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By D. H. Horswill

The Red Dog Mine is the world’s largest zinc mine. It is located 145 km (90 miles) north of the Arctic Circle in northwest Alaska on lands owned by the Inupiat Eskimo organization called the Northwest Alaskan Native Association (NANA) Development Corp. NANA acquired surface and subsurface title to this resource as part of its settlement lands under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. In 1982, NANA entered into a lease agreement with Cominco. Cominco is an international mining company focused on zinc. It built and operates the Red Dog Mine. NANA’s principle objective in the development of the mine was to have it contribute to the development of sustainable communities within their traditional region. This meant creating job opportunities in a modern economy while preserving the traditional subsistence lifestyles. Preservation of their culture, language and traditions are as important to the NANA people today as they were in the past.

Jan 1, 2000

By Harlan L. Kebel

Gypsum, the dihydrate form of calcium sulfate, has a history of usefulness to man dating back several thousand years, and a worldwide industry has been built on the mining and processing of this versatile industrial mineral. However, anhydrite, the other prin¬cipal calcium sulfate mineral, has very limited use, so much so that separate statistics for it are not always kept, but are usually included with those for gypsum. Although often found in close association, the two minerals have important chemical differences in that anhydrite is the anhy¬drous form of calcium sulfate (CaSO4) whereas gypsum is the dihydrate (CaSo4.2H20). These two molecules of combined water result in significant differences in hardness, density, and solubility of the two minerals. Of most importance, however, is the difference in thermal properties wherein gypsum, upon the application of a modest amount of heat, can be converted to the hemihydrate of calcium sulfate (CaSO4 '21H20) or plaster of paris, an intermediate product upon which is based over 90% of the value of all calcium sulfate end products. Anhydrite, on the other hand, is inert at these temperatures and its uses have been limited to only those few cases where calcium sulfate in the anhydrous form may have an advan¬tage. The earliest known use of gypsum plaster dates back some 5000 years to the time of the Pharaohs of Egypt who had discovered that gypsum rock, when exposed to fire, broke down into a powder which, when mixed with water, would form a putty that could be plastered on a rough mud brick or stone wall to make a smooth finish. It was used down through the centuries in a limited way for ornamental purposes, but did not achieve wide acceptance because of the quick (25 to 30 min) setting or hardening time which made it difficult to use. The first real understanding of gypsum chemistry was developed in France about 1755, and the gradual growth of its present utilization dates from that time. In the United States, the first utilization of gypsum was to grind it to a fine material for use as a soil conditioner at about the time of the Revolutionary War, and the term land plaster for ground gypsum was coined and has remained in use. Another cementitious material-lime or calcium oxide-had become the usual plastering material, but by about 1870 a method for retarding the set of gypsum plaster was discovered; today it has almost completely replaced lime as a plastering material. In recent years, gypsum products sold in the United States have reached a total valuation of approximately $2 Gpy as illustrated in [Table 1].

Jan 1, 1994

By S. A. G. Poppen, M. B. Mirza, A. I. Cooley

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for siting and constructing a licensed geologic repository for commercially generated high-level nuclear waste. Within DOE, the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) Program has this responsibility. To accomplish this mission, the OCRWM Program is engaged in a multidisciplined effort to identify, qualify, and develop repository sites. The current strategy of the OCRWM Program is to identify candidate repository sites in basalt, tuff, and salt and to develop exploratory shafts at those sites. Within OCRWM, the Salt Repository Project Office (SRPO) identified the salt site for the development of exploratory shafts. The proposed Exploratory Shaft Facility (ESF) in salt will have several primary purposes. The shafts will provide access to the reference repository horizon to permit in situ testing of the salt horizons in order to satisfy the following data acquisition needs: • Verification of the salt repository design parameters and validation of performance assessment models • Demonstration of the constructibility • Capability to adequately seal penetrations into the salt An exploratory shaft is required by 10 CFR Part 60 for the conduct of in situ testing at depth prior to submittal of a license application for construction authorization of a repository. Therefore, construction of an ESF will also facilitate the licensing process.

