26 th Annual General Meeting & Conference – SOMP 2015 1 Utilising selective extraction, crushing and separation of sedimentary mineral resources Ingo Valgma, Veiko Karu, Martin Nurme, Gaia Grossfeldt Department of Mining, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia The requirements for the quality of rock are changing from time to time depending on the customers. In Estonia, several selective methods have been tested for managing the flow of the run of mine. The main methods for selective extraction of limestone, oil shale and phosphate rock have been selective blasting, bulldozer and excavator ripping and cutting by surface miners. Selective crushing has been achieved by axle crusher and separation by jigging. All methods have shown promising results for changing the waste rock balance in the product. The working principle of the separation methods is based on physical properties of various materials. Some other tests have been performed, like crushing with Bradford breaker and fine separation. The main hypotheses are related to usability of dry selective crushing and in situ separation of oil shale and limestone in the mine to support effective management of calorific value and backfilling. Keywords: Oil shale, separation, crushing, breaking, selective mining