Jelšava, Slovakia

Mining magnesite at Jelšava

Mechanization of
overhand stoping in
thick deposits
As Slovakia moved from central-
ized control in the early 1990s, the
management of Jelsava magne-
site mine faced the accumulated
problems of over-exploitation and
under-mechanization. In the inter-
vening years, the mining method
has been revised, the equipment
inventory renewed, and the out-
put quality improved. Despite the
sometimes difficult economic situ- Map of Slovakia showing Jelšava location (Industrial Minerals).
ation, accompanied by political
upheavals, the employee-owned
company SMZ that controls the
Geology range. The magnesite deposit extends
mining operation is doing well. over 325 hectares within a spur of the
Atlas Copco and its local distribu-
tor ISOP have been there to lend a The Dúbrava-Miková orebody that SMZ Magura hill mass, and the maximum
helping hand, as a result of which exploits is the largest of 12 significant altitude of this spur is 675 m asl. The
Rocket Boomer drill rigs and Simba magnesite deposits in Slovakia. These underground mine is accessed laterally
longhole drill rigs have become extend from Podrecany in the west to from portals in the sides of the spur,
Jelšava’s main production tools. Bankov, near Košice, in the east and were and mineral moves through the proc-
all mined for varying periods during the ess plant downhill from the primary
Producing clinker 20th Century. The mineralization is part crusher, which is outside the mine on
of a magnesite belt extending from cen- the same level as the main haulage.
The fully mechanized underground mine tral Austria to the Slovakia-Ukraine bor- The magnesite is part of a sedimen-
at Jelsava, operated by SMZ, feeds high der. Within Slovakia, the deposits occur tary sequence that has been subjected
grade magnesite to on-site conversion mainly in the Slovenské Rudohorie to tectonic forces and metamorphism,
facilities with a capacity of 370,000 t/y mountains, and Jelšava is in the deeply especially during the Variscan and Al-
raw clinker. The process includes pri- dissected Revűcka highland area of this pine events. This sequence, underlain by
mary and secondary crushing, followed
by dense medium separation to produce Rocket Boomer M2 C moving towards the faces.
a concentrate for thermal treatment in
shaft and rotary kilns. Electromagnetic
separators differentiate magnetic brick-
making clinker from non-magnetic
steelmaking clinker.
SMZ’s raw Jelšava clinker is con-
verted to materials for metallurgical,
ceramic and agricultural use. Annual
production is around 352,000 t, com-
prising 167,000 t steelmaking clinker,
160,000 t of brickmaking clinker, and
25,000 t of basic monolithic refractory
mixes. Overall, 85% of SMZ output is
exported to 28 different countries.
To contain production costs SMZ has
been investing in more cost effective
mining, and plans to replace the rotary
kilns with more efficient twin-shaft
kilns that emit very little dust.

underground mining methods 69

 Jelšava, Slovakia

1. Crushing 1st level

Milková 2. Crushing 2nd level
3. Suspension separator
Dúbrava
4. Rotary kiln, shaft kiln
Jedlovec 5. Electro-magnetic separation
500 m a.s. 6. Forwarding department

450 m a.s. 4
400 m a.s.
1 5 6
323 m 2

3
Main Level 220 m a.s. 5
4

Idealised section of the mining operations and process plant at SMZ (Industrial Minerals).
1. Ventilation (in) raises or airway raises 2. Ventilation (out) raises or exhaust airway
3. Ore passes (raises 4. Re-fill raises 5. Inner pillar 6. Re-fill
diabase, comprises graphitic slate, 1,000 m-wide and 400 m-thick, but is source of ferric magnesium, this being
bench-like dolomite, and the dolomite irregular in shape and contains cavities one reason why it is imported by con-
which hosts the magnesite. Graphitic often filled with ochre. However, it is sumers so far away. SMZ estimates a
slate also overlies the dolomite. structurally sound, to the extent that it reserve sufficient for 150 years’ mining
Magnesite formation has been dated could be mined with pillar support and at the present production rate of 1.2 mil-
at 320 million years and the mechanism no rock reinforcement. The raw mag- lion t/y.
is thought to have been hydrothermal nesite analyses 36-44% MgO, 48-50%
alteration of a fine-grained Carboni- CO2, 0.1-12% CaO, 0-2.3% SiO2 and Room and pillar
ferous limestone bioherm. The orebody 3.2-6% Fe2O3. The specific mineral-
is estimated to be 4,000 m-long, ogy makes Jelšava magnesite a unique Around 35% of the ore is mined by the
room and pillar method in blocks which
Sequence of room and pillar mining. are up to 100 m-long, 50 m-high and 30
m-wide, with 10 m-wide pillars along
the short and long walls of the chamber,
2 and a crown pillar at the top. Within
these blocks, it is impossible to avoid
mining some lower grade material, and
4 this is stored in surface dumps.
Parallel uphole and inclined hole
3 drilling up to 30 m was initially used
for blasting the chambers, but the mine
later switched to fan drilling in order
to achieve better mining efficiency and
safety.
6 This method again allows the mining
5 of long, high blocks of magnesite up to
200 m x 300 m x 60 m, mined in up to
1
five ascending slices.
The technique provides much greater
1. Fresh air ventilation raises 2. Exhaust airways 3. Ore passes stability in the rock mass because, not
4. Re-fill raises 5. Pillars 6. Re-fill only are the rooms lower at 4.8 m to

70 underground mining methods

 Jelšava, Slovakia

tram to the ore passes that supply the

rail haulage system, while the wheel
loaders dump into trucks that may go
either to the ore passes or directly to the
primary crusher.

