Monitoring the Ore Massif State in Deep Rock Shock Mines

Pillar Design in the Hard Rock Mines of South Africa

This paper gives an overview of the difficulties associated with the design of hard rock pillars in South African mines. Recent examples of large scale pillar collapses in South Africa suggest that these were caused by weak partings which traversed the pillars. Currently two different methods are used to determine the strength of pillars, namely, empirical equations derived from back analyses o...

Iron Ore Rock Recognition Trials

Application of Confined Blasting in Water-Filled Deep Holes to Control Strong Rock Pressure in Hard Rock Mines

In extra-thick coal seams, mining operations can lead to large-scale disturbances, complex overburden structures, and frequent and strong strata behavior in the stope, which are serious threats to mine safety. This study analyzed the overburden structure and strata behavior and proposed the technique of confined blasting in water-filled deep holes as a measure to prevent strong rock pressure. I...

Rock dusting considerations in underground coal mines

Rock dusting to prevent coal dust explosions has been in widespread use in U.S. underground coal mines since the early 1900s. Underground coal mining technology has changed significantly over this same time period, becoming highly mechanized and produces finer coal dust particles which are more explosive. Despite the advances in mining technology, mine-wide dust sampling practices have remained...

Understanding of rock fracture processes in deep gold mines using physical and numerical models

Considerable fracturing occurs around the deep mine stopes because of the mining induced stresses superimposed on the high overburden stresses encountered at these depths. The frequency and orientation of fracturing is largely affected by the presence of geological structures, as well as the stope layout and mining configurations. Being able to accurately predict the effect of these interfaces ...