159 GRAVITY GOLD CONFERENCE / BALLARAT, VIC, 21 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2010

INTRODUCTION
The Hillgrove Mineral eld is located in north-eastern New
South Wales, about 25 km east of Armidale. The area has been
mined since the 1870s and has produced over 72 000 oz of
gold, in excess of 50 000 tonnes of antimony and 2000 tonnes
of tungsten in the form of scheelite. Current gold resources
are of the order of 1.3 Moz of gold equivalent. The Hillgrove
mine is currently owned by Straits Resources and the current
mining operations are focused on the Syndicate orebody,
although since August 2009, Straits announced a temporary
suspension of processing activities to fully investigate the
technical issues, cost and time required to implement required
plant modications to achieve commercially viable production
levels (Straits Resources, 2010).
This paper reports on the results of split face ring trials at
the Hillgrove mine in NSW and analyses the results of these
blasts.
GEOLOGY
As described by Ganza and Dell (2008) the focus of the
Hillgrove Mineral eld is an area approximately 9 km 6 km
in a north-west striking belt between the Chandler and Hill
grove faults as illustrated in Figure 1. The Hillgrove Mineral
Field is situated on the edge of the New England Plateau
and is dissected by a gorge system of up to 500 m in depth.
The mineral occurrences of the Hillgrove Au-Sb-W district
are hosted in late Palaeozoic polydeformed, hornfelsed
metasediments and Permo-Carboniferous granitoids of the
New England Orogen. Most of the mineralised structures of
the Hillgrove region lie between the Hillgrove and Chandler
faults.
The mineralisation at Hillgrove is predominantly hosted in
a central zone of biotite-grade metamorphosed sedimentary
rocks of the late Palaeozoic Girrakool beds, these were
originally shale, siltstone, argillite and greywacke. To the north
these meta sediments are bounded by biotite monzogranite
of the ~300 Ma Hillgrove Adamellite, to the south by the
granodioritic-dioritic rocks of the early Permian Bakers Creek
Diorite Deposit (Ganza and Dell, 2008). Most of the deposits
are hosted in the metasediments; however there are several
signicant lodes in both the north and south bounding rock
mass.
Syn-mineralisation lamprophyre dykes dated at 247 - 255 Ma
are both cut by mineralisation as well has having intruded
mineralised structures (Ashley et al, 1994: Boyle and Hill,
1988). The majority of dykes are closely related to mineralised
structures and up to a few metres wide, rarely exceeding three
metres.
The mineralisation as described by Ganza and Dell (2008)
is developed in veins, vein breccias, network stockworks and
as alteration haloes to the main structures. The majority of the
mineralised veining has a north-west orientated strike, with
dips commonly between 70 to vertical and variable widths of
up to 20 m in places. The mineralised structures commonly
pinch and swell, according to the presence of local dilatational
sites giving a large variation in the widths of the mineralised
veins and breccia, varying from less than 1 cm to several
metres. The ore shoots are typically subvertical.
The resource and reserve as of 30 June 2008 is detailed in
Table 1.
MINING
Mining activities at Hillgrove have changed over recent years.
As described by Ganza and Dell (2008) mining has moved
from labour intensive, low productivity but highly selective
shrinkage stoping to a highly mechanised, high productivity
1. MAusIMM, Associate Professor of Mining Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, Ballarat Vic 3353. Email: m.tuck@ballarat.edu.au
2. MAusIMM, Mining Manager, Straits Hillgrove Gold, 51 Braken Street, Hillgrove NSW 2350. Email pganza@hillgrove.straits.com.au
Resue or Split Face Firing Trial Results
from Hillgrove Mine
M Tuck
1
and P Ganza
2
ABSTRACT
Resue or split face ring has the potential to separate ore and waste rock into separate muck piles
within a stope. Thus split face ring has the potential to reduce dilution of the ore stream to be
transported to the surface for subsequent processing. It also potentially reduces the total amount of
broken rock needing to be transported out of the mine as the waste material is physically separated
from the ore as part of the blasting process. Waste can therefore be used directly from the stope
to backll other mining areas. This paper reports on the results of split face ring trials at the
Hillgrove mine in NSW and analyses the results of these blasts.
Category Tonnes (kt) SB (%) Au (g/t)
Resource 4676 1.9 4.7
Reserve 2210 2.5 4.0
TABLE 1
Hillgrove resource and reserve as of 30 June 2008 (Ganza and Dell, 2008).
