The management of heat flow in deep mines

Abstract

AbstractWith the ever‐increasing depth of mines, the management of heat has become a key issue for their design and operation. There are two main sources of heat: heat transfer from the rock mass into the mine workings and heat associated with mining operations. The principles of heat transfer from the rock mass are discussed and basic relationships presented. Sources of heat linked to mining operations are discussed. It is shown that in deep‐level mines, heat transfer from the rock mass accounts more than 75 % of total mine heat load. In highly mechanized coal mines, heat from the use of mining machinery is also significant. Some models of heat flow prediction for deep gold mines are presented. It is shown that in the case of deep mines, control of heat flow is more important than increasing refrigeration capacity. Examples of heat flow management methods are given.Furthermore, the paper deals with the effects of heat on the human body and mine cooling strategies for deep mines. In detail the effects of heat on a worker are examined, heat stress and heat tolerance discussed and methods of assessing heat stress in different mining situations presented. Experiences from deep South African gold mines highlight the adverse effects of heat stress environment on safety and labour productivity. The principal methods of cooling of deep and ultra deep mines are discussed. It is shown that auto‐compression of ventilation air is a deciding factor governing the choice of surface or underground cooling of ventilation air. In the case of deep and ultra deep mines, the use of chilled service water and ice slurry has shown to be the most cost effective means of mine cooling. In the case of ice slurry as cooling medium advantage is taken of the latent heat of ice which significantly reduces the amount of water required for mine cooling and hence the cost of pumping the water to surface. Cooling strategies for moderately deep, deep and ultra deep mines are discussed. Examples of cooling of deep long mine tunnels are given.