As Az Zabirah bauxite deposit is almost flat dipping approximately 5° to the north ease, a conventional open cut strip mining is proposed utilizing O&K loading units and Caterpillar haulage and ancillary mining equipments.
The key mining activities include the following as proposed by GHD Pty Ltd (subcontractor with
the EPCM):
• Land clearing, topsoil removal and storage for later use.
• Dune sand removal. Dozed to form buttress support for blasting.
• Drilling of hard bands in the overburden (OVB), in the Iron Cap (ICP) and in the economic Bauxite horizon (BXZ).
• Geophysical logging of drill holes, to obtain better understanding of deposit.
• Blasting of hard bands in the overburden (OVB), in the Iron Cap (ICP) and in the economic Bauxite horizon (BXZ), using discrete deck charges in the different materials. Material will only be blasted where the increase in costs (drill and blast) would be offset by increase loading productivity, otherwise material will be free dug.
• Overburden stripping and formation of mining benches.
• Formation of initial external waste dumps, progressive in pit dumping of waste, filling mined out voids and dump rehabilitation in stages.
• Establishment of access ramps to various mine benches.
• Bauxite mining and transport to the Bauxite processing facility at the mine.
• Establishment of ROM Bauxite stockpiles for blending.
• Operational control of mining with regard to e ........
