Influence of the ratio between amount of overburden and unit of gold produced on the efficiency of gold placer mining

The analysis of geological and geotechnical parameters of open pit placer mining in the Oymyakon, Aldan and Neryungri Regions in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) shows that over the period from 2008 to 2020 stripping ratio has grown by 4–6 times at an average while and cutoff grade has been continuously dropping. In placers in the remote and hard-to-reach areas in the northeast of the Republic, the cutoff grade has dropped from 0.07–0.08 to 0.03–0.05 g/m3, and dilution is extremely high and sometimes reaches 35–37 %. It is shown that metal mining cost linearly depends on the aggregated factor—ratio of the amount of overburden and unit of gold produced. This factor integrates both production data (gold loss, dilution, recovery) and geological data (overburden thickness, gold content). The aggregated factor can be used for geometrization in operation exploration and detailed 2D seismic, for elimination of low-grade sand from extraction, for planning of mining operations, reduction in dilution and, thereby, for improvement of mine performance.

Keywords: gold, selective open pit mining, loss, dilution, amount of overburden, placer, efficiency, geometrization, reliability.
For citation:

Batugina N. S., Khoiutanov E. A., Tkach S. M. Influence of the ratio between amount of overburden and unit of gold produced on the efficiency of gold placer mining. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2021;(12-1):39—47. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2021_121_0_39.

Acknowledgements:
Issue number: 12
Year: 2021
Page number: 39-47
ISBN: 0236-1493
UDK: 622.02:622.342 (001)
DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2021_121_0_39
Article receipt date: 18.07.2021
Date of review receipt: 25.10.2021
Date of the editorial board′s decision on the article′s publishing: 10.11.2021
About authors:

Batugina N. S.1, Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Chief Researcher, batuginan@mail.ru;
Khoiutanov E. A.1, Cand. Sci (Eng.), Researcher, khoiutanov@igds.ysn.ru;
Tkach S. M.1, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Director, tkach@igds.ysn.ru;
1 N. V. Chersky Mining Institute of the North of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia, Lenin Ave, 43.

 

For contacts:

Batugina N. S., e-mail: batuginan@mail.ru

Bibliography:

1. Lalomov A. V., Bochneva A. A., Chefranov R. M., Chefranova A. V. Alluvial deposits of the Russian Arctic: current status and development of the mineral and raw material base. Arktika: ekologiya i ekonomika. 2015, no. 2 (18), pp. 66—77. [In Russ].

2. Kuznetsova I. V. The problems of nanogold extraction during the mine from placers in case of Priamurie. Ores and metals, 2014, no. 4, pp. 52—57. [In Russ].

3. Oparin V. N. , Sekisov A. G. , Trubachev A. I. , Smolyanickij B. N. , Salihov V. S., Zykov N. V. Promising Mining Technologies for Gold Placers in Transbaikalia. Fizikotekhnicheskie problemy razrabotki poleznyh iskopaemyh. 2017, no. 3 (13), pp. 489—496. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.1134/S1062739117032415.

4. Kos’yanov V. A., Bryuhoveckij O. S., Sekisov A. G., Grabskij A. A. Promising technology and equipment for exploration of gold-bearing manmade mineral deposits. Gornyj zhurnal. 2020, no. 12, pp. 16—20. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2020.12.03.

5. Aleksandrova T. N., Litvinova N. M., Bogomyakov R. V. In relation to the extraction of fine gold from sands of placer deposits. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2009, no. S14, pp. 505—512. [In Russ].

6. Stepanov V. A., Mel’nikov, A. V. Tokur gold ore-placer cluster in Amur Province: Geological–structural features and perspective of its development. Geology of Ore Deposits, vol 59, iss 2, pp. 131—140. DOI: 10.1134/S1075701517020039.

7. Alam M., Li S.-R., Santosh M., Yuan M.-W. Morphology and chemistry of placer gold in the Bagrote and Dainter streams, northern Pakistan: Implications for provenance and exploration. Geological Journal, vol 54, iss 3, pp. 1672—1687.

8. Ermakova Yu. V., Kutorgin V. I. Lower Uorgalan platinum placer: estimating the exploration reliability. Ores and metals, 2015, no. 2, pp. 36—44. [In Russ].

9. Bochneva A., Lalomov A. Geostatistical model of placer deposits of heavy minerals. Proceedings of IAMG 2015 17th Annual Conference of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences. 2015. pp. 1052—1056.

10. Tkach S. M., Batugin S. A. The classification of ore and placer cluster deposits. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2009, no. 6, pp. 16—23. [In Russ].

11. Batugina N. S., Tkach S. M., Khoyutanov E. A. Assessment of computational accuracy of minimum commercial value for gold placers. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2020, no. 12, pp. 45—48. [In Russ].

12. Asad MWA, Qureshi MA, Jang H. A review of cut-off grade policy models for open pit mining operations. Resources Policy. 2016, no. 49, pp. 142—152. DOI: 10.1016/j. resourpol.2016.05.005.

13. Githiria J., Musingwini C. A stochastic cut-off grade optimization model to incorporate uncertainty for improved project value. Journal of the Southern African institute of mining and metallurgy. 2019 vol. 119, no. 3, pp. 217—228. DOI: 10.17159/2411—9717/2019/v119n3a1.

14. Pinyi Zhang, Bicong Ci Deep belief network for gold price forecasting. Resources Policy. 2020, vol. 69, 101806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2020.101806.

Our partners

Подписка на рассылку

Раз в месяц Вы будете получать информацию о новом номере журнала, новых книгах издательства, а также о конференциях, форумах и других профессиональных мероприятиях.