GRAVITY GOLD CONFERENCE / BALLARAT, VIC, 21 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2010
M TUCK AND P GANZA
160
sublevel longhole open stoping operation to ensure a feed of
250 kt per annum to the plant. Sublevel longhole open stoping
was regarded as the safest, most productive and exible
mining method for the site. Initial stoping commenced on
16.5 m sublevels because of pre-exisisting infrastructure with
plans to increase the sublevel spacing as condence in the
method increased. Average ore width is 2 m with the grade
varying across the ore face with respect to the antimony,
gold and tungsten location within the shear zone. Ground
conditions also vary across the ore with respect to the degree
of alteration. The ore is steeply dipping, averaging 80 to the
west with a strike length of 450 m. Stopes are planned at a
length of 25 m with a rib pillar of 5 m width separating the
stopes. Crown pillars are located every 100 m vertical, with
plans to recover these pillars after stoping has nished. A top
down sequence of extraction is practised retreating to central
cross cuts. Stope drilling is with 64 mm blastholes commonly
in a dice ve pattern. Ring spacings of 1.3 m are used.
The main decline is developed with a 5 m wide by 5.2 m high
arched back prole, whilst the ore drives are 3.5 m wide by
4.5 m high with a shanty back prole. All vertical developm ent
is undertaken by Alimak and longhole rising techniques. More
complete details of the production equipment, personnel,
infrastructure and costs are provided in Ganza and Dell
(2008).
RESUE BLASTING
The principles of resue blasting are detailed by Tuck (2008).
Resue mining methods can be broadly dened as a method
of stoping in narrow vein deposits whereby the wall rock on
one side of the vein is blasted rst and then the ore (Wickens,
2007). Unfortunately very little work has been published on
the method, particularly in terms of modern literature.
From this denition two types of resue mining can result.
In most systems either the ore or waste rock are blasted
rst, mucking is then undertaken, then the remainder of the
FIG 1 - Hill grove location and regional geology (Straits Resources 2010).
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RESUE OR SPLIT FACE FIRING TRIAL RESULTS FROM HILLGROVE MINE
161
material is blasted and mucked. This is a two stage process and
as such greatly increases the mining cycle time and therefore
the cost of the operation. Other problems also are possible
with this method such as the potential for safety problems
and geotechnical problems particularly in seismically active
mining operations.
The second type of resue operation is where all the rock
is blasted in one ring. In this case either the ore or waste
are blasted during the initial stages of the ring and thrown
further down the drive, then the remainder of the drive is red
with less throw. Thus ore and waste are separated and can be
mucked out separately utilising modern mining equipment
and ensuring workers always work under fully supported
ground. This method can be termed a simultaneous method
of resue ring, or a method of ring which res out the face in
two distinct periods but within a single blast.
SIMULTANEOUS RESUE FIRING
The method of simultaneous resue ring is best described with
reference to an example. Consider the situation as illustrated
in Figure 2, with a drive in a narrow vein mining operation
where there is a vein of ore diagonally across the drive, at this
point it should be noted that the orientation of the vein is not
of relevance. In a typical mining situation this drive would be
red as a single continuous blast resulting in mixing of both
the waste and ore which would need to be mucked out as a
single product, so resulting in dilution.
In the method of simultaneous resue ring the drive would
be blasted as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3a shows the drive
prior to ring. In this case the blast holes within the vein
are red as per a normal drive blasting operation using long
period detonators allowing the material from the cut and each
sequential set of holes to be fragmented and ejected a distance
down the drive, prior to the next set of holes being red as
illustrated in Figure 3b. Once the ore has been blasted the
remaining waste is blasted using millisecond delays to provide
minimal throw but to fragment the ore and leave it at and/or
close to the freshly blasted face, as illustrated in Figure 3c. Use
of perimeter control blasting at this latter stage also ensures
minimal damage to the surrounding rock mass enhancing the
stability of the freshly created drive.
As can be seen from Figure 3 a blast sequenced in such a way
would result in a two separate zones of fragmented material,
ore thrown further down the drive and waste close to the blasted
face. Thus the two materials could be mucked separately with
ore being transported to surface for subsequent treatment
and waste transported to be used as waste ll underground as
required. This minimises haulage costs to surface. In reality
it is unlikely that the results of such blasting would result in
two distinct zones of material, there will be a zone where ore
and waste are mixed together; this would require a decision to
be made regarding the destination of this mixed and diluted
material. It should be noted that if this material were to form
part of the ore stream the amount of dilution would be lower
than in the tradition blasting method.
