Kemi, Finland

From surface to underground at

Kemi chrome mine
Intelligent mining
The large chromite deposit being
mined by Outokumpu at Kemi,
Finland has a lower than average
Cr2 O3 content of about 26%, so
chromite and ferrochrome pro-
duction technology has had to be
continuously upgraded to remain
competitive.
   The Intelligent Mine Implemen-
tation Technology Programme of
14 projects achieved real time con-
trol of mine production in precise
coordination with the needs of the
mineral processing plant and the
ferrochrome smelter. The system
utilizes a fast, mine-wide infor-
mation system that can help opti-
mize financial results for the whole
operation. Computerized drilling
with Atlas Copco Rocket Boomers
and Simbas, accurate coring with
Craelius rigs, reliable rock reinfor-
cement with Cabletec and Boltec A 3D impression of Kemi mine showing the open pit, the underground development and the orebodies.
rigs with Swellex bolts, and the
dependability and longevity of
Secoroc drilling consumables sup- Ore reserves at Kemi chrome mine inter-layered, and must be mined selec-
port this unique mine strategy. The are abundant, and the efficiency of the tively. However, there is strong granite
result is cost-efficient, integrated Tornio smelter is enhanced by its prox- some 80 m below the footwall.
production, on a model which may imity to both the mine and harbour The Kemi chrome deposit comprises
form the basis of the next genera-
facilities. Mining production has been 11 mineralizations within a 4.5 km-long
tion of mining techniques.
progressively switched from surface to zone varying from 5-105 m in width,
underground, where intensive use is with average thickness of 40 m, a min-
Introduction being made of information technology eral resource of over 150 million t of
to optimize the overall mining and pro- 28.6% Cr2O3. Of this, there are 50 mil-
Outokumpu is one of the world’s largest cessing operation. Underground mining lion t proven reserves underground be-
stainless steel producers, accounting for started in 2003 at 150,000 t/y, and pro- tween the 500 m level and the bottom of
about 8% of global stainless slab output, duction will increase to the planned level the open pit. The ore body continues at
and a similar share of cold rolled pro- of 1.2 million t/y by 2008. depth, probably to 1,000 m, with 750 m
duction. These are hugely significant having been reached by the deepest
proportions of a market that has risen Reserves exploratory hole. The 1.5 km-long x
by an average of 5.5% per annum over 500 m-wide main pit has a final planned
the last 20 years, and is currently enjoy- The Kemi deposit is hosted by a 2.4 bil- depth of 220 m.
ing 7% growth. lion year old mafic-ultramafic layered A two shift/day, five day/week pat-
Mainstay of the Outokumpu strategy intrusion extending for some 15 km north- tern is worked in the mine, from which
is its highly cost-efficient fully integrat- east of the town itself. The chromite-rich about 1.2 million t/y of ore grading
ed mine-to-mill production chain in the horizon appears 50­-200 m above the 24-26% Cr 2 O 3 is processed continu-
Kemi-Tornio area of northern Finland. bottom of the intrusion, and has an ously by the concentrator. The yield
An ongoing investment programme of average dip of 70 degrees northwest. is 220,000 t/y of 12-100 mm lumpy
EUR1.1 billion will expand total slab The main immediate host rock is weak concentrate with 35% Cr 2 O 3 , and
capacity from 1.75 million t to 2.75 mil- talc-carbonate, in which the hanging 420,000 t/y metallurgical grade con-
lion t, and coil rolling capacity from 1.2 wall contact is clearly defined. At the centrate at 45% Cr2O3. Over the years,
million t to 1.9 million t. footwall, the chromite and host rock is more than 30 million t of ore have been

underground mining methods 63

 Kemi, Finland

Concentrator operation is optimized

by accurate calibration of the feed slurry
analyzers, and control of product quality
from each unit process, both by com-
pensating for changes in feed type, and
measuring product quality on-line.
Manual input can be used, as well as
on-line information.
A Craelius Diamec 264 APC drill rig
carries out 10 km of coring each year.
Drill sections are established every 10
m and downhole survey is standard pro-
cedure, using a Maxibore system. Based
on the drill hole data, a 3D model of the
orebody is created and used as a basis
for production planning. Tying all these
streams of collected data and planning
outputs together requires an extremely
fast communications network, interfac-
Kemi underground mine – simplified long section. ing with a single master database.

