NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY RAIPUR(C.G.

UNDERGROUND METAL MINING

 
ASSIGNMENT ON ROOM & PILLAR MINING
 
 

 
 Contents

1. Introduction
2. History
3. Mine Layout
4. Types
5. Process
6. ventilation
7. support of rooms
8. support design
9. Barrier pillar design
10. caving
11. Full extraction mining
 Introduction

 Room and pillar (also called bord and pillar) is a mining

system in which the mined material is extracted across a
horizontal plane while leaving "pillars" of untouched material
to support the roof overburden leaving open areas or
"rooms" underground. It is usually used for relatively flat-
lying deposits, such as those that follow a particular stratum.
The room and pillar system is used in mining coal, iron and
base metals ores particularly when found as manto or
blanket deposits, stone and aggregates, talc, soda ash and
potash. The key to the successful room and pillar mining is
selecting the optimum pillar size. If the pillars are too small
the mine will collapse. If the pillars are too large then
significant quantities of valuable material will be left behind
reducing the profitability of the mine.[1] The percentage of
material mined varies depending on many factors, including
the material mined, height of the pillar, and roof conditions;
typical values are: stone and aggregates 75%, coal 60%, and
potash 50%.
In some instances, extensive room-and-pillar workings can
collapse with little warning and pose a serious risk to
underground miners. Traditional strength-based pillar design
methods applicable to coal or hard-rock mines use a factor of
safety defined as pillar strength divided by pillar stress. Factor
of stability, defined as local mine stiffness divided by post-
failure pillar stiffness,
 may offer a way to design room-and-pillar mines and
eliminate collapses. Three alternative design approaches to
decreasing the risk of large-scale catastrophic collapses are
described: the containment approach, the prevention
approach, and the full-extraction approach. Until good data
on the post-failure behavior of pillars become available, the
containment and full-extraction options are the safest. The
limitations in our ability to evaluate both the stability of old
workings and the long-term performance of room-and-pillar
mines are described. Room-and-pillar mining accounts for a
significant portion of the total mineral production in the
United States As shown in table 1, well in excess of $6 billion
 worth of mineral commodities are produced each year by this
method A substantial portion ($3.55 billion) of coal production
still comes from room-and-pillar mining. Metallic minerals
valued at about $1 billion, plus nonmetallic minerals valued
well in excess of $1 billion, are also produced via room-
andpillar mining. A significant ($600 million) and growing
portion of stone and aggregate production uses room-
andpillar mining. In addition, many other mineral commodities
not noted in this table (talc, iron, copper) are or have been
produced in the United States using the room-and-pillar
technique. The objective of this paper is to show mine layouts
for selected coal, metal, and nonmetal mines that have
experienced large-scale, catastrophic pillar collapse.
 Basic pillar mechanics are reviewed along with the important
factors that govern stability. Finally, alternative design
approaches are discussed that decrease the risk of
catastrophic collapse. Research issues related to collapse of
room-and-pillar mines are summarized. If the strength of a
pillar in a room-and-pillar mine is exceeded, it will fail, and the
load that it carried will be transferred to neighboring pillars.
The additional load on these pillars may lead to their failure.
This mechanism of pillar failure, load transfer, and continuing
pillar failure can lead to the rapid collapse of very large areas
of a mine. In some cases, only a few tens of pillars might fail;
however,in extremecases hundreds,eventhousands,of
 pillars can fail. This kind of failure has many names—
progressive pillar failure, massive pillar collapse, domino-
type failure,or pillar run. Swanson and Boler (1995) coined
the term“cascading pillar failure,” or CPF, to describe these
rapid pillar collapses. A recent review by Zipf (in press)
provides come documentation on 21 instances of large-scale
pillar collapses in room-and-pillar mines, mainly in the United
States CPF can have catastrophic effects on a mine, and
sometimes these effects pose a greater health and safety risk
than the underlying ground control problem. Usually, the
CPF induces a devastating airblast caused by displacement
of air during the collapse. An airblast can totally disrupt the
 ventilation system at a mine by destroying
ventilation stoppings, seals, and fan
housings. Flying debris can seriously injure or
kill mining personnel. CPF might also fracture
large volumes of rock in the pillars and the
immediate roof and floor, leading to the
sudden release of
 
