Overview
| Stage | Production |
| Mine Type | Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Cut & Fill
- Sub-level stoping
- Longhole stoping
- Transverse stoping
- Avoca
- Longitudinal stoping
- Backfill
|
| Production Start | ...  |
| Mine Life | 2055 |
Garpenberg – the world’s most productive underground zinc mine. |
Source:
p. 10
| Company | Interest | Ownership |
|
Boliden AB
|
100 %
|
Indirect
|
|
Boliden Mineral AB
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
Boliden Mineral AB owns 100 % of the Garpenberg mine.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Garpenberg mine is situated in the mineralized Palaeoproterozoic igneous province of Bergslagen, south central Sweden, which is host to a variety of ore deposits, and especially Fe-oxide and polymetallic sulphide deposits. Garpenberg, which is the largest sulphide deposit in the region, consists of several individual ore bodies distributed over a distance of 4 km within the Garpenberg supracrustal inlier. The main host rock to the ore is calcitic marble (limestone) altered to dolomite and Mg +/- Mn-rich skarns. The footwall consists of rhyolitic pumiceous, graded massflow breccia and rhyolitic ash-siltstone and sandstone affected by strong phlogopite-biotitecordierite-sericite-quartz alteration. The hanging wall includes polymict conglomerates and rhyolitic pumiceous breccias. The stratigraphic succession is attributed to the volcanic cycle of a felsic caldera complex. The pumiceous breccias in the hanging-wall record a climactic eruption that formed a caldera over 500 m deep and over 9 km in diameter in the Garpenberg area. The limestone horizon is interpreted as a stromatolitic carbonate platform, formed in a shallow, marine environment during a hiatus in volcanism.
The Garpenberg inlier has been interpreted as a NE-SW trending, tight to isoclinal complex syncline with a sub-vertical axial plane (Allen et al., 2003). The structure is compressed at the southern end and opens to the north. The ore-host limestone shows a complex geometry due to large scale foldi ........
Mining Methods
- Cut & Fill
- Sub-level stoping
- Longhole stoping
- Transverse stoping
- Avoca
- Longitudinal stoping
- Backfill
Summary:
Garpenberg is a Zn-Pb-Ag-(Cu-Au) underground mine where the ore is mined from between 450 meters to more than 1 400 meters below surface. The mine encompasses several polymetallic ore bodies. Almost 75% of the mined tonnage derived from the largest ore body, Lappberget.
Over 95% of the mined ore in Garpenberg is extracted by sublevel stoping (also called longhole stoping), where the ore is mined in layers between two drifts vertically 25-35 metres apart. Most areas are mined with transversal longhole stoping, where the development and stope axis are perpendicular to the strike of the ore body. In some more narrow areas, longitudinal longhole stoping is used. The orientation of this method is along or parallel to the strike of the ore body. The ore body is split into primary and secondary stopes, which are mined in a predefined order and pyramid shape sequence. The standard stope dimensions are 22-35 m high, 10 m wide for primary stopes and 15 m wide for secondary stopes, with some local variation in dimensions. The last level of each mining block is the sill pillar, which separates the different mining blocks. This division allows the mine to have several production areas being scheduled and mined at the same time.
The ore bodies are divided into mining blocks with 3 to 8 levels of stopes in each block. The top level of each mining block is the sill pillar, which separates the different mining blocks. The level above sill pillar is filled with cemented p ........
Source:
p.8,11
Source:
- subscription is required.
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
- subscription is required.
Reserves at December 31, 2022:
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
|
Proven
|
18,700 kt
|
Zinc
|
3.1 %
|
|
Proven
|
18,700 kt
|
Silver
|
97 g/t
|
|
Proven
|
18,700 kt
|
Lead
|
1.3 %
|
|
Proven
|
18,700 kt
|
Copper
|
0.04 %
|
|
Proven
|
18,700 kt
|
Gold
|
0.24 g/t
|
|
Probable
|
90,600 kt
|
Zinc
|
2.5 %
|
|
Probable
|
90,600 kt
|
Silver
|
85 g/t
|
|
Probable
|
90,600 kt
|
Lead
|
1.1 %
|
|
Probable
|
90,600 kt
|
Copper
|
0.04 %
|
|
Probable
|
90,600 kt
|
Gold
|
0.3 g/t
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
109,300 kt
|
Zinc
|
2.6 %
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
109,300 kt
|
Silver
|
87 g/t
|
|
Measured
|
70 kt
|
Zinc
|
2.8 %
|
|
Measured
|
70 kt
|
Silver
|
108 g/t
|
|
Measured
|
70 kt
|
Lead
|
1 %
|
|
Measured
|
70 kt
|
Copper
|
0.03 %
|
|
Measured
|
70 kt
|
Gold
|
0.24 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
21,600 kt
|
Zinc
|
2.7 %
|
|
Indicated
|
21,600 kt
|
Silver
|
70 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
21,600 kt
|
Lead
|
1.3 %
|
|
Indicated
|
21,600 kt
|
Copper
|
0.06 %
|
|
Indicated
|
21,600 kt
|
Gold
|
0.41 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
67,400 kt
|
Zinc
|
2.3 %
|
|
Inferred
|
67,400 kt
|
Silver
|
57 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
67,400 kt
|
Lead
|
1.1 %
|
|
Inferred
|
67,400 kt
|
Copper
|
0.05 %
|
|
Inferred
|
67,400 kt
|
Gold
|
0.34 g/t
|
Source:
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