Present Situation and Trend in Swedish Mining

By S. G. BERGDAHL* and I. JANELID

( Annual General Meeting, Edmonton, April, 1963 )

( Transactions, Volume LXVI, 1963, pp. 274-279 )

ABSTRACT
Underground mining in Sweden is
today characterized by mechanization
S WEDISH ore production, a s
well as rock blasting in con-
struction work, has expanded rapid-
is placed. Among th e advantages
achieved with thi s equipment are
th e following:
and automation, owing to the rising ly since the war. Full employment,
cost of labour. together with r1 srng wages, lias ( 1) The holes will be better aligned.
Drilling in drifts and tunnels is n ecessitated ext ensive mechanization ( 2) B etter feed pow er is obtained
still essentially done with jackleg because drill and j ackleg are in
drills, but rigs which make it possible and au tomation. This paper will give
a general view of the different min- a line.
for one man to operate two or more
drills are now frequently used. Large ing operations, b eginning with drill- (3) On e man can h andle two or
jumbos for longhole drilling, with two ing. more drills.
drills operated by one man, are used,
especially in sub-level caving. Th e hard ro ck in Swedish mines A completely n e w feed syst em is
A special drill-rig for drilling
through overburden and blasting has made h ammer drilling the pre- th e so-called Auto-feed (Figure 2) .
without removing the overburden has dominant drilling method. The rock It -con sists of a very short pneu-
been successfully used in canals and drills have been gradually improved, matic fe ed cylinder, with grab
also in ports, where blasting is per- and drilling capacity, based on vol- plates, which automa tically moves
formed under water.
The increased use of mining meth- ume p er minute, has been almost along th e feed beam. The feed di-
ods based upon long blastholes is a trebled in a short time ( Figure 1). r ection is set by means of two bars.
res ult of the development of equip- The rock drills are more efficiently The feed beam can be ver y long, and
ment for drilling long straight holes. utilized by means of effective rigs, th e machine is consider ably shorter
The most common mining method in
Sweden is sub-level caving. Extensive where the drills are mechanically op- than a common j ackleg drill.
research , with model tests, has been erated and easily aligned. This At present, n ew methods a r e being
carried out in order to determine suit- makes it possible for one man to op- dev eloped to mechanize drifting,
able dimensions of drifts, sub-levels erate two or more drills, thus sav- with th e chief stress laid on drifts
and drilling patterns. The results have
been tried in practice and have given ing manpower. smaller than I 00 sq. feet. One piece
increased yield and less waste rock In drifts and smaller tunnels, the of equipment which is being t ested
in hoisted ore. simple j ac kleg drill is still predomi- con sists of an hy draulically oper-
Trackless mining is frequently used. nant. An item of equipment whi ch ated trestle with four Auto-feed
When there is enough space, front-
end loaders have given good results supplements the j ackleg is the lad- drills.
for hauling up to about 170 yds. In der feed, on which the jackleg drill Large hydraulic jumbos a r e not
narrow drifts, autoloaders are used.
In many mines, trackbound trans- Dn!/ed Volume
port on haulage levels is equipped
with remote control for switches and Cub. ln/ minule
for the locomotives at the chutes and
the dumping stations. CTC systems 100
have been used for several years in
Kiruna and Malmberget. At present,
a system with fully automatic trains
is being investigated. Here, the 80
whole transport system would be
programmed from a control room.
Hoisting of rock is fully automatic 60
in most mines, and man-hoists are
push-button controlled.
Research is performed through
close cooperation between mining 40 t r--1 r--1 I ~
companies, contractors, manufactur-
--J
CQ Q: ~
ers, the Royal Institute of Technology Q: Cl.:
} ~
and others. The research work is or-
20 t 11~ (\J
~ ~ ~ ~
ganized by the Swedish Mining As- ,....,--,
~ (\J
sociation and the Rock Blasting Com- \J
mittee.
\()

~
\J

~
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q:)
CQ
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~
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~ "
<:{)
<l'.l ~

Pislon dtomeler 2 fz' 2J{ 2~/ 2 %'

~ - L/ 1/ ~ t° 4~''
*The Royal Institute of Technology, Hole diomefer I%' !%' /fa' / %' /fl z-212 · 2-Y' 2-3"
Stockholm 70, Sweden. Figure !.-Development of Rock Drill Efficiency.