 History

A Maryland coal mine from 1850.Room and

pillar mining is one of the oldest mining
methods. Early room and pillar mines were
developed more or less at random, with pillar
sizes determined empirically and headings
driven in whatever direction was convenient.
[2]
Random mine layout makes ventilation
planning difficult, and if the pillars are too
small, there is the risk of
pillar failure. In coal mines, pillar failures are
known as squeezes because the roof
squeezes down, crushing the pillars. Once
one pillar fails, the weight on the adjacent
pillars increases, and the result is a chain
reaction of pillar failures. Once started, such
chain reactions can be extremely difficult to
stop, even if they spread slowly.
 Mine Layout

  Room and Pillar mines are developed on a

grid basis except where geological features
such as faults require the regular pattern to
be modified. The size of the pillars is
determined by calculation. The load bearing
capacity of the material above and below the
material being mined and the capacity of the
mined
 material itself will determine the pillar size.[1]If one pillar
fails and surrounding pillars are unable to support the
area previously supported by the failed pillar they may in
turn fail. This could lead to the collapse of the whole mine.
To prevent this the mine is divided up into areas or panels.
[1]
Pillars known as barrier pillars separate the panels. The
barrier pillars are significantly larger than the "panel"
pillars and are sized to allow them to support a significant
part of the panel and prevent progressive collapse of the
mine in the event of failure of the panel pillars.[1]
 
 Types

There are two different types of room and

pillar mining. The first involves the
conventional method of drilling holes into the
coal, blasting the rock and loading it into carts
to be transported out of the mine; the second,
known as continuous mining, involves a
continuous miner machine cutting coal from
the mine’s face in a continuous flow,
eliminating drilling and blasting equipment
 Room and pillar mining is usually used while extracting coal,
iron, and copper ores; it is best suited for deposits that are
relatively flat. Rooms generally are 2,067 feet (630 m) wide
and pillars are up to 328 feet (100 m) wide; pillars, and
subsequent grid-like patterns, are formed as mining
advances. This type of mining requires care and precision to
ensure the pillars left behind are of the correct size to enable
miners to extract enough ore with the support of the pillars
but not so much that they leave behind a substantial amount
of valuable ore .When mining with this method, miners must
consider the height of the pillar, the conditions of the roof and
the likelihood that it could cave, as well as the type of mineral
that
 is being extracted. It is important that all of the pillars
are supportive, as one falling pillar will result in
subsequent collapsing of the cave, a disaster that is
known to occur in this method of mining. Sometimes
the pillars are filled with backfill or waste material to
provide additional support. Other times, timber and
steel supports are elevated alongside the pillar. Self-
supporting pillars can stand without additional
support.
 
 
  This drawing depicts the room and pillar
method of underground mining. Most
underground coal is mined by the room and
pillar method, whereby rooms are cut into
the coal bed leaving a series of pillars, or
columns of coal, to help
support the mine roof and control the flow of air.
Generally, rooms are 20-30 feet wide and the pillars up to
100 feet wide. As mining advances, a grid-like pattern of
rooms and pillars is formed. Workers drive bolts of up to
eight feet long in the roof of the rooms to keep the rock
above the coal seam from falling in. When mining
advances to the end of a panel or the property line,
retreat mining begins. In retreat mining, the workers mine
as much coal as possible from the remaining pillars until
the roof falls in. When retreat mining is completed, the
mined area is
  abandoned .There are two types of room and pillar mining
— conventional mining and continuous mining.
Conventional mining is the oldest method. In conventional
mining, the coal seam is cut, drilled, blasted and then loaded
into cars. Continuous mining is the most prevalent form of
underground mining. In continuous mining, a machine
known as a continuous miner cuts the coal from the mining
face, obviating the need for drilling and blasting

