• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.527-533
• /
• 2015

This study performed an on-site demonstration of the topographic surveying technique at a large-scale open-pit limestone mine in Korea using a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, Drone, SenseFly eBee). 288 sheets of aerial photos were taken by an automatic flight for 30 minutes under conditions of 300 m altitude and 12 m/s speed. Except for 37 aerial photos in which no keypoint was detected, 251 aerial photos were utilized for data processing including correction and matching, then an orthomosaic image and digital surface model with 7 cm grid spacing could be generated. A comparison of the X, Y, Z-coordinates of 4 ground control points measured by differential global positioning system and those determined by fixed-wing UAV photogrammetry revealed that the root mean squared errors were around 15 cm. Because the fixed-wing UAV has relatively longer flight time and larger coverage area than rotary-wing UAVs, it can be effectively utilized in large-scale open-pit mines as a topographic surveying tool.

• Explosives and Blasting
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2006

Recently, most of limestone quarries have been not mined by open-pit mining but by underground excavation to reduce environmental pollution. As a result, the size of underground galleries became bigger to maintain mass-production close to open-pit mining. However, the scale of pillars and galleries as well as the excavation methods may induce a few adverse problems for the stability of a mined gallery. In this study, the nomogram analysis and the prediction of rock damage zone induced by blasting were carried out. The testing conditions include concurrent blasting of two adjacent galleries, concurrent blasting of a transport drift and a inclined shaft, sequential blasting of two galleries, and separate blasting for each gallery. For each testing condition, blast vibration velocity was measured and analyzed. From the prediction formulas for blast vibration velocity derived in this study, the maximum depth of rock damage zone induced by blasting were also predicted.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.194-199
• /
• 1998

This research was aimed to figure out the trend of dust diffusion at open pit limestone mine for assessing the environmental impacts on the high voltage power transmission line. It is rather easy to assess the dust generation and size distribution of limestone dust at the blasting site, but it is very hard to assess the expected area of dust diffusion and amount of dust fall by the distances from the dust source. In this research, a 3-dimensional fluid dynamic simulation software (3D-Flow) was used for analysing the above mentioned matters to assess the impacts to the insulators on the transmission tower by the blasting dust. It was verfied that the 3D-Flow is reliable tool for simulating dust movement, and the limestone dust is not much hazardous to the power transmission line.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.547-559
• /
• 2023

We evaluated the applicability of machine learning techniques and the Kuz-Ram model for predicting the mean fragmentation size in open-pit mines. The characteristics of the in-situ rock considered here were uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, rock factor, and mean in-situ block size. Seventy field datasets that included these characteristics were collected to predict the mean fragmentation size. Deep neural network, support vector machine, and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) models were trained using the data. The performance was evaluated using the root mean squared error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (r²). The XGBoost model had the smallest RMSE and the highest r² value compared with the other models. Additionally, when analyzing the error rate between the measured and predicted values, XGBoost had the lowest error rate. When the Kuz-Ram model was applied, low accuracy was observed owing to the differences in the characteristics of data used for model development. Consequently, the proposed XGBoost model predicted the mean fragmentation size more accurately than other models. If its performance is improved by securing sufficient data in the future, it will be useful for improving the blasting efficiency at the target site.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.102-115
• /
• 1992

Blasting operations associated with rock excavation work may have an environmental impact in nearby structures or human beings. With the increase of construction work in urban areas, vibration problems and complaints have also increased. In order to determine the optimum design parameters for safe blast, it is essential to understand blast mechanism, design variables involved in blast-induced damage, and their effects on the blasting results. This paper deals with the characteristics of ground vibrations, air blast and fly rock caused by blast, including the general method of establishing the vibration predictors, and damage criteria suggested by various investigators. The results of field measurements from open pit mine and tunnel construction work are discussed. Basic concepts of how to design blast parameters to control the generation of ground vibrations, air blast and fly rock are presented.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.489-502
• /
• 2022