604 The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical

 often used in drifting and tunnel- extension drill rod surrounded by a increas ing. The cha rging of AN-FO
ling, the light equipment mentioned pipe with a ring-bit. Both drills are can be done through the use of re-
above being most common. For more dri ve n through the overburden into motely controlled cha rging machines
stationar y drilling, however, such as solid rock. The outer pipe is then with hoses up to 160 ft. long. Crys-
fan drilling for sub-level caving and disconnected and the drilling is con- talline AN is the most com mon type,
.sub-level stoping, large hydraulic tinued with th e extension rod. B e- because there is no domestic manu-
jumbos a re frequently em ployed. fore charging, a plastic hose is in- facturing of prills. An automatic
Th e best known types a re BUK 22, se rted in the outer pipe and pushed breach and a charging robot for
used in la rge numbe rs for sub-level down to the rock. The pipe is then cartridges have been developed . This
caving in Kirun a, and BUK 25, used withdrawn. Charging takes place equipment makes it possible to carry
for sub-level stoping in Strassa. through the plastic hose. Th e rock out the charging without standing
Both jumbos have two large rock drill is a combined hammer and in the vicinity of the round. It
drills, with a screw-feed . The drills rotary drill, and may be used for . should be poss ible to charge 300 to
feature r eversible rotation, which hammer or rotary drilling or for a 400 lbs. of dynamite p er hour with
faci litates the handling of the ex- combination of both. It is equipped two men and a cha rging robot.
tension rods . These drills are ve ry with a piston air ~otor which is Experiments with secondary
e fficient. As an exam ple, it can be geared to the rotation ·c huck. The breaking by the electrothermal forc-
mention ed tha t, in Kiruna, one man piston motor gives a high torque to ing of boulde rs we re carried out in
drills about 600 ft. of 2-in . holes per th e drill rod. 1961 -62, in both labora tory a nd
shift. This amo unts to a production In longhole drilling, guide tubes field t ests. In th e la bora tory tests,
of more tha n 3,000 tons per shift. a re put on the fir st rod between different rocks were examined r e-
Anoth er jumbo, similar to BUK the bit and the first coupling sleeve. garding the variation of th e resist-
2 5, but with one drill only , has been This reduces the deviation of the ance to temperature a nd fr equency.
developed for fan drilling from holes considerably. Without th e In the field test s, bould e rs of mag-
sma ller drifts. guide tubes, it would be impossible n etite we re cracked by high-fr e-
In recent yea rs, th ere has been to drill long raises with sufficient quency current and by 50 cp s. of
great interest in raising with long- accuracy. current. The bes t results ap pear to
hole drilling. E rrors in alignment In soft and medium-hard forma- be obtained by a combina tion of
· are very importa nt when long holes tions, such as limestone and shale, high and low fr equency. A current
are to be drill ed. A new rig has rotary drilling is used with good path is th en form ed by means of
therefo re been des igned in order to results. A new drill-rig, made by At- high-frequency current, and the
obtain an accu ra te a lignment. It las Copco, has proved to be very ef- boulder is subsequently cracked by
consists ( Figure 3) of a sturdy pil- fici ent. In a limestone quarry, where a low-frequency current of high in-
lar a round which a hinged fram e 30-ft. -long, 3-in.-diameter holes a re tensity .
turn s. This rig per mits th e drilling drilled, drilling rates of 100 ft. p er Th ~ ad vantages of electrothermal
of an 11 -ft .-d iamete r raise with one hour have been achieved. The drill forcing - if it becomes practically
erection. Th e setting is done with is driven by hydraulic motors and applicable - a re obvious. Boulder s
J1ydraulic cylinders. is operated by one man. could be h andled independently of
Ve ry good results have been ob- At present, laboratory tests a re other operations and without inte r-
ta ined. In Boliden, a 160-ft. r aise bein g carried out involving rotary ruptions for blasting a nd ventila-
ha s been drilled with a mean devia- drilling in hard ro ck such as mag- tion. .Many problems have to be
tion of 0.5 p er cent for all of the netite and granite. solved, however, befor e the equip-
J10les. ment would be safe and robust
The so-called "ove rburd en drill- Within th e area of blasting tech- enough for handling in a mine.
ing method," whi ch is used for drill- nique, rapid developments in elec- Th e blasting of profiles is com-
ing and blasting without r emoving tric firing have taken place. In order mon in tunnels and rock cavities. R e-
th e overburden , has given good r e- to improve the safety precautions, cently, presplitting h as been tried in
su lts at a cana l proj ect, as well as blas ting caps h ave been designed tunnels, with, in part, very good r e-
fo r underwater blasting in ports, whi.ch need 35 to 450 tim es higher sults. Presplitting requires more ex-
wh ere th e drillin g has been carried ignition impulses. Plas tic explosives tensive drilling and more explosive
out from th e ice during the winter. are still the most common under- than th e normal blas ting of pro-
The equ ipm ent consists of a normal ground, but the use of AN-FO is files.