 
 Ventilation

Ventilation is particularly important in coal mining, and

provisions of the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act affect
ventilation of room and pillar mines. A major provision is the
requirement for bleeder entries and systems. Bleeders
(Kauffman, Hawkins and Thompson, 1981) are entries
surrounding an
area being mined or which has been mined out. The purpose
of bleeder entries is to bleed methane and other explosive
gases from the gob area and into the main mine return
airways, using a controlled filter of intake air. Bleeder entries
should be maintained for access and examination. Only in
areas liable to spontaneous combustion is sealing of caved
areas permitted.The practice of
 Support of rooms

The key to design of rooms is support. This invariably means the

use of rock bolts in room and pillar mining. At present, over 100
million bolts per year are installed in US mines. There are various
types of rock bolt, and the type and method of
installationinstallation can have a significant effect on
performance. Classification of rock bolts into types is difficult.
Conventionally, there are two methods, either as (1) grouted
(usually fully grouted) or (2) mechanically anchored (usually
point-anchored) bolts. A list of available bolt types from Peng
and Tang (1984) is given in Table18.1.2. A point-anchored bolt is
usually tensioned; a fully grouted bolt is usually untensioned. A
mechanical anchor can
be installed easily, but is unreliable over a period of time; a resin
bolt requires precision in installation-whether point or fully
grouted-and usually has better long-term characteristics .The
theory of rock bolting is developed fully in Chapter
10.5.Conventional rock bolts are made from (16-mm), ¾-in. (19-
mm), l-in. (25mm), or l¼-in. (32-mm) steel rebar with an
approximate yield force, respectively, of 7 (6), 9 (7.5),17 (15),and
26 tons (23 tonnes). Normally, the installed bolt tension is50% of
this load. Steel bearing plates at the hole collar are ually 6 in.
(150 mm) square and ¼ in. (6 mm) to in. (9.5mm) thick and are
flat or bell-shaped with a center hole. The ain function is to
distribute stress to the rock at the collar rough a nut threaded on
to the top of the bolt, and
 tensioned through a drill chuck. Angle or spherical washers are
used tocreat a uniform bearing surface. To prevent falls of rock
between bolts-an important factor in weaker rocks-mesh or
benchbars are placed behind the anchor bearing plates. For
long-terminsta llations, shotcreting is essential .Bolts are
usually considered temporary supports. At bolt forces close to
working load, they are, like all rock stress systems ,prone to
deterioration with time. At differential roof
deformations ,greater than 1 to 1½%, they usually cease to
function ,although performance can be improved with
shotcreting. Thereduction or change in capacity with time is not
well documentedand relies to a great extent on ground
conditions. A
particularly useful recent paper by Signer and Jones (1990)
illustrates the changing reinforcement loads on fully grouted
bolts during roofe formation and illustrates their very flexible
response to deformation.In the case of mechanical bolts,
installation isinvariably accompanied by reduction in tension
with time. This was investigated by de la Cruz (1964) and Parson
and Osen (1969) among others and was attributed principally to
slippage of serrations on the anchor shell, rock deformation and
rock breakage at the anchorage and collar, and ground
movement following excavation .In addition, dynamic vibration
due to blasting is a major cause of tension loss. This means that
constant monitoring andretensioning of bolts is needed if
 long-term installation is required .Conversely excessive bed
separations can lead to bolthead failure, which is not found in
grouted bolts .It has been claimed that fully or point-grouted
resin or cement anchors give improved performance, both long
and shortterm, and there is some evidence for this. Franklin and
Wood field(1971), in a series of experiments, showed that
reliance onbond rather than friction means that the force take-
up is muchquicker, and by extrapolation, the possibility of
slippage is muchless. There remain dangers associated with
faulty installation,excessive annulus thickness, and poor
bonding in wet holes,which in practice can make resin grouting
less attractive.The action of bolts is best described through the
typicaltheoretical
 stress distributions around the openings illustrated in Fig.
18.1.5. In both cases, the surface of the opening is subjected to
compressive tangential stress and zero radial stress. Further
away from the surface, both the radial and tangential stresses
approach the primitive stress levels in the rock mass undisturbed
by excavation. The tangential compression stresses are high at
the corners and in the sidewalls, but low in the roof and
floor .This condition is exacerbated as the height/width ratio of
the rectangular room is reduced further. This will have two
effects:
there will be crush at the corners and possibly squeeze in the
sidewalls, and the reduced radial compression will allow sag of
the roof and uplift of the floor. The most
 important of the reduced roof compression—particularly
if combined with bedded and jointed strata—which will
create conditions for bed separation or release of blocks
from the roof strata Rock bolts are the cheapest and most
obvious way of maintaining stability in such
circumstances. Provided that the rocks are suitable for an
anchorage location, are not subject to swelling or slaking,
and there are no high pore pressures or water flows, then
bolts have two main functions acting either singly or as a
pattern. These are to maintain the stability of sagging
roofs, particularly in weaker stratified rocks,
and to restrain blocks in well-jointed or blocky rocks
where release surfaces daylight in the exposed roof.
The former application is principally for roof support
in room and pillar mining in stratified rocks. This is the
most common use of rock bolts, and it can be
improved by variations such as trusses or slings (see,
for instance,Seegmiller, 1990). The latter application
is principally in civil engineering works, such as tunnel
and cavern construction, and occasionally in slopes,
where quite-large-capacity anchors are often used.
 Support Design