Jan 1, 1987

By Nick Salisbury, Alan Howard, Scott Tunison

INTRODUCTION Geotechnical investigations for tunneling projects typically use vertical test borings and, to a lesser extent, angled borings. Horizontal drilling applications were often limited to specialty testing programs and to perform probe drilling from a tunnel boring machine (TBM) as part of production tunneling. The former often involved cumbersome setups with skid rigs and cribbing in a pilot tunnel or shaft. The latter usually was limited to generic probing for rock quality and ground water conditions with no sampling. Neither yielded continuous core at production rates suitable for design and construction planning. Conventional vertical investigations still make sense in many instances, particularly for tunnels planned beneath urban settings where truck access is convenient and where the tunnel horizon is not readily accessible via a portal or shaft. However, equipment is presently available to conduct horizontal geotechnicall investigations at reasonable production rates and cost. Advantages include continuously sampling the tunneling horizon and minimizing “access drilling” to get the zone of interest at the underground construction horizon. Horizontal boring lengths of up to approximately 800 m are considered feasible and those in the range of 150 to300 m are now routine. These capabilities make horizontal borings an attractive option to consider when looking at deep tunnels beneath ridges, especially where access is limited. Fewer drilling staging sites can also mean reduced environmental impacts when investigating tunnels proposed beneath sensitive lands such as public wilderness areas. Investment in early construction packages to develop portals for investigation access and, possibly in excavating test shafts for the same purpose should even be considered. Potential benefits in the form of achieving improved overall project costs using horizontal borings exist because of the significant additional data collected in the tunnel horizon. For this reason they should be considered during the routine cost-benefit analyses generally conducted for planning geotechnical investigations for tunneling. The authors also believe that collection of such data will reduce Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR) conservatism and lead to lower potential for

Jan 1, 2005

By Lee W. Saperstien

At the heart of the mining process are a number of basic and fundamental tasks whose regular and repeated performance constitute the mining cycle. As will be discussed presently, these tasks are the basic components of the mining system. Section 9, Production Operations, provides the mine designer and engineer with an understanding of these tasks and with sufficient design principles to allow this person to create an efficient mine system. This section is meant to be an introduction and adjunct to subsequent sections that describe specific mining systems. However, sufficient design information is included here for the independent design of mine systems that may not be described elsewhere or for subsequent verification of existing designs. For the purposes of this section, mining subsumes excavation; thus this material applies to any excavation process. Accordingly, this section is written in general enough terms to include both surface and underground mining. It may be used also for civil engineering excavations that often involve the same steps. Obviously, the actual procedures undertaken in any specific mining system will appear to be very different from those taken in any other system. This is certainly true when comparing surface with underground methods. Yet the fundamental principles are often the same. This segment is written to explicate the basics. Wherever appropriate, the section will suggest the differences between the application process to surface or to underground mining.

Jan 1, 2008

By Richard Wilson

In the early 1970s, it became a concern that exposure to the mineral fibers associated taconite ore processed in Silver Bay, Minnesota would cause asbestos-related disease including gastrointestinal cancer. At that time data gaps existed which have now been significantly reduced by further research. To further our understanding of the types of airborne fibers in Silver Bay we undertook a geological survey of their source the Peter Mitchell Pit, and found that there are no primary asbestos minerals at a detectable level. However we identified two non-asbestos types of fibrous minerals in very limited geological locales. Air sampling useful for risk assessment was done to determine the type, concentrations and size distribution of the population of airborne fibers around Silver Bay. Approximately 80% of the airborne fibers have elemental compositions consistent with cummingtonite-grunerite and the remaining 20% have elemental compositions in the tremolite-actinolite series. The mean airborne concentration of both fiber types is less than 0.00014 fibers per milliliter that is within the background level reported by the World Health Organization. We calculate the risk of asbestos-related mesothelioma and lung cancer using a variety of different pessimistic assumptions. (i) that all the non-asbestos fibers are as potent as asbestos fibers used in the EPA-IRIS listing for asbestos; with a calculated risk of asbestos-related cancer for environmental exposure at Silver Bay of 1 excess cancer in 28,500 lifetimes (or 35 excess cancers per 1,000,000 lifetimes) and secondly that taconite associated fibers are as potent as chrysotile the least potent form of asbestos. The calculated risk is less than 0.77 excess cancer case in 1,000,000 lifetimes. Finally, we briefly review the epidemiology studies of grunerite asbestos (amosite) focusing on the exposure conditions associated with increased risk of human mesothelioma. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Risk; Fibers; Particles; Taconite; Asbestos; Exposures

