Page 585 - Rock Mechanics For Underground Mining

EXAMPLES OF MONITORING ROCK MASS PERFORMANCE

Figure 18.17 SMART cable
displacement-time data, stope 24
cross-cut, 9390 level, Williams Mine,
Ontario, Canada (after Bawden and
Jones, 2002).

event. This in turn allowed rehabilitation to be carried out with no interruptions to
production, at minimum cost and with safety maintained throughout the affected area
(Bawden and Jones, 2002).

18.3.4 Concluding remarks
The results of the monitoring programmes undertaken in the three case histories
discussed were used to
(a) aid the development of an understanding of the re-distribution of stresses in and
around the mine structure as mining proceeded (Mount Isa, Freeport);
(b) validate design assumptions (Freeport);
(c) provide warning of the development of excessive stresses and displacements and
so help maintain safety and production (Mount Isa, Freeport, Williams);
(d) guide the design of support and reinforcement and re-habilitation measures
(Freeport, Williams); and
(e) verify the effectiveness of support and reinforcing systems (Williams).
In these and many other comparable cases, monitoring was an essential component
of a rock mechanics programme used successfully to develop, verify or improve
mine design procedures. Such rock mechanics programmes are central to modern
underground mining practice. They provide the tools and understanding needed to
develop safe and economic mining methods for new mining areas, and to improve the
efficiency and competitiveness of existing operations by modifying mining practice,
often by the introduction of large-scale mechanisation.

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