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DEWATERING TECHNIQUES

MINE DRAINAGE TECHNIQUES

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 PROTECTIVE MEASURES.

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

drain it out after it has entered into mine workings


Each gallon of water that is prevented from entering the

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;

1. Reduce, postpone or avoid inflows.


a. b.

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.

2. Divert, drain or intercept water near surface


a. b.

3.
a. b.

Protective Layers & Barriers


By leaving enough solid ground between mine & water By leaving pillars on fissures to minimize inflow.

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

the main sump is made up of bricks and cement.


The capacity of sumps depends upon the quantity of water. The necessary characteristics of a sump are; The main or final sump must be deep enough to carry the entire

water rushed into mine


If necessary, the secondary sump, or intermediate sump, or

temporary sump at a shallower level should be constructed to improve condition.

SUMP
Water flowing towards the sump will also carry fines, which may

be abrasive so it will damage the pumping equipments,


To reduce it, fines should be stopped by sedimentation and

filtration processes,
For that purpose, sump may be lined with gravel. The size of the sump should be larger than that necessary to,

physically accommodate the pumps,


There should be a provision of enough space between sump

and pumps.

If there is the use of submersible pump, it is preferably be

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

of pumps must be done periodically.

TRANSPORTATION OF MINE WATER


Mine water transporting means pumping of mine water Where gravity is not possible for water movements in mine, some means of transporting or pumping is required.

Pumping is established with use of PUMPS and PIPES.

It is necessary to design effective drainage system for an underground mine.

DESIGNING EFFECTIVE UNDERGROUND DRAINAGE SYSTEM


To analyze any pumping requirements, certain design parameters must be considered, including; 1) The inputs of mine environment, 2) The output of mine environment, 3) The available system engineering of dewatering. the inputs through outputs for disposal. Note:- knowledge of all three parameters is necessary to deal effectively with the drainage problem of the underground mine environment.

1.

INPUTS OF THE MINE ENVIRONMENTS

Water inputs to the mine environment include:


Surface run-off
Strata/seam leakage and leakage from old works Aquifers Leakage of the system (valves, splices, adapters, pin holes etc. Accumulation of water from dust sprays or dust suppressions.

Knowing & understanding of the sources of water inputs is

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

beside amount of water in mine.


In many mines, the water makeup contains particles and

sediments from the mining operations which can turn clear water into sludge.

The efficiency and useful life of any pump depends upon the

type of material in water (abrasive or acidic) to be handled.


In the selection, for example, a turbine pump may better be

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

chemical components of the mine water.


Acidic mine water (pH less than 5.0) is the real environmental

problem which must be controlled before it leaves the mine property.

2.

OUTPUT FROM MINE ENVIRONMENT

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.

SYSTEM ENGINEERING OR ENGINEERING THE SYSTEM


To simplify the system of dewatering, in the initial stage of the mine drainage design, The system can be divided into two major sections; Drainage system from the working face to the main sump, System from main sump to the surface.

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,

Power sources and requirements,


Sump capacity and location, Heavy drainage area, Construction requirements for the final design.

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