Where a bolt is used to restrain a single block in the

roof of an entry, the volume and hence the weight of
the block and where necessary its direction of sliding
can be determined by stereographic analysis of the
kinetics of sliding. This method is outlined in Farmer
and Shelton (1980) and in Farmer (1985). Methods of
support based on the common requirement that bolt
spacing should be half the bolt length are discussed in
the same sources. In coal mining, the design of bolts is
usually based on Panek’s
 (1962a, b) analysis. The most simple
 assumption for design purposes is to consider a
sagging roof plate or beam of thickness L, span B, and
length X, supported by rows of bolts with separation a
between rows and spacing S. Then the bolt tension
force P to support the roof will be given Process
Room and pillar mining is usually used while extracting
coal, iron, and copper ores; it is best suited for deposits
that are relatively flat. Rooms generally are 2,067 feet
(630 m) wide and pillars are up to 328 feet (100 m)
wide; pillars, and subsequent grid-like patterns, are
formed as mining advances.
This type of mining requires care and precision to
ensure the pillars left behind are of the correct size to
enable miners to extract enough ore with the support
of the pillars but not so much that they leave behind a
substantial amount of valuable ore.When mining with
this method, miners must consider the height of the
pillar, the conditions of the roof and the likelihood
that it could cave, as well as the type of mineral that
is being extracted. It is important that all of the pillars
are supportive, as one falling pillar will
 result in subsequent collapsing of the cave, a disaster
that is known to occur in this
methodofmining.Sometimes the pillars are filled with
backfill or waste material to provide additional
support. Other times, timber and steel supports are
elevated alongside the pillar. Self-supporting pillars
can stand without additional support.Ore located in
the pillars is usually abandoned and not recovered,
for doing so could result in the collapse of the mine.
[3a gob so that gases flow into the return airway.
Where there  
 Barrier Pillar Design

Room and pillar mines are usually developed in a series of

rectangular panels separated by barrier pillars. There is no
specific design method for these pillars, but where the roof
is not caved or where pillars are left in place, design of
barrier pillars assumes greater importance. Fig. 18.1.2
shows that pillar stress is not necessarily evenly distributed,
and where the roof and floor rocks are stiffer than the pillar
rocks, stress with be transferred to an abutment. There is
also the probability that deteriorationor over mining—of
highly stressed pillars may lead to a reduction in load
capacity of individual (or groups of) pillars, and transfer of
load to other pillars that may lead to progressive
failure. This is one of the most common causes of extensive
pillar collapse(Mottahed and Szek i, 1982, describe a total
mine collapse), and barrier pillars can control this. Wilson
(1983) analyzed this problem and suggested, for coal mines,
barrier pillar widths of 1/10th of the working depth, but his
approach, although applied to room and pillar workings, was
designed principally to reduce entry damage in longwall entry
chain pillars. A more satisfactory approach may be to consider
pillar yield. Hudson, Brown, and Fairhurst (1971) in a series of
tests on marble, which can be repeated on coal, showed that a
pillar behaved in a yielding rather than a brittle manner if its
height/width ratio was less than 1/3. The implication is that
below
this ratio, a pillar will deform rather than
fracture, resisting rapid collapse. A yielding,
barrier pillar of 3 to 4 times the excavation
height can, therefore, be recommended,
particularly at greater mining depths.
Roof Caving

