Many details go into the planning of a mine. The information gathered must come from several sources. First is the geological, structural, and mineralogical information, combined with the resource/reserve data. This information leads to the preliminary selection of a potential mining method and sizing of the mine production. From this the development planning is done, the equipment selection is made, and the mine workforce projections are completed, all leading to the economic analysis associated with mine planning.

1. Page 1 of 12
Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Richard L. Bullock1
GENERAL BASIS OF MINE PLANNING
Many details go into the planning of a mine. The information gathered must come from several
sources. First is the geological, structural, and mineralogical information, combined with the
resource/reserve data. This information leads to the preliminary selection of potential mining method
and sizing of the mine production. From this the development planning is done, the equipment
selection is made, and the mine work force projections are completed, all leading to the economic
analysis associated with mine planning.
Planning as just described, however, will not necessarily guarantee the best possible mine operation,
unless the best possible mine planning has been done correctly. Any sacrifice in mine planning
introduces the risk that the end results may not yield the optimum mine operation. Planning is an
iterative process that requires looking at many options and determining which, in the long run,
provide the optimum results.
This chapter addresses many of the factors to be considered in the initial phase of all mine planning.
These factors have the determining influence on the mining method, the size of the operation, the size
of the mine openings, the mine productivity, the mine cost, and, eventually, the economic parameters
used to determine whether the mineral reserve should even be developed.
PHYSICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL INFORMATION NEEDED FOR PRELIMINARY MINE
PLANNING
Many pieces of engineering and geologic data must be gathered before mine planning can take place.
These are covered in the sections that follow.
Technical Information
Assuming that the resource to be mined has been delineated with prospect drilling, study will be based
primarily on information supplied through exploration. The results of the exploration are recorded in a
formal report for use in project evaluation. The exploration report should contain the following
information with appropriate maps and cross sections:
 Property location and access
 Description of surface features
o Description of regional, local, and mineral-deposit geology
o Review of exploration activities
o Tabulation of geologic resource material
o Explanation of resource calculation method, including information on geostatistics
applied
o Description of company’s land and water position
o Ownership and royalty conditions
o Mining history of property
1
Richard L. Bullock, Professor Emeritus, Mining & Nuclear Engineering, Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla,
Missouri, USA

2. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 2 of 12
o Rock quality designation (RQD) values and any rock mass classification work that has
been done
o Results of any special studies or examinations the exploration group has performed
(metallurgical tests, geotechnical work, etc.)
o Report on any special problems or confrontations with local populace of the area
o Any other pertinent data such as attitude of local populace toward mining, special
environmental problems, availability of water and hydrologic conditions in general, and
infrastructure requirements
This critical information should be established to assist the mine planning. If the exploration project is
one that has been drilled out by the company exploration team, this information should have been
gathered during the exploration phase and passed to the mine evaluation team or the mine
development group. More information on each of these subjects may need to be obtained, but if the
inquiry can be started during the exploration phase of the project, time will be saved during the
feasibility/evaluation and development phases of the project. If this is an ongoing mine operation,
then most of the technical information will be available from other mine planning projects.
Geologic and Mineralogic Information
Knowledge of similar rock types or structures in established mining districts is always helpful. In
developing the first mine in a new district, there is far more risk of making costly errors than in the
other mines that may follow. The geologic and mineralogic information needed includes
 The size (length, width, and thickness) of the areas to be mined within the overall operations
area to be considered, including multiple areas, zones, or seams;
 The dip or plunge of each mineralized zone, area, or seam, noting the maximum depth to which
the mineralization is known;
 The continuity or discontinuity noted within each of the mineralized zones;
 Any swelling or narrowing of each mineralized zone;
 The sharpness between the grades of mineralized zones within the material considered
economically mineable;
 The sharpness between the ore and waste cutoff, including
o Whether this cutoff can be determined by observation or must be determined by assay
or other means,
o Whether this cutoff also serves as a natural (physical) parting resulting in little or no
dilution, or whether the break between ore and waste must be induced entirely by the
mining method, and
o Whether the mineralized zone beyond (above or below) the existing cutoff represents
sub-marginal economic value that may become economical at a later date;
 The distribution of various valuable minerals making up each of the potentially mineable areas;
 The distribution of the various deleterious minerals that may be harmful in processing the
valuable mineral;
 Whether the identified valuable minerals are interlocked with other fine-grained mineral or
waste material;
 The presence of alteration zones in both the mineralized and the waste zones;
 The tendency for the ore to oxidize once broken; and

3. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 3 of 12
 The quantity and quality of the ore reserves and resource with detailed cross sections showing
mineral distribution and zones of faulting or any other geologic structure related to the
mineralization.
