MINE PLANNING

The NAP.Mineração/USP works to develop and standardize mining techniques suitable for small-scale operations with a focus on safety and operational efficiency. Thus, we use well-established mining operation and planning procedures in the mining industry, demonstrating how the procedures can be automated and effectively applied within the small mining environment.

Mining activities in artisanal and small-scale mining have peculiar technical characteristics due to the limitations of scale and the technological level of the equipment used. In most cases, the operations are so different from traditional mining methods that they do not allow the application of conventional approaches to assess the operation’s performance.

Artisanal operations generally use simple equipment, with little technological level and practically nil geological knowledge. In addition, field research by the NAP.Mineração/USP team revealed that the inappropriate use of explosives is one of the main causes of accidents in small underground mining, due to the misuse of products (often handcrafted) and lack of technical knowledge . The tendency of artisanal mining to copy without understanding the procedures developed for mining on an industrial scale usually results in low efficiency and high risks in terms of safety and geotechnical instability. Overall, one of the main challenges is meeting production needs without increasing geotechnical risks.