Stripping ratio is a method used in open pit mining to calculate the ratio of waste material to ore. It helps mining companies evaluate profitability before committing resources. The ratio determines the level at which mining ceases to be profitable and takes into account factors such as material density and contaminants.
Stripping ratio is a term that comes from the mining industry and is used to refer to the open pit mining process. The stripping ratio method for calculating the profitability of the mining procedure is commonly used in the ore or coal mining process. In relation to its application in ore mining, the utility of the mining ratio is the determination of the approximate ratio of waste material that must be displaced to reach a certain ratio of ore. As can be seen, when the ratio of unwanted material that has to be moved to reach the desired ore far exceeds any ore that can potentially be mined, then it can be concluded that the input in terms of labour, time and material resources will be far outweigh any benefits that can be gained from mining.
The mining report is important because it helps a mining company evaluate a mining site in order to determine profitability before committing any resources to the mining process. One way to describe the concept of stripping ratio is to look at it in terms of the level at which the mining process will cease to be profitable. For example, if the mining company needs to mine from one part ore to three and a half parts waste to break even, it stands to reason that the company will look for mine sites where it can mine at least one part ore to two and a half parts waste for the mining enterprise to be profitable. The waste in question includes debris, sand and rocks of different sizes, which will be moved from their position to reach the mineral below.
Extracting ore through the application of stripping ratio also takes into account the density of the material that needs to be moved to reach the ore and other factors including the heaviness of the material. For example, light top material may be easier to remove from its location, while denser, heavier material may make it more difficult, helping to increase the removal ratio in favor of the mining company. Another consideration affecting the ratio is the presence of contaminants that could lower the quality of material mined from the site, meaning more material needs to be mined to meet the profit target.
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