Determination of a suitable mining method for Kanyomera gold deposit.

Abstract

Kanyomera gold deposit is one of the few orogenic gold deposits in which artisanal and small scale miners practice gold mining. However, due to limited knowledge and use of rudimentary mining methods. and equipment, many lives have been lost and the environment has been severely degraded. This research thesis aimed at determining a suitable mining method that can be used to exploit the deposit safely, productively and sustainably. According to the study of the geology of the deposit, the ore body was found to irregularly shaped, having an area of 2438m2 and a thickness of 44.3mand steeply dipping at an angle of 55.40. The ore body has a moderately high grade of 3.83 g/ton. This grade makes the ore body profitable enough to mine using surface mining method. The geotechnical conditions of the deposit as obtained in relation to the rock mass rating used by Bieniawski in his classification scheme of the rock in 1989, showed that rock is fairly strong but can unfavorably be mined by underground mining methods, lest very expensive supports shall need to be used. The economic evaluation of the deposit displayed a tonnage of 74,446 tons of ore and grade of 3.83 g/tons worth mining profitably, and a comparison of the surface and underground mining methods showed that the capital costs of surface mining. by open pit. were slightly higher than those for underground mining methods, though the operating costs of underground mining methods are much higher than those for surface mining methods. This implies that in. the long run, surface mining method will be more cheaply compared to underground mining. A suitable mining method Was not attained due to the lack of drill hoke data about the deposit to be used to analytically understand the deposit. Therefore, the mining company to extract this deposit should embark on a detailed exploration programme.