8.

3 PLACER MINING: DREDGING

Dredging is the underwater excavation of a placer deposit, usually carried out

from a floating vessel called a dredge, which may incorporate processing and

waste disposal facilities. The dredge has been around for a long time, with the

first known use in the Netherlands in 1565 (Macdonald, 1983). The body of

water used for dredging may be natural or human-made. Depending on the size

of the dredge and the size of deposit, 200 to 2000 gal/min (13 to 125 l/sec) of

water may be required for mining, processing, and waste disposal (Daily, 1968a;

Macdonald, 1983). Dredging methods are often subdivided into shallow-water

methods and deep-sea or marine mining methods. We consider only the

shallow-water methods here; deep-sea mining is covered in Chapter 13.

Shallow-water dredges are often classified by method of excavation and

materials transport (Turner, 1996; Herbich, 1992). Mechanical dredges are those

that mechanically excavate and transport the mineral. They include dipper,

bucket, and ladder dredges, with several variations in the bucket dredge

category (Herbich, 1992). Hydraulic dredges (also called suction dredges) are

designed to transport the mineral in slurry form, using water as the transport

medium. Herbich (I992) also lists four subcategories of hydraulic dredges:

hopper, side casting, pipeline, and agitation dredges, with four variations of

pipeline dredges. Many of the categories of dredges are used strictly for river and

harbor dredging applications and are not covered here. The primary types of

dredges employed in minerals recovery are (1) bucket-line dredges, (2) cutter-

head suction dredges, and (3) cutter-wheel suction dredges.

Bucket-line dredges are mechanical dredges that were used heavily in the past

for extraction of gold from placers up to 160 ft (50 m) in depth. The buckets are

continuously moved around the bucket ladder, excavating and elevating the

placer material into the processing plant located aboard the dredge. As shown in

Figure 8.3, the bucket ladder is controlled with the use of a large crane, and the

waste material is discarded from the back of the dredge by means of a stacking

conveyor. The dredge is moved around the body of water using a pair of spuds

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located at the back of the barge and wire ropes anchored to the banks. Often,

the water body is a pond specifically created to float the dredge. In this

situation, the dredge carries its pond with it by advancing into the forward bank

and filling behind. Bucket-line dredges can also be applied to shallow marine

deposits and have been used for gold, tin, and diamonds in such environments.

FIGURE 8.3. Typical bucket-line dredge. Source: Brooks (1991). (By permission
of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, London.)

Suction dredges (also called hydraulic dredges), mentioned earlier are dependent

on slurry transport of the placer from the point of digging to the dredge and

then to the final destination. Ordinarily, no processing is performed on the

dredge; it is typically conducted on land. A cutter-head suction dredge is shown

in Figure 8.4. The cutter head frees the placer material, which is then

hydraulically moved into the pipeline on which the cutter head is mounted.

Digging depths of up to 60 ft (18 m) are common (Herbich, 1992). A bucket-

wheel dredge is similar in concept, but a vertical bucket wheel supplies the

cutting action. A typical bucket-wheel dredge is shown in Figure 8.5. The

digging depths (Bray et al., 1997) normally reach as much as 115 ft (35 m).

Details on digging bucket and cutter-head designs can be found in Herbich

(1992) and Bray et al. (1997).

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FIGURE 8.4. General layout (simplified) of a cutter-head suction dredge. (From
Hydraulic Dredging by John Huston. Copyright 1970 by Cornell Maritime Press,
Inc. Used by permission.)

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FIGURE 8.5. General diagram showing layout of a bucket-wheel hydraulic
dredge. (Photo courtesy of Ellicott International, worldwide dredge
manufacturer.)

Like draglines in open cast mines, dredges can be behemoths that move vast

volumes of material. The bucket-line dredge is the best example. The output of

such a dredge is estimated from its design specifications in the following

example.

Example 8.1. Find the low to high output of a bucket-line dredge (in yd 3/day or

m3/day) if the specifications are as follows:

Bucket capacity 10 ft3 (0.28 m3)

Bucket-line speed 22 buckets/min

Shifts 3/day, 22.5 hr total

Bucket fill factor 60% to 87%

SOLUTION. Using the lowest and highest values of the bucket fill factor,

calculate the following:

Low output = 10 x 22 x 60 min/hr x 22.5 x 0.60 = 6600 yd3/day (5050 m3/day)

27 ft3/yd3

High output = 10 x 22 x 60 min/hr x 22.5 x 0.87 = 9600 yd3/day (7340 m3/day)

27 ft3/yd3

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Using this information, one can provide a rule of thumb that the output of a

bucket-line dredge is 500 to 1000 yd 3/day per ft3 (13,500 to 27,000 m3/day per

m3) of bucket capacity. A large dredge may excavate 9 million yd 3 (7 million m3)

of placer material a year.

