Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

Recently, most open-pit limestone mines went underground due to the depletion of easily accessible reserves, and strict environmental regulations. Moreover as the mines moved to deeper levels and heavy diesel equipments were deployed, the working site environment seriously deteriorated. Furthermore, heavy diesel equipment intensively deployed underground has increased fire risk. Existing studies indicate excessively high NOx and DPM concentrations at some sites and axial fans commonly used for coal and metal mines are widely used for auxiliary ventilation in the working area despite their low efficiency in large-opening mines. These problems of the local limestone industry necessitate the development of ventilation methods appropriate to the industry for sustainable development. This paper aimed to propose appropriate ventilation techniques with low-cost and high-efficiency ventilation equipment such as propeller fan. It shows the auxiliary ventilation system consisting of a blowing propeller fan and an exhaust ventilation raise can be applied efficiently for auxiliary ventilation in the long blind entries.