Sustainable Underground Iron Ore Mining in Ukraine with Backfilling Worked-Out Area

Abstract

The present paper considers aspects of underground iron ore mining in Ukraine, in particular the level of mine production and reserves of basic ore fields. It analyzes and generalizes the practice of using cemented rockfill under difficult mining and hydrogeological conditions of the Pivdenno-Bilozerske high-grade iron ore field. The Belozersky iron ore district is the only one in Ukraine that, without any technological cycle of beneficiation, can provide both domestic and foreign consumers with high-quality raw iron ore as required by world markets. The PJSC Zaporizhzhia iron ore plant extracts iron ore from the Pivdenno-Bilozerske field with an iron content of more than 60% using the low-waste, environmentally friendly technology of backfilling the mined-out area with a hardening mixture. The peculiarities of the technology for steep deposit mining and the main processes of backfilling operations in terms of preparation, transportation, and construction of the backfill mass with its stability assessment are explained in detail in this paper. As a result of using cemented rockfill, rock mass stability is provided, a considerable part of industrial waste is disposed of in the mined-out area, and the earth’s surface subsidence within the area is prevented (in comparison with mining enterprises in other fields).

Technological measures to enhance efficiency of mining ore from stopes applying self-propelled equipment

“…The inclined compensation space is formed for the full width of the stope (panel). Then from the drill ort (drift), vertical blasthole rings are drilled and broken on the inclined undercut [43,[54][55][56].…”

Use of Dump Rocks in Backfill Mixtures While Mining Iron-Ore Deposits

“…These enterprises use waste mine rocks as part of backfill mixtures but this is not enough for the general problem of utilization of accumulated rocks of the mining industry. There are 8 iron ore mines in Kryvbas, but their mining technology does not involve backfilling of the worked-out space, although the mineral resource base of potential backfill materials is significant 15,16,17 .…”

Enhancement of the technology of mining steep ore bodies applying the “floating” crown

“…When mining ore bodies in complicated mining and geological conditions, ore losses and dilution become higher by 3-5% as compared with the standards. Increased losses and dilution result in pre-schedule mining-out of the level, increased volumes of capital mining operations and ore mining costs [30][31][32][33].…”

“…The authors of [33][34][35][36][37][38] suggest various options of mining ore bodies that enable enhancement of ore mass extraction from stopes. However, rock pressure may lead to stope failures when forming a compensation space and, consequently, result in deterioration of extraction indices, decrease of labour efficiency and increase of time spent on mining a block.…”