Stripping ratio
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In surface mining, stripping ratio or strip ratio refers to the amount of waste (or overburden) that must be removed to release a given ore quantity.[1][2] It is a number or ratio that express how much waste is mined per unit of ore. The units of a stripping ratio can vary between mine types. For example, in coal mining the stripping ratio is commonly referred to as volume/weight.,[3] whereas in metal mining, stripping ratio is unitless and is expressed as weight/weight.[2] A stripping ratio can be expressed as a ratio or as a number.
Equations
[edit | edit source]The equations for stripping ratio are,
for coal:
for metal:
where volume is typically expressed as m3 or yd3 and weight is typically expressed as tonne or ton.
Use
[edit | edit source]It is common for the stripping ratio to be used as an indicator of economic value for an open pit mine.[1] This is because removal of waste is a cost to the mine whereas mining ore leads to revenue. A stripping ratio is commonly used as a quick method to evaluate a mine’s or a design’s value. High stripping ratios are not desired because they are indicating that large amounts of waste must be moved to access ore.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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