Ore and Country Rock Strength

The strength of the ore and the surrounding rock is one of the most significant geotechnical factors in
mining method selection. The strength and related stability of the rockmasses are important for all types of
excavation, and are assessed using rockmass classification systems throughout a mine.
Common rockmass classification systems include Bieniawski’s Rock Mass Rating (RMR) system
(Bieniawski, 1989), the Modified Rock Mass Rating (MRMR) system developed by Laubscher (1990), the Q
system developed by Barton (Barton et al., 1974), and the Geological Strength Index (GSI) by Hoek and
Brown (1997). Ground supportrequirements within the guidelines of a mining method are determined based
on the strength of the rockmass as well as the intended use of the excavation (e.g. permanent service
excavations versus stopes) and the related risk of failure to the mine.

The RMR system was developed to assess the stability of an excavation, while the MRMR system
addresses cavability of an orebody being mined using caving methods. Although the MRMR system has
been used successfully for the weaker and larger orebodies for which it was first developed, more recent
experience in stronger, smaller and isolated or constrained orebodies has not provided satisfactory results
(Brown, 2003).

The mineralization in a rockmass that defines the orebody changes the geomechanical properties of that
rockmass. The intact rock strength as well as the amount and quality of joint sets and fractures of an ore
body are usually different from the surrounding rock. The type and grade of mineralization affects the
sharpness of the contact between the rock types, which is an important control on dilution during mining.

Distribution of Mineralization within the Orebody

The variation of ore grade through the volume of an orebody influences the mining strategy. The critical
parameters are average grade, cut-off grades, and grade distribution. The average grade determines the
degree of flexibility for method selection as related to the operating costs and current market conditions that
define the monetary value of the deposit. The amount of dilution of ore expected during extraction is also
related to the value per unit weight of ore. For deposits with a lower average grade, there is a higher
economic sensitivity to the effects of dilution.

General grade distribution in an orebody may be uniform, uniformly variable, or irregular. Uniform ore
grades are found in massive ore deposits, uniformly variable grades exhibit a spatial trend in ore grade,
and irregular ore grades are found in deposits with high local concentrations of ore minerals, including vein,
lens, and nugget deposits.

Depth of Mineralization and Surface Conditions

The depth of the mineralization and surface conditions are the main considerations when choosing
between an open pit and underground mining method. As a brief discussion of open pit mining, the ore
deposit must be shallow enough to maintain an economic ore grade with construction of the pit walls. The
angle of the pit walls is controlled by the strength and stability of the rockmass. In general, a less stable
rockmass requires a shallower pit slope angle, while a more stable rock enables steeper slope angles to be
used. More stable rock is preferred so the excavation is more focused on the ore body, which results in
less excavation of waste rock. An open pit mine has a much larger footprint at surface, and therefore must
be located further away from existing infrastructure and population than an underground mine.

The depth of an underground mining operation can impact the mine or the surrounding ground in both
shallow and deep conditions. In shallow conditions, the effects of subsidence in the mine can extend to
surface and impact nearby surface infrastructure. Supported mining methods frequently have no visible
subsidence effect at surface; however, ground subsidence has been known to occur in unsupported mining
methods, including longwall mining of coal (Brady and Brown, 2006). Caving methods generally have a
more pronounced impact at surface through subsidence (Brady and Brown, 2006). In sublevel caving of a
massive ore body near surface, subsidence is included in the mine design and is controlled by the rate of
ore extraction. The most effective mine closure plan for this scenario is to flood the mine and create a lake
at surface.

In addition to ore and rock strength, the in-situ stresses associated with deep mining are a significant factor
in mining method selection. This is important to consider for pillar supported methods, since pillar size
correlates to stress conditions. Pillar size affects the overall profitability of the mine since a major design
focus of pillar supported mining methods is to minimize pillar size in order to maximize the amount of ore
extracted. In low stress environments, pillars are small, which results in a higher ore recovery. For more
information on pillar design, see the pillar design article.