In this study, a Gaussian process regression (GPR) model as well as six GPR-based metaheuristic optimization models, including GPR-PSO, GPR-GWO, GPR-MVO, GPR-MFO, GPR-SCA, and GPR-SSO, were developed to predict fly-rock distance in the blasting operation of open pit mines. These models included GPR-SCA, GPR-SSO, GPR-MVO, and GPR. In the models that were obtained from the Soungun copper mine in Iran, a total of 300 datasets were used. These datasets included six input parameters and one output parameter (fly-rock). In order to conduct the assessment of the prediction outcomes, many statistical evaluation indices were used. In the end, it was determined that the performance prediction of the ML models to predict the fly-rock from high to low is GPR-PSO, GPR-GWO, GPR-MVO, GPR-MFO, GPR-SCA, GPR-SSO, and GPR with ranking scores of 66, 60, 54, 46, 43, 38, and 30 (for 5-fold method), respectively. These scores correspond in conclusion, the GPR-PSO model generated the most accurate findings, hence it was suggested that this model be used to forecast the fly-rock. In addition, the mutual information test, also known as MIT, was used in order to investigate the influence that each input parameter had on the fly-rock. In the end, it was determined that the stemming (T) parameter was the most effective of all the parameters on the fly-rock.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.462-469
• /
• 2015

This study carried out a topographic survey at a small-scale open-pit limestone mine in Korea (the Daesung MDI Seoggyo office) using a popular rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, Drone, DJI Phantom2 Vision+). 89 sheets of aerial photos could be obtained as a result of performing an automatic flight for 30 minutes under conditions of 100m altitude and 3m/s speed. A total of 34 million cloud points with X, Y, Z-coordinates was extracted from the aerial photos after data processing for correction and matching, then an orthomosaic image and digital surface model with 5m grid spacing could be generated. A comparison of the X, Y, Z-coordinates of 5 ground control points measured by differential global positioning system and those determined by UAV photogrammetry revealed that the root mean squared errors of X, Y, Z-coordinates were around 10cm. Therefore, it is expected that the popular rotary-wing UAV photogrammetry can be effectively utilized in small-scale open-pit mines as a technology that is able to replace or supplement existing topographic surveying equipments.

• Explosives and Blasting
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.51-63
• /
• 2006

The typical blasting method adopted in Pasir Coal Mine is a surface blasting technique with a single free face. It means that there is only one free face, which is usually the ground surface. This kind of blasting method is easy to use but inevitably causes enormous ground vibrations, which, in turn, can affect the stability of the slopes comprising the various boundaries of the open pit mine. In addition, the method also has the problem of lowering the overall blast efficiency compared to other methods such as bench blasting methods or ones with more than two free faces. In this respect, a project was launched to develop a new blasting method that is suitable for both controling the ground vibration and enhancing the blast efficiency. As a part of the project, we investigated the current blasting method of the mine, and have conducted field measurements of the ground vibrations from 12 biasts. This Paper presents the details of the typical blasting pattern and the Propagation characteristics of the ground vibration from the surface blasting in the mine. Especially, various predictive equations for peak Particle velocities that can be used to estimate the ground vibration level in the mine area were derived from the regression analyses using the measured ground vibration data.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.39 no.5_1
• /
• pp.495-505
• /
• 2023

The Musan mine, situated in Musan County, Hamgyong Province, North Korea, stands as a prominent open-pit iron mine on the Korean Peninsula. This study focuses on estimating the mining and dumping activities within the Musan mine area by analyzing digital elevation model (DEM) changes. To calculate the long-term volume changes in the Musan mine, we digitized and converted the 1:200,000-scale third topographic map of the Joseon published in 1918 and compared with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) DEMs, including Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM (2000) and Copernicus DEM (2011-2015). The findings reveal that over a century, Musan mine yielded around 1.37 billion tons of iron ore, while approximately 1.06 billion tons of waste rock were dumped. This study is particularly significant as it utilizes a historical topographic map predating the full-scale development of Musan mine to estimate a century's mining production and waste rock deposition. It is expected that this research provides valuable insights for future investigation of surface change of North Korea where the acquisition of in situ data remains challenging.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.218-224
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this case study is to analyze the environmental and sociological impacts on a golf course construction at the damaged area of a previous limestone mine. Due to a long term of the open-pit mining, that site had been abandoned with geographical and ecological destruction before it was renovated to Ostar Danyang public golf course. This study is focused on the review of restoring the ecosystem through golf course construction procedures. Literature surveys of restoration through golf course construction in Japan and Canada were analyzed the procedure of utilization of previously existed lime mine. The sociological and environmental changes before and after construction were compared and analyzed. Environmental impacts on geographical, animal and plant ecology, and water quality were not affected or significantly improved after golf course construction from the mining site existed before. The local economy was also improved by increasing employment of resident and tax payment to local government. The construction of golf course could be one of the typical alternatives of ecological restoration of abandoned lime mine. Moreover in this project, minimizing the environmental impacts on surrounding ecosystem was emphasized by a larger size of developing construction. The harmonious lay-out on nature and artificial landscape were also considered a very first stage of construction procedure.