TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

This present invention relates generally to the recovery of subterranean mineral or ore deposits, and more particularly to an arrangement, apparatus and method for removing subterranean deposits and ore from under the surface of the earth with minimal disturbance of the overburden.

PRIOR ART DISCUSSION

It is well recognised by geologists across the world, that in many regions and areas across the globe, including our oceans, lies an abundance of rich subterranean mineral deposits and ores at depths below the initial ground surface of the earth.

As is to be expected such, yet to be accessed subterranean deposits and ore, represent commercial opportunity both to the mining industry and the commercial industrial market of recovering a valuable asset to exploit.

It is well known that one of the fundamental ways of recovering shallow lying and also deeper subterranean deposits and ore is to strip away the top surface of the earth by a method known as strip mining, which for the most part is taking the overburden above the lying deposit including top soil and foliage and then digging directly into that subterranean deposit or ore through conventional mining techniques using diggers, drills, transport trucks and so forth.

Regrettably however that once the overburden including the top soil sitting above the subterranean deposit has been removed and also the ore that has been sought from the location has been extracted, the land is left without any treatment or any attempt at restoration. In the absence of trees, grass and other types of foliage, soil erosion runs rampant due to flooding and windstorms and so the open-cut operation has disfigured that location to which mining using traditional methods has taken place. The same problem exists under our oceans where the sand which acts as the overburden above the deposit also needs to be stripped away and this can cause substantial aquatic transformation to sea beds and so forth weakening ocean floor beds and also potentially polluting the waterways for many years to come. As can be seen then using these conventional means, mining accelerates the establishment of desolate lands and seabeds and hence there has been a clear move away from conventional strip mining techniques.

Alternative methods of mining subterranean deposits for the most part to date tend to be too cumbersome, expensive and impractical wherein while mining bores have been sent down vertically to then send out horizontal bores to extract deposits from below the ground surface area of the earth thereby leaving the overburden on the ore fairly much untouched, the problem is that passageways are set up in these horizontal bores which present safety concerns not the least a caving in effect of narrowed trenches and so forth constructed as part of the horizontal boring operation.

While it is possible to re-fill after the operation has been completed, at present techniques to be able to complete such tasks hitherto have been expensive as the cutting or boring of the ore from the horizontal bores usually see the use of a conveying system excavating the material from an underground machine through a vertical elevator to the surface to be loaded onto a transport vehicle to be taken away to be processed. Accordingly it is an object of this invention to be able to provide an apparatus and method for moving subterranean material to the surface of the earth without unduly disrupting the overburden above the subterranean deposit or ore being extracted, to the surface to be refined. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly in one form of the invention there is provided an underground mining arrangement including: a mining head for moving through underground material to excavate material in its path and form a passageway behind the mining head as it moves; said mining head adapted to be rotatably moved about a central support, wherein the central support has been extended into the area to which a subterranean ore deposit is to be extracted there from said underground material; said central support including at least two separate conduits linking the mining head with an ore extraction centre; such that as the mining head rotates about the central support, material excavated is then passed through a first conduit of the central support into the ore extraction centre wherein once the ore has been extracted from the excavated material, treated material free of the ore is then under pressure sent back through a second conduit of the central support into the passageway defined by the mining head wherein a back flush of the returned material free of ore then forms a means to which not only is the passage way that was originally created by the mining head moving through the underground material to then be re-filled by such material creates a force against previously returned and deposited material free of ore in the passageway which translates as pressure In preference the central support for the mining head is substantially vertical.

An advantage of such an arrangement is that for the first time it is now possible to not only create a passageway or path to extract material in the path of the mining head as it churns or cuts or drills its way below the over burden of the subterranean deposit or ore, but at the same time allow for the re-filling of these created passageways which not only has the benefit of keeping the ground surface stabilised but the actual reintroduction of the processed underground material back into an underground location within the passageways formed as the mining head cuts its path through the ore body creates a back push or established pressure against the mining head to allow it continue its downward vertical rotation about the main central bore.

Hence the return of the processed underground material back in to these formed passageways not only means that extracted underground material need not be transported away and then brought back after extraction to then be troublesomely reintroduced into a series of horizontal bores and so forth, advantageously in this invention the underground material as it is pulled from the subterranean area being mined is immediately returned on the same passageway that has just been established as a path created by the mining head as it moves through the underground material that was extracted. Advantageously the vertical bore is able to provide a supporting engagement so ^' that the mining head is able to rotate its way along the length of the vertical bore.

In preference in some of the preferred embodiments the vertical bore also provides an inner chamber or conduit to which there enclosed can be confined passageways or piping to which the underground material can be passed there up through in order to be treated and processed to then return to other separate piping and conduit passageways to be reintroduced into the mining head to fill this released material up against previously returned deposits of the underground material into the passageway creates a back-flush which can then allow the mining head to be pushed continuously further.

Previously underground mobile machines derive their propulsion means through some mechanical action or power supply from the overall mining apparatus per se.

The ability to propel the mining head into operation in order to make its way through the subterranean material so that it could then be moved in a direction to the surface require an energy input from the arrangement per se whether by the use of fuel to drive motors and so forth or by the establishment of deliberate hydraulic pressure and so forth which co-ordinated with the mobile underground machine so it could work its way through the deposit.