produced from open pits, resulting in for each ore stope on a daily basis, and Underground infrastructure
130 million t in the waste heaps. this is merged and compared with daily
and blast-specific production histories The main decline starts at a portal in
Ore grade control from the database. the footwall side of the pit, at about 100
Each ore blast is treated selectively at m below the rim. The decline is mostly
Ore grade control in both the open pit the concentrator, in order to minimize 8 m-wide x 5.5 m-high, to accommo-
and the underground mine involves in- feed variation and maximize process date passing vehicles. It descends at 1:7
tensive wire line diamond core drilling, stability. to a depth of 600 m at the base of the
to determine boundaries and qualities In the concentrator, total chromite hoisting shaft, and connects with sev-
of specific ore types. In addition, all recovery is around 80%, depending on the eral intermediate sublevels. The decline
blast holes in the open pit are sampled. proportion of lumpy ore. Metallurgical is asphalted throughout most of its
Technical innovations for ore charac- grade concentrate contains about 45% length.
terization and quantification include Cr2O3 of 0.2 mm grain size, while up- There is also a 5,000 cu m repair
OMS-logg down hole logging, and auto- graded lumpy ore is about 35% Cr 2O3 shop for open pit equipment at the 115 m
mated image analysis for establishing with 12-100 mm size. The former is pel- level, and a larger 14,000 cu m work-
grain size distribution. letised at Tornio, and then mixed with shop at the 350 m level for the under-
Basic production data about mineral- upgraded lumpy ore before smelting to ground mobile equipment fleet. The
ogical and process histories are logged produce ferrochrome. final 23,000 cu m main workshop is at
the 500 m level. The 350 m level work-
Atlas Copco Diamec U6 APC at work underground. shops are enclosed by megadoors, which
keep in the heat so that an ambient 18
degrees C can be maintained. The ser-
vice bay is equipped with a 10 t travel-
ling gantry and 16 m-long inspection
pit. The washing bay is equipped with
two Wallman hydraulically controlled
washing cages, so there is no need for
operatives to climb onto the mobile
equipment.
The main pumping station is located
at the 350 m level, and has pumping
capacity of 2 x 250 cu m/h. The slurry-
type pumps, with mechanical seals,
pump the unsettled mine water to the
surface with a total head of 360 m. Two
other dewatering pumping stations are
located at the 500 m and 580 m levels.

64 underground mining methods

 Kemi, Finland

The crusher station at the 560 m level

is equipped with a 1,000 t/h Metso
gyratory crusher. This is fed from two
sides by vibrating feeders from separate
8 m-diameter main ore passes from the
500 m level, and from one side by a plate
feeder, to which the ore can be dumped
from the 550 m level. A 40 t travelling
gantry crane services the entire crusher
house. Crushed ore gravitates onto a
conveyor in a tunnel below the crusher
for transport to the shaft loading pock-
ets 500 m away.

Underground production
Trial stopes in three areas accessed
from the 275 m and 300 m levels were
mined to determine the parameters of Rocket Boomer L2 C is used for sublevel development.
the bench cut-and-fill technique to be
used. These had a width of 15 m, and
expand the smelting operation. Budgeted Rig Control System RCS, mounts the
were 30-40 m-long, with 25,000-30,000
cost for mine development is EUR70 latest Swellex HC1 pump, for bolt infla-
t of ore apiece. Both uphole and down-
million. tion at 300 bar pressure, and reports
hole drilling methods were tested, and
progress on the operator’s screen.
51 mm-diameter downholes selected as
Rock reinforcement The HC1 hydraulic pump is robust,
being the safest.
simple, and with low maintenance cost.
For production purposes, 25 m-high 2.4 m-long Swellex Mn12 bolts are used Coupled to an intelligent system, it rea-
transverse stopes are laid out, with cable for support in ore contact formations. ches the 300 bar pressure level quickly,
bolt and mesh support to minimize dilu- These are being installed at a rate of and maintains it for the minimum time
tion. Primary stopes are 15 m-wide, and 80-120 bolts/shift using an Atlas Copco for perfect installation. Combined with
secondary stopes 20 m-wide. Cemented Boltec LC rig, which is returning drilling the rig’s RCS system, the pump can
fill, using furnace slag from an iron ore penetration rates of 3.2 to 4 m/min. The confirm the number of bolts successfully
smelter and fly ash from local power Boltec LC rig, featuring Atlas Copco installed and warn of any problems
stations, is placed in the primary stopes,
while the secondary stopes will be back-
Stoping sequence at Kemi mine.
filled with mine waste rock. The pri-
mary stopes are being extracted one or
two levels above the secondary stopes.
Mining sublevels with 5 m x 5 m cross
sections are being established at 25 m
vertical intervals, using an Atlas Copco
Rocket Boomer L2 C drill rig equipped
with COP 1838ME rock drills and 5
m-long Secoroc steel and bits. Rounds of
60-80 holes take about 2 hours to drill,
charge and prime. An emulsion charging
truck with elevating platform and Atlas
Copco GA15 compressor provides fast
and efficient explosives delivery. The
footwall granite is very competent, but
lots of rock reinforcement is required
in the weaker host rock, where all drives
are systematically rock bolted and secu-
red with steel fibre reinforced shotcrete.
The planned nominal capacity is 2.7
million t/y of ore, which allows for
increased ferrochrome production at
Tornio when Outokumpu decides to

underground mining methods 65

 Kemi, Finland

productivity compared with alternative

support methods.
The Cabletec L is equipped with a
COP 1838ME hydraulic rock drill using
reduced impact pressure with the R32
drill string system for 51 mm hole
diameter. The machine's cable cassette
has a capacity of 1,700 kg and is easy
to refill, thanks to the fold-out cassette
arm. It features automatic cement
mixing and a silo with a capacity of
1,200 kg of dry cement, which is mixed
according to a pre-programmed for-
mula, resulting in unique quality
assurance for the grouting process.

