A case history of a major fault slip rockburst

Authors: Landry, D; Roy, J; Ramdass, N; Leite, A; Shears, S

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DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2465_01

Cite As:
Landry, D, Roy, J, Ramdass, N, Leite, A & Shears, S 2024, 'A case history of a major fault slip rockburst', in P Andrieux & D Cumming-Potvin (eds), Deep Mining 2024: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 87-108, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2465_01

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Abstract:
On 15 March 2022, a Nuttli magnitude (MN) 3.5 fault slip seismic event occurred in a sill pillar at Coleman Mine. The mine was in the process of extracting a sill pillar by removing a slot from the core of the pillar, with the goal to de-stress it. While mining the second de-stress panel, a MN3.5 fault slip seismic event occurred along a previously unknown geological structure. The seismic event caused significant shakedown damage to nearby excavations. The objective of this paper is to summarise the initial sill pillar extraction design, the rockburst event, and the results of the investigation to understand the incident. Finally, the implementation of key lessons learned and the path forward for the sill pillar are shared in the hope that geotechnical practitioners across the industry can benefit when faced with similar conditions at their operation.

Keywords: seismicity, rockburst, fault slip, sill pillar, deep mining

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