Feasibility Study on Continuous Mining Method in Deep Position of Jinchuan Nickel Mine, China

Jinchuan nickel mine is the largest nickel mine in China. Cut-and-fill mining method with high density cementing materials is used in the mine. The original mining design divided the mining operation into two steps. The first step stopped the mining rooms and the second step stopped the pillars. Because the two-step method made big trouble for finally mining pillars and strongly limited the mining speed and production, it was successfully changed to a continuous cut-and-fill method without pillars. However, the mining operation in the mine has been down to 800 m and the mining condition is getting worse and more complicated. Through systematical field investigations and 3-D FEM analysis, it is proved that the mining method without pillars is feasible for mining deeper orebodies in Jinchuan nickel mine.