Structural Information
Required physical and chemical structural information includes the following:
 The depth of cover
 A detailed description of the cover, including the
o Type of cover;
o Approximate strength or range of strengths;
o Structural features in relation to the proposed mine development; and
o Presence of and information about water, gas, or oil that may have been encountered
 The quality and structure of the host rock (back, floor, hanging wall, footwall), including the
o Type of rock,
o Approximate strength or range of strengths,
o Noted zones of inherent high stress,
o Noted zones of alteration,
o Major faults and shears,
o Systematic structural features,
o Porosity and permeability,
o The presence of any swelling-clay or shale interbedding,
o RQD throughout the various zones in and around all of the mineralized area to be
mined out,
o The host rock mass classification (Rock Mass Rating [RMR] or Barton’s Q-system),
o Temperature of the zones proposed for mining, and
o Acid-generating nature of the host rock
 The structure of the mineralized material, including all of the factors listed previously, as well
as the
o Tendency of the mineral to change character after being broken (e.g., oxidizing,
degenerating to all fines, recompacting into a solid mass, becoming fluid, etc.);
o Siliceous content of the ore;
o Fibrous content of the ore;
o Acid-generating nature of the ore; and
o Systematic fault offsets.
PLANNING RELATED TO PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
The physical nature of the extracted mass and the mass left behind are very important in planning
many of the characteristics of the operating mine. Four aspects of any mining system are particularly
sensitive to rock properties:
1. The competency of the rock mass in relation to the in-situ stress existing in the rock
determines the open dimensions of the unsupported roof unless specified by government
regulations. It also determines whether additional support is needed.

4. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 4 of 12
2. When small openings are required, they have a great effect on productivity, especially in
harder materials where drill-and-blast cycles will be employed.
3. The hardness, toughness, and abrasiveness of the material determine the type and class of
equipment that can extract the material efficiently.
4. If the mineral contains or has entrapped toxic or explosive gases, the mining operation will be
controlled by special provisions within government regulations.
In countries where appropriate regulations do not exist, best-practice guidelines must be sought.
THE NEED FOR A TEST MINE
From this long list of essential information required for serious mine planning, it becomes evident that
not all of this information can be developed from the exploration phase. Nor is it likely that it can all
be obtained accurately from the surface. If this is the first mine in this mining area or district, then
what is probably needed during the middle phase of the mine feasibility study is development of a test
mine. While this may be an expense that the owners were hoping to avoid up front, the reasons for a
test mine are quite compelling. They include opportunities to
 Confirm, from a geologic point of view, the grade, ore continuity, ore configuration, and
mineral zoning;
 Confirm, from the engineering viewpoint, rock strengths and mass rock quality; verify mining
efficiencies; confirm water inflows; and demonstrate waste characteristics;
 Pilot-test the metallurgical process;
 Enhance the design basis for cost estimates, improve labour estimates, build more accurate
development schedules; and
 Lower the mining investment risk.
Having a test mine in place will shorten the production mine development and will serve as a training
school for the production mine.
LAND AND WATER CONSIDERATIONS
Information needed about the property includes
 Details on the land ownership and/or lease holdings, including royalties to be paid or collected
(identified by mineral zones or areas);
 Availability of water and its ownership on or near the property;
 Quality of the water available on (or near) the property;
 Details of the surface ownership and surface structures that might be affected by subsidence of
the surface;
 The location of the mining area in relation to any existing roads, railroads, navigable rivers,
power, community infrastructure, and available commercial supplies of mine and mineral
processing consumables (drill steel, bits, explosives, roof bolts, steel balls and rods for the mills,
chemical additives for processing, steel liners for all mining and processing equipment, etc.);
and
 The local, regional, and national political situations that have been observed with regard to the
deposit.
