Analysis on the development trend of iron ore mining technology in China

As the former iron ore prices fell sharply, the domestic iron ore business development face serious challenges, increasingly bad conditions of resource exploitation to increase the difficulty of the development of the social environment but also for mine development put forward new requirements. Therefore, during the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, in order to cope with the changes in the industry situation and the requirements of the times, we must continuously develop mining technologies, reduce the cost and increase efficiency through measures such as the application of new technologies and technological transformation, and at the same time China's mining technology level has been steadily improved.

First, the status quo

After decades of development in the new century, especially in the new century, the level of mining technology in China's iron ore industry has made significant progress.

(1) Open pit mining

In open pit mining, the mining process is more mature, the transportation mode is more diversified and efficient, with steep mining, continuous semi-continuous mining process, movable crushing station, steep slope railway transportation, vibration feeding machine loading station, The application of technologies such as automobiles and hoists, the promotion of advanced technologies such as non-waste mining technology, digitalization of mines, and intelligence, have significantly improved mine production efficiency.

(1) Staged mining technology. The staged mining is relative to the whole boundary mining. The advantage is that the investment is saved, the effect is quick, and the infrastructure investment can be achieved as soon as possible. Some large-scale steep inclined open pit mines in China have successfully realized staged mining technologies, such as Nanfen Iron Mine, Waterworks Iron Mine, and Qidashan Iron Mine.

(2) Intermittent continuous transportation technology. China's deep-open open pit mine has successfully applied intermittent continuous production technology. The system is mainly composed of two parts. The discontinuous part refers to the transportation of automobile or locomotive, and the continuous transportation part refers to the crusher belt machine and the earth-moving machine. With the gradual exploitation of open pit mines in China, the significance of this process has become increasingly prominent. The technology has been applied in Qidashan Iron Mine, Shuichang Iron Mine, Donganshan Iron Mine, Dagushan Iron Mine and Nanfen Iron Mine.

(3) High-step mining. The height of the step is the main parameter of the open pit. Increasing the height of the step is beneficial to improve the efficiency of the explosion, simplify and shorten the transportation line, increase the amount of minerals in the stage, and improve the continuity of the operation. In recent years, with the gradual popularization of large-scale shovel equipment, high-step mining technology has become more and more popular among mining enterprises. The height of domestic open-pit iron ore is generally 12 meters, and the height of Qidashan iron ore has reached 15 meters.

(4) Steep mining. Since the 1970s, China's metal mines experimental research into Steep Slope Technology's start. During the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, the steep mining was included in the national science and technology research project, and a large-scale industrial experimental research was carried out in the Nanfen open pit mine, which comprehensively and systematically revealed the technological characteristics of the steep mining, and it was the Nanfen iron ore mine. Production and construction have laid a technical foundation and provided practical experience for the technical transformation and new construction and expansion of large and medium-sized open-pit mines in China. Because steep mining has the advantages of small initial stripping, small amount of infrastructure construction, short construction period and short exposure time of the final slope, it has been promoted and applied in China's open-pit iron mines.

(2) Underground mining

Underground mining technology is a technical field that has carried out the most extensive scientific research work and obtained the most scientific and technological achievements in the past 60 years since 1949. It has successively obtained a large number of technical achievements in tunneling, mining methods, mine filling, etc., and used these results as technology. Support, built modern underground mines such as Meishan Iron Mine and Jingtieshan Iron Mine, thus promoting the rapid development of China's iron ore underground mining technology, and making the technology of some mines reach the international advanced level.

(1) Develop transportation methods. After years of development, the current domestic underground iron ore mine is mainly based on joint development of shafts and ramps. At the same time, some mines still use other pioneering methods in combination with their own characteristics. Taking Dahongshan Iron Mine as an example, the mine adopts the oblique well belt machine-trackless ramp-blind shaft combined development method, which replaces the shaft lifting and reduces the capital investment, which is innovative and reaches the international advanced level.

