Bat-Erdene Bugunei (Graduate School of Engineering)’s paper has been accepted for MDPI Mining.
Congratulations!
Authors
Bat-Erdene Bugunei, Koki Kawano, Takashi Sasaoka, Akihiro Hamanaka, and Hideki Shimada
Affiliation
Graduate Engineering, Department of Earth Resources Engineering
Manuscript Title
Design Consideration of Waste Dumping on Inclined Surface with Limited Area Based on Probabilistic Stability Analysis of Numerical Simulations: A Case Study
Abstract
A case study of designing a waste dump was conducted for the iron mine located in the Bulacan area, Philippines. Iron ore mines generate a relatively high amount of waste, and at the study mine, the constrained waste dumping area of 3 hectares necessitated a higher dump design, leading to potential stability issues. Additionally, the waste dump is projected to be situated on an inclined surface; subsequently, there is a concern about dump stability. Therefore, this study aims to find the optimum waste dump design by assessing its stability, and a geometrical configuration was conducted to optimize the bench parameters. Numerical modeling of the finite difference method (FDM) was used to estimate the distribution of the Factor of Safety by simulating several models. Models with steeper base inclinations (>12°) demonstrate progressive instability, as demonstrated by pre-assessment. The statistical analysis results show that the total model simulations with a 45-degree slope angle have a significantly high probability of failure of 38.2%. Whereas models with 35-degree and 40-degree slope angles have probabilities of failure calculated as 0.3% and 6.5%, respectively. Therefore, results suggest that the general slope angle should be kept at 40 degrees or less. Moreover, the results show that an average of 0.02 points drops in FoS for each 2.5 m of increment in dump height. Regarding geometrical setup, four benches with 7.5 m of berm would be preferable for the waste dump design of the case study. Overall, the effect of an inclined surface as a base was discussed, the effect of a gradual increase in dump height was outlined, and the significance of the dump slope angle on dump design was highlighted.
Journal name
MDPI Mining
Relevant SDGs
SDGs 7(Affordable and clean energy), SDGs 8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDGs 9(Industry, Innovation, Technology and Infrastructure)
Comments
This study can be a helpful tool when designing the waste dump at the initial stages of the mine development, as results show that insightful information on optimum design parameters can be obtained with very limited initial data.