OTHER FACTORS INFLUENCING EARLY MINE PLANNING
Many operational decisions must be made in planning the mining operation. None is more important
than sizing the mining operation. However, it is not an easy or obvious decision to make and several
factors must be considered.

5. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 5 of 12
Sizing the Production of a Mine
A considerable amount of literature is available on the selection of a production rate to yield the
greatest value to the owners, including works by Tessaro (1960), McCarthy (1993), Runge (1997),
and Smith (1997). Basic to all modern mine evaluations and design concepts is the desire to optimize
the net present value (NPV) or to operate the property in such a way that the maximum internal rate of
return is generated from the discounted cash flows. Anyone involved in the planning of a new
operation must be thoroughly familiar with these concepts. Equally important is the fact that any
entrepreneur who is planning a mining operation solely from the financial aspects of optimization, and
who is not familiar with the issues associated with maintaining high levels of production at low
operating cost per metric ton over a prolonged period, is likely to experience disappointment in years
with low (or no) returns.
Other aspects of the problem for optimizing mine production relate to the effect of NPV. When
viewed from the purely financial side of the question (i.e., producing the product from the mineral
deposit at the maximum rate), optimization that yields the greatest return is the case often selected.
This is due to the fixed costs involved in mining, as well as to the present-value concepts of any
investment. Still, there are “...practical limitations to the maximum intensity of production, arising out
of many other considerations to which weight must be given” (Hoover 1909). There can be many
factors limiting mine size, some of which are listed here:
 Market conditions
 Current price of the product(s) versus the trend price
 Grade of the mineral and the corresponding reserve tonnage
 Time before the property can start producing
 Attitude and policies of the local and national government and the degree of stability of existing
governments and their mining policies, taxes, and laws
 Availability of a source of energy and its cost
 Availability of usable water and its cost
 Cost and method of bringing in supplies and shipping production
 Physical properties of the rock and minerals to be developed and mined
 Amount of development required to achieve the desired production related to the shape of the
mineral reserve
 Amount and complexity of mineral processing required
 Availability of nearby smelting options (if required)
 Size and availability of the work force that must be obtained, trained, and retained
 Availability of housing for employees (in remote locations)
 Potential instability of the government in the future, which might cause a company to develop a
smaller, high-grade mine in the beginning until they have received their objective return, then
use the income from the existing property to expand and mine out the lower-grade ores
Although all of these factors must be taken into consideration, another approach to sizing the mine is
to use the Taylor formulas (Taylor 1977). Taylor studied more than 200 mining properties and then
used regression analysis to determine the formulas for sizing a mine. Taylor notes, however, that the
formulas are not very applicable to steeply dipping mineral reserves or when mining from deep shafts.
The formulas are

6. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 6 of 12
life of mine = 0.20 # (expected ore metric tons [tons])0.25
= life of mine (in years) ±1.2 years (1-1)
daily production = reserve ore metric tons (tons)/expected life/operating days/year (1-2)
Assume 37.2 Mt (41 million tons) of mineable resource:
life of mine = 0.20 # (37,200,000)0.25
= 15.6 yr (±1.2 yr or 14.4 to 16.8 yr)
daily production = 37,200,000/16 yr/365
= 6,525 Mt/d (6,059 Mt/d to 7,068 Mt/d)
or
life of mine = 0.20 # (41,000,000)0.25
= 16 yr (±1.2 yr or 14.8 to 17.2 yr)
daily production = 41,000,000/16 yr/365
= 7,020 tpd (6,530 tpd to 7,590 tpd)
The two formulas tend to overestimate the production of small-vein-type mining deposits where a lot
of vertical development must be completed compared to the daily tonnage that can be extracted. For
mineral resources that are steeply dipping, and for deeper mining, the shape of the resource must be
considered, as well as how much development is necessary to sustain the desired production.
According to McCarthy (1993), for Australian underground narrow-vein mines, approximately 50
vertical meters (165 vertical feet) per annum is currently economically appropriate for modern
mechanized mines. Thus for example, if given certain reserves for mining 10,000 metric tons per
vertical meter, then the production would be 500,000 t/a. Properties that were above this “best fit”
trend line, McCarthy says, are usually overly capitalized or have higher-than-average operating costs.
