Drilling
Blast holes are drilled to a designed pattern. Accurate collar position, angle and depth are critical to good fragmentation.
Mining Operations
From orebody to product — every stage managed with care
Mining operations are a sequence of connected stages. This page explains how minerals move from the ground to a saleable product, and how modern operations are managed and optimized.
The Mine Life Cycle
Five stages of mineral development
Every mine passes through the same broad phases. The time and capital involved are significant — it can take a decade or more from discovery to first production.
Exploration
Geological mapping, sampling, geophysics and drilling locate mineralization and define its size, shape and grade.
Evaluation
Resource estimation, metallurgical testwork and feasibility studies test whether a deposit can be mined safely and economically.
Development
Permitting, community agreements, infrastructure, pre-stripping or underground access prepare the site for production.
Production
Ore is extracted, hauled and processed while waste rock and tailings are managed under engineered controls.
Closure
Infrastructure is removed, landforms are stabilized and revegetated, and long-term monitoring confirms success.
Extraction Methods
Open-pit and underground mining
The choice of mining method depends on the depth, geometry and grade of the orebody, the strength of the surrounding rock and the economics of removing waste.
Open-pit mining suits large, near-surface deposits. The pit is excavated in a series of benches, with ore and waste drilled, blasted, loaded and hauled to their destinations. Pit walls are designed to geotechnical criteria so that slopes remain stable throughout the life of the mine.
Underground mining is used when ore is deeper or narrower. Access is developed through declines or shafts, and ore is extracted using methods such as long-hole open stoping, cut-and-fill or sub-level caving, with ground support and ventilation engineered for each area.
- Bench and slope design based on geotechnical data
- Stoping methods matched to orebody geometry
- Ventilation and ground support engineered by area
The Mining Cycle
Drill, blast, load and haul
Day-to-day extraction follows a repeating cycle. Small improvements in each step compound into major gains in safety, cost and grade control.
Blasting
Explosive charges are designed to break rock efficiently while controlling vibration, flyrock and dilution of ore with waste.
Loading
Excavators, shovels or underground loaders dig the broken rock, guided by grade-control boundaries that separate ore from waste.
Hauling
Trucks or conveyors transport ore to stockpiles or the plant, and waste to engineered storage facilities.
Processing Workflows
Turning ore into saleable product
Mineral processing liberates valuable minerals from the surrounding rock and concentrates them. The flowsheet is tailored to the mineralogy of each deposit, but most precious-metals plants follow a familiar sequence.
Ore is first crushed and ground to release the metal-bearing particles. Recovery then uses gravity separation, flotation or leaching — or a combination — depending on how the gold and silver occur. Recovered metal is refined into doré bars or concentrates for further refining.
Learn how this applies to each metal on our Gold Mining and Silver Mining pages.
Typical Flowsheet
Key steps in a precious-metals plant
| Stage | Purpose | Common equipment |
|---|---|---|
| Crushing | Reduce run-of-mine rock to a manageable size | Jaw, gyratory and cone crushers |
| Grinding | Liberate fine mineral grains from host rock | SAG mills, ball mills, HPGR |
| Classification | Return oversize material for further grinding | Hydrocyclones, screens |
| Concentration | Recover free metal or sulfide minerals | Gravity concentrators, flotation cells |
| Leaching & recovery | Dissolve and capture precious metals | CIL/CIP tanks, heap leach pads, carbon columns |
| Refining | Produce doré or concentrate for refiners | Elution, electrowinning, induction furnaces |
| Tailings management | Store processed residues safely | Thickeners, filters, engineered storage facilities |
Operational Management
How well-run operations are managed
Planning & Reconciliation
Long-, medium- and short-term plans are reconciled monthly against actual tonnes and grades so that models keep improving.
Grade Control
Close-spaced sampling and modeling define ore boundaries at the face, reducing dilution and ore loss.
Maintenance Strategy
Planned and condition-based maintenance keep critical equipment available and reduce unplanned downtime.
Responsible Resource Handling
Waste rock is characterized for acid-forming potential, water is recycled and reagents are controlled from delivery to disposal.
Operational Optimization
Fleet management systems, blast optimization and process control use data to raise productivity and lower energy use.
Integrated Safety
Every operational change passes through risk assessment and management-of-change review before it reaches the field.
Explore the technologies behind modern operations
Automation, sensors and data analytics are reshaping how mines plan, extract and process ore.