Even in situations where wells were bored into the ground with horizontal well bore conduits extending therefrom this required the use of articulated underground mining machines which were adapted to operate through powered drilling, cutting and then conveying of material away from the passageway constructed by the movement of the mining machine.

Advantageously in this embodiment rather than seeing the extracted material as being waste that at a later date would require transportation and then re-filling, again all contributing to energy requirements as part of the underground mining operation.

Advantageously in this invention it is the actual immediate returning of the processed ground material back into the underground passageways that have been created as part of the mining process which is contributing to a substantial reduction in the energy requirements of such mining operations.

The benefits of immediately returning the processed material back to the flush or push of the material into the passageway which then drives the mining head further into the ore body to continue the mining operation.

In preference the central support includes a longitudinal hollow chamber with a drill head at its distal end. In preference the central support drill head is adapted to bore through the underground material to become positionable within the area of underground material to be passed through by the mining head.

In a further form of the invention the central support is adapted to be insertable into a bored hole within the underground material to be passed through by the mining head.

In preference to the ore extraction centre is located on an off shore shelf platform, ship or land.

In preference the first conduit is an inner hollow rod within the central support with the second conduit encircling the first conduit to provide two separate passageways.

In preference the mining head is adapted to rotatably engage an intermediate support column such that once the mining head has reached an upper or lower limit of rotation about the central support, the mining head is adapted to laterally rotate about the intermediate column so as to rotate itself into unworked underground material.

In preference, the mining head is adapted to re-engage a central support to be rotatably movable thereabout in the unworked underground material.

The advantage of such an arrangement is that once the mining head has moved through the underground material and completed its rotation through a to then reverse the mining head back up through the vertical column and then be shifted to another location, advantageously as the mining head will have the adaptability to engage an intermediate column, which will be inserted into the underground material at close proximity to the peripheral edge of the already worked material, the mining head can then rotate itself around laterally to be positioned within the underground material, from which subterranean ore deposits need to be extracted.

Once the mining head has been laterally rotated into position by engaging the intermediate column and once in place, the vertical bore can then be extended into this new workable area, from which the subterranean ore will then be extracted.

Hence, there is no unnecessary reworking or overlap of the underground material from which the subterranean ore will be extracted.

The mining head is always rotating about a central bore or rod and rotates in a circumferal configuration about the central point of the bore extracting material in its path.

This material will always be unworked underground material, so the mining head is always extracting subterranean ore deposits from the underground material, as it either rotates up and down the central bore or rod. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order now to describe the invention in greater detail a preferred embodiment will now be presented herewith with the assistance of the following illustrations and accompanying text.

It is to be kept in mind that the preferred embodiment as being presented herewith as a means of representing one restricted concept of the invention and Figure 1 is a schematic representation showing a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a similar schematic representation of Figure 1 however showing the further spiral downward rotatable movement of the mining head as it makes its way through the underground material to extract material in its path and form a passageway which is then immediately re-filled by processed underground material from above the ground once the mining head has advanced to a further location upon a created path.

Figure 3 is a schematic representation again illustrating those features described in Figures 1 and 2 but showing the further spiral rotation of the mining head about the vertical bore as it advances through the ore body.

Figure 4 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention wherein the vertical bore is considered almost stackably interengagable of one section of length of a conduit with another length of conduit in nature in that the length of the bore or rod can be increased by the addition or stacking of one conduit on top of another in a stacking or end to end arrangement.

Figure 5 shows a perspective view or close up of the mining head moving through the underground material to extract material in its path and form a passageway behind the mining head as it advances to which the return of the processed underground material once treated above the surface would then fill in such a passageway but at the same time as filling the passageway it also creates backward pressure up against the mining head to allow it to further rotate downwards through the ore body.

Figure 6 is a similar schematic representation of Figures 1 and Figures 1 however showing the further spiral downward rotatable movement of the mining head as it makes its way through the underground material to extract material in has advanced to a further location upon a created path with the processing of the refining material taking place on seagoing vessel.

Figures 7-11 show various schematic representations of a further embodiment of the invention, wherein an intermediate support column is introduced into the underground mining apparatus, which will allow the mining head to continuously rotate its way through unworked underground material, thereby providing a continuation of subterranean ore deposit from material being worked.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings now in greater detail where there is provided an underground mining arrangement shown generally as (10).

In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 5 the ore body (16) sits below the earth's surface (12) and also over burden material (14) that rests upon the ore body (16).

There is a processing location (30) above the ground to which underground material is delivered there into by way of conduit (26).

The underground material which has been processed in plant (30) extracts out the required ore, deposit or minerals which the mining process centers there about and then returns this underground material to the passageway that has been formed by the mining head (20) which is rotating about the vertical shaft or bore (22) which is poured into the area to which the mining process is taking place.

