You are on page 1of 7

UTILISATION

OF GEOMECI-lANICAL EFFICIENT

PROPERTIES

OF ROCK FOR

FRAGMENTATION

(A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL IRON ORE MINING COMPANY, KOGI STATE)

ITAKPE.

BY ISIAKA AFOLABI FATAl MNE/96/8574

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDI~S IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE AWARD OF MASTERS DEGREE (M.ENG.) IN MINING ENGINEERING (SURFACE MINING OPTION), FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AKURE, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.

AUGUST 2003

---

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that this dissertation was presented by Mr.: Isiaka Afolabi Fatai in the Department of Mining Engineering, School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria and to the best of my knowledge, it has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of a degree.

Dr. J. M. AKANDE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT MAJOR SUPERVISOR

II

DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Almighty Allah, my immediate family and to all Mining Engineers all over the wold.

III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My sincere thanks goes to my supervisor Dr. O. Ojo for his keen interest in seeing to the successful completion of this project and for his valuable suggestions and advice from time to time.

My thanks also go to Dr. J.M. Akande who is my co- supervisor and also the Head of Mining Engineering Department, Federal University of Technology, Akure for his advice and Engr. Z.O. Opafunso for his valuable contributions. I also acknowledged the

assistance of the staff of National Iron Ore Mining Project Itakpe, particularly those in the Mining and Planning Section for the permission granted me to take samples from the project site.

My sincere gratitude goes to my dearest one, Mrs. R .A. Isiaka for her support during my strive for higher education and to Mr. B. M. Olaleye for his advice and assistance during the laboratory sessions.

IV

ABSRACT Rock blasting is by nature a highly destructive process demanding careful control. Rock, which is under blasted, can add significant problems and costs to a mining operation. Poorly managed drilling and blasting operations often result in fragments that required secondary handling for effective mining. They generate boulders that create both

environmental and communition problems.

Careful studies were made of drilling and blasting operations

at Itakpe taking into

cognizance the properties of the ore and the host rocks as well as the explosives used. Steps were taken to identify those parameters that have the most significant influence on blasting results, and proposals made. The proposed methods improve fragmentation the processing plant and render the environment tolerably safe. for

Laboratory approximately

experiments

and

tests

were

conducted

and

the

results

shows

that

80% of the blasted ore sized between 1000mm and 800mm.

Attention

was paid to the fragment size that occurred during blasting.

Drilling and blasting techniques of the company were studied, the problems identified and proposals made on how to achieve production efficiency. The optimization process of, -drilling and blasting establish the influence of materials related properties overall design processes for safe mining. in the

These were investigated under the prevailing

conditions at the mine. A suitable method to calculate new diameter, burden and spacing utilizing the existing bench height was proposed.

From the laboratory

experiments,

it was established

that drillability

and blastabiltiy

classification of rock mass has not only revealed the characteristics of the ore, it has also been able to predict the quality of blasting results. geomechanical characteristics The result also established that the

of the ore exercise more influence on the result of rock

blasting than the explosive ones.

A new approach in evaluating the fragmentation of rock mass blasting is presented. It differs from most of the methods as it is predicated on a pre-existing in-situ block size distribution in the rock mass as defined by the natural discontinuity network. The blasting efficiency is evaluated through comparison of Block Size Distribution (BSD) of the rock

mass and the corresponding muck pile, and this depends on blasting parameter used.

'Based on the laboratory

and field works, trial and error method of powder factor The result of experiments have been able to provide a

estimation is reduced significantly.

database and provide for those basic parameters necessary for drilling tool selection and design, and for optimal blast design.

VI

You might also like