Consideration of Total Station as Baseline for Tape Measurements Improvement in Holing Prediction at Underground Deep Level Gold Mine

Abstract

 Abstract — Over the last few years, accurate and safe break-through (holing) has been a problem in Underground deep level gold mines because of factors including the inherent inaccuracy of tape measurements. In this study, data collected from total station measurements and tape measurements in an underground deep level gold mine were compared using statistical analysis, then recommendations were made based on error margin. Tape surveying methods and recording of distance require human involvement at various stages of the process compared to total station measuring. It is therefore likely that the former method will be more prone to error. The margin between these two methods has never been evaluated in the context of ultra-deep level gold mining activities. The study tested the accuracy of tapes versus the accuracy of Total station using a hypothesis test, F test. It was found that tape measurements are less accurate from Total station measurements when applied for holing prediction in ultra-deep level gold mine. It is recommended that for high accuracy work the Total station should be used to measure underground stopes faces on a deep level gold