PrintLesson 4.3 Summary
In this lesson, we’ve introduced the different mining methods used to exploit mineral deposits. We’ve characterized them into broad categories of underground and surface. Within each category, we established classes of methods, and then we identified the individual mining methods belonging to each class. We saw that a class represented a few specific characteristics of the deposit, and as such the methods in that class are well suited for deposits with those characteristics.
The choice of a specific mining method may require consideration of several factors, and we looked at six groups of factors totaling 37 in all. Although any of these factors can affect the selection of a mining method, a small set of the 37 have a disproportionate effect on the choice, and we identified those.
You will develop a better understanding of the details of the mining methods and the many factors that affect the choice of the method as we work through this course. Despite the lack of detail at this stage, you will find the material covered in this lesson to be quite useful as we continue into the remaining modules.
Regardless of which method we use, it is likely that the similar unit and auxiliary operations will be used during exploitation. The equipment itself may be very different, but the operations are similar from an engineering perspective. We’ll take a look at this in the next module.