Risk management and remediation of the north wall slip, West Angelas Mine, Western Australia

Authors: Joass, GG; Dixon, R; Sikma, T; Wessels, SDN; Lapwood, J; de Graaf, PJH Download Paper

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1308_69_DeGraaf

Cite As:
Joass, GG, Dixon, R, Sikma, T, Wessels, SDN, Lapwood, J & de Graaf, PJH 2013, 'Risk management and remediation of the north wall slip, West Angelas Mine, Western Australia', in PM Dight (ed.), Slope Stability 2013: Proceedings of the 2013 International Symposium on Slope Stability in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 995-1010, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1308_69_DeGraaf



Abstract:
A planar failure of approximately 600 kT occurred on the north wall of Centre Pit North (CEPN) at West Angelas Mine site in February 2010. The failure impacted a substantial resource of high grade iron ore and left a number of significant geotechnical hazards on and adjacent to the failure surface. These presented a series of challenges which had to be overcome in order to remediate the failure and reclaim the bulk of the buried ore. A number of recovery options were investigated and presented to management. This paper outlines the plan which was adopted, the challenges encountered during its implementation and the risk management and mining procedures used to bring the remediation and recovery to a successful conclusion.

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