TRIALS OF RESUE FIRING AT HILLGROVE
Following on from the Narrow Vein Mining Conference in
2008, Hillgrove decided to trial split face ring in the ore
drives for the stopes. These drives are typically 3.5 m wide by
4.5 m high with a shanty back prole as illustrated in Figure
4. Figure 4 also shows the narrow vein nature of the orebody
and the suitability of the resue ring method in this particular
case. Table 2 details some of the results obtained with full
width standard ring for a number of ore drives at Hillgrove.
The drives vary in width from 3.5 m to 4.85 m and Table 2
details the gold, antimony and tungsten grades for each of
the faces as well as a gold equivalent grade. Average grades
for each product as well as an average gold equivalent grade
are also reported. Using full width ring the average gold
equivalent grade is 10.99 ppm or g/tonne.
FIG 2 - Example drive cross-section (Tuck, 2008).
FIG 3 - Firing of drive (Tuck, 2008).
GRAVITY GOLD CONFERENCE / BALLARAT, VIC, 21 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2010
M TUCK AND P GANZA
162
FIG 4 - Typical ore drive at Hillgrove.
Face # Full width
Width (m) Au (ppm) Sb (%) W (ppm) Au Eq
1600 south 36 4.85 1.15 2.73 286 5.99
1616 south 45 4.2 1.57 1.52 140 4.25
1584 south 30 4.1 2.04 6.16 403 12.82
1584 north 20 4.3 1.81 2.19 103 5.61
1600 south 38 3.85 8.09 4.64 1044 16.68
1566 south 4 4.65 1.89 2.51 1503 7.12
1584 south 32 4.1 10.32 5.99 449 20.84
1600 south 40 3.6 5.28 5.43 5219 17.81
1566 south 6 3.4 0.31 4.66 106 8.33
1566 north 4 4.4 2.80 6.90 309 14.78
1584 north 22 3.75 1.57 5.21 1452 11.39
1584 south 34 3.5 1.09 7.09 1443 14.12
1566 north 6 3.6 3.74 4.49 650 11.81
1566 south 8 3.6 2.14 2.72 42 6.81
1600 south 45 4.25 4.81 2.42 2806 10.70
1566 north 12 4.2 3.81 3.92 225 10.64
1616 south 51 4.45 0.38 1.45 23 2.85
1600 south 57 4.1 2.13 3.50 517 8.43
1616 south 53 4.2 1.71 1.87 782 5.40
1600 south 60 4.3 7.91 9.07 83 23.50
Average 4.07 3.23 4.22 879 10.99
TABLE 2
Results of full width fring of ore drives at Hillgrove (Ganza, 2009).
GRAVITY GOLD CONFERENCE / BALLARAT, VIC, 21 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2010
RESUE OR SPLIT FACE FIRING TRIAL RESULTS FROM HILLGROVE MINE
163
Tables 3 and 4 detail for the same ore drives the grades from
resue ring for both the ore blast and the waste blasts from
assaying of the ore and waste muck piles produced. Comparison
of Tables 2, 3 and 4 shows that for the gold and antimony resue
ring works well in the majority of cases with the majority of the
gold and antimony being contained in the ore muck pile with
only low levels contained in the waste muck pile. On average
resue ring almost doubles the gold equivalent grade in the ore
muck pile compared to full face ring and produces on average
a waste muck pile grading 1.15 ppm gold equivalent.
Further inspection of the tables shows that this result varies
considerably with respect to the tungsten. In some cases the
same concentration of tungsten in the ore muck pile can be seen
such as face 1600 South 36. However in a number of the trials
such as face 1584 South 34 the tungsten is concentrated in the
waste muck pile. Inspection of Figure 4 offers an explanation for
this phenomenon as does the earlier description of the geology
of the Hillgrove deposits. The tungsten at Hillgrove is variably
associated with the gold and antimony mineralisation. In
some zones both types of mineralisation are closely associated
whereas in other zones the two sets of minerals are not closely
associated as shown in Figure 4 where the predominant
tungsten mineralisation is on the footwall contact whilst the
gold and antimony is on the hanging wall contact. In these
types of situation the tungsten would be associated with the
waste blast within the resue ring.
CONCLUSION
The results of the resue ring trials at Hillgrove show some
encouraging results for the gold and antimony, with almost a
doubling of the grade in the ore muck pile and the waste muck
pile having low grades of both gold and antimony. However
the results for the tungsten are more variable. The question
is should resue ring continue in the ore drives? The answer
to this is more complicated than just a grade comparison.
