Introduction

Mining is the selective extraction of minerals and other materials from the
earth's crust which can obtain an economic benefit as well as the primary
economic activity associated with it. Depending on the type of material to
be extracted is divided into mining metallic and non-metallic building and
ornamental stones. There are over 7,000 producing mines and more are
built every year. Mining has had a significant impact on the development of
many countries (including some who today have no mining industry).

Operating methods can be open pit or underground. The factors that will
determine among others the geology and geometry of the reservoir and
geomechanical characteristic of ore and barren, economic factors also
influence the current governing mining industry.

The development of the mine and the life cycle

Current mining consists of several stages; since the discovery of the site,
through operation, and finally the closure and post closure of the mine. The
first phase is the discovery of the deposit, which is done by prospecting and
exploration, which aims to understand and define the extent, location and
value of the mineral. Done that and using statistical and mathematical
calculations, the size and grade of the deposit is used to create the prefeasibility study, which theoretically determines the economy of the deposit,
the initial investment and the potential key risks are estimated. The next
step is the feasibility study, which assesses the economic viability, technical
and financial risks and robustness of the project.

Operating methods
Operating methods can be classified into two main categories; surface and
groundwater.

Inside surface methods are the open pit and pleasures.

Moreover, underground mining methods can be classified; supported by

pillars, artificially supported (or stuffed) and unsupported (or sinking). Under
this classification the most popular methods are:

Supported by pillars; Room and pillar and stoping Sublevel and LONGHOLE.

Artificially supported; Bench and Fill stoping, Cut and Fill stoping, shrinkage
stoping stoping and VCR.

No support; Longwall Mining, Sublevel caving, Block / panel caving