Abstract
Several underground cave mining operations have realised benefits in development rates when an extraction level layout is designed according to the El Teniente style. Geotechnical benefits may accrue in adopting the advance undercut technique in which extraction drift development lags the undercut development directly above. However, few technical studies are available in the literature that directly compare the Offset Herringbone and El Teniente styles when the decision criteria focus is on development rate impacts. This paper reports on research into discrete event simulation (DES) modelling that emulates stochastically the process of building the interdependent lateral infrastructure levels within the footprint of an existing cave mining method that uses the advance undercut technique. Such DES models can capture design considerations: firstly in the early stages of development, in which a limited number of headings are available; and secondly in the full stages of development where the maximum number of headings are governed by the width of the ore body. DES modelling is discussed in this paper in a case study situation, where results indicated that an additional 3% of drawpoint drivage required in an El Teniente layout could increase development rates by an average of 9%.