University of Pretoria

Mines are an important part of the circular economy of the mineral value chain. Although it is tempting to emphasise the manufacturing and recycling components in the circular economy, optimal mining of the metal or mineral from existing mines is a key component to sustain this circular economy. A key constraint is that mineral resources are finite in size and inevitable mine closure will lead to job losses and societal disruption. The economy of small communities and towns are often decimated by the closing of nearby mines. An example of this was the closure of the gold mines in the Stillfontein and Barberton mining areas of South Africa and the social problems caused by illegal miners. It would be clearly beneficial to society if the productive lives of existing mines could be extended for as long as possible. Research in the Department of Mining Engineering at The University of Pretoria focused on using state of the art numerical modelling techniques to extend the lives of shallow hard rock mines by optimising pillar sizes.