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DEWATERING A MINE
By definition; To drain out water from a mine, To disposed off water from mine, To transport water from mine . A mining excavation receiving water from various resources and may generate variety of operational and logistic problems to the mining operations.
DEWATERING A MINE
Once the water has entered, the excavation has to drain-off that water from a mine Before the entry of water into excavation, mine should be prevented from the entry of water. Hence, the mine drainage technique are implemented by;
1. 2.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
The technique is used to keep away water from entering into mine.
It is more economical to keep water out of mine than to
mine, is one less gallon that will have to be collected, transported and disposed-off.
The aim of this technique is to prevent or delay inflow or reduce intensity of water, the following are the measures taken for the prevention;
By locating excavation or shaft in least permeable ground By retreat mining from bottom to top. Divert drain streams, lakes, rivers etc Catch water in ditches or in shafts to prevent inflow to the deeper sections of mine.
3.
a. b.
The following precaution can be established to keep away the water from mine or to minimize the inflow;
i.
Avoiding the sitting of shaft, bore hole and other openings in low spots on the surface. Fluming and other measures can prevent surface runoff entering in mine. Preventing the water influx when aquifer might be more difficult. Shafts should have water tight collars sufficiently high above ground to prevent water flowing into the shaft.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Some of the more important ways of preventing water influx in mines include: Design of excavation minimizes breaking to aquifers or to the surface through appropriate width/depth (w/d) ratio. Proper sitting of shafts to avoid low spots and the use of pregrouting during sinking and lining of the shafts. Providing adequate pillar support under water bodies or underground aquifer, or alternatively providing mine pillar design based on proper w/d ratio. Concreting all exploratory drill holes to that water can not accumulate into them
a)
b)
c)
d)
d)
Concreting all exploratory drill holes to that water can not accumulate into them, Keeping test holes properly dried ahead of active workings when approaching a suspected abandoned mine using the old workings as a sump.
e)
PROTECTIVE MEASURES
o It is a technique to drain out the water accumulated in mines. o Also called dewatering technique which solely depends upon
the geology, hydrology, hydrogeology of the mining site, mining methods and cost effectiveness.
o To minimize the problems associated with influx of unwanted
water into underground mines, a three step process of drainage, which is following;
DEWATERING TECHNIQUES
WATER COLLECTION
WATER TRANPORTATION
WATER DISPOSAL
COLLECTION
It is the first stage of dewatering system. When prevention of mine water becomes ineffective then
appropriate collection should be there so that the water from mines is collected at a suitable place from where it can be transported or pumped-out
The water in mine should be collected with the help of
SUMPS
SUMP
The sumps are made to collect water in mines (reservoir), and
SUMP
Water flowing towards the sump will also carry fines, which may
filtration processes,
For that purpose, sump may be lined with gravel. The size of the sump should be larger than that necessary to,
and pumps.
suspended at least 1ft (300mm) above the bottom of the sump to protect the pump from the entry of fines.
If sediments accumulates in the sump, cleaning & maintenance
1.
necessary to choose the best location for the main mine sump or intermediate pumping station.
As well as trying to prevent/control the input of water into the
mine workings
One must look at the makeup and the quality of the water input
sediments from the mining operations which can turn clear water into sludge.
The efficiency and useful life of any pump depends upon the
used for the mixture of water, coal, and rock than the centrifugal pump with higher head.
The quality of mine water refer to the pH balance and the
2.
If prevention of water inputs into mining operation can not stop all the nuisance water, the output system must be considered Output system contains three separate elements based on the scope of the system.
These are;
1.
The run-off drainage system which described the efforts and methods needed to collect the water inputs and channel them into the drain network. The sump interface encompassing the excavation and construction requirements necessary for storage and surge capabilities of the pumping network. The pumping network which defines the necessary equipments for efficient transport of the mine water for final disposal, including the pumps, piping, valves and pump controls.
2.
3.
3.
I. II.
Note:- once the system has been separated into two parts, the mining engineer should begin summing up the mine water inputs from working face to be handled.
Parameters from the mine inputs will define; Minimum pumping rate,