• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.243-251
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• 2008

Recently, the mining methods are changing from surface mining to underground mining because of the increment of the environmental issues and legal regulations. Therefore, the stability of underground openings is a major concern for the safety and productivity of mining operations. In this paper, a survey of structural geology and discontinuities were carried out at a limestone mine. The relevant mechanical properties of rocks were determined by the laboratory tests and rock mass classifications (RMR and Q-system) for the mine design and input data for the stability analysis. The dimensions of unsupported span for underground openings and pillar were decided based on the RMR values of rock mass classifications. The stability analysis for the suggested mine design was examined through the empirical methods (stability graph method and critical span curve) and 3-D numerical analysis (Visual-FEA).

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.457-475
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• 2018

For increase of reality in numerical analysis, a blasting vibration waveform obtained from field blast operations has been directly used for input parameters of dynamic analysis in the form of vibration velocity. A numerical model was built considering the geological characteristics of underground limestone opening as well as the mining stages in this opening, and the effect of blast operations on stability of underground limestone opening was investigated by dynamic numerical analysis. The adequacy of applying the real vibration waveform to dynamic analysis has been approved from the preliminary analysis, and the dynamic numerical analysis results show that the continuous mining operation can cause the collapse of roof in openings and the active yield zone around openings. Therefore, the additional reinforcements should be applied for ensuring the stability of underground limestone openings.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.131-142
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• 2016

Investigation for rock joints, inspection for rock core, and laboratory tests for rock specimens, in this study, have been performed for identification of the extent and properties of Excavation Damaged Zone in a underground limestone mine, which plans to enlarge the size of openings to improve the production rate. Properties of EDZ and surrounding rock masses have been used numerically for discontinuum analysis, and it is concluded that the effect of EDZ can be increased with increasing the opening size and a blasting pattern of high precision can be suggested for the counterplan.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.30 no.A
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• pp.17-23
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• 2010

Recently, a large number of open-pit mines are planning to change their mining method to underground types because the environmental concerns and legal regulations are increased with a rise in the standard of living. The K silica mine, which is one of them and located in Kyunggi province, is planning the establishment of a vertical shaft which will be used for ore-pass channel in their new glory hole mining method. This vertical shaft will be designed to join with a horizontal gangway excavated from the ground level. In this new mining system, the excavated ore particles will be stored inside a shaft and transported out with a help of a conveyor belt. Therefore the hang-up of ore particles in a shaft, the control of gate at the bottom of a shaft, the installation of dog-leg at the gate should be investigated identically. In this study, the PFC-2D code which is one of the discrete element numerical methods has been applied to simulate the particle flow mechanism in a shaft, and the optimum mine design has been proposed to maximize the productivity and to minimize the system damage.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.388-398
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• 2023

The changes in groundwater flow due to mining development act as a contributing factor to major issues such as ground subsidence, strength reduction and collapse. For the sustainable mining development, measures for dealing with fluctuations in seasonal underground water inflow, power losses, pump damage, and unexpected increases in inflow must be put in place. In this study, the aim is to identify the causes of underground seepage through the examination of hydrological connectivity between the study area and nearby limestone mine. A tracer tes for assessing subsurface connectivity has been planned. A variety of tracers, such as dyes and ions, were applied in lab test to select the optimal tracer material, and a hydrological model of the study area was implemented through field test. Finally, the hydrological connectivity between the external stream and underground water in the mine was analyzed.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.10-16
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• 2016

Recently, transition from open pit to underground mining in limestone mines is an increasing trend in Korea due to environmental issues such as noise, dust and vibrations caused by crushers and equipment. The severe damages in the surrounding rock mass of underground opening caused by explosive blasting may lead to rock fall hazards or casualties. It is well known that variables which mainly affect blast-induced rock falls in underground mining are: blast vibration level, joint orientation and distribution and shape of the cross sections of underground structures. In this study, UDEC program, which is a DEM code, is used to simulate blast vibration-induced rock fall in underground openings. Variation of joint space, joint angle and joint normal stiffness was considered to investigate the effect of joint characteristics on the blast vibration-induced rock fall in underground opening. Finally, jointed rock mass models considering blast-induced damage zone were examined to simulate the critical blast vibration value which may cause rock falls in underground opening.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.613-623
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• 2013

As Limestone mines have been operated with various environmental, societal and managemental problems depending on their characteristics and developing methods, many great efforts have been applied to solve these problems. Installing the mining facilities underground is one of the successful efforts to keep the sustainable limestone mine development. This effort could reduce these problems. However, unfortunately it made an side effect of constructing a large underground space in mining site. Moreover, this space caused a necessity of various disaster managements for the safety of workers and facilities. This study introduces the priority list of a limestone mining process if there are disasters in underground mining site. This result is coming from the risk assessment and business impact analysis on survey data which were obtained from the miners of that particular limestone mine. According to the result, the highest risk is 'disregard of safety guidelines in crushing & classifier process'. The result also shows the highest priority business, above all things, is 'a pit linked work of in & out process'.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.161-171
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• 2017

Demand for high-grade limestone is increasing, but the production in the domestic mines has been limited due to the lack of systematic development plans and efforts to develop mining technology to improve the recovery ratio, transition to high-cost underground mining due to increasing social awareness of environmental protection, and the smallness of the domestic mining industry, etc. In this study in connection with this issue, an analysis on the recovery change by improvement of mining method was executed. 3D modeling technique was used to construct a 3D model. 3D model includes the geological structure, the limestone ore body and the underground pits and tunnels excavated at the Daepyeong District of Daesung MDI Donghae District. By using the 3D model, measured resources, reserves and ore recovery were evaluated from the results of pilot operation of the room and pillar hybrid mining method, which is a variant of room and pillar mining method. These results were compared with those obtained from the conventional mining method. The ore recovery obtained by hybrid mining method was found to be up to 71.6%, showing about 26%p. increase compared with the case of conventional mining method.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2018

When an underground limestone mine selects room-and-pillar mining method, in which the stability of mine openings is maintained by leaving safety pillars, the stability of safety pillars is always incompatible with their productivity. Therefore, the engineering decision for stability and productivity is essential. In this study, a progress of excavation faces by conventional blasting pattern has been examined in field for investigating over-break and stereo-photogrammetry method has been applied to this field measurement for improvement of accuracy. Also this result has been reflected instantly to composite blasting pattern by feedback, for minimizing overbreak. Field tests showed the relevant results that $3.5m^2$ in over-break out of $70m^2$ in total excavation face has been decreased, that is 5% of reduction rate in maximum.

• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.165-173
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• 2014

Open-pit mining method, is safe relatively work as compared with underground mining. And high yield, low production cost, has the advantage that it can provide a lot of production. But deforestation, tailings and slag deposition, mineral debris, dust, water, noise, land subsidence, sediment runoff discharge, I have internalized environmental disaster predisposing factors, such as landslides. Thus, it may be noted, also by typical environmental regulations. We try to deal with the changes in open pit terrain and environment related issues. Then, use the recovery period and the open pit mine and ecology off the gun, environment-friendly development of accurate monitoring methods, systems of this development is required. The use of open platforms and open source GIS tools have been developed during this period, it needs to develop spatial information environment monitoring system open pit mine construction.