A study of backfill confinement to reinforce pillars in bord and pillar layouts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
This study explores the use of backfill in hard rock bord and pillar mines to increase the pillar strength and extraction ratio at depth. The typical decrease in extraction ratio with increasing depth is illustrated in the paper. This emphasises the need to study backfill as an option to ensure viable mining operations in future. The use of backfill will also minimise the requirement for tailings storage on surface and the risk of environmental damage. The literature survey indicated that backfill is extensively used in coal mines, but rarely in hard rock bord and pillars mines. To simulate the effect of backfill confinement on pillar strength, an extension of the limit equilibrium model is discussed in the paper. Numerical modelling of an actual platinum mine layout is done to illustrate the beneficial effect of backfill on pillar stability at greater depths. The magnitude of confinement exerted by the backfill on the pillar sidewalls is unknown, however, and this needs to be quantified in future using experimental backfill mining sections and the installation of suitable instrumentation.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Daniel Francois Malan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
THE INSTITUTE, AS A BODY, IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STATEMENTS AND OPINIONS ADVANCED IN ANY OF ITS PUBLICATIONS.
Copyright© 1978 by The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. All rights reserved. Multiple copying of the contents of this publication or parts thereof without permission is in breach of copyright, but permission is hereby given for the copying of titles and abstracts of papers and names of authors. Permission to copy illustrations and short extracts from the text of individual contributions is usually given upon written application to the Institute, provided that the source (and where appropriate, the copyright) is acknowledged. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of review or criticism under The Copyright Act no. 98, 1978, Section 12, of the Republic of South Africa, a single copy of an article may be supplied by a library for the purposes of research or private study. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the publishers. Multiple copying of the contents of the publication without permission is always illegal.
U.S. Copyright Law applicable to users In the U.S.A.
The appearance of the statement of copyright at the bottom of the first page of an article appearing in this journal indicates that the copyright holder consents to the making of copies of the article for personal or internal use. This consent is given on condition that the copier pays the stated fee for each copy of a paper beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. The fee is to be paid through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., Operations Center, P.O. Box 765, Schenectady, New York 12301, U.S.A. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale.