(2) Mining methods. Iron ore mines have basically eliminated the backward horizontal filling and shallow hole mining and mining methods. In the production mines, the sublevel caving method without bottom column is generally adopted, and the stage height is gradually increased. The Meishan iron ore reaches 132 meters and the Chengchao iron ore reaches 140 meters; section height and approach spacing are also increased to 15 meters x 20 meters or even 18 meters x 20 meters. In recent years, with the continuous expansion of the scale of underground mining and the stricter environmental protection policy, the application of the large-diameter deep-hole empty field method and the segmented empty-field post-filling mining method in the iron ore mine is becoming more and more urgent. many.

(3) Digital mining technology. Taking Meishan Iron Mine as the representative, through the integration of informationization and automation, it breaks through the traditional mining production management method and realizes the effects of remote management, visual monitoring and digital decision-making. It is of great significance to improve production efficiency, change production safety conditions, improve working environment, and promote green and coordinated mining.

Second, there are problems

Although China's mining technology has made significant progress, there are still some problems, mainly reflected in the uneven development of mining technology, the low level of digital mines, and the insufficient support of mining equipment for technological development.

(1) Unbalanced development of mining technology

China's vast territory, the national economic development level is very different, and the level of mining development is also very different. The advanced large-scale mining technology represented by Qidashan Iron Mine, Yuanjiacun Iron Mine, and Waterworks Iron Mine has basically reached the international advanced level. In underdeveloped areas, mining technology is still very backward, production efficiency is low, and recovery rate is low. The depletion rate is high and the resources are wasted.

(2) The level of digital mines is much different from that of foreign countries.

So far, China's digital mines have made great achievements, but compared with mining developed countries, the overall level is still very low, still in the primary development stage. For example, remote-controlled mining, unmanned work surfaces and even unmanned mines have become a reality in countries such as Canada, Sweden, the United States, and Australia, but China has not yet achieved it. The United States has successfully developed a large-scale mining dispatch system that uses the latest computer, wireless data communication, dispatch optimization and global satellite positioning system technology to carry out real-time computer control and management of open pit mine production; some underground mines have been implemented in addition to fixed equipment. In addition to automation, scrapers, rock drilling rigs, and underground trucks all achieved unmanned driving. Workers only remotely control these equipments on the ground to ensure smooth mining operations.

(3) Mining equipment does not support the development of technology

The development of mining technology needs to be promoted through the simultaneous update of mining equipment. For example, high-level mining technology in open pit mines must be equipped with large-scale electric shovel. The realization of digital technology requires intelligent equipment to support, but at present, China's mining equipment is still introduced. Digestion, absorption and innovation are the main factors. The independent research and development, large-scale and system integration capabilities of new equipment are weak, and the industrialized manufacturing capacity is weak. It cannot adapt to the upgrading of mining technology, which hinders the advancement of domestic mining technology to a certain extent.

Third, the "13th Five-Year" mining technology development trend

(1) Development direction

1. Changes in macroeconomic conditions make opportunities and challenges for mining technology coexist

In the past ten years, China's iron ore industry has experienced a period of rapid expansion of investment and rapid expansion of production capacity, and has also promoted the development of mining technology. During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, economic growth slowed down, market demand declined, supply and demand reversed, and the development of iron ore industry faced tremendous pressure. On the one hand, investment in mine technology research and development will tend to be tight, on the other hand, in the downturn in the industry. At the same time, enterprises need to reduce production costs, improve production efficiency and enterprise competitiveness through the application of new processes and new technologies.

2. Mining technology is developing in the direction of high efficiency, green and digital

During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the development of mining technology will continue to be simplistic in the production process, continuous in the production process, centralized in mining operations, and digital, intelligent and unmanned in the operation process. In the process of development, we must adhere to the independent innovation as the driving force for sustainable development of technology, take energy conservation and consumption reduction, green manufacturing as an important starting point for technological transformation, and take the deep integration of industrialization and informatization as an important measure of technological progress. The industrialization of results engineering is an important support for the strengthening of iron mining.