Geotechnical Environment

The geotechnical environment of an ore deposit is characterized by the intact rock and rockmass
properties, in-situ stress in the host rock, and chemical properties of the ore (Brady and Brown, 2006).
Intact rock properties include strength, deformation characteristics and weathering characteristics.
Rockmass properties are defined by the influence of joint sets, faults, shear zones, and other penetrative
discontinuities.

Adverse chemical properties of ore rock may prohibit caving methods of mining, which generally require the
ore to be chemically inert (Brady and Brown, 2006). For example, a sulphide ore subject to rapid oxidation
by fragmentation of the orebody may create difficult ventilation conditions in working areas and even break
down into smaller pieces of rock after predicted primary and secondary fragmentation have occurred.
These smaller rock fragments could reduce the effectiveness of the height of draw in the stope and the
transport and handling facilities for the ore.

There are certain cases where a pervasive geological feature can be influential enough to control the entire
mining method selection and mine plan, including large fault or shear zone systems, highly fractured rock
linking to an aquifer, and the local tectonic setting (Brady and Brown, 2006). Faults and shear zones may
separate the orebody into multiple sections that would otherwise be able to be mined using large scale
caving. Similarly, aquifers existing in or near the zone of mining influence where large fractures occur in the
rockmass may provide hydraulic connections to other water sources during mining. An active tectonic
setting would be problematic for large voids left by mined stopes, due to the possibility of local instability
induced by a seismic event. Also, mining activity in a stope near an existing fault has the potential to cause
a local seismic event. In addition to the direct dangers of structural failure of the rockmass in the stope, an
indirectly caused an air blast is a consequential risk for mine safety.

Geotechnical Factors of Underground Mining Methods

The discussion of specific underground mining methods is organized based on the type and degree of
support required in mining operations: pillar supported, artificially supported, and unsupported. Case
studies are presented on mining methods at the Kristeneberg Mine (cut-and-fill) and the Mouska Gold Mine
(shrink stoping).

Pillar Supported
The successful performance of a pillar supported system is related to both the dimensions of the individual
pillars and their geometric location in the orebody (Brady and Brown, 2006). A good understanding of in-
situ stress conditions is necessary for a successful pillar supported mine design. If there is a high horizontal
maximum stress in a particular direction, the orientation of both the room advance through the orebody and
rectangular pillars should be planned in order to maximize support in that direction. Many very shallow
room-and-pillar operations may have very little horizontal stress such that the orientation of the rooms and
pillars has a minimal effect. However, very deep operations in high stress environments may have
rockburst issues. As such, the sequence of extraction in addition to pillar orientation is important (Bullock
and Hustrulid, 2001). A more detailed discussion on pillar design can be found here.
Room and Pillar Mining

Room and pillar mining generates ore pillars as remnants as extraction progresses, in order to control the
stability of the roof rock and the global response of the surrounding rockmass (see Figure 2). Regular
patterns of pillars are typically developed in order to simplify planning, design, and operation. The roof may
or may not be artificially supported for worker safety, depending on the competency of the rockmass. Pillars
can either remain intact upon mine closure or extracted at the end of mine life, allowing the stope to
collapse afterward (Brady and Brown, 2006).

Room and pillar mining is best suited for tabular deposits that also must be relatively shallow to limit the
size of the ore pillars. Examples of tabular ore bodies or host rocks include copper shale, coal, salt and
potash, limestone, and dolomite (Hamrin, 2001). There are three typical variations of room and pillar mining
that account for changes in dip of the ore body.

1. Classic room and pillar mining is used for horizontal deposits with moderate to thick beds, as well
as inclined deposits with thicker beds. Mining progresses downward from the hangingwall in slices
and the required ground support is installed in the hangingwall.

2. Post room and pillar mining is used for thick, inclined deposits that have a dip between 20º and
55º. The mining sequence here begins from the bottom and advances upward. Backfill is used to
 increase the support capacity of the pillars in the mined out areas, and to create a platform from
which to mine the next section of ore.