--- . -

Figure 3.-A drill-rig used for accurate alignment in long-

Figure 2.-The Auto-feed. hole drilling in raises.

:Bulletin for August, 1963, Montreal 605

 / fl

, -0
BOU DENS raise - hoist
method JORA
-·-~
l, Hand or a1rmotor operated winch
2. Locking lever
}. Sheave for the rope
.-. Carriage
5, The central hole tor the rope
6. Hoist rope
7. Compr air connection
8. Water connection
9 , Working platrorm
10. Telescope
11. Rod
12. Chain (adjustable)
l}. Trap door
i•. Ladder
15. Holst cage with gears and a1rmotor
16 . Roae tor o011pr air and water
17. Hose drum
18. Carriage
19. Ventilator

Figure 5.-(top) - Rigging device for shaft sinking.

Figure 4.-(left) - The Boliden Company's "Jora-lift."

.('

Raising with longhole drilling has can be braced against the shaft er and shuttle dumper for distances
a lready been mentioned. Other meth- walls. Small crabs, where j ackleg of up to about 50 yds. The costs
ods of raising have also been im- drills are fastened, travel around the have been considerably lower for
proved. The Alimak raise climber is ring. Before blasting, the whole rig T2G because tracklaying and the
well known. A new lift, the "Jora- is hoisted in pulleys which are building of dumping devices are
lift," has been developed by the mounted on .concrete rings in the eliminated. It is, however, not pos-
Boliden Company. It consists (Fig- shaft. The concrete rings also act sible to generalize and say that T2G
ure 4) of a cage with built-in hoist as supports for the shaft frame. is superior to trackbound equipment,
machinery, and is suspended on a because the results depend very
wire rope which is passed through a Loading and transport are, to an much on local conditions.
large hole drilled in advance. The increasing extent, .carried out with Trackbound transport on haulage
large hole is used as a cut for the trackless equipment. Big tractor- levels is often run by remote con-
blasting. Before blasting, the cage shovels, such as Scoopmobile, Hough trol. In Kiruna and Malmberget,
is lowered and pulled aside, and the and Michigan load ers, give good re- CTC systems have been used for
wire rope is raised with a separate sults where th e conditions permit several yea rs. They have central
hoi st at the upper level. The large operating in a sufficiently large switch-control rooms, signals and
hole may also be used for ventilation area. An investigation made in Ki- motor-driven switches along the
after blasting. runa has shown that the tractor- tracks. The train drivers have only
shovel is superior, both economical- to give a signal to the control room
Shaft sinlcing has also been ration- ly and in capacity, to the power from which the train route is set.
alized. The Boliden Company has a shovel and truck for loading and Th e switches arc automatically put
special division which handles all transport up to about 200 yds. An- into the correct position and the
shaft sinking in the .Company's other advantage of the tractor- driver has only to observe the sig-
mines. The equipment is easily shovel is that it is capable of .carry- nals.
mountable and transportable, and it . ing out handling, scraping, cleaning, In smaller mines, th e switches are
is also capable of working as a haul- road maintenance, and other opera- often remotely controlled from the
age plant for mining small ore- tions. locomotives, which never have to
bodies. The plant consists of a three- Trackless mining may also be ad- stop to change a switch. This is com-
legged fram ework shaft tower, and vantageous in smaller areas. Auto- monly combined with remote control
prefabricated components for bins, loaders of the T2G and T4G type for the locomotives at chutes and
hois t room , workshop, compressor are used in several mines for load- dumping stations, which makes it
house. etc. ing· and transport in sub-level cav- possible for the train d ri~' e r s to han-
A new rig (F igure 5) for drilling ing. A comparison made in one mine dle all haulage operations.
in shafts has been made by Atlas has shown that T2G is more effici- In Kiruna, the conditions for ful-
Copco. It consists of a ring which en t th a n th e trackbound shovel load- ly automatic haulage with drivcrless

