Stone Mining Methods – Part 2 – Underground Mining

In the second part of our stone mining methods series, let’s briefly describe underground mining techniques. This method is basically used when the stones to be mined are located deep within the surface. In order to access these depths, opening pits would be very costly and would mean disturbing too much of the surface, therefore tunnels are dug instead. Therefore underground methods are environmentally friendlier than open pit methods. They are however more difficult and require a higher level of technical expertise. In addition, a lot care must be given into the safety and ventilation of the dug areas, which can be expensive and add to the cost and schedule, also requiring specialized equipment.

Room and Pillar Method: One approach is to excavate large open volumes in within the rock where some is left as columns, in order to support the loads from the top. (Note that this can be done for rocks, as our subject is stone mining here, but if for example we had to deal with soil, for instance when digging the ground for a vehicular highway tunnel as in civil engineering, we would need to support the top of excavation, especially for soils other than hard clay or where underground water exists.) This method is also called “Room and Pillar” mining.

Block Caving Method: In this method, the stone is gradually undercut from the main rock mass underground. In other words, as we cut the top of the underground excavation, the fragments of stone collapse, which are then collected.

Cut and Fill Method: In this method, layers of material are cut, which then is filled by other / waste material. This helps to support the removed area. Then the next layer is cut. This system is the most adaptable to varying shapes of ores and underground conditions.

By: A. Tuter

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