A plan that considers drive size, blast design and quality control provides the best results
By Paul Salmenmaki
AMC has conducted numerous studies to reduce dilution for mechanized narrow vein mining methods in operating mines. Methods have included long hole open stoping (LHOS) and mechanized cut and fill (CAF). Dilution can be classified as planned or unplanned. Planned dilution accounts for waste material incorporated into the stope when designing practical mining shapes. Planned dilution will depend on the vein geometry, thickness, orebody dip and local ground conditions. Unplanned dilution consists of waste, which is mined due to overbreak, which may result from poor drilling or blasting or as any waste incorporated during mucking. This article presents a high-level discussion of a study conducted by AMC to determine the optimum (minimum) dilution that could be reasonably applied to a narrow-vein orebody.
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