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Geotechnical Risk Assessment of Mine Development Intersections with Respect to Mining Sequence

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Abstract

Mine developments such as haulage drifts and their intersections with cross-cuts are the only stope access in sub-level stoping mining system. Thus, they must remain stable during their service life. Haulage drift instability could lead to serious consequences such as: production delay, damage to equipment, loss of reserves and high operational cost. The goal of this paper is the stability of mine developments with respect to mining sequence with focus on the performance of haulage drift intersection during the production plan. A case study, the #1 Shear East orebody at Vale’s Garson Mine in Sudbury Ontario will be examined in this paper. A three-dimensional, elastoplastic, finite difference code (FLAC3D) is used for this study. The extent of strength-to-stress ratio corresponds to Mohr–Coulomb strength-to-stress ratio of 1.4 is used as failure evaluation criterion. The unsatisfactory performance is reached when the extent of strength-to-stress ratio exceeds the anchorage limit of the rockbolt. Stochastic analysis; adopting point-estimate method, is then employed with the numerical modelling to tackle the inherent uncertainty associated with rockmass properties. Then, the probability of instability at various mining steps is estimated for the roof and north wall of the studied intersection. The cost of consequence models is introduced to provide an economical solution if the intersection failed, blocked or damaged. Furthermore, the geotechnical risk associated with the instability of mine development intersection is estimated using risk-indexing tool. The results are presented and categorized in terms of probability, cost of consequence and risk-index at various mining stages.

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Abbreviations

C:

Cohesion

γ:

Unit weight

υ:

Poisson’s ratio

E:

Modulus of of elasticity

Φ:

Friction angle

ψ:

Dilation angle

σt :

Tensile strength

GSI:

Geological strength index

Q:

Rock tunnelling quality index

δ:

Coefficient of variation = \(\frac{\upsigma}{\upmu}\)

μ:

Mean or average value or rockmass

σ:

Standard deviation

σ1 :

Major principal stress (compressive stresses are taken as negative)

σ2 :

Intermediate principal stress

σ3 :

Minor principal stress (vertical stress = γ·H)

G(X):

Performance function

R(X):

Resistance (represents rockmass strength)

S(X):

Action (represents mining induced-stress)

f (X):

Joint probability density function of the vector (X)

Pf :

Probability of unsatisfactory performance

PDF:

Probability density function

CC:

Cost of consequence

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Acknowledgments

This work is financially supported by a research grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in partnership with Vale ltd. The authors are grateful for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 0E8, Canada

    Wael Abdellah & Hani S. Mitri

  2. Vale Ltd, Sudbury, ON, P0M 1N0, Canada

    Denis Thibodeau & Lindsay Moreau-Verlaan

Authors
  1. Wael Abdellah
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  2. Hani S. Mitri
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  3. Denis Thibodeau
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  4. Lindsay Moreau-Verlaan
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Correspondence to Wael Abdellah.

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Abdellah, W., Mitri, H.S., Thibodeau, D. et al. Geotechnical Risk Assessment of Mine Development Intersections with Respect to Mining Sequence. Geotech Geol Eng 32, 657–671 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-014-9742-y

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