Abstract
Groundwater inflow to an underground mine will seriously affect its mining plan and engineering geology safety. Groundwater models are powerful tools commonly used in the mines to develop dewatering strategies. Many mines in the Kolwezi area have been present since the 1950s, and groundwater flow patterns have been significantly influenced by mining activities. A mining plan is developed for an underground mine with overturned syncline strata in Kolwezi, Congo. Previous groundwater models using layered homogeneous media lowered model accuracies. A new three-dimensional groundwater model using FEFLOW, consisting of a combined regionally and locally geology models integrating 16 hydrogeological cross-sections and borehole logging data, are formulated to predict the underground dewatering in the study area. A 31-days pumping tests with 3 pumping wells and 28 observation wells are carried out to estimate the hydrogeological properties. The simulated water level data match the observed data rather well. Under 8 scenarios of possible well designs, the model predicts a possible dewatering capacity greater 23,900 m3/d at the initial stage of mining. The concept of the model and its application can be a reference for other mines with complex geology for mining safety in the region of interest.
Highlights
Mineral exploitation and mining activities play a vital role in the economic development of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Because the distance between the area of interest and the adjacent mines is short, the groundwater flow pattern will probably be altered after the intense mining activities in the area of interest, and it is uncertain whether the groundwater divide is present between the two mines
This study collects much data, such as precipitation, river runoff, groundwater level and the results of pumping tests, and constructs a three-dimensional groundwater flow model in an area of interest with a 3D geology model used to aid in the prediction of the dewatering of underground mines
Summary
Mineral exploitation and mining activities play a vital role in the economic development of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the USGS 2015 Minerals Yearbook, the DRC accounted for 51% of Africa’s copper mine production, and the mining and mineral processing sector in the DRC accounted for an estimated 22.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Many of the most important mining operations in the DRC consist of copper and cobalt production in the copper-belt region of the southern Katanga province. The belt stretches for 250 km between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi. Industrial copper production started in 1911 with the Union Minière du Haut Katanga (which became Gecamines), and the Musonoi mine has been known for many years in the western part of the Katanga Copperbelt.
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