606 The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical

trains are at present being investi- the discharge. Compressed air is au- cell has been developed for measur-
gated. The trains could automatical- toma tically supplied to the ·c ylinder ing the rock pressure in drill holes.
ly choose thei r routes acco rding to wh en th e skip reaches the discharge It works with vibrating strings
information stored in a r elay mem- position. Th e advantage of the n ew which translate ch anges of pressure
orv in the locomotive. P ersonnel skip is tha t, because discha rge guides into changed vibration fr equency.
.w~uld be necessary only at the a re not n eeded, the creep distance is Microseismic registration and
chutes, where the train s would be r educed. Th e stresses on the guide other methods for th e control of
remotely con troll ed. The track sys- rope a re also redu ced, as a closed movement in rock a r e now practised
tem would be di vided into sections, system of forces in obtained . in a numbe r of mines. A r ecently
as is the case with th e CT C syst em. Great inter est h as been taken in developed apparatus p e rmits auto-
The au tomatic trains will be de- roclc pressure problems, and a rigid matic counting and registration of
signed so that two trains cannot be microseismic sound s. It can, if de-
in one section at the same time. In . sired, be timed to work during the
this way, the problem of traffic night, when th ere is no noise in the
blocks will be cons iderably r educed . mine.
At the Boliden Company, there is
an automatic train whi ch transports Impro v~d machinery has r esulted
ore from a slus her bridge to a shaft. in successive improvements in min-
The train is operated by a program- ing methods. The ambi tion is to in-
ming device which regulates the volt- crease th e output per manshift, to
age to the locomoti ve acco rding to increase th e y ield of ore a nd reduce
the position of th e train along the th e admixture of was te rock. Sub-
track. level stoping with longhole drilling
has become very important sin ce the
developm ent of methods to drill
Hoi sts we re the first machines to long, straight holes with good effi-
be made a utomati c. Th e hoist ciency. Some mines, which were
regula tion s demand such extensive previously mined with shrinkage
. automatic safety ap paratus, even on stoping, have shown better results
manual hoi sts, tha t the step to full through th e use of sub-level stop-
automa tion is not ver y long. Ther e ing. Longhole drilling has also
a re several fully automatic rock proved to be suitable for mining pil-
hoists operating in Sweden today. lars in connection with shrinkage
Man-hoists and material hoists stoping.
a re, as a rule, push-button operated. The years to come will probably
Acceleration, speed and deceleration see a rapid development in longhole
a re controlled by contacts in a so- mining.
called " level-couple r," which is As an example of longhole min-
driven directly from the pulley. ing, the sub-level stoping method a t
F ri ction winders are the tota lly Haggr.uvan, Sta llberg, is shown
predominant type. Th e trend is to- ( Figure 7). The mining front slopes
ward in creased use of multi-rope backwa rds, thus protecting the
winders. In 1962, an 8-rope winder workers from cavings a nd giving
was put into se rvice in Grangesberg. better support to the ha nging wa ll
The winder is ve ry compact and has and footwall close to th e mining
a direct-coupled mo tor. An interest- front.
ing thing is that it is equipped with The most common mining method
disc brakes. Most of the winders in Sweden is sub-level caving. At
have Ward-Leonard equipment, but present, about 60 p er ·Cent of all ore
rock hoists, as the autom atic control is mined in this way. In order to im-
for these winders has been devel- prove the r es ults, · extensive model
oped to such good reliability, are t ests and calcula tion s have been car-
commonly built with induction mo- ried out. Th e model tests h ave indi-
tors. cated suitable dim en sion s for sub-
In recent years, rope guides have level height, drift height and drill
• been put into use, and the results pattern s. Th e results show that the
have been ve ry satisfactory. Consid- height of the sub-levels can be great-
erable time and money are saved by er than th a t prevalent today. Th e
using rope guides, as compared to the most suitabl e burden for blas ting
common wooden guides. Moreover, seems to be 60 to 70 p er cent of the
skips and cages run much more drift height. A layou t using vertical
quietly. It is true that the hoi sting drilling (Figure 8) has given up to
speed is, as a rule, less than 2,000 95 p er cent yield when loading
feet per minute. Most of the wind- abo ut 130 per cent of the theoretical
ers, however, are designed for the volume of th e round . In this manner,
higher speeds which can be obtained 50 to 70 per cent of the ore could
by changing motor and gear. be loaded without admixture of
A new skip, Sala Maskinfabrik's waste ro ck . Tests with the J anol
DSL skip (Figure 6), which is spe- method have been carried out. The
cially designed for rope guides, is drill holes were first used for drift-
Figure 6.-The DSL skip, with a
now used in Kiruna. It has a built- built-in pneumatic cylinder for dis- ing ; the r emaining length for the
in pneumatic cylinder which operates charge. subsequen t sub-level caving. With

Bulletin for August. 1963, Montreal 607

 ,,

;'- .....
/ / '\
\
I \
\
~-
I
I__J: "" """"""c I \
\

__J~
/ '""~
...~
\

I__J, ·····~
' A......-<-

], u • ~ "

