures for the transport of fuel and oils from surface

 Warehouses, location, capacity

 Powder and cap magazines, location, capacity, security

 Lunch rooms and Refuge stations, location, capacity, air and water supply, communications

 Mine communications system

 Electrical distribution system

 Critical path analysis and simulation

 Development plan

 Production plan

 Mine closure

 Environmental rehabilitation
Simulation

 Scheduling risks
 Discrete Event Simulation
Economic evaluation and risk analysis

 Revenue estimation

 Metal Price Forecasting [1]


 Net Smelter Return

 NSR Factors

 Examples

 Cash flow and DCF estimation

 Sensitivity analysis

 Risk analysis

 Valuation using real options

 Risks associated with imperfect input models

 Risk assessment methods

 Metrics

 Design benchmarks


 Scheduling Key Performance Indicators

 Economical Metrics