Although roof caving is not strictly speaking

related to support,the mechanics are similar and it
can be considered here Caving is an important part
of strata control in all mining operations Correctly .
carried out, caving relieves stresses on
abutments,barrier pillars, and chain pillars and
improves overallmine stability. The need to cave the
roof successfully determinesthe width of a room
and pillar panel, as it does the width of alongwall
face.Cavability is a difficult concept. It is usually
expressed in
terms of a pressure arch, a circular, parabolic,
or rectangular zone in the rock above an
opening in two dimensions (see Fig. 18.1.5a)
that has low radial compression stress, and
where the rock sags and ultimately collapses
under self weight at a critical unsupported
span. This process is assisted by the presence
of joints and weaknesses, which is why elastic
analysis leaves
a certain amount to be desired. The basics of
computation of fracture onset in a roof span,
analogous to the beam, plate, or “cracked
arch,” have been considered, with little
success, by
 Obert and Duvall (1967) and Wright (1973). A better
approach
may be Terzaghi’s (1946) arching theory, based on shear
resistance in a frictional material above a bin hopper (the
unsupported roof), and similar empirical methods that
are summarized in Farmer (1985). An outline of this is
given in Table 18.1.3. If a bulking factor of 1.1 is assumed
for most layered rocks (Gorrie and Scott, 1970), then for
caved strata to bulk sufficiently to support upper layers,
the span B must be such that 1.1 xB = xB + M, where M is
the excavated (or in the case of coal, seam) thickness, or 
 b=m\0.1x  where x = 0 (good) to 2 (poor)
depending on the rock quality inTable 18.1.3.
Obviously, a hard and intact rock is not
cavable. For a massive, moderately jointed
rock, a span in excess of 20 times the
excavated thickness (i.e., 200 ft or 60 m, for a
10 ft or 3 m, thick excavation) would be
required.
 Full-Extraction Mining

The full-extraction approach avoids the possibility

of CPF altogether by ensuring total closure of the
opening and full surface subsidence on completion
of retreat mining. This approach does not require
barrier pillars for overall panel stability; however,
they are needed to isolate extraction areas and
protect mains and bleeders. The factor of safety for
the panel pillar remnants is much less than 1 to
force them to fail immediately after retreat mining
 
 CPF in room-and-pillar mines, and the number of
documented collapses in the United States alone provides
mute testimony to that statement. Pillar arrays with large
average strength safety factors can fail in a CPF if just a few
pillars in the array begin to fail. Pillars with large strength
based safety factors (for example 1.5) still have a finite
probability of failure, and if the number of pillars in an array is
large, failure somewhere in the array can become a near
certainty, so that failure could in turn initiate CPF.Advanced
rock mechanics considerations using the local mine stiffness
stability criterion and a factor of stability are needed to design
room-and-pillar mines that control CPF. The mechanics of CPF
are well understood. Strains oftening
 behavior is the essential mechanical characteristic of pillars
that fail rapidly via this mechanism. Pillars the exhibit strain-
softening behavior can undergo a rapid decrease in load-
bearing capacity upon reaching their ultimate strength. The
strain-softening behavior of pillars depends on both inherent
material properties and geometry.Pillars with a low width-
height ratio exhibit a greater degree of strain-softening
behaviour than pillars with a higher width height ratio and
typically elastic-plastic or strain-hardening material
behaviors.While the principles behind CPF are fairly well
understood, there are significant gaps in our ability to evaluate
the stability of existing room-and-pillar mines and assess the
performance of alternative mine layouts.