Abstract
At mining of minerals by an open-cut method with the use of highly productive mining equipment the contamination of the environment by dust emitted during various mining works takes place. Especially, at excavation of rock mass without application of means of dust suppression, the most intensive dust emission is observed. The main way to reduce dust emission is to wet the rock mass. However, the fight against dust is complicated during the development of sulfide ores prone to spontaneous combustion. The matter is that water may intensify the process of oxidation and self-heating of sulfide ores in the pile. In this connection in such conditions the traditional method of hydro-dusting cannot be used as it takes place in open pits, mined out in normal mining and geological conditions. Therefore, when developing sulfide ores prone to spontaneous combustion, for dampening it is recommended to use solutions having along with the effectiveness of dedusting and antioxidant properties, i.e. complex action. The expression for determining the specific flow rate of fluid (q), necessary to reduce dustiness to MPC is proposed. The equation for determining the moisture content of the rock mass at a depth corresponding to a certain point in time is proposed. The solution of this equation has allowed to receive the formula, allowing at known values of parameters of height of humidified heap H, m; maximum humidity of ore φm, %; natural humidity φ_e %; volume weight, kg/m3, characterized by relative constancy for the specific conditions of the pit, to determine approximately the specific consumption of the solution for its penetration to the center of self-ignition, depending on the change in the depth of the center. For practical use the highest calculated value of the specific flow rate of the solution, providing the reduction of air dustiness to MPC and the penetration of the solution to the center of self-heating, is taken.