胶结充填采矿法的鼻祖---伊萨山地下铜矿(Mount Isa Mines)即将关闭

2024年1月18日，澳大利亚的嘉能可(Glencore)突然宣布将关闭其伊萨山(Mount Isa Mines)的采矿业务，原因是资源已经达到枯竭状态，该矿经过60年的运营后将于2025年停止运营，目前大约有1200人在伊萨山的地下铜矿、铜选矿厂和配套服务部门工作，伊萨山的其他金属资产，包括铜冶炼厂、George Fisher矿、锌铅选矿厂、Mount Isa的铅冶炼厂和Townsville的铜精炼厂，还将继续运营。

2. 伊萨山铜矿对采矿工程的贡献

伊萨山(Mount Isa Mines)是澳大利亚最大的地下铜矿，目前使用的主要采矿方法是分段崩落法，开采深度接近2000米。在历经60年的采矿中，它为采矿方法和采矿岩石力学的发展作出了巨大贡献，包括应力测量、工程岩体分类、岩石破碎、采矿方法的变迁、岩石支护方法等，许多应用都已写入教科书中，其中最值得称道的是它的充填采矿法，它是最早使用胶结充填CRF(Cemented Rock Fill)的矿山，可以称之为CRF的鼻祖，也是全世界使用CRF最大的矿山。

Mount Isa Mines分段崩落法和岩体节理测绘

加拿大第二最深的地下矿山Kidd Creek矿开采深度为3km，是全球使用CRF的第二大矿山，Kidd Creek矿的CRF主要使用小于15cm的破碎安山岩作为骨料，占重量的5%，CRF龄期为28天，原位测试获得的平均变形模量为2.28~3.38GPa，单轴抗压强度为6.07MPa【Kidd Creek Mine的地压控制和岩石工程参数校准】。

其次，伊萨山的空场采矿法奠定了现代空场采矿法经验设计的基础，1970年，Mathews, K.E. 以伊萨山为研究对象，在昆士兰大学完成了他的硕士论文《Excavation design in hard and fractured rock at the Mount Isa Mine, Australia (伊萨山矿坚硬破碎岩石的开挖设计)》，10年后，他在加拿大的Golder Associates提出了后来闻名的Mathews空场设计法【经验的空场设计(Empirical open stope design in Canada)历史回顾】。

3. 参考

[1] (1970) Diamond drilling for structural purposes at Mount Isa.

[2] (1970) Excavation design in hard and fractured rock at the Mount Isa Mine

[3] (1971) Cemented Fill Practice and Research at Mount Isa.

[4] (1973) The development and design of a cemented rock filling system at the Mount Isa Mine Australia.

[5] (1976) Monitoring of Stress, Strain and Displacement in and Around a vertical Pillar at Mount Isa Mine.

[6] (1976) Stress measurement in a bored raise at the Mount Isa Mine.

[7] (1977) An analysis of rock behaviour in an experimental stoping block at the Mount Isa Mine.

[8] (1977) In situ investigation of cemented rockfill in the 1100 ore body, Mount Isa Mine.

[9] (1977) Cemented Rockfill In Mining - A Review.

[10] (1980) Investigation of cemented fill stability in 1100 orebody, Mount Isa Mines, Ltd., Queensland, Australia.

[11] (1980) Application of various rock mass classifications to unsupported openings at Mount Isa, Queensland: A case study. 

[12] (1981) Extraction design using open stopes for pillar recovery in the 1100 orebody at Mount Isa.

[13] (1981) Rock mechanics of crown pillars between cut-and-fill stopes at Mount Isa Mine.

[14] (1982) Numerical modelling of the yielding 11-level crown pillar at Mount Isa.

[15] (1983) Development of a fragmentation monitoring system for evaluating open slope blast performance at Mount Isa Mines.

[16] (1983) Studies of the composite system of unsupported openings at Mount Isa, Queensland: a case study.

[17] (1983) Cable support of lead open stope hangingwalls at Mount Isa Mines Limited.

[18] (1989) Fill research at Mount Isa Mines.

[19] (1992) Ground support investigations and practices at Mount Isa.

[20] (1992) Geotechnical mapping at Mount Isa Mines.

[21] (1996) Rock mass characterisation of the George Fisher deposit from borehole data.

[22] (1996) Evolution of Cemented Rock Fill at Mount Isa Mines Limited.

[23] (1998) Rock Mechanics Principles for Open Stope Mining at Mount Isa Mines. 

[24] (1998) Cemented rockfill research at Mount Isa Mines Limited 1992-1997.

[25] (2000) Mount Isa Mines - 1100 Orebody, 35 Years On.

[26] (2016) Improvement of squeezing ground prediction and monitoring capabilities for Mount Isa Mines Northern 3500 orebody.

[27] (2017) Co-disposal of waste rock with backfill. 

[28] (2020) Crown pillar extraction with paste underhand stoping.

[29] (2022) Unearthing the Black Rock orebody with sublevel caving.