Further investigations on the impact of higher grades on the
milling operations, a full cost benet analysis on the mining
operations and an analysis on the effect of mining cycle
times needs to be undertaken before a decision to use resue
ring can be made. However the system does show some
encouraging results.
REFERENCES
Ashley, P M, Cook, N D J, Hill, R L and Kent, A J R, 2008. Shoshonitic
lamprophyre dykes and their relation to mesothermal Au-Sb veins
at Hillgrove, New South Wales, Australia, Lithos, 32:249-272.
Boyle, G O and Hill R L, 1988. The Hillgrove antimony and gold
eld, New England Orogen Tectonics and Metallogenesis
(ed: J D Kleeman) (University of New England: Armidale).
Ganza, P, 2009. Personal communication, January.
Ganza, P and Dell, C, 2008. Return to Hillgrove, in Proceedings
Narrow Vein Mining, pp 13-18 (The Australasian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).
Tuck, M, 2008. Resue ring and dilution control in narrow vein
mining, in Proceedings Narrow Vein Mining, pp 195-197,
(The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).
Wickins, B, 2007. The Mining Glossary: The Essential Handbook
Of Mining Terminology (RESolutions: Perth).
Straits Resources, 2010. Hillgrove Antimony/gold mine [online].
Available from: <http://www.straits.com.au/operations/hill
grove.html> [Accessed: 23 April 2010].
Face # Resue (ore)
Width (m) Au (ppm) Sb (%) W (ppm) Au Eq
1600 south 36 2.4 1.70 5.48 573 11.43
1616 south 45 2.1 2.60 1.65 121 5.50
1584 south 30 1.85 4.14 13.56 240 27.48
1584 north 20 2.3 3.18 4.06 83 10.17
1600 south 38 2.7 11.35 6.61 1487 23.58
1566 south 4 2.55 3.09 3.81 2559 11.19
1584 south 32 1.85 22.82 13.23 990 46.06
1600 south 40 2.1 8.67 9.29 8754 30.00
1566 south 6 2 0.50 7.90 28 14.02
1566 north 4 3 3.94 9.95 422 21.21
1584 north 22 2.5 2.26 7.54 2165 16.50
1584 south 34 1.25 2.69 18.60 391 34.75
1566 north 6 2.35 4.90 6.82 993 17.18
1566 south 8 1.85 4.05 5.26 68 13.09
1600 south 45 2.1 8.10 3.75 4805 17.51
1566 north 12 2.05 7.66 7.99 96 21.39
1616 south 51 1.65 1.00 3.77 48 7.46
1600 south 57 2.6 3.17 5.45 510 12.80
1616 south 53 2.45 2.64 3.16 1304 8.85
1600 south 60 2.6 12.60 14.61 116 37.70
Average 2.2125 5.55 7.62 1288 19.39
TABLE 3
Results for resue fring for ore muck pile.
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M TUCK AND P GANZA
164
Face # Resue (waste)
Width (m) Au (ppm) Sb (%) W (ppm) Au Eq
1600 south 36 2.45 0.62 0.03 5 0.67
1616 south 45 2.1 0.53 1.38 160 3.00
1584 south 30 2.25 0.32 0.07 538 0.76
1584 north 20 2 0.24 0.03 125 0.36
1600 south 38 1.15 0.43 0.03 5 0.48
1566 south 4 2.1 0.44 0.94 220 2.18
1584 south 32 2.25 0.05 0.03 5 0.10
1600 south 40 1.5 0.53 0.03 271 0.74
1566 south 6 1.4 0.03 0.03 218 0.21
1566 north 4 1.4 0.36 0.35 67 1.00
1584 north 22 1.25 0.19 0.56 27 1.16
1584 south 34 2.25 0.20 0.70 2028 2.66
1566 north 6 1.25 1.55 0.10 5 1.72
1566 south 8 1.75 0.13 0.03 14 0.18
1600 south 45 2.15 1.59 1.13 853 4.05
1566 north 12 2.15 0.13 0.03 348 0.39
1616 south 51 2.8 0.01 0.08 9 0.14
1600 south 57 1.5 0.33 0.11 530 0.85
1616 south 53 1.75 0.41 0.07 51 0.56
1600 south 60 1.7 0.74 0.60 33 1.78
Average 1.8575 0.44 0.32 275 1.15
TABLE 4
Results for resue fring for waste muck pile.