ABSTRACT

Mineral resources are abundant in the permafrost areas of Russia and Canada, especially on the Yakutian and Canadian Shields, as well as Central Siberia. For convenience, the mining projects can be divided into placer, open pit (open cast) and underground mining. The engineering involved in each of these is similar to those of other engineering work, and the placer mining has been particularly influential in developing new techniques that are now used in other engineering projects. Placer Mining refers to the removal of minerals from near-surface sediments. Open Cast/Pit Mining is where the ore body lies close to the surface, so that the miners can readily remove the overlying sediment and then mine the underlying deposit. The ore is usually worked by drilling and blasting back the front of a cliff or face. Many ore bodies are inclined at a steep angle and are relatively deep, discontinuous or continuous.