Not only does the resource’s tonnage affect the mine size, but the distribution of ore grade can
certainly affect the mine planning. Unless a totally homogeneous mass is mined, it may make a
considerable economic difference as to which portion is mined first or later. Furthermore, no ore
reserve has an absolute fixed grade-to-tonnage relationship; trade-offs must always be considered. In
most mineral deposits, lowering the mining cutoff grade means that more metric tons will be available
to mine. But the mine cutoff must balance the value of each particular block of resource against every
type of cash cost that is supported by the operation, including all downstream processing costs, as
well as the amortization of the capital that was used to construct the new property.
Even in bedded deposits such as potash or trona, the ability or willingness to mine a lower seam
height may mean that more ore can eventually be produced from the reserve. In such cases, the cost
per unit of value of the product generally increases. Similarly, narrow-seam mining greatly reduces
the productivity of the operation compared to high-seam and wide-vein (or massive) mining systems.
In evaluating the economic model of a new property (after the physical and financial limits have been
considered), all of the variables of grade and tonnage, with the related mining costs, must be
calculated using various levels of mine production that, in the engineer’s judgment, are reasonable for
that particular mineral resource. At this point in the analysis, the various restraints of production are
introduced. This will develop an array of data that illustrate the return from various rates of

7. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 7 of 12
production at various grades corresponding to particular tonnages of the resource. At a later stage,
probability factors can be applied as the model is expanded to include other restraining items.
Timing Affecting Mine Production
For any given ore body, the development required before production start-up is generally related to
the size of the production, as well as the mining method. Obviously, the necessary stripping time for
most large porphyry copper deposits is very large compared to the stripping time for even a large
quarry. For an underground example, very high production rates may require a larger shaft or multiple
hoisting shafts, more and larger development drifts, the opening of more mineable reserves, as well as
a greater lead time for planning and engineering all aspects of the mine and plant. The amount of
development on multiple levels for a sublevel caving operation or a block caving operation will be
extensive compared to the simple development for room-and-pillar operation. In combination, all of
these factors could amount to considerable differences in the development time of an operation. In the
past, the time for mine development has varied from 2 to 8 years. Two indirect economic effects could
result from this:
1. Capital would be invested over a longer period of time before a positive cash flow is
achieved; and
2. The inflation rate-to-time relationship in some countries in the past has been known to push
the costs upward by as much as 10% to 20% per year, thereby eliminating the benefits of the
“economy of scale” of large-size projects.
To aid the engineer in making approximations of the time it takes to develop shaft and slope entries
related to the size and depth of the mine entry, the reader is referred to Bullock (1998). For example,
sinking and equipping a 6.1-m (20-ft) diameter shaft ranging in depth from 305–914 m (1,000–3,000
ft) will take approximately 64–113 weeks, depending on the production capacity that the shaft must
be equipped for. Driving a slope to the same depths will take approximately 52–151 weeks,
respectively.
For mines that are primarily developed on one or two levels and have extensive lateral development,
the speed of the development can vary considerably. The lateral development on each level of a room-
and-pillar mine opens up new working places, and the mine development rate can be accelerated each
time a turnoff is passed, provided that there is enough mining equipment and hoisting capacity
available. This is in contrast to a vein-type mine that has a very limited number of development faces,
as the vein is developed for each level and each level requires deepening the main hoisting shaft or
slope. Experience has shown that the mine’s development only progresses deeper at the average rate
of about 50 m/a. Chapter 4.7 of this handbook discusses several examples of the timing of mine
developments.
The timing of a cost is often more important than the amount of the cost. In a financial model, timing
of a development cost must be studied in a sensitivity analysis. In this respect, any development that
can be put off until after a positive cash flow is achieved without increasing other mine costs should
certainly be postponed.
Government Considerations Affecting Mine Size
Government attitudes, policies, and taxes generally affect all mineral extraction systems and should be
considered as they relate to the mining method and the mine size. One can assume that a mine is being
developed in a foreign country and that the political scene is currently stable but is impossible to
predict beyond 5–8 years. In such a case, it would be desirable to keep the maximum amount of

8. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 8 of 12
development within the mineral zones, avoiding development in waste rock as much as possible. This
will maximize the return during a period of political stability. Also, it might be desirable to use a
method that mines the better ore at an accelerated rate to obtain an early payback on the investment. If
the investment remains secure at a later date, the lower-grade margins of the reserve might later be
exploited. Care must be taken, however, that the potential to mine the remaining resource, which may
still contain good grade ore, is not jeopardized, whatever the stability situation. There is merit in
carefully planning to mine some of the higher-grade portions of the reserve while not impacting the
potential to mine the remaining reserve.