(2) Key technologies

During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the development of mining technology needs to closely integrate the direction of the industry's macro-policies, changes in resource conditions, protection of the ecological environment and social impacts, so as to adapt and promote the progress of the entire industry. Therefore, mining technology is in the “Ten During the period of the Third Five-Year Plan, we should focus on the following aspects.

1. Open-pit to underground mining and open-pit mining technology

With the end of a number of open-pit mines such as the Yankou Iron Mine and the Malanzhuang Iron Mine, they have been transferred to underground mining. The open-pit mining or underground-underground combined mining technology has lagged behind the actual needs of mine production. The research on open-pit mining technology involves many technical problems, especially the transition from open-pit to underground mining, the mining problem of the isolation layer, and the rock mechanics problems of open-pit mining or open-pit mining, which is urgently needed. Increase research during the five-year period.

2. Deep mining technology

With the depletion of shallow resources in China, iron ore mining has gradually turned to deeper, and the newly discovered iron ore resources are mostly deep deposits, such as Dataigou iron ore, Chentaigou iron ore, Sishanling iron ore, etc. in Liaoning. The depth of the ore body has exceeded 1,000 meters. Different from shallow mining activities, deep mining has many special laws and disasters. The outstanding features are “three highs”, that is, special mining technical conditions such as high ground stress, high well temperature and high water pressure, which may cause the roof to collapse. Problems such as instability of roadway, high temperature and high heat, and difficulty in ventilation cause the efficiency of lifting, ventilation, drainage, etc. to decrease, and the cost increases. This requires mining technology and equipment to adapt to this change, and deep research on key mining technologies for deep iron resources. To provide technical support for more and more iron ore mines entering deep mining.

3. Digital mining technology

The digital mine is a digital reproduction and understanding of the whole mine. With the application software of the mine as a tool, the high-efficiency and automated data acquisition system is used as a means to achieve high information, automation, high efficiency and even unmanned mining. Intelligent mining. This is a complex and huge project involving many technical fields and organizational production departments. Its application potential in mining engineering design, production scheduling, system monitoring and disaster prediction needs to be further explored. It will also be China's iron ore. The future development direction of the mountain, including digital geological model system and digital deposit model system; mine simulation mining technology under virtual conditions; open and underground mine communication, positioning and navigation, information rapid processing and process monitoring technology; intelligent control of mining equipment and Control technology, etc.

4. Green mining technology

Green mining technologies include low-grade ore mining technology and non-waste mining technology. China's iron ore resources are mainly lean ore. For low-grade deposits, such as ultra-depleted vanadium- titanium magnetite in Chengde, mining with traditional mining methods, high production costs, serious environmental damage, low grade ore, difficult mining How to use the body is worthy of further research; in addition, in the process of mining, not only the damage to the natural environment, but also many waste gas, waste water and waste residue. Non-waste mining is a process technology that minimizes the output and emissions of waste, improves the comprehensive utilization of resources, and reduces or eliminates the negative impacts of mineral resource development. In the long run, with the improvement of social environmental protection requirements, green mining technology will be one of the important research topics for the sustainable development of mining industry.

Fourth, the conclusion

In recent years, China's iron ore mines are facing a shortage of resources, more and more difficult mining bodies, and increasingly high requirements for environmental protection. Mining technology has made progress in many aspects, especially in open pit mine steep slope transportation technology and truck dispatching system. Technological breakthroughs have been made in large-parameter pillarless sublevel caving, deep well mining, complex and difficult mining, mine geological disaster prevention, and comprehensive management of mine ecological environment, which is the expansion of domestic mine scale and the rapid growth of iron ore output. Technical support is provided.

With the steady development of the steel industry in the future, the demand for iron ore will remain at a relatively high level. The continuous changes in the development conditions of iron ore resources and the increasing demand for environmental protection have prompted the development of mining technology in the direction of high efficiency, digitization and greening during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Under the current overall downturn of the iron ore industry, China's iron ore enterprises should actively improve their production efficiency and reduce production costs through technological transformation and management. At the same time, mining science and technology workers must also adapt to the requirements of the times, increase investment in research and development of mining technology, and actively promote the continuous development of the industry.