Latest News

not signed in
Log In

Caving 2010

59ASC presented a technical paper at the Second International Symposium on Block and Sublevel Caving to be held in Perth (Australia) between 20-22 April 2010. The symposium addressed the technical challenges of cave mining methods, a technology of increasing popularity due to their low production cost and their intrinsic safety. The communication presented by ASC addressed the application of microseismic analysis as a warning tool for rapid catastrophic damage triggered from the interaction between a developing cave and the overlying open pit:

• Reyes-Montes, J.M., Sainsbury, B., Pettitt, W.S., Pierce, M. and R.P. Young. Microseismic tools for the analysis of the interaction between open pit and underground developments.

The paper presents the analysis of temporal, spatial and source size patterns in the seismicity recorded during undercutting and production at the Palabora Mine leading to slope failure in the open pit above, and relates these results to full-scale analysis of the rock mass behaviour in three-dimensional numerical models. Based on the application of the techniques described in the paper, it is shown that the back analysis of the seismic data provides a prediction techniques that could now be employed during the planning stages of a mining operation.

ITASCA Australia also presented two papers assessing the construction of predictive models for cave mining:

• Sainsbury, B.L.,Sensitivities in the numerical assessment of cave propagation.
• Sainsbury, D.P.,Sainsbury, B.L. and L.J. Lorig. Investigation of caving induced subsidence at the abandoned Grace Mine.

Information on our products and services for the mining industry can be obtained from ITASCA booth in the exhibitor's area.

Information on the technical programme is available at Caving 2010 website .

< Return to the home page   ::  Contact Us
Applied Seismology Consultants