Jan 1, 2007

By Ting Ren, Lihai Tan, Alex Remennikov, Xiaohan Yang, Xueqiu He

"Due to recent coal bursts in Australian coalmines, research of coal bursts has attracted intensive interest from mining researchers and engineers worldwide. Previous research has shown that the sudden drop of fractal dimension may be a precursor of catastrophic failure of rock. This paper examines the fractal characteristics of temporal-spatial distribution of acoustic emission signals released during the compression loading process of coal. This research suggests the possibility of coal burst forecasting based on acoustic emission data. The concept and calculation equation of fractal dimension is introduced in this paper. Additionally, uniaxial compression experiments of Australian coal samples are conducted, and the acoustic emission waveform and 3D location are recorded simultaneously by eight sensors Express-8 AE monitoring equipment in the loading process. The experimental results indicate that the continued slowdown of fractal dimension in time sequence can be used as a precursory signal of coal sample brittle failure. The fractal dimension of the spatial distribution of acoustic emission events decreases with the evolution of coal fracturing.INTRODUCTIONCoal bursts refer to the catastrophic failure of overstressed coal subject to the dynamic and static loads. In recent years, coal bursts have occurred in major coal mining countries and this phenomenon has attracted the research interests of international mining and geotechnical scholars. A total of five coal burst accidents happened in Australian coalmines since 2014. On October 20, 2018, a coal burst occurred at Longyun Coalmine in China’s Shandong province, which led to 21 fatalities. Unfortunately, even after decades of research, it seems neither more accurate forecasting methods nor comprehensive controlling measures put forward by researchers have solved the problems posed by coal bursts.As an instantons energy releasing process, coal bursts are always associated with energy dissipation in the forms of acoustic emission, micro seismicity, and electromagnetic radiation (Yamada, Masuda, and Mizutani, 1989). It is believed by many researchers that the frequency–magnitude relationship of micro seismicity induced by rock failure satisfies Gutenberg-Richer relationship as well (Feng et al., 2017). Hence, based on the principal and theory of earthquake source locating, micro-seismicity monitoring equipment has been adopted in many coalmines to locate seismic event origins associated with coal and rock failure in an attempt to better forecast coal and rock bursts. Although many parameters such as b value (parameter of Gutenberg and Richter’s law) (Lu et al., 2015) have been adopted as indicators of risk, the forecasting of coal bursts is still of low accuracy. The same is true with earthquake prediction, as it remains as a worldwide problem even after decades of research and practice. Acoustic emission (AE) methods are now widely adopted to detect rock failure processes under an applied stress for application predicting the abrupt failure of rock in the laboratory (Li et al., 2017). Previous studies have found that significant overlap exists between research regarding AE and micro seismicity with respect to generation process (both are concerned with the generation and propagation of elastic wave) and event origin location, as geophysical signals of both are same (Lockner, 1993). That is, the frequency–magnitude relationship and early-warning indicators found by AE research in the laboratory have a potential applicability to in-field micro seismic monitoring of coal bursts. Through experimental study, Feng and Seto found that the temporal distribution of acoustic emission counts of rock have distinct fractal structures during load-increase processes (Feng and Seto, 1999). Landis and Lucie found good correlation between fracture energy and AE energy during testing of mortar specimens as well (Landis and Lucie, 2002). Based on preliminary experimental study, many schol"

Jan 1, 2019

By George A. Mealey

Caving mining methods that are based on a planned caving of rock above and/or at times surrounding the material being mined can be classified in three broad categories: longwall mining, sublevel caving, and block caving. Each of the three methods involves a distinct technology as well as art of operation. Each requires a relatively large, regular, and predictable ore body. As a rule, the effect of mining results in some form of impact or change on the surface. Operationally, underground caving methods are characterized by high productivity as well as a high percentage of extraction of the mineral being mined. A key element for the productivity of this form of mining is the ability to standardize the various elements of work taking place underground. Therefore, work-men may perform a specialized role rather than function as all-around miners. Further, the nature of the mining methods lend them to a high level of mechanization. Operations and manpower can be centralized into a relatively small area where supervision can be concentrated and therefore be more effective. Productivity as well as safety benefits thereby. The caving method is unique in that the exploitation openings are deliberately destroyed by the process of mining. Rock mechanics principles focus on the ensurance and the propagation of the cave as well as the continuance of the mine openings designed to extract the broken ore. As a rule, production operations are designed to maintain a steady, continuous flow of ore from the extraction areas. This steady flow rather than an intermittent flow tends to promote good caving action as well as reduce hangups.