Haulage level

~~~~~~~~~~~~.,.._., Waste rock

Broken ore
~ Solid ore
~

111~.!"~
111~

I
:Djlll1: I Figure 9.- (top) - Drilling pattern for sub-level caving;
I I I I I i ~;(;zt!'J adapted to th e caving theories. ( Malmberget).

LJ
I I I I I I I
I I I I I I II I I Figul'e 7.-(top, left) - Sub-!evel stoping at Haggruvan,
Sta ll berg.
r·1·1-I'\
I I I I
I I I I I Figure 8.-(bottom left) - Proposed sub-level caving,
L 1. Ll .J with Janol-dri1ling and vertical drawing of the ore.

r egard to the ellip so id form of the The bi g muung companies have Each group is super vised by a
caving, th e yield should, howeYe r, resea rch divisions of th eir own for permanent committee with three
be better when the pilla rs are some- investigating th e problems th a t oc- membe rs. This comm ittee discusses
wh at wide r tha n th e drifts. Such a cur a t their mines . R esults which a re suggested r esear ch subj ects, ap-
d imensioning is a t present being of gen e ra l interest are described in points s ub-committees, controls the
tri ed in Malmbe rget ( Figure 9) . re ports and addresses at th e general work of th e group a nd reports the
In cut-and-fill mining, hydraulic meetings of th e Swedish Mining As- progress of th e work twice a year.
filling h as contributed to increased sociation or th e Rock Blasting Com- Mining R esearch has only a few ap-
output as well as to safety. Hydrau- mittee . pointed engin eers, so most of th e
lic fillin g will probably be used for M anufacturer s of machines, drills work is ca rried out in cooperation
filling up old rooms , a nd may also a nd explosives p a rticipate very ac- with th e Royal Institute of T ech-
be u sed in connection with other ti vely in th e development work, not nology, minin g com panies and man-
mining methods. only as regards th eir own products ufacture rs.
but a lso as regards combina tions of M embe rs of th e M inin g Associa-
R esearch and development w ork machines a nd methods. Th ey a lso tion are the only ones allowed to
is carried out throug h close cooper- co lla bora te with th e Mining Associa- pa rti cipa te in th e Mining Research
a tion between : tion and th e Ro ck Blas ting Commit- bra nch . The refo re, th e Rock Blast-
tee. ing Committee has been organized
( I ) Mining compa nies. Th e Mining Association has a so as to give all companies and or-
(2) M anufac turer s of machines and bra nch nam ed Mining R esea rch. ganizations which work with rock
explosives . Th e research which is carried out is excavation a common forum.
(3) Th e Swedish Mining Associa- divided into fiv e subj ect s: All subj ect s conce rning th e ex-
tion . ( I ) Prospecting for, and investiga- cavation and tran sport of rock are
(4) 'The Ro ck Blas ting Committee . tion of, ore deposits. co-o rdinated in the Rock Blasting
(5) Founda tion Swedish R esearch (2) Rock breaking and excavation . Committee. Each yea r, th ere is a
of D etonics . (3) Mining machiner y . general meeting a t which current
(6) Th e Roya l In stitute of T ech- ( 4) C rushing a nd ore-dressing. problems a re discussed.
nology . ( 5) Worker s' welfa re and hygiene. Foundation Swedish R esear ch of

608 The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical

D etonics has, up to now, been main- r ate subj ect a nd in connection with th e Mining R esear ch bra nch . This
ly concerned with investiga ting ex- in struction . Th ere is dose cooper a- gives th em a good, gen eral view of
plosive processes durin g initiation tion with all companies and in stitu- the r esearch work being ca rried out
and detona tion. These subj ects ar e tions which p a rticipate in th e r e- ac ross the entire country .
of fu nd amental imp ortance for safe- search. Some of th e subjects of th e The results of the research and
ty in th e manufac ture, tra nsp ortation Mining Association and the Rock developent work r efl ect a relatively
and use of explosives. In a ddition, Blasting Committee a re prep a red by a d van ced mining technique with a
t he Founda tion h as p a rticipa ted in th e students as part of th eir exam- good cap acity. Th e executives of th e
investigations regardin g gr ound vi- ina tion work, and a r e often con- mining industry a re convinced of
brations wh en bl asting . duded a t industrial ente rprises . The the great importance of inten se r e-
At t he R oyal Institute of T ech- professors of mining, geology and search work within the country as
nology, research and developm ent miner al dress ing a r e gene rally chair- well as a n exchange of exp eriences
work is ca rried on both as a sep a- men of different subj ect groups in ,;vith other countries.