Mechanised room and pillar
Where the targeted, flat dipping mineralised material exceeds a thickness of generally more than 1.6m, mechanised room and pillar methods are considered. Although the volumetric extraction is relatively low in certain cases, the level of mechanisation is high.
Room and pillar mining is one of the first large-scale underground mining methods and remains an important method still in practice today.
This method is based on targeting horizontal and flat-dipping tabular or massive tabular mineralised zones, driving development ends in the direction of mining, and leaving unmined pillars in place to support the overlying strata. Based on this approach, the rooms and pillars are established. The method is usually associated with a high level of equipment mechanisation, bulk material handling systems and, therefore, has a high demand on services and ventilation.
Where the mineralised zone exceeds a Mineral Resource thickness of generally more than 1.6m, mechanised room and pillar mining methods are considered. This method has a lower areal extraction relative to other methods targeting tabular ore bodies. Our technical and operational mining and engineering teams are involved in a great number of room and pillar operations throughout our target market situated on the Bushveld Igneous complex, the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, the manganese fields of the Northern Cape in South Africa and the copper fields on the Copper Belt striking from Ndola in Zambia to Kolwezi in the DRC, and gold and manganese projects throughout western Africa.