Evolution of a marble quarry: from open cast to underground exploitation

This study deals about the first exploitation project of an underground limestone quarry (known as Orosei Marble) of Sardinia. This project involves the development of the open cast quarry in underground one in order to decrease the impact on landscape and environment due to excavation works. The evolution will happen gradually, as it needs to reconfigure the existing terraces to ensure the structural safety of the underground exploitation. It is also important to obtain a design of the quarry faces in harmony with the landscape and permitting an easy revegetation on the already quarried areas. Over the next 10 years, the production of blocks in underground will start, develop and, simultaneously, open cast quarrying will be continued. After the ore-geological and geo-mechanical framework of the limestone deposit, the study focuses on the criteria of exploitation according to the method of rooms and pillars, chosen especially in view of the good characteristics of strength of the rock mass. Technologies of extraction, cutting and support are also chosen; productivities achievable are calculated. Actions of environmental recovery by using the most modern techniques of bioengineering are here suggested. Finally, economic considerations are described.