It’s fairly common in many parts of the world like Australia to have a underground operating mines that are regularly active. The majority of underground mines operating throughout the world have a series of specific safety features and set up requirements. The largest underground mine that’s located worldwide is in Australia and it primarily services the gold, silver and copper markets. These large-scale underground mines are some of the most profitable businesses in the mining industry. If you’ve ever wondered more about how these underground mining systems get set up, here are some of the main types of underground mines:

Sub level caving:

Under sub level caving there is an implementation of mining that has workers regularly drilling down into the or. This continues with workers continually drilling into sub levels horizontally at consistent intervals. When the sub levelling process occurs there is a circular pattern blast detonated at each level and then the demolished or is excavated in the mining site.

Open stoping:

This process involves the excavation of an ore body from an area called a stope. If the surrounding rock is stable, Stokes can be continually excavated and produce a large amount of ore.

Block caving:

This version is similar to an underground mine and it involves undermining or locations and forcing the area to collapse only to be excavated later on. This is a very inexpensive way to complete underground mining.

Cut and fill:

This is one of the most utilized methods in the industry and it involves cutting along the or, excavating it and then filling the area. The or gets cut into several sections and is removed through a detonation process. This method can be quite costly but its favoured in many precious metals mining operations for targeting deposits.

Shrinkage:

In this mining operation, miners will cut and fill and the main area is left open as a platform for the next level acting as the stability area along the slope. This is the best method for capturing concentrated ore.

Room and pillar:

This is an option for flatlining or dipping ore bodies. This involves creating open areas and installing pillars as the rock structure above is mined out. This is a more traditional form of underground mining, but it is still used regularly today.

If you’ve ever wondered more about how underground mines are created, consider some of these top mining types as you explore the industry.

This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at Becker/SMC. For nearly a half a century, Becker Mining has been at the forefront of safety, producing the best ground monitor in the industry. Becker/SMC is the industry’s leader in increasingly more sophisticated electrical control systems. Most of the major innovations, design features and specialized electrical components have been developed by Becker/SMC.