Research for Innovative Mining Methods

Narrow-vein steeply dipping deposits are challenging to mine economically because they are poorly oriented for surface mining, and underground mining normally requires development of extensive underground infrastructure before mining the vein. Memorial University is currently collaborating with Anaconda Mining for the development of innovative narrow-vein mining (NVM) technology to mine several of these deposits currently held by the company e.g. the Romeo & Juliet Deposit. The research proposed in this MITACS Accelerate Cluster will fund graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to investigate numerous aspects of the proposed narrow-vein-mining method. The proposed research activities and internships will be done by a multi-disciplinary team of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty supervisors with backgrounds in several engineering disciplines (mining, drilling, mechanical, electronics and civil) and earth sciences (geophysics).

Faculty Supervisor:

Stephen Butt

Student:

Hongyuan Qiu

Partner:

Anaconda Mining Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

University:

Program:

Accelerate