Pillar
between
stopes
pe
n sto
Ope
loa
din t drif
ar
w ith nspo
tra
Pill and
Overhand stoping room and pillar system at SMZ.
5.0 m-high, but also the voids are filled,
providing a bench for drilling the next
slice as mining proceeds up each block.
Pillars are 5 m x 5 m at 12 m spacing.
The smaller rooms allow more selective
mining, producing a higher proportion
of processable magnesite, while the 4.4
million t of waste material dumped on
surface during chamber mining can
now be used as fill. The fill rate is up
to 300,000 t/y.
In 1971, a new rail haulage was in-
stalled, equipped with locomotives and
20 t-capacity bottom-dump wagons.
The rail system still handles ore from
the core area of the mine, but it is more
cost effective to use truck haulage from
more peripheral parts.
Front
pillar
boundary
pillar
t
scu
c ros
g
r
ts
rock drill. This rig achieved the expect-
ed performance improvement, and was
bought by SMZ, together with a Rocket
Boomer 281 and a Simba H357, for pre-
cise and rapid pillar recovery. The latter
unit was equipped with a COP 1838 rock
drill. Switching from pneumatic to hy-
draulic drilling using the two Rocket
Boomers increased overhand stoping
magnesite output by a factor of four.
In the overhand stoped sections muck
is loaded by a fleet of three LHDs and
two wheel loaders. The LHDs typically
Rocket Boomer 281 drilling a crosscut entry.
New level development
In 2000-2001 SMZ started to develop a
new mining level at 220 m asl. Whereas
extraction had thus far all been above
the local erosion base level, providing
natural drainage at 287 m asl, this new
level is below the water table. The am-
ount of water to be pumped out is equal
to the amount of ore to be extracted.
For initially driving the access ramp,
and later development, plus some pro-
duction drilling, Atlas Copco offered
SMZ a new Rocket Boomer M2 C twin-
boom rig, and helped train six Simba
operators to use it.
Work on the ramp and some lateral
development started in 2001 and was
scheduled to take 3-4 years. The Rocket
Boomer M2 C normally works either
one or two of the mine’s three eight-
hour shifts on the ramp, but also works
on production. The new level will be
worked in 10 m-high slices, improving
geotechnical conditions and saving on
primary development costs. However,
although many blocks of high quality
magnesite are directly accessible using
overhand stoping from the new level,

Overhand stoping
Chamber and pillar mining has created
a huge void within the mine, now total-
ling 13 million cu m, and undercut sec-
tions of the hanging wall have collapsed
in places.
Studies resulted in an overhand stop-
ing method being introduced in some
of the mining blocks above the 323 m
level from 1990 onwards, and this now
accounts for 65% of production.
By 1998, SMZ was looking to increase
production and productivity in the over-
hand stoping blocks. In consultation with
Atlas Copco, the mine trialled a Rocket
Boomer 282 equipped with a COP 1432

underground mining methods 71

 Jelšava, Slovakia
Graphitic slate
Magnesite
Dolomite
Bench-like dolomite
Diabase
Ochre
Geological section of Dúbrava Massif (Industrial Minerals).
some ore is located between access levels,
some is distant from the core facili-
ties, and some occurs as layers too thin
for overhand stoping. Extraction tech-
nology for all these various sources
will require new drilling, loading and
hauling equipment.
Although the new mining level is be-
low the rail haulage, and ore will prob-
ably be delivered directly to the primary
crusher, SMZ expects the rail system to
remain in use for another 10 years.
Grade improvement
Secoroc equipment supplied through
ISOP is used for the Atlas Copco rigs
at Jelšava. Despite the very abrasive
nature of the magnesite, bit life ranges
from 600 m to 1,500 m. The three
Rocket Boomers use 51 mm bits, and
the Simba H357 drills with 64-65 mm
bits. The mine does 80% of its blasting
with ANFO, and uses plastic explosive
for wet holes.
Of the annual mine production of
1.2 million t, around 1.16 million t is
magnesite, and concentrate output is
72 underground mining methods
approximately 700,000 t. Back in 2001,
chamber and pillar mining supplied
430,000 t, overhand stoping 705,000
t and development 28,000 t. By 2002,
70% of drill/blast production came
from overhand stoping with the Rocket
Boomers, 20% from pneumatic drilling
in chamber and pillar sections, and 10%
from pillar recovery with the Simba
H357. The improvement in average
grade achieved by the more selective over-
hand stoping with hydraulic drills has
increased the output of clinker, despite
lower gross output.
Atlas Copco
representation
Atlas Copco has a Customer Center in
Prague, serving the Czech Republic and
adjacent countries. In 1992 ISOP, based
at Zvolen in the centre of the country,
was appointed as its sole distributor in
Slovakia. The Rocket Boomer 282
provided for trials in 1998 was the first
two boom hydraulic rig supplied to
a Slovakian mine, and the Rocket
Boomer M2 C was also a first.
Including the units at SMZ, ISOP
presently supports nine Atlas Copco
underground drill rigs in mines. Other
customers include Siderit, which has
two Boomer H104 drill rigs and several
Atlas Copco hydraulic breakers work-
ing at its iron-manganese ore mine at
Nižná Slaná, not far from Jelšava. ISOP
modified these Boomer H104 rigs at
the workshop in Zvolen so they could
work as longhole drilling rigs. Siderit
delivers ore to the US Steel plant in
Košice, and to the Novy Huta works at
Ostrava in the Czech Republic.
There are also six Atlas Copco sur-
face drilling rigs in the country, five of
which are DTH machines and the sixth
a Coprod-fitted hydraulic rig. This latter
machine yields 500,000 t/y limestone
for supply to US Steel Košice.
Acknowledgements
Atlas Copco is grateful to the manage-
ment of SMZ for its assistance with the
production of this article.