Jan 1, 2008

By Werner Burger

Earth Pressure tunnel boring machines are tackling difficult ground conditions that five years previous were not considered feasible. The technology has evolved that allows EPB TBMs to cross into areas that with the latest in conditioning and special design considerations are now possible to mine. This paper will review the various recent developments and those projects where these new techniques have been applied.

Jan 1, 2008

By Hugh R. Rhys

The question of the desirability of recovering cullet from MSW in order to recycle it into the manufacturing of glass containers remains a controversial one. The main factors appear to be: 1. The position of the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute (GCMI), as the trade association for most container manufacturers, is that post-consumer cullet is a vital source of raw material. Present requirements are for: a) Flint cullet b) Non-flint cullet of known mix proportions c) Mixed unsorted cullet of known mix propertions c) Mixed or non-flint cullet of unknown mix proportions. A market balance for these products exists, and this might somewhat limit the outlets for (b), (c) and (d), or severely limit the outlet for (d) alone. 2. The color specifications are rather strict. With cullet admixtures of 20% of the melt or more, and the use of decolorisers in a flint furnace discouraged because their action is reducing in a process which requires an oxidising environment, color contamination in a flint furnace is serious.. For amber and green furnaces (reducing) it is less serious, but in order that the quantity of decolorisers may be controlled, the color balance (as a measure of the Fe and Cr content) of the admixtured cullet should be known. 3. Why not simply color analyze, either by a continuous on-stream or off-stream: photo-electronic analysis, or by systematic batch sampling (with some kind off electronic surveillance of the mainstream) and just send mixed, color measured cullet to only amber and green furnaces? The flint would-be simply included in the mix. This is probably technically feasible, but is subject to the market limitations noted in point1.

Jan 1, 1975

By A. A. El-Midany

Traditionally, the choice amongst different upgrading techniques or in finding the optimum operating conditions for a given upgrading technology depends on whether one is looking at the grade or the recovery of the valuable mineral in the concentrate. In fact, the conclusions are not usually the same. This is because the best technique or optimum operating conditions for the highest grade are not the same as the conditions to achieve the maxi-mum recovery. Therefore, a unique measure that takes into consideration both grade and recovery is urgently needed. Finding such a measure is the objective of this paper. A proposed measure provides a selectivity index in the range of 0 to 1, where 0 is no selectivity and 1 is ideal selectivity. The index can be obtained by plotting the so-called Fuerstenau upgrading curve, which relates the recoveries of the components in products of separation and a running regression applying a one-parameter equation. The measure was applied to assess the selectivity of selective flocculation under different operating conditions when used as a sensitive upgrading technique for ultrafine ground ores. After applying the proposed selectivity measure in the case of the selective flocculation of ultrafine Egyptian iron ore without the addition of cations, it was found that the optimum conditions are pH 11, 1 kg/t sodium silicate and 0.4 kg/t potato starch with a selectivity index of 0.55. With the addition of cations, the optimum conditions were found to be pH 11, 1 kg/t sodium silicate and 2 kg/t potato starch with a selectivity index of 0.65. It should be noted that determining these optimum conditions using the traditional grade or recovery measures was highly ambiguous.

