Mine Design, Planning and Sustainable Exploitation in the Digital Age

Mine Design, Planning and Sustainable Exploitation in the Digital Age covers mine planning, design and exploitation taking cognizance of new developments, especially those associated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the positive influence that it has, and will have, on the mining industry. It refers to latest best practices with emphasis on the social license to operate and sustainable (green) mining.

The book covers surface and underground mining in some detail and addresses relevant associated aspects such as risk management, green mining and the importance of real community relations. It is organized as follows:

• Surface Mining
• Underground Soft Rock Mining
• Underground Hard Rock (Metal/Non-metal) Mining
• Green and Sustainable Mining

It has many relevant photos and figures that help the reader and includes appropriate support design and types commonly used in the various mining methods.

Mine Design, Planning and Sustainable Exploitation in the Digital Age is mainly aimed at mining, geological engineering and other undergraduate and postgraduates interested in the mining resources industry. It will also serve as a useful reference book for practitioners in the mining industry who want an easy-to-use book.

A.J.S. (Sam) Spearing is a Professor in the School of Mines at the China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT). Before that, he was the Director of the Western Australian School of Mines in Kalgoorlie and is active in rock mechanics, mine design, safety and support research. He has co-invented several support products commonly used in tabular mining operations. He has been in academia for about 14 years and was associated directly in the mining industry before that. He is the author of several books and book chapters and has authored over 55 peer-reviewed papers.

Liqiang Ma is a Professor in the School of Mines at CUMT. He is the Deputy Dean of the School of Mines and is active in water conservation mining, ground control, mine design and rock mechanics research. He has been in academia for about 16 years. He is the author of several books and book chapters and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers. He spent a year at Penn State University as a visiting scholar from 2015 to 2016. His main research work is associated with mining methods (especially water conservation mining and ground control, including ground-breaking research in rockburst precursors. He was selected as "Outstanding Talents of the New Century" by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Cong-An Ma is an Associate Professor in the School of Mines at CUMT. Before that, he was a senior engineer at the ChangSha Institute of Mining Research. He is active in hard rock mining methods, mine rehabilitation and rock pass control theory research for the sublevel caving mining method. He has been in academia for about 12 years and was associated with copper mining industry before that. He is the author of two books and book chapters and has authored about 30 peer-reviewed papers. He spent a year at the University of California Riverside as a visiting scholar from 2014 to 2015.