3. Step room and pillar mining is used for ore deposits that are only 2 to 5 m thick and have a dip
angle between 15º and 30º. In this case, mining advances downward from the hanging wall
(Hamrin, 2001).

A suitable geomechanical setting for room and pillar mining requires a strong, competent orebody and
near-field rockmass, with a low frequency of cross jointing in the immediate roof rockmass (Brady and
Brown, 2006).

Mississippi Potash Inc.’s underground operations are a good example of room and pillar mining of soft
rock. The salt ore is surrounded and intruded by clay seams which form zones of weakness that are
controlled by rock bolts or cribs. Since the stability of the salt layers is much easier to control with ground
support, the roof of the mine excavations are designed to be developed in salt (Herne and McGuire, 2001).
Sublevel Open Stoping

Sublevel open stoping requires extensive development in and around the orebody during preproduction.
Stope faces and side walls remain unsupported during ore extraction, while support for the country rock is
developed as pillars are generated by stoping (Brady and Brown, 2006). The pillars may be left in place or
extracted at a later time (Bullock and Hustrulid, 2001). Bighole stoping is a larger scale variant of sublevel
open stoping that uses longer blast holes. This results in vertical spacings between sublevels of up to 60 m
instead of 40 m for sublevel open stoping. Sublevel open stoping is applied in massive or steeply dipping
stratiform orebodies. For an inclined orebody, the inclination of the stope footwall must exceed the angle of
repose of the fragmented rock in order to promote free flow of rock through the stope to the extraction
horizon. Since stopes in these methods are unsupported, the strength of the orebody and surrounding
rockmass must be sufficient to provide stable walls, faces, and crown for stope excavations. Additionally,
the orebody boundary must be regular to minimize dilution. Due to the blast hole drilling and blasting
technique, the minimum orebody width for open stoping is approximately 6 m (Brady and Brown, 2006).
Pillar recovery is a common practice in open stoping, made possible by the use of backfill placed into
primary stope voids. The backfill replaces the support provided by the ore pillar, allowing for pillar
extraction.

Artificially Supported
Artificial support in mine openings is intended to control both local, stope wall behaviour and near-field
displacements. There are two main categories of artificial support for ground control: mechanized support
(e.g. rockbolts) and backfill. Potentially unstable rock near an excavation boundary may be reinforced with
rockbolts. Backfill is used to fill stope voids and can prevent the progressive disintegration of near-field
rockmasses in low stress conditions (Brady and Brown, 2006). Artificially supported methods include
bench-and-fill stoping, cut-and-fill stoping, shrink stoping, and vertical crater retreat (VCR).
Cut-and-Fill Mining
Cut-and-fill mining is a very versatile method that can be adapted to an orebody with any shape (Bullock
and Hustrulid, 2001). It is a very selective mining method that most commonly advances up-dip in an
inclined orebody. Mining costs are relatively high compared to other methods; recovery is also high, and
dilution is low. As such, it is an appropriate method for high grade orebodies (Bullock and Hustrulid, 2001).
Cut-and-fill is a very controlled cycle of mining that is repeated many times in a single deposit. The
simplified steps are:

1. Drilling and blasting, where a 3 m thick slice of rock is stripped from the crown of the stope;

2. Scaling and support, where loose rock is removed from the stope crown and walls and lightweight
support is installed;

3. Ore loading and transport, where ore is mechanically transported in the stope to an ore pass; and

4. Backfilling, where a layer of backfill with a depth equal to the thickness of the ore slice is placed on
the stope floor (Brady and Brown, 2006).