Jan 1, 2008

By W. J. Miles

At the beginning of the 20th century, barite was a mineral of minor importance in the United States. Its primary use was to extend lead oxide in white paint. Barite also added the special qualities of hiding power and flatness to paint. Because white lead sometimes turns black or yellow and barite does not, ground barite became a pigment on its own merit. Barium chloride was added to bricks before fi ring to stop efflorescence when exposed to weather. Barium carbonate or nitrate added luster and brilliance to glass. Barium chemicals were added to refining sugar, enameling iron, making oilcloths and paper collars, and in the manufacture of paper, artificial ivory, rubber and lithopone. Lithopone became a major paint ingredient in the 1920s; its use lasted until the 1950s, peaking at 150 kt (165,000 st) of barite in 1937 and 1947 for the manufacture of lithopone. Later in the 20th century, titanium dioxide replaced lead oxide, barite and zinc oxide in the coatings industry. In the 21st century, barite is used as a filler, extender or weighting agent in products such as paints, plastics and rubber. Some specific uses include its use in brake and clutch pads for automobiles, automobile paint primer for metal protection and gloss, to add weight to rubber mud flaps on trucks and to add weight to the cement jacket around petroleum pipelines under water. In the metals casting industry, barite is part of mold release compounds. Because barite significantly blocks X-ray and gamma ray emissions, it is used as aggregate in high density concrete for radiation shielding around X-ray units in hospitals, nuclear power plants and university nuclear research facilities. Ultra-pure barite consumed as liquid is used as a contrast medium in medical X-ray examinations. Barite is the raw material for barium chemicals, such as barium carbonate, which is an ingredient in faceplate glass in the cathode-ray tubes of televisions and computer monitors. In the 21st century, barite industrial uses accounts for an estimated 78 kt/a (86,000 stpy) in the United States.

Jan 1, 2009

By Jill Murray

This study focuses on the amosite mining region in South Africa and associated health effects, compared to other mined asbestos fiber types. Historically, dust and fiber levels were high in the amosite mills and mines, and many miners and members of the surrounding communities were exposed to the fibers. Research has shown that amosite produces both benign and malignant disease. Nevertheless, the mesotheliomagenic potential of amosite is several fold lower than crocidolite. The risk of disease associated with amosite exposure is difficult to quantify. Reasons for this include the scarcity of available information, including fiber measurements, and case ascertainment, as well as the juxtaposition of the amosite and crocidolite asbestos seams in South Africa. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Amosite; Mesothelioma; Crocidolite; South Africa; Asbestos

Jan 1, 2007

By D. Bessinger, J. M. A. Geldenhuis

High titania slag is produced from the smelting of ilmenite. These slags contain approximately 85 per cent TiO2 and consist mainly of a M3O5 solid-solution phase. During cooling the slag can decrepitate to a fine particulate material, which decreases the value of the product. Based on X-ray diffraction analyses of the decrepitated slag after cooling, it was found that the M3O5 phase had almost disappeared. The disappearance of the M3O5 phase was linked to oxidation of the slag. A M6O11 phase formed in the decrepitated slag. It is postulated that decrepitation of high titania slag is caused by volume changes due to the oxidation of the M3O5 phase in the slag.

Jan 1, 2005

By David C. Yang

A packed column (or static tube) flotation system is an innovative technology which utilizes a controlled dispersion reagent scheme and a new machine. The unique aspect of the machine is its packed-bed design permitting an unlimited froth bed height with countercurrent water washing for effective processing of fine particles. In operation, the conditioned ore slurry is fed into the middle section of the column where separation processes begin. Air, introduced at the bottom of the packed column, contacts the hydrophobic particles and floats them off continuously as the feed is added, while the gangue sinks to the base of the column. The system functions efficiently because intimate particle-bubble contact is achieved by the packing design which has no moving parts and requires no ancillary air-bubble generator. Other attractive features of the packed column flotation include high throughput, low power requirements, and simple control. Results from laboratory and pilot plant tests of this system show remarkable improvements over current industrial practices on a wide variety of ores and coals.

Jan 1, 1988

By Yuemin Zhao, Daniel Tao, Xinxi Zhang, Qingru Chen, Maoming Fan, Zhenfu Luo, Xiuxiang Tao, Guohua Yang

Coal is currently cleaned with the minimum of size reduction, fine particle processing, recovery, and tailings disposal are major problems. Adequate water resources are not always available. For example, two thirds of China's coal is located in arid areas. Hence, dry separation provides an alternative approach. Of the dry coal separation methods available, air dense-medium fluidized beds have been used to separate 50~6mm coal efficiently. However, excessive bubbling and back mixing of the separated solids in the air-dense media fluidized bed causes the high lower size limit of 6mm for the feed material, this affecting the preparation efficiency. Based on prior study on air-fluidized dense media for 6~50mm coal preparation, this paper presents methods and test results on the fine coal dry classification, static electricity beneficiation of 0~0.5mm coal, and magnetically stabilized fluidized beds for separating 0.5~6mm coal.

