Long-Term Ground Control in Critical Areas

Evaluating the functional life of ground support.

2013

Confidential

RESPEC engineers evaluated ground-support performance and provided recommendations in an important part of the mine infrastructure for a confidential private client. The drift that was the focus of the work included several pumps and electrical equipment that were critical to mine operation. Ground conditions in this area were difficult, but moving the infrastructure was not considered to be a viable option. RESPEC reviewed existing ground-support performance (including evaluating pull tests from various ages of bolts to assess the bolt capacity and functional life), performed underground bore scoping and geological mapping, directed core acquisition, and performed laboratory testing. Using this information, a detailed numerical model was created that included the ground-support design. The numerical modeling effort was able to successfully replicate the time to failure of the existing ground-support design at different areas throughout the drift. Several potential remediation methods were considered. The modeling was then used to provide recommendations and expectations for future ground-support design and monitoring to safely maintain access to the area.

RESPEC Project