Rippability assessment of a limestone deposit

In the planning stage of a mining project or any excavation project, it is important to select a method of excavation based on the nature of rock mass. In case of very hard rock formation, drilling and blasting is the only method of extraction but in medium hard and soft formations ripping can be adopted, which reduces environmental problems of rock blasting. For the assessment of rippability of a rock, various researchers have proposed different rock mass classifications. In most of the classifications, seismic velocity of the rock was considered as one of the important parameter. Some others expressed the relation between the seismic velocity of rock with some physico-mechanical properties of rock. In this paper an attempt is made to discuss the different rock mass classifications for rippability assessment and a case study is presented involving assessment of rippability of a limestone deposit.