The Copperbelt University
School of Mines and Mineral Science
Department of Mining Engineering
Prog: Certificate in Mining Engineering
Course: TMI111 -Introduction to Mining
Lecture 7-
Subsidence, Ground movement, and
Ground support
Lecturer: Lee Mudenda
(PhD, MPhil, B.Eng Mining Engineering)
1.0. Introduction
• Land subsidence is a gradual settling (downward
settlement) or sudden sinking of the Earth’s
surface, caused by the removal of water, oil,
natural gas, or mineral resources out of the
ground or mining activities.
• Mining-induced surface subsidence is a
phenomenon that occurs due to the underground
extraction of an orebody.
• Open pit and underground mining operations
cause stress redistribution; consequently, this
causes some induced displacements on the
ground surface.
Introduction
2.0 Ground Support
• Ground support is a set of techniques, elements and methods
that enable the conservation or mobilization of a rockmass'
initial strength.
• The rockmass is given the ability to self-support throughout the
course of mining. The ultimate goal of this practice is to allow
for mining to occur safely while maintaining the stability of
created underground excavations.
• These techniques can be divided into two main categories:
1. Support techniques refer to the action of applying an
external reactive force to a rock surface in the process of
deformation, i.e. submitted to strain causing changes in
the shape, size and volume of the rock.
2. Reinforcement techniques refer to the action of adding
internal support, e.g. rockbolts, to maintain or improve the
rockmass' properties prior to deformation. .
2.1. Types of Reinforcent technıque
• Since the development of the first mechanical rock bolts in the
United States, where the first rockbolting occurrence is recorded
in 1936 at the St. Joseph Lead Co. in Missouri [6], the types of
ground support available have greatly increased and offer a
range of functionalities and capacities. The types of support can
be divided in the following categories:
1. Rockbolts (mechanical, frictional, grouted)
2. Cablebolts (plain, birdcage, bulbed, nutcaged)
3. Other Rockbolts (cone bolts, yieldable bars)
4. Shotcrete (covers, reinforced, arches, pillars)
5. Mesh, straps and screens
Types of Rocks
1. Igneous rock
• Volcanic or extrusive rocks
result from magma
reaching the surface either
as lava or fragmental ejecta,
forming minerals such as
pumice or basalt.
Gabbro
Ground subsidence caused by block caving
3.0. Ground control
• Ground control is the methodology applied to eliminate, or
reduce as far as reasonably practicable, the risks associated
with various forms of ground movement in surface and
underground mines.
3.0. Importance of ground control
• From a safety perspective, hazardous ground movements resulting
from ineffective or inadequate ground control can lead to injury or
death due to the immediate effects of:
1. unplanned and uncontrolled ground movement (e.g. falling
rock, wall failure, rock ejection) falling from height (e.g. cave-in,
edge failure)
2. physical entrapment (e.g. collapse of a sand piles subsidence
of a backfilled stope in underground workings).
• Ground instability and hazardous ground movements can directly
affect:
1. geotechnical infrastructure within the mining operation (e.g.
underground excavations, pit walls, waste rock landforms,
tailings storage facilities, ore stockpiles, foundations, structures
to manage water storage and runoff)
2. other infrastructure and important features outside the mining
operation (e.g. public transport routes, pipelines, surface
drainage systems).
Rock Mass Rating cont’
References
https://new.siemens.com/global/en/markets/mining-
industry/transport.html
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/mining-and-
transportation.php
https://www.worldhighways.com/wh2/feature/caterpillar-c-
series-articulated-dump-trucks-move-times
Hartman H.L., Mutmansky J.M., 2002. Introductory
Mining Engineering, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
USA.
Hartman H.L et al., 1992. SME Mining Engineering
Handbook, 2nd Edition, Society for Mining, Metallurgy,
and Exploration, Inc. Littleton, Colorado, USA.