Some mining methods, such as room-and-pillar mining, allow the flexibility of delaying development
that does not jeopardize the recovery of the mineral remaining in the mine. In contrast, other mining
systems, such as block caving or longwall mining, might be impacted by such delays.
Similar situations might arise as a result of a country’s tax or royalty policies, sometimes established
to favour mine development and provide good benefits during the early years of production; in later
years the policies change. Again, as in the preceding case, the flexibility of the mining rate and system
must be considered, but not to the extent of jeopardizing the remaining resource.
PREPLANNING BASED ON GEOLOGY AND ROCK CHARACTERISTICS
In the previous section, the influence of geology from a macro point of view was considered. In this
section, the geology from a micro point of view of the rock and mineral characteristics must be
considered in mine planning.
Geologic Data
Using geologic and rock property information obtained during preliminary investigations of
sedimentary deposits, isopach maps should be constructed for all potential underground mines to
show the horizons to be mined and those that are to be left as the roof and floor. Such maps show
variances in the seam or vein thickness and identify geologic structures such as channels, washouts
(called “wants”), and deltas. Where differential compaction is indicated, associated fractures in areas
of transition should be examined. Areas where structural changes occur might be the most favored
mineral traps but are usually areas of potentially weakened structures. Where possible, locating major
haulage drifts or main entries in such areas should be avoided; if intersections are planned in these
areas, they should be reinforced, as soon as they are opened, to an extent greater than that necessary
elsewhere. Further details on development opening in relation to geologic structures and other mine
openings appear in Spearing (1995), reproduced by Bullock (2001).
Again referring to flat-lying-type deposits, extra reinforcing (or reducing the extraction ratio) may
also be necessary in metal mines where the ore grade increases significantly, since the rock mass
usually has much less strength. Where the pillars were formed prior to discovering the structural
weakness, it will probably be necessary to reinforce the pillars with fully anchored reinforcing rock
bolts or cables. It is advisable to map all joint and fracture information obtained from diamond-drill
holes and from mine development, attempting to correlate structural features with any roof falls that
might still occur.
Characteristics of Extracted Material
The hardness, toughness, and abrasiveness of the material determine whether the material can be
extracted by some form of mechanical cutting action, by drilling and blasting, or by a combination of
both methods.

9. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 9 of 12
The mechanical excavation with roadheaders of the borate minerals from the Death Valley
(California, United States) open-pit mine operated by Tenneco, and the later use of the same type of
road-header at the nearby underground Billie mine (California) illustrate the point. Bucket-wheel
excavators have been used extensively in Germany and Australia for stripping overburden from the
brown coalfields.
Technological advances in hard-metal cutting surfaces, steel strengths, and available thrust forces
allow increasingly harder and tougher materials to be extracted by continuous mining machines. The
economics of continuous cutting or fracturing, as compared to drill-and-blast, gradually are being
changed for some of the materials that are not so tough or abrasive. However, for continuous
mining—other than tunnel boring machines—to be competitive with modern high-speed drills and
relatively inexpensive explosives, it appears that the rock strengths must be less than 103,400–
124,020 kPa (15,000–18,000 psi) and have a low abrasivity. Rock that is full of fractures, however, is
also a great aid to mechanical excavation. In one case that was covered in an article about the gradual
trend toward mechanical excavation in underground mining (Bullock 1994), a roadheader was being
used in a highly fractured, welded volcanic tuff, even though the rock strength was well over 137,800
kPa (20,000 psi).