The success of this method depends on continued stability of the rockmass surrounding the work area
where miners work continuously. This is achieved through controlled blasting, application of local rock
support, and more general ground control using backfill. Cut-and-fill stoping is applied in veins, inclined
tabular orebodies and massive deposits. When mining a large enough orebody, mining can be divided into
multiple sections separated by vertical pillars. This method is suitable for orebodies dipping 35-90 degrees
in either shallow or deep locations. The backfill allows for a weaker country rock, but the orebody itself
must be a competent rockmass (Brady and Brown, 2006). However, if the orebody strength is very poor, a
variation on cut-and-fill, underhand cut-and-fill, may be used (Bullock and Hustrulid, 2001). The ore grade
must be sufficiently high to withstand dilution from backfill, but the grade can also be variable since lenses
below the cut-off grade can be left unmined (Brady and Brown, 2006).
Case Study: Kristineberg Mine

Cut-and-fill mining is the primary mining method at the Kristineberg Mine, which is located in northern
Sweden, approximately 130 km west of Skellefteå. The orebody is a typical vein structure with a dip varying
between 45° and 80°. The host rock is a schistose sericitic quartzite and the rock immediately adjacent to
the orebody is often highly altered, frequently very weak, talcy sericitic schists that vary in thickness
between 0 and 3 m. The rock strength of both wall rocks and ore decreases from the hangingwall to the
footwall as a result of metamorphic folding and faulting. Ground control problems, including roof collapse
and wall slabbing, arose from a combination of variable rock quality and high in-situ stresses. Ore in the
roof of the backfilled stope is subjected to large horizontal stresses, which results in the failure of both the
roof and sidewall. In response to the resulting decline of ore production in the 1980s, extensive
investigations of the feasibility of cut-and-fill mining at greater depth under these conditions were
undertaken. The continuation of successful mining at greater depths is a result of the following findings:

 Dense support is necessary to maintain stability, and efficient, mechanized support is necessary to
reduce costs and maintain reasonable production capacity; and
 The combined effect of changes in support strategy, more efficient support capability, and reduced
level intervals has resulted in increased production reliability and capacity, with improved mining costs
(Krauland et al., 2001).
Bench-and-Fill Stoping

Bench-and-fill stoping is a more productive alternative to cut-and-fill where geotechnical conditions permit.
Here, initial drilling and excavation drives are mined along the length and width of the orebody. Mining
advances by the sequential blasting of production rings into the advancing void and the ore is mucked
remotely from the extraction horizon (Villaescusa, 1996). Following mining, the stopes are backfilled to
provide support for the stope walls. An example of bench-and-fill stoping geometry is shown in Figure 4.
This method may be used at several scales and variants. In some cases it has become the preferred
method of narrow vein mining (Brady and Brown, 2006).

Figure 4: Bench-and-fill stoping geometry in the Lead Mine, Mount Isa Mines, Queensland, Australia; (a) longitudinal
section, and (b) cross-section (after Villaescusa, 1996)

Shrink Stoping

Shrink (or shrinkage) stoping involves vertical or subvertical advance of mining in a stope, where the
fragmented ore provides both a working platform and temporary support for the stope walls, as shown in
Figure 5. This method is similar to cut-and-fill stoping, where the fragmented ore fulfills a similar function to
backfill used in cut-and-fill. It is generally applied to very narrow extraction blocks that have traditionally not
been suitable for a high degree of mechanization (Bullock and Hustrulid, 2001). The suitable orebody type,
orientation, geomechanical properties and setting for shrink stoping are virtually the same as those for cut-
and-fill. However, the chemical properties of the ore become more important for shrink stoping where the
rock must be completely chemically inert. The ore rock must also be competent and resistant to crushing
during draw in order to maintain flow through the stope (Brady and Brown, 2006). Shrink stoping remains
one of the few methods that can be practiced effectively with a minimum investment in machinery but is still
not entirely dependent on manual labour (Hamrin, 2001).
Figure 5: Layout for shrink stoping (after Hamrin, 2001)
Case Study: Mouska Gold Mine

Shrink stoping has been implemented at the Mouska gold mine, located 80 km west of Val-d’Or and 20 km
east of Rouyn-Noranda. 72% of the ore is produced in shrink stopes, 20% from longhole mining, and the
remaining 8% from development work of the mine infrastructure. The minimum width of the shrink stopes is
1.6 m, and three major joint sets are present in the rockmass. Most of the ground control problems can be
attributed to (i) brittle failure of the diorite country rock under high stress; (ii) unstable blocks formed by the
intersection of major joints; and (iii) major changes in orientation of the ore veins. The choice of shrink
stoping at Mouska is based on the following factors:

