CAF Backfill of Primary Stopes at Callie Underground Mine

摘要

Callie underground gold mine is part of the Newmont Tanami Operations,rnand is now the primary provider of ore to the Granites processing Mill.rnThe Callie underground mine has produced in excess of 7.6 millionrntonnes (Mtpa)of ore,since production began in 1998,with a currentrnproduction rate of 1.9 Mtpa.Callie underground uses sublevel openrnstoping with extraction through a combination of primary and secondaryrnstopes.The primary stope filling strategy utilises cement aggregate fillrn(CAF)to allow full recovery of secondary stopes.The Callie backfillrnoperation has had a continuous testing program in place during this time,rnwhich has resulted in a great deal of information available for post fillrnanalysis.All CAF placement into primary stopes for Callie has been viarnsurface boreholes and this has given Callie mine an understanding ofrnsome of the issues related to borehole design,type of linings to userndepending on angle,depth and quantity of fill into stopes.Finally backfillrnbarricades at Callie have undergone a number of changes during the timernto optimise the design based on whether CAF or sand fill is used.Thisrnpaper discusses the CAF backfill practices and testing methods used forrnbackfilling operations at Callie.