Page 380 - Rock Mechanics For Underground Mining

MINING METHODS AND METHOD SELECTION

Figure 12.9 Schematic layout for
VCR stoping is applicable in many cases where conventional shrink stoping is
VCR stoping; (a) mining primary
feasible, although narrow orebody widths (less than about 3 m) may not be tractable.
stopes, and (b) mining secondary
The method is also particularly suitable for mining configurations in which sublevel
stopes (after Hamrin, 2001).
development is difficult or impossible. These geometric conditions arise frequently
in pillar recovery operations in massive orebodies.
12.4.6 Bench-and-fill stoping (Figure 12.10)
Bench-and-fill or bench stoping is a mining method that has been developed from
about the early 1990s as a more productive alternative to cut-and-fill where geotech-
nical conditions permit. Figure 12.10 illustrates the benching method developed at the

Figure 12.10 Bench-and-fill stop-
ing geometry in the Lead Mine, Mount
Isa Mines, Queensland, Australia; (a)
longitudinal section, and (b) cross-
section (after Villaescusa, 1996).

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