At times, reasons other than the cost of extraction favour one mining system over another. Using a
mechanical excavation machine is nearly always advantageous in protecting the undisturbed nature of
the remaining rock where blasting might be prohibited. Likewise, the continuous nature of mechanical
excavation can be used to speed mine production. This was seen in the openings driven by Magma
Copper in developing the Kalamazoo ore body in Arizona, United States (Chadwick 1994; Snyder
1994) and by Stillwater Mining Company in developing their original ore body as well as for their
East Boulder ore body in Montana, United States (Tilley 1989; Alexander 1999). A continuous boring
tool may also be desirable for extracting an ore body without personnel having to enter the stoping
area. Where their use is applicable, continuous mining machines are certainly much easier to automate
than the cyclical drill-and-blast equipment. The automation of the 130 Mobile Miner at the Broken
Hill mine in Australia is one case in point (Willoughby and Dahmen 1995). Another more dynamic
case is the complete automation of the potash mines of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Canada
(Fortney 2001).
PLANNING THE ORGANIZATION
The amount of equipment or numbers of personnel required to meet the needs of all mines cannot
always be given in absolute and precise terms. The purpose of this discussion is to mention some of
the general problems that may be encountered and actions to mitigate those problems.
Work Force and Production Design
When planning the details of a mining work force, it is necessary to consider several factors:
 Is the supply of labour adequate to sustain the production level dictated by other economic
factors? If not, can the needed labour be brought in, and at what cost?
 What is the past history of labour relations in the area? Are the workers accustomed to a 5-day
work schedule, and if so, how will they react to a staggered 6- or 7-day schedule?
 Are the local people trained in similar production operations, or must they be trained before
production can achieve full capacity?
 Will a camp have to be built and the workers transported in on weekly schedules?
 If long commutes are required to reach the property daily, are company-contracted busses for all
shifts an option?

10. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 10 of 12
 If long commutes are required, are shifts longer than the normal 8 hours an option?
 Can people with maintenance skills be attracted to the property, or will the maintenance crew
have to be built up via an apprenticeship program?
Apprenticeship programs are very slow in terms of producing results. Accordingly, some state laws in
the United States restrict the annual number of people who can be trained in such programs. This one
item could cause a mine designed and equipped for a very large daily production to fall far short of its
desired goals.
Work-force issues and local community resources need to be investigated at the same time that the
property is being evaluated and designed. This will provide adequate time for specialized training,
minimize unexpected costs, and also prevent economic projections based on policies that, if
implemented, could negatively impact employee morale or community relations. The productivity and
profitability difference between an operation with high morale and good labour relations and an
operation where such parameters are poorly rated can be drastic. Such matters can make the dif-
ference between profit or loss. Of all the items involved in mine design, this one is the most neglected
and can be the most disastrous.
Equipment Selection
Field-Tested Equipment
The equipment selected should be produced by manufacturers that field-test their equipment for long
periods of time before they are marketed to the industry. Too many manufacturers build a prototype
machine and install it in a customer’s mine on the contingency that they will stand behind it and make
it work properly. Eventually, after both the end user and the manufacturer redesign, rebuild, reinforce,
and retrofit this model, a workable machine is obtained. The cost in lost production, however, is
imposed on the mine operator, not the manufacturer. The manufacturer can then proceed to sell the
“field-tested” retrofitted model to the entire industry, including competitive mines. Beware of taking
on equipment in underground mines that has not been thoroughly field tested in severe applications by
the manufacturer, unless it is going to be used for an isolated research application.
Equipment Versatility
The equipment selected for the mining operation should be as versatile as possible. Normally, for
large surface mines, this is not much of a problem. For small quarries and for most underground
mines, however, it can be a problem if the equipment can only be employed on a limited number of
mining operations. For example, in one room-and-pillar mining operation (Bullock 1973), the same
high-performance rotary percussion drilling machines used for drilling the bluff or brow headings
were then mounted on standard drill jumbos for drilling holes for burn-cut drifting and stoping rounds
and for slabbing rounds in the breast headings. Because the drills on these jumbos have high
penetration rates, they were also used to drill the holes for roof bolts and, in some cases, the holes for
the reinforcing pillars. The same front-end loader was used to load trucks in one stope and to perform
as a load-haul-dump unit in another stope. By switching working platforms, the same forklift tractors
served as explosive-charging vehicles and as utility service units for handling air, water, and power
lines. They also served as standard forklifts for handling mine supplies. This equipment philosophy
results in the following advantages:
 Less equipment must be purchased and maintained.
 Less training is required for operators and maintenance personnel. In addition, all personnel
have a better chance of becoming more efficient at their jobs.

11. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 11 of 12
 Having fewer machinery types means having a smaller equipment inventory.
Possible disadvantages of this approach are the following:
 A more efficient machine may be available to do the task currently being performed by the
versatile—but less efficient—machine.
 The mine may become too dependent on a single manufacturer to supply its equipment needs.
Equipment Acceptance
Equipment selected should have a very broad acceptance and must be in common use throughout both
the mining and construction industries. However, since underground mines impose a headroom
restriction not encountered on the surface, this is not always possible. Nevertheless, where headroom
is not an issue, selecting a standard piece of equipment means that the components will have endured
rigorous testing by the construction industry. Furthermore, equipment parts are normally off-the-shelf
items in distributors’ warehouses.
Application Flexibility
The selected equipment should be flexible in application. For example, the equipment should be able
to accelerate and move rapidly, have good balance and control at high speeds, be very manoeuvrable,
and have plenty of reserve power for severe applications. Both trucks and loaders should have ample
power to climb every grade in the mine and be able to accelerate quickly to top speed on long, straight
hauls.
PLANNING THE UNDERGROUND MINE SERVICE FACILITIES
Underground facilities such as underground pumping stations, power transfer and transformer
stations, underground shops, storage warehouse space, ore storage pockets, skip-loading stations,
lunchrooms, refuge chambers, shift and maintenance foremen’s offices, and central controlled
computer installations and communications all extract a strong influence on engineering study and
design.
REFERENCES
Alexander, C. 1999. Tunnel boring at Stillwater’s East Boulder project. Min. Eng. 51(9):15–24.
Bullock, R.L. 1973. Mine-plant design philosophy evolves from St. Joe’s New Lead Belt operations.
Min. Cong. J. 59(5):20–29.
Bullock, R.L. 1994. Underground hard rock mechanical mining. Min. Eng. 46(11):1254–1258.
Bullock, R.L. 1998. General mine planning. In Techniques in Underground Mining. Edited by R.
Gertsch and R.L. Bullock. Littleton, CO: SME.
Bullock, R.L. 2001. General planning of the noncoal underground mine. In Underground Mining
Methods: Engineering Fundamentals and International Case Studies. Edited by W.A. Hustrulid
and R.L. Bullock. Littleton, CO: SME.
Chadwick, J. 1994. Boring into the lower Kalamazoo. World Tunnelling (North American Tunnelling
Supplement) (May).
Fortney, S.J. 2001. Advanced mine-wide automation in potash. In Underground Mining Methods:
Engineering Fundamentals and International Case Studies. Edited by W.A. Hustrulid and R.L.
Bullock. Littleton, CO: SME.
Hoover, H.C. 1909. Principles of Mining. New York: McGraw-Hill.
McCarthy, P.L. 1993. Economics of narrow vein mining. In Proceedings, Narrow Vein Mining
Seminar, Bendigo, Victoria, June. Victoria, Australia: Australasian Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy.

12. Introduction to Underground Mine Planning
Page 12 of 12
Runge, I.C. 1997. Mining Economics and Strategy. Littleton, CO: SME.
Smith, L.D. 1997. A critical examination of the methods and factors affecting the selection of an
optimum production rate. CIM Bull. (February): 48–54.
Snyder, M.T. 1994. Boring for the lower K. Eng. Min. J. (April): 20ww–24ww.
Spearing, A.J.S. 1995. Handbook on Hard-Rock Strata Control. Special Publication Series SP6.
Johannesburg, South Africa: South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. pp. 89–93.
Taylor, H.K. 1977. Mine valuation and feasibility studies. In Mineral Industry Costs. Spokane, WA:
Northwest Mining Association. pp. 1–17.
Tessaro, D.J. 1960. Factors affecting the choice of a rate of production in mining. Can. Min. Metall.
Bull. (November): 848–856.
Tilley, C.M. 1989. Tunnel boring at the Stillwater mine. Proceedings, Rapid Excavation and
Tunneling Conference (REtc.). Edited by R. Pond and P. Kenny. Littleton, CO: SME. pp. 449–
460.
Willoughby, R., and Dahmen, N. 1995. Automated mining with the mobile miner. Presented at
Mechanical Mining Technology for Hard Rock Short Course, Colorado School of Mines, Golden,
CO, June.