As can be seen the processed waste material to which the ore is being extracted therefrom is returned as best seen at (34) in Figure 1 to the mining head (20) where it is then passed on into the passageway (38) wherein the flushing of this material back into the passageway (38) then puts pressure upon Figures 1 to 5 show an exaggerated rotation of the mining head about the vertical column (22) and it should be understood that the actual winding or wounds of the mining head (20) may very well leave no gaps between a subsequent winding thereby meaning effectively this rotating mining head is creating a bored hole but the bored hole is being immediately re-filled by the fact that the passageway is created by the rotating mining head as it moves through the underground material to extract the material is immediately being re-filled as the mining head advances its path further through the ore body.

Hence the winding rotation of the mining head (20) the establishment of the return of the processed material to the passageways (34) and (40) constructed in a sense creates a vertically descending bore shown as (42) and (44).

The mining head can continue to descend shown generally as (48) in Figure 4 and can also include its main engaging head (32) which as shown by the arrows (50) is able to drag in the underground material (52) which is then passed through the mining head (20) shown by arrows (54) to then be introduced into conduit (56) to be elevated up to the processing plant (30) to then be returned! via conduit (58) into the mining head (20) at point (60) where it is then extracted shown at (62) into the passageway (64) that was created as the mining head moves through the underground material to extract the material in its path behind the mining head as it advanced but the clash of the returned material shown as arrow (62) against the now filled passageway shown by arrows (66) provides a build-up of pressure which can allow the mining head (20) to continue its rotation down through the ore body.

Figure 6 is a similar embodiment discussed for figures 1 to 5 however showing the further spiral downward rotatable movement of the mining head as it makes its way through the underground material to extract material in its path and form a passageway which is then immediately re-filled by processed underground material from above the around once the minina head has advanced to a further location upon a created path with the processing of the refining material taking place on seagoing vessel.

As the person skilled in the art would appreciated, an off shore platform could also house the refining technology to treat the material to be processed. The person skilled in the art should also appreciate that once the downward rotation has been completed by the mining head, rather than reversing the mining head rotation and rotating it back up to the top to move to a further section, in a preferred embodiment, an additional bore or rod would be sent down to engage the mining head, to which said mining head is adapted to move across in this lowered rotated position and engage this separate central bore or rod, so that from the base position to the new engagement with the separate bore or rod, the mining head can now work its way up this separate rod, to source it's way through new material to extract the required ore.

Nonetheless while the mining head in this embodiment is moving upwards the same action is taking place, the mining head as it makes its way up through the underground material to extract material in its path and form a passageway which is then immediately re-filled by processed underground material from below the ground once the mining head has advanced to a further location upon a created path with the processing of the refining material as it makes its way upwards.

In Figures 7-12, a further embodiment of the invention is presented. As is to be envisaged in Figure 7, the mining head 78 has made its way through the underground material 72, extracting the subterranean ore 69 back up to the processing plant 76.

Nonetheless, the processing plant 76 could very well be a large ship or tanker or offshore shelf platform and so forth. The central support 70, from which the subterranean ore is being extracted is positioned in bore hole 71 and by way of Figure of 7, there is an appreciation that the mining head 78 has rotated its way from the top 96 of the underground material 72 from which the ore is to be extracted to a base location 98.

What may then be expected is the requirement of the mining head 78 to be then rotated back up again through the work material 74. As expected, this would a very time-consuming and costly process providing very few returns, as the material being reworked would already have had most, if not all, of the relevant ore extracted.

Therefore, it would be far more advantageous to have the mining head continuously utilised in working through material where the appropriate ore being extracted can be continuously removed with the remaining material then being returned appropriately as the driving force to continue on the relevant process.

The introduction of an intermediate support column 80, which is substantially inserted along the peripheral edge 82 of the work material 74 allows a point of contact between the mining head 78 and this intermediate support column 80, shown generally at 84.

The mining head 78 is then configured to laterally rotate about this intermediate column 80, so as to be positioned underground in new starting point for further rotation about a re-inserted central support 98, for the process to start all over again.

As can be seen in Figure 9, the intermediate column 80 will allow the mining head to laterally rotate into unworked underground material 85, from which subterranean ore can be taken. can be the same or part thereof used previously, can then be drilled or placed into position 91 to allow the mining head 78 to then be reconnected, shown generally at 86. The intermediate column support 80 can then be extracted, shown generally as 93, to be reused in further applications as a whole section or area of

underground material is worked through by the mining arrangement of this invention. As seen Figure 11 , once the mining head 78 has been reengaged 86 with the vertical bore 98, a new rotatable path 88, in this instance in an upward direction rather than the previously worked rotatable movement, which was moving vertically downwards so as to present new material 85 to the mining head 78. Figure 12 illustrates the mining head 78 is now free to rotate around the central support 98 and that material can be extracted and returned as required in order to maintain and continue lateral rotation of the mining head 78 about the central support 98, with its separate conduits taking material to and from the

underground for extraction treatment and then return.

Figure 13 illustrates the completion of two vertical sections, shown generally as 95 and 97.

What can then be expected is that the same intermediate column 80 can be introduced now on other peripheral edges of the worked area 97 to start the process again, so that once again, complete sections or locations can be appropriately worked without the mining head ever having to go back over material that has already been previously worked by the said mining head.