Jan 1, 2005

By Jacob Carr, Chenming Zhou, Nicholas Damiano, James Noll, Jingcheng Li

Machine-related injuries are one of the major safety concerns in underground coal mines. Severe injuries and fatalities occur when a miner is struck, crushed, or pinned by mining equipment such as a continuous mining machine (CMM), shuttle car, or a scoop. Proximity detection systems (PDSs) have been applied in mining to reduce these types of injuries and fatalities. All of the PDSs that are currently approved by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for use in underground coal mines are magnetic-field based and could be affected by metallic objects such as trailing cables. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) investigated the influence of trailing cables on the performance of PDSs. In particular, the magnetic field coupled from proximity system generators to a de-energized trailing cable was characterized. The results show that significant energy can be coupled from the proximity system generators to a trailing cable when there is a closed loop in the cable. The effect on PDS performance from the magnetic field radiated around an energized trailing cable was also quantified for different current amplitudes in the cable. It is shown that the magnetic field caused by the electric current in the trailing cable mainly consists of a 60-Hz signal and its harmonics which causes little interference to the PDS. The results presented in this paper can help PDS manufacturers to design better systems that are more immune to these effects.

By Christopher M. St. John, Tony F. Zahrah

Empirical and numerical methods are the two extremes of the tools available for the seismic design of subsurface excavations and underground structures. Both have their limitations: when relying on purely empirical methods directly relevant experience may be scant; site data may be insufficient to justify a comprehensive dynamic analysis. The primary purpose of this paper is to review the analytical tools available to the design engineer of subsurface excavations and underground structures. Particular attention is devoted to simplifed models that appear to be applicable in many practical cases.

Jan 1, 1985

By Lei Pan, Venkata Atluri, Xuming Wang, Yuesheng Gao, Jan D. Miller

The wetting characteristics and water film stability at the talc surface have been studied, particularly the effect of polysaccharides such as guar gum, starch, and dextrin. Talc is a gangue mineral in the flotation of base metal sulfide ores, precious metal sulfide ores, and platinum group metal (PGM) sulfide ores. Talc surfaces were investigated using surface analysis techniques including atomic force microscopy, high-speed video bubble attachment measurements, and wetting film stability measurements using a synchronized tri-wavelength reflection interferometry microscope (STRIM). In the presence of polysaccharides, there is a significant increase in bubble attachment time at the talc surface, but only a slight change in contact angle, which suggests that polysaccharide depression of talc is due primarily to the slow rate of bubble attachment and not due to a change in contact angle. The critical rupture thickness (hc) for a hydrophobic talc surface was found to be 56 nm, while the hydrophilic phlogopite surface of similar structure has an equilibrium film thickness (he) of 25 nm. At low polysaccharide concentrations, the wetting films formed on the talc surfaces were unstable, but at high concentrations the wetting films became stable with similar thickness values as the critical rupture thickness, and bubble attachment did not occur. However, it was found that the critical and equilibrium film thickness values do not change significantly with the polysaccharide type or concentration. The results from this research help us understand further details of film rupture and displacement during bubble attachment.

By Larissa Koroznikova, Steve Durkin, Patrick Bouwmeester, Michael Tuck

In currently used mining methods, blasting techniques often causes dilution of valuable ore and results in costly processing requirements. In the context of narrow vein mining of thin and highly concentrated orebodies there is a need of a mining method that can reduce dilution in order to remain economically viable. This research project explored the viability of a new mining technology, thermal fragmentation, in narrow vein mining. Thermal fragmentation technology uses a flame jet to produce extreme heat that spalls the surrounding rock to a strategically located drill hole, as an alternative to traditional blasting. This paper creates a net present value (NPV) model of a mining method using thermal fragmentation, as well as for an existing method used for narrow vein mining; comparisons and evaluations were made regarding the feasibility of the new technology. It was found that while overall costs for thermal fragmentation were relatively high, reductions in wages, haulage and processing costs, as well as increased productivity and ore recovery, meant that the new method would improve the financial performance of any operation. These results identify that there is an opportunity to introduce the thermal fragmentation technology to narrow vein mines within Australia, in order to lower costs and increase profit.