Bucket-line dredging is not only capable of producing large volumes of material,

it is also highly productive, perhaps the most productive of all methods of

mining. However, the capital costs of the equipment are quite high, ranging from

$9 million for a bucket-line dredge with 10 ft 3 (0.28 m3) buckets to $50 million

for a dredge with 30 ft 3 (0.85 m3) buckets (McLean et al. 1992). The productivity

that results when using these dredges will overcome the capital costs if a

suitable deposit can be located. McLean et al. (1992) estimate costs of $0.25 to

$1.20/yd3 ($0.37 to $l.57/m3) for mineral dredging. Costs for shallow-water

marine mining applications are found in Cruickshank (1992).

8.3.1 Sequence of Development

Development for placer mining is substantially the same, whether it is

performed by hydraulicing or dredging. Again, provision of an adequate water

supply is imperative. In dredging, a pond must be created by damming a stream,

using a pumping system, or using the existing groundwater if it exists at a

sufficiently high level. In addition, a suitable waste disposal and reclamation

plan must be provided. Overburden removal is minimal in most cases and is

done conventionally unless the overburden and placer are mined together

(Pfleider, 1973).

8.3.2 Cycle of Operations

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Because the dredge is a continuous mining device, no breakage is required and

materials handling is conducted with very little interruption. Water aids in

excavation, although much of the digging is accomplished mechanically. Mineral

processing is often performed using wet gravity separation on board the dredge.

The processing of the placer material on board allows the waste to be dumped

directly into the pond behind the dredge, filling the pond as the dredge moves

forward. Reclamation is often conducted as an integral part of the operating

cycle.

8.3.3 Conditions

The types of materials processed by dredging methods include soil overburdens

that are removed via dredge. river gravels that are processed for their mineral

content or for sand and gravel, alluvial fans left behind by geologic erosion, and

ocean beach deposits containing valuable minerals. Although these deposits are

quite diverse, they have much in common as to the conditions that must be

present. The following conditions are derived from descriptions in Daily (1968a,

1968b), Huston (1970), Turner (1996), and McLean et al. (1992):

1. Ore strength: unconsolidated deposit of soil, gravel, or similar material; some

boulders permissible. depending on dredge type; prefer valuable mineral to

be heavier than waste

2. Rock strength: unconsolidated

3. Deposit shape: placer, tabular, bank or bench

4. Deposit dip: preferably flat (maximum of 2% to 6% grade)

5. Deposit size: intermediate to large (thickness 25 to 200 ft, or 8 to 60 m)

6. Ore grade: can be very low

7. Ore uniformity: fairly uniform

8. Depth: very shallow, little overburden

9. Other: moderate quantities of water required (200 to 2000 gal/min, or 13 to

125 l/sec)

8.3.4 Characteristics

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The advantages and disadvantages of dredging are well known. The following are

outlined by Morrison and Russell (1973), Pfleider (1973), Macdonald (1983), and

McLean et al. (1992). These characteristics apply to shallow-water dredging only.

Advantages

1. Most productive of all mining methods (250 to 400 yd 3, or 190 to 300 m3, of

gravel per employee-shift).

2. Lowest mining cost (relative cost < 5%).

3. High production rate (maximum of 9 million yd3 or 7 million m3 a year).

4. Low labor requirements (crew of 2 to 30 people).

5. Good recovery (up to 90%).

6. Continuous operation with no breakage required.

Disadvantages

1. Environmental damage can be severe; environmental protection must be

exercised: outlawed in some states.

2. Moderate water requirements (600 to 800 gal/yd 3 or 3000 to 4000 l/m3 or

material mined).

3. Limited to unconsolidated deposits that disintegrate under hydraulic or

mechanical attack.

4. High capital investment for large dredges.

5. Inflexible and unselective; limited to placer-type deposits.

8.3.5 Applications and Variations

Dredging has applications to harbor and river dredging to enhance the

transportation potential of such waterways. As a mining method, however, it is

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not used extensively in the United States (<2% of surface mineral production).

Currently, two large bucket-line dredges are being used in Yuba County,

California, to recover gold from the large alluvial fan deposits located along the

Yuba River (Lewis, 1984; Wolf, 1999). One of these dredges also recovers sand

and gravel from a 7000 acre (2700 ha) site. Other gold dredges are operating in

Alaska (Garnett, 1997). Dredges have also been used in the United States for

removing overburden from iron, coal, and phosphate operations, for beach-type

titanium deposits, for the recovery of sand and gravel, and for recovery of

tailings.

Dredging is widely used in other parts of the world for producing gold, tin,

titanium, diamonds, and some of the heavy-sand minerals. The most common

applications are found in South America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Far

North (Daily, 1968b; Macdonald, 1983; Lewis, 1984; McLean, 1992; and Foster,

1994). McLean (1992) presents case studies on Malaysian tin, Peruvian gold,

and Australian titanium.

Students should note that some placers are mined without using water in dry

mining, sometimes called dry-land dredging (McLean et al. 1992; Foster, 1994).

This method uses conventional surface mining equipment and may be applied to

deposits that are too small for dredging, in conditions that are not suitable to a

dredge, and to materials that are better processed dry. It should also be noted

that dredging methods are available for mining of deep-sea minerals. These will

be covered in Chapter 13.

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