KEY POINTS
- Water pressure could power underground rock-breaking machinery in mines.
- COMRO pioneered hydropower technology before its research was halted.
- Hydraulic mining could allow round-the-clock operations and higher productivity.
Johannesburg Terry Hamilton, a former technical manager at Gullick South Africa, believes that many of South Africa’s hard-rock underground mines have a great chance to benefit from water power.Â
Water pressure could power underground rock-breaking machinery in mines
Hamilton clarified in a Tuesday interview with Mining Weekly that subterranean rock-breaking equipment can be powered by gravity-pressurized water in cooling reservoirs used in mining operations, which could be a viable remedy in light of growing electricity expenses.
In underground mines, dropping water down a cooling column usually creates 20–25 MPa of pressure at the foot of the column, which can be utilised to power impact rock-breaking machinery.
Hydropower was being developed for South Africa’s gold mining industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Chamber of Mines Research Organisation (COMRO), which oversaw the research, stopped functioning as it had for the preceding 30 years because this was a challenging time for the industry.
In 1989, COMRO created an impact rock-breaking equipment that ran on water to mine gold-bearing reefs without exploding. By continuously cutting the footwall, this machine created its own.
According to a report by Mining Weekly, Hamilton thinks that if COMRO had kept up its hydraulic power research, water power may have had a far bigger impact on mining today, especially in permitting non-explosive mining, which permits 24-hour operations and has the potential to greatly increase output. Hamilton stated, “It could have doubled production.”
Hydraulic mining could allow round-the-clock operations and higher productivity
He mentioned the fourth system, which reached a peak of 390 square meters in a single month and continuously exceeded the goal of 300 square meters per shift. It was a success because the average performance was far higher than the necessary 300.
COMRO’s research and commercialisation initiatives were put on hold while the organisation was disassembled, despite these encouraging advances. In the end, the research was terminated by the gold producers’ committee that provided funding for it.
The potential of water as a backup power source and the application of hydraulic power in stope gear is highlighted in Brian Protheroe’s book COMRO’s Legacy, which was published by the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