 It is a selective method that allows daily assessment of the orientation of the vein being mined;

 It is a flexible method that permits better recovery of the ore in the extremities of the stopes;

 Ore inventory left in the stopes during the mining phase provides additional wall support; and

 Pillars can occasionally be left inside the stope, improving ground stability and mining grades
(Marchand et al., 2001).
Vertical Crater Retreat (VCR) Stoping

Vertical Crater Retreat (VCR) stoping is a larger scale variant of shrink stoping, made possible by
advancements in large-diameter blasthole drilling technology and explosive design. It is applicable in many
places where shink stoping is feasible, except for orebodies that are narrow in width (less than
approximately 3 m). It is particularly suitable for orebodies where sublevel development is impossible
(Brady and Brown, 2006).

Unsupported
Unsupported mining methods include longwall mining and caving mining. These methods are distinguished
from other mining methods because the near-field rock undergoes, by design, large displacements where
mined voids become self-filling. Longwall mining is classically used in the deep mines of South Africa,
where the near-field rock is usually strong and in-situ stresses are high (Brady and Brown, 2006). Several
caving mining methods are generally well suited for massive ore bodies, including iron ore, low-grade
copper, molybdenum deposits, other massive sulphide deposits, and diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes
(Hamrin, 2001). These include block caving, sublevel open stoping and bighole stoping, and sublevel
caving. Cave mining refers to all mining operations where the orebody caves naturally after undercutting
and the fragmented material is recovered through drawpoints. Cave mining has the lowest cost for
underground mining, provided the drawpoint size and handling facilities are appropriate for the caved
material in a given mine (Laubscher, 1994).
Longwall Mining

Longwall mining is best suited for thin ore deposits that have a large horizontal extent. Ground support is
used to maintain the excavation opening near the face, while the hangingwall behind the excavation can be
allowed to subside. Hydraulic props, cribs, and pillars of timber or concrete are common ground support
systems (Hamrin, 2001). This method can be used for both hard rock mining of metal ore and coal mining
in soft rock. In both cases, the method maintains continuous behaviour in the far-field rock. An orebody
must be dipping less than 20° and have a relatively uniform grade distribution. Additionally, any
displacement along a fault must be less than the thickness of the orebody. In hard rock mining, longwall
mining aims to maintain near-continuous behaviour of the near-field rockmass, which requires a strong and
competent hangingwall and footwall rockmass. A generic layout of longwall mining in hard rock is shown in
Figure 6. In cases where only a single pass of the orebody is mined, movement and closure of the
hangingwall and footwall occur as mining advances. Once the hangingwall and footwall are in contact, the
ground stresses at that location are invariant with further mining. This allows for the use of lighter rockmass
support in the vicinity of mining activity (Brady and Brown, 2006).
Figure 6: Schematic of longwall mining in hard rock (after Hamrin, 2001)

Sublevel Caving

Sublevel caving is a true caving technique that seeks to induce free displacement of the country rock
overlying an orebody. Mining progresses downwards in an orebody where each sublevel is extracted as
mining proceeds, as shown in Figure 7. Since gravitational flow of the fragmented ore rock controls the
ultimate yield, development of the caving rockmass and the setup of the drill headings are the important
aspects of the mining method. Generally, sublevel caving is suitable only for steeply dipping orebodies,
with reasonably strong orebody rock enclosed by weaker overlying and wall rocks. The average grade
must be high enough to sustain dilution to amounts that are perhaps greater than 20%. This method results
in a significant disturbance of the ground surface, limiting its application to areas with suitable local
topography and hydrology. Close control of draw is required to limit dilution of the ore stream.
Geomechanics issues are prone to arising in production headings as a result of high concentration of field
stresses in the lower abutment of the mining zone (Brady and Brown, 2006). This method has been most
commonly applied to mining magnetic iron ores that can be easily and inexpensively separated from the
waste rock (Bullock and Hustrulid, 2001).
Figure 7: Schematic of transverse sublevel caving (after Hamrin, 2001)