Bench cut and fill

Boltec LC installing Swellex Mn12 rockbolts. The current mining method is bench cut
and fill, a type of sub-level stoping with
with inflation. A series of slip-pull tests is performed automatically, including downhole production drilling, in which
carried out throughout the mine pro- pulling the rods out of the hole. The primary stopes are 25 m-high, 15 m-
ved the strong anchorage capacity of main benefit of the two-boom concept is wide and between 30 and 40 m-long.
Swellex Mn12, both in the orebody and to drastically reduce the entire drilling Using a Rocket Boomer L2 C rig, the
for the softer talc-carbonate and and bolting cycle time. Also, separat- drifts for the primary stopes are devel-
mylonite zone. ing the drilling and bolting functions oped laterally from the footwall through
prevents the risk of cement entering the the ore zone. Then a Simba M6 C pro-
Cable bolting rock drill, thereby reducing service and duction rig drills down 51 mm diameter
maintenance costs. blastholes in fans 2 m apart. Each stope
Kemi installs some 80 km of cable bolt Kemi tested the prototype Cabletec L yields between 25,000 and 35,000 t of
each year using its Atlas Copco Cabletec and eventually purchased the unit after ore.
L unit, which is based on the longhole minor modification proposals. During Tests showed that drilling upwards
production drilling rig Simba M7, with the testing period, where most holes would be about 30 per cent more effi-
an added second boom for grouting and were in the 6 to 11 m range, the rig grou- cient, but because of safety issues relat-
cable insertion. The Rig Control System ted and installed cables at rates of more ed to the poor rock conditions, it was
enables the operator to pay full attention than 40 m/hour. The capacity of the unit, decided to start with downhole drilling
to grouting and cable insertion, while which is governed by the rate of dril- while getting experience with the rock
drilling of the next hole after collaring ling, provided around 50 per cent extra and the mining method. Meantime,
Kemi ordered a Simba M7 C rig with
Cabletec L installing cable bolts at Kemi. long boom to be delivered in August,
2005. With Simba M6 C and Simba M7 C,
operators are able to cover all kinds of
drilling patterns.
Mining of the 20 m-wide secondary
stopes started in 2005, while sub-level
caving with uphole drilling was tested
at one end of the main pit in 2006.
Secoroc rock drilling tools are used
for production drilling. The previous 64
mm holes over-fragmented the ore, but
a switch to 51 mm resulted in lower spe-
cific charges and better fragmentation,
while retaining the same number of
holes. When developing the secondary
stopes, the mine can go back to 64 mm
drilling if there are problems keeping
the holes open due to the stresses and
rock movements.

66 underground mining methods

 Kemi, Finland

Kemi is carrying out slot hole drill-

ing with a truck-mounted Simba M4 C
rig. The front part of the rig has been
redesigned to accommodate the Secoroc
COP 84L low volume DTH slothammer,
which is used to drill the 305 mm-
diameter opening hole for the longhole
raises. The blasting holes are drilled
off using a COP 54 with 165 mm bit
with the same tubes. The 20 m raises
are blasted in two 10 m lifts.

Rig Remote Access

The drill rigs at Kemi are integrated
into the Ethernet WLAN communica-
tions network that eventually will cover
the whole mine. Currently, this 1 GB
network, which is based on commer-
cially available equipment, covers the
declines, the workshops and parts of the
production area.
This network infrastructure not only
allows effective underground communi-
cation but also means that all the Atlas
Copco drill rigs equipped with the Rig
Remote Access (RRA) option are logi-
cally integrated into the information
systems in Outokumpu's administrative
organization. The RRA is installed on
the Rocket Boomer and Simba rigs.
The RRA, which consists of a com-
Simba M6 C at work in the sublevels at Kemi mine.
munication server onboard the rig and
a network adapter, integrates with the
mine's network to allow data transfer and before each shift; and fault diagnostics Acknowledgements
remote monitoring and troubleshoot- can be conducted remotely, which al-
ing. It works as a two-way communica- lows the service technician to diagnose Atlas Copco is grateful to the mine and
tion system, since data can be sent and the problem and choose the correct spare concentrator management at Kemi for
received in real time between Atlas parts before travelling to the drill rig. assistance in producing this article.
Copco and the mine.
For instance, should one of the drill The 350 m-level workshop at Kemi.
rigs encounter a problem, the warning
seen by the operator will also be shown
in the mine office, which can then con-
tact Atlas Copco immediately, enabling
them to enter the rig's electronic system
and diagnose the fault. The main bene-
fits of RRA are: the administrative sy-
stem can be updated automatically with
the latest information with no manual
handling; the rig operator always has
access to the latest production planning;
there is no need to write work reports
after each shift, since all log files are
automatically saved to the planning
department; work orders can be issued
during the shift and directed onto the
specific drill rig instead of being written

underground mining methods 67

 Kemi, Finland

Access to the underground operations.

68 underground mining methods