Kazgiprotsvetmet Institute, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan:

V. K. Dorofeev, Chief Project Engineer

Russian Copper Company, Yekaterinburg, Russia:
I. A. Altushkin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, info@rcc-group.ru
A. I. Gordeev, Director of Mining Management, Candidate of Engineering Sciences
V. A. Belov, Deputy Director of Underground Mining, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

The authors solve the current research and production challenge, namely, selection of optimal access to reserves left under transition from open pit to underground mining. The problem is solved in terms of the 50 Years of October Mine, the Kazakhstan asset of the Russian Copper Company, Yekaterinburg. The scope of the feasibility study encompasses a few access scenarios: with motor transport in the whole route from the underground tunnels to the surface and with cage winding in shafts with different inside diameters. As a result of calculations of capital ad operating costs, with regard to ventilation conditions and construction period of the cage winding facility, the two-stage combination transport variant has been selected. At the first stage, ore reserves are extracted from pitwall rock mass at the upper levels of the deposit with ore haulage by underground dump truck via ramps with further re-loading to open pit dump trucks. Simultaneously with the first-stage mining, the cage winding facility is constructed for the second-stage extraction of ore reserves under open pit bottom, with ore hoist via the shaft with cage winding 6.5 m I diameter and using electromotive haulage on accumulation horizons. The accepted access scenario has accelerated extraction of ore reserves from pitwall rock mass and early mining of reserves under the pit bottom.

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