Block Caving

In block caving, disintegration of the ore and country rock takes advantage of the natural fractures in the
rockmasses, the stress distribution around the boundary of the cave domain, the limited strength of the
rockmasses, and the tendency of the gravitational field to displace unstable blocks from the cave boundary.
A schematic of block caving is shown in Figure 3. This method is distinct from all others discussed thus far
as the primary fragmentation is achieved by natural mechanical processes. Block caving is a mass mining
method, capable of high, sustained production rates at relatively low cost per tonne. It can only be applied
to large orebodies where the height exceeds approximately 100 m. Productive caving in an orebody is
prevented if the advancing cave boundary spontaneously stabilizes into, for example, an arched crown of
blocks. Important geotechnical factors to consider when evaluating the caving potential of an orebody
include the pre-mining state of stress, the frequency and surface condition of joints and other fractures in
the rockmass, and the strength of the intact rock material. The most favourable rockmass structural
condition for caving is one that contains at least two prominent subvertical joint sets, plus a subhorizontal
set (Brady and Brown, 2006). It should be noted that in high stress fields, it has been observed that too
rapid a draw can result in the creation of rockbursting conditions (Bullock and Hustrulid, 2001).

Summary

A summary of the geotechnical factors for each underground mining method, including the suitable orebody
geometries, orebody grades, orebody and country rock strengths, and depths are shown in Table 1.
 Table 1: Summary of geotechnical factors for each underground mining method

Strain
Relative Suitable
energy
magnitude of Suitable Suitable orebody,
Method storage Suitable
Method displacements orebody orebody country
Class in near depth
in country geometry grade rock
field
rock strength
rock

Both strong
and
Tabular, competent,
Pillar
Room-and-pillar Very low Very high maximum High low Shallow
supported
dip 55° frequency of
cross jointing
in roof

Must be
Massive
sufficient to
or steeply
provide
Pillar Sublevel open dipping
Very low Very high Moderate stable walls, Variable
supported stoping stratiform,
faces, and
regular
crown for
boundary
stopes

Veins,
High;
inclined Competent
variable
Artificially tabular, orebody, can Shallow
Cut-and-fill Low High with
supported massive; be weaker or deep
lenses is
35-90° country rock
acceptable
dip

Competent
Narrow
Artificially orebody, can Shallow
Bench-and-fill Low High vein High
supported be weaker or deep
mining
country rock

Very
Competent
narrow
High; orebody (and
extraction
variable resistant to
Artificially blocks; Shallow
Shrink stoping Moderate Moderate with crushing),
supported veins, or deep
lenses is can be
inclined
acceptable weaker
tabular,
country rock
massive

Mininum Competent
Artificially High; Shallow
VCR stoping Moderate Moderate 3 m width orebody (and
supported variable or deep
orebody; resistant to
with
veins, crushing),
 inclined lenses is can be
tabular, acceptable weaker
massive country rock

Hard (e.g.
gold) and
soft ore (e.g.
Thin with
coal) rock;
large Shallow
Uniform hard ore rock
Longwall horizontal (soft) or
Unsupported High Low grade requires
mining extent, deep
distribution strong and
less than (hard)
competent
20° dip
hangingwall
and footwall
rockmass

Reasonably
High
strong
enough to
Steeply orebody rock From
sustain
Unsupported Sublevel caving High Low dipping enclosed by shallow
dilution
orebodies weaker to deep
(perhaps
overlying and
>20%)
wall rocks

Rockmass of
limited
strength,
Large
High containing at
orebodies
enough to least two Shallow
Unsupported Block caving Very high Very low where
sustain prominent or deep
height
dilution subvertical
>100 m
and one
subhorizontal
joint set

References