Polar Division, Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Company, Norilsk, Russia:

V. P. Marysyuk, Chief Geotechnical Engineer – Director of Center for Geodynamic Safety, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, marysyukvp@nornik.ru
T. P. Darbinyan, Director of Mining Practice Department

Scientific Center for Geomechanics and Mining Problems, Saint-Petersburg State Mining University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia:
A. A. Andreev, Leading Engineer
V. A. Noskov, Senior Researcher

In recent decade, high-grade ore reserves in the Oktyabrsky mine field suffer depletion and replacement by lower grade disseminated and cuprous ore. Thus, the growing production of such ore and the related worsening of economic performance points at the advisable modification in the mining system in order to reduce the cost of the backfill preparation. The mine specialists proposed to extract cuprous and disseminated ore reserves with partial backfill and partial overlying rock caving, which can reduce demand for backfill depending on the ratio of filled and unfilled stopes. Given absolute adherence to the mine safety measures and maintenance of the preset production rate, the mining system should be selected with regard to economic performance. The proper choice of the mining system will enable reduction in ore cost, minimization of ore losses and improvement of the financial and economic performance of a mine. The mining system selection is also important in terms of the sound subsoil management, and should ensure minimum loss and dilution in ore production. The most efficient scenarios cause no changes to the extraction indices, which is particularly significant in terms of the multipurpose utilization of ore in the Norilsk industrial district. Although not every mineral production is beneficial today for various reasons (for instance, low demand, or high cost), the multipurpose utilization of mineral raw material should be considered an extra mighty positive influential factor for the financial and economic activities of a mine, as well as for the social-and-economic performance of the region and its economy as a whole. Thus, the geomechanical assessment and economic calculations show all possible grounds for introduction of the analyzed variants of mining systems for cuprous and disseminated ore. At the initial stage of the new technology development and refinement of individual parameters, the introduction of a mining system should be carried out in the mode of a pilot testing.

1. Kalmykov V. N., Petrova O. V., Yanturina Yu. D. Substantiation of stable development of miningtechnical system at underground mining of ore deposits. Problems and prospects of complex mastering and saving of Earth soils : collection of reports of K. N. Trubetskoy International scientific school. Moscow : Izdatelstvo IPKON RAN, 2014. pp. 222–225.
2. Vilchinskiy V. B., Trofimov A. V., Koreyvo A. B., Galaov R. B., Marysyuk V. P. Substantiation of reasonability of application of stowing mining systems at Talnakh mines. Tsvetnye Metally. 2014. No. 9. pp. 23–28.
3. Sheshpari M. A Review of Underground Mine Backfilling Methods with Emphasis On Cemented Paste Backfill. Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering. 2015. Vol. 20, No. 13. pp. 5183–5208.
4. Protosenya A. G., Kuranov A. D. Procedure of rock mass stress–strain state forecasting in hybrid mining of the Koashvin deposit. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2015. No. 1. pp. 17–20. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2015.01.03
5. Bagautdinov I., Kuranov A., Belyakov N., Streshnev A. The reasoning of mining methods parameters toward development of the apatite-nepheline ore deposits based on results of forecast of massif stress state. Problems of Complex Development of Georesources : Proceedings of the VII International Scientific Conference. 2018. E3S Web of Conferences. 2018. Vol. 56. 01019.
6. Kuranov A. D., Zuev B. Yu., Istomin R. S. The forecast deformations of the ground surface during mining under protected objects. Innovation-Based Development of the Mineral Resources Sector: Challenges and Prospects : Proceedings of the 11^th Russian–German Raw Materials Conference. Leiden : CRC Press/Balkema, 2019. pp. 39–50.
7. Aynbinder I. I., Galchenko Yu. P., Ovcharenko O. V., Patskevich P. G. Basic trends of advance in geotechnologies for deep-level ore mining. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2017. No. 11. pp. 65–70. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2017.11.12
8. Shabarov A. N., Tsirel S. V. Geodynamic safety of subsurface management. Geomechanics and Geodynamics of Rock Masses : Proceedings of the 2018 European Rock Mechanics Symposium. London : Taylor & Francis Group, 2018. Vol. 1. pp. 105–120.
9. Kaplunov D. R., Radchenko D. N. Design philosophy and choice of technologies for sustainable development of underground mines. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2017. No. 11. pp. 52–59. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2017.11.10
10. Kamnev E. N., Ioffe A. M., Velichko D. V., Tyurin D. V. Geomechanical validation of safe and efficient uranium mining technology for Priargunsky Mining and Chemical Works. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2018. No. 7. pp. 31–35. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2018.07.05
11. Gusev V. N. Forecasting safe conditions for developing coal bed suites under aquifers on the basis of geomechanics of technogenic water conducting fractures. Zapiski Gornogo instituta. 2016. Vol. 221. pp. 638–643.
12. Kambiz Tahzibi, Mehdi Nasiri, Bijan Mashoof, Shokrollah Lotfi. Experimental and Analytical Studies to Achieve an Optimised Cemented Backfill Mix to be Used in a Cut-Fill Mining Method. International Journal of Mining Engineering and Mineral Processing. 2016. Vol. 5, No.1. pp. 1–8.
13. Myaskov A. V., Popov S. M. Methodical basis of formation of the ways of use of technogenic mineral raw materials. GIAB. 2016. No. 6. pp. 231–240.
14. Bini L., Bellucci M., Giunta F. Integrating sustainability in business model disclosure: Evidence from the UK mining industry. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018. Vol. 171. pp. 1161–1170.
15. Zhencheng Xing, Jigan Wang, Jie Zhang. Expansion of environmental impact assessment for ecoefficiency evaluation of China’s economic sectors: An economic input-output based frontier approach. Science of The Total Environment. 2018. Vol. 635. pp. 284–293.
16. Guerry A. D., Polasky S., Lubchenco J., Chaplin-Kramer R., Daily G. C. et al. Natural capital and ecosystem services informing decisions : From promise to practice. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015. Vol. 112, No. 24. pp. 7348–7355
17. Tsirel S. V., Noskov V. A., Korchak P. A., Zhukova S. A. Evaluation of economic efficiency of rock mass geodynamics prediction and control. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2017. No. 3. pp. 26–31. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2017.03.05