Rock strength domaining at Mogalakwena Mine, South Africa

摘要

Rock properties have a material impact on mining processes, including drilling performance.An investigation using point-loaded index (PLI) data converted to UCS has revealed a directrelationship between grain size and UCS at Mogalakwena. This correlation is best seen inunaltered rock with lower correlations for altered rock types. Drilling data from the newRockMa system installed on drilling rigs can be used to gather rock strength data to validatethe current rock strength domain and create additional data for the next benches below. Aninvestigation into penetration rates in different lithologies shows that rock composition playsan important role in determining drill performance. Additionally, studies show that there isan inverse relationship between rock strength and drilling penetration. Uniaxial compressivestrength (UCS) is used widely in the mining industry to quantify rock strength.The domaining of grainsize-adjusted UCS at Mogalakwena Mine will allow moreaccurate scheduling of drilling rigs due to the increased knowledge of rock strength in variousareas. Successful rock strength domaining has the potential to be incorporated into blastindexing and predicting crushing/milling performance.