Pit slope evaluation based on the historical failure database at Batu Hijau mine

Authors: Lelono, HD; Basson, FRP; Lupo, J; Adriansyah, Y Download Paper

DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1604_10_Lelono

Cite As:
Lelono, HD, Basson, FRP, Lupo, J & Adriansyah, Y 2016, 'Pit slope evaluation based on the historical failure database at Batu Hijau mine', in PM Dight (ed.), APSSIM 2016: Proceedings of the First Asia Pacific Slope Stability in Mining Conference, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 213-224, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_rep/1604_10_Lelono



Abstract:
Batu Hijau mine is a large copper-gold open pit mine owned and operated by PT. Newmont Nusa Tenggara. The mine site is located on the southwest of Sumbawa Island in Indonesia and currently approximately 2,000 m wide and 800 m deep. Furthermore, the ultimate pit slope design will be more than 2,500 m wide and 1,000 m deep. Over 15 years of operation, Batu Hijau has experienced many pit slope instabilities, ranging from multiple benches to inter-ramp scale. Annually, there are around 20 failures on average and the events continuously recorded in a failure database. A robust failure database is important for further geotechnical analysis and useful for sustainable improvement of the pit slope design. Slope evaluation is conducted as part of the slope design process and the historical failure database is an important tool for assessing the pit slope performance and for input during the design process. This paper describes an evaluation and assessment of the current slope performance based on the historical failure database. Furthermore, the evaluation aims to evaluate and provide feedback to current mining development and future pit designs.

Keywords: Batu Hijau, slope performance, failure database, design process

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