A method of open cut mining comprising carrying out mining operations in an area of an open cut mine with manned resources and unmanned resources and providing separate access for these resources to the mine area at selected locations. Alternatively, or in addition, the method comprises carrying out mining operations in the mine area with manned resources and unmanned resources operating in selected, separate unmanned and manned zones, respectively within the mine area.

A rock fragmentation device and method is provided which includes a shaft and a plurality of expandable members positioned along a length thereof. The shaft has a hollow length therethrough for the passage of a pressurized fluid, and a plurality of feed apertures for delivery of the pressurized fluid to the expandable members. The shaft further includes a feed inlet for receiving the pressurized fluid from a hydraulic system. The plurality of expandable members each have an inner diameter dimensioned to receive the shaft in a tightly engaging connection, and are positioned on the shaft in fluid tight engagement effective for receiving pressurized fluid via the feed apertures without leaking fluid. The expandable members are expandable, upon filling with the pressurized fluid, to sufficient dimensions to break apart rock when fitted inside a cavity formed therein.

Provided herein is a method for constructing a pumping-injection well of a groundwater reservoir in a dump of an open-pit mine. The pumping-injection well includes a bottom pipe, intermediate pipes, and a top pipe in sequence from bottom to top connected from bottom to top. The method includes: arranging a rubble barrier around the pumping-injection well, and installing the bottom pipe of the pumping-injection well at a designed position of the pumping-injection well as a center of circle; continuing to install an intermediate pipe on the bottom pipe, and pile up a rubble pile; continuing to stack multiple intermediate pipes, and starting the construction of the groundwater reservoir; discarding discarded materials from the open-pit mine to form a dump; continuing to stack intermediate pipes to build an inverted trapezoidal surface sump around the pumping-injection well; and installing the top pipe and a well cover to form a complete pumping-injection well.

The invention is directed to a method of strip mining that involves dividing the pit into blocks in a diamond shape arrangement with an angular advancing strike face and removing waste material from each diagonally adjacent block so as to minimize the amount of waste material pushed by dozers and maintain the incline of ramps to gradients of 10% or less so that trucks can take mined ore from the pit.

The present invention provides a mining method. The method includes: dividing a mining region into a plurality of federated mining regions; performing an open-pit mining operation in each of the federated mining regions and forming a pit in each of the federated mining regions; performing an underground mining operation on a slope of the pit and forming a plurality of excavated tunnels; and backfilling a pit of a previous federated mining region with a spoil of a subsequent federated mining region.

The present invention provides a mining method. The method includes: dividing a mining region into a plurality of federated mining regions; performing an open-pit mining operation in each of the federated mining regions and forming a pit in each of the federated mining regions; performing an underground mining operation on a slope of the pit and forming a plurality of excavated tunnels; and backfilling a pit of a previous federated mining region with a spoil of a subsequent federated mining region.

A method for mining narrow vein deposit of ore, the narrow vein deposit having a hanging wall and a foot wall, the method comprising: drilling a pilot hole into the narrow vein deposit along a path substantially centrally between the hanging wall and the foot wall to a depth within the vein; following the pilot hole with a larger diameter drilling assembly to fragment the ore into drill cuttings; circulating the drill cuttings to a wellhead; and collecting the drill cuttings for processing to recover the ore therefrom.

A system for mining material in a seam under an overburden layer using a geological model map of a geological formation, including a desired drilling end point at a predefined position relative to a geological boundary between the overburden layer and seam. A drill controller controls operation of a drill drilling a blast hole. A sensor pack senses, while drilling the blast hole, blast hole drilling operation parameters; and feeds the sensed parameters in real time to the drill controller. A data storage module stores a geological model of the geological formation and sensed parameters data. A processor module generates a geological model map including the desired drilling end point and locates the drill bit position relative to the geological boundary and such end point. The drill controller drills to the desired drilling end point and causes the drill to stop drilling upon reaching such end point.

A system for mining material in a seam under an overburden layer using a geological model map of a geological formation, including a desired drilling end point at a predefined position relative to a geological boundary between the overburden layer and seam. A drill controller controls operation of a drill drilling a blast hole. A sensor pack senses, while drilling the blast hole, blast hole drilling operation parameters; and feeds the sensed parameters in real time to the drill controller. A data storage module stores a geological model of the geological formation and sensed parameters data. A processor module generates a geological model map including the desired drilling end point and locates the drill bit position relative to the geological boundary and such end point. The drill controller drills to the desired drilling end point and causes the drill to stop drilling upon reaching such end point.

A method for assigning a set of tasks to a plurality of mining machines, said machines being arranged to be driven between positions for performing tasks is provided. The method includes defining a first set of constraints to be fulfilled finding an overall solution fulfilling the first set of constraints by solving each constraint as a sub-problem, a solution to at least one sub-problem being dependent on the solution of at least one other sub-problem; the overall solution fulfilling the first set of constraints being an overall solution where a first of said sub-problems is validated by solutions of others of the sub-problems, and assigning tasks to the machines according to the determined validated overall solution, wherein tasks are arranged to be carried out at least partially overlapping in time by the mining machines.