Geotech risk management: why it pays to build it into your mine design from the outset

Sound geotechnical analysis can have myriad positive effects on mine design, planning and productivity and the earlier geotechnical teams are introduced to the design process, the greater the benefit.

Everyone has a story to tell, and this month we asked Geotechnical Engineering Manager Open Cut at Anglo American Steelmaking Coal, Adrienna Robotham the hard questions.

Access roads, build pads, levees, dams, drains – all are vital, primary infrastructure across mine sites so, by their nature, demand a geotechnical engineer’s full attention to ensure safety and stability.

Access roads, build pads, levees, dams, drains – all are vital, primary infrastructure across mine sites so, by their nature, demand a geotechnical engineer’s full attention to ensure safety and stability.

But achieving quality infrastructure no longer needs to be a cookie-cutter approach, with modern methods improving efficiencies and delivering cost benefits to mines through the smarter use of materials, equipment and technology.

Everyone has a story to tell, and this month we asked APAC Technical Director, Global Subject Matter Expert Engineering Geology, Senior Principal at Jacobs, Graeme Jardine the hard questions.

Ensuring the safety of a mine site is of utmost importance to any geotechnical engineer and there are numerous ways and techniques to achieve this. The final line of defence is ground support.  

Everyone has a story to tell, and this month we asked the Geotechnical Engineer at Gecko Geotechnics Neil Bar the hard questions.

Numerous contributing factors to ground instability can be influenced by geotechnical engineers to ensure the longevity of mining excavations. Ground support is the final line of defence for geotechnical engineers to ensure safe, stable mines. This article focuses on ground support within the geotechnical fraternity, as it is normally the major focus point following falls of ground or rock burst incidents

Slopes, softwalls, stresses and stability. This is the language of geotechnics where no two mine sites are the same, one size never fits all, and technology forms a crucial pairing with creativity to deliver tailored data-driven solutions. 

Tim Cartledge had a fascination for rocks and a mindset for maths long before he ever heard about geotechnical engineering.

Geotechnical professionals are always under pressure to provide accurate advice about mine design and operations. But even the most sophisticated analysis can become meaningless if the data it is based on is inadequate or inaccurate.

Everyone has a story to tell, and this month we asked Mining One’s Head of Technology & Innovation Stephan Arndt the hard questions.

Background ambient noise conditions are ever-present right around the earth, but tuning into this hum of manmade and natural noises can build a powerful picture of what’s going on below the surface. 

Friction caught up with Olaf Goldbach to explore how geotechnical professionals can use passive seismic monitoring to collect valuable data. 

Attracting new geotechnical professionals to the mining industry continues to be a challenge in 2023. In this edition of Friction, we look at the role we can all play in promoting our industry and attracting new talent to the profession.

The mining industry is used to digging deep for the right minerals and metals, but there’s another precious resource in high demand – geotechnical professionals.

Dan Payne shares with Friction his thoughts on the challenge of recruiting more young people into the industry and what can be done to resolve the skills shortage.

For rock engineers in South Africa SANIRE, the South African National Institute of Rock Engineering, is not only the professional association promoting professional development, it is also a highly engaged networking, collaboration and information exchange point.

In the third edition of Friction, we dive into why failure is not an option for tailings dams, rockfall trajectory reconstruction, and the latest podcast on Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering for Nuclear Waste Disposal.

Tailings dams were once almost an afterthought in the design and management of mines. But a series of high-profile tailings dam failures and the resultant scrutiny from media, investors and insurers has led to significant changes in how the dams are designed, operated, monitored and managed over their entire lifecycle.

Friction sat down with world-leading tailings dam expert, Professor David Williams from The University of Queensland to find out how things are changing for the better.

While drones are already readily in use on mine sites for surveying, inspecting inaccessible areas of a mine and photogrammetry, the use of automated and piloted technology will only continue to expand in the future. Friction sat down with Mat Allan to hear his predictions for the immediate future for the geotechnical industry and how technology is changing the face of mining.

For geotechnical professionals who have recently entered the industry, it could be hard to imagine a time when the only option for slope monitoring was point measurement-based systems, which only provided spot data for a specific moment in time. Friction hears from GroundProbe CEO and founder, David Noon, how a PhD project revolutionised slope monitoring.