Thierry Bineli Betsi
PhD, P. Geo
5/5/2025 GLEN 324_2025 1
MINING GEOLOGY
LECTURES OUTLINE
I. General Introduction
II. Mining Value Chain and Operations
III. Mining Methods-cont.
IV. Mine Mapping Method and techniques
V. Sampling and Sampling Errors
VI. Quality Assurance-Quality Control
VII. Geotechnical Logging and Mapping
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 2
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
BACKGROUND
Optimisation of underground openings and open pit slopes
requires systematic documentation of the different physical
characteristics of the rocks which are commonly referred to as
geotechnical information.
The geotechnical information is obtained by:
drilling the specially designed geotechnical drill holes
geological mapping of the mines and in the drill core
Geological mapping of the mines and the drill core logging are
commonly carried out by the mine geologists who are assisting
the geotechnical engineers in collecting the geotechnical data.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 3
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Diamond drill core is the most common source of geotechnical
information at the mining projects. Therefore, geotechnical
documentation of the drill core has become one of the routinely
undertaken tasks of the mine geologists.
The geotechnical logging procedures are usually set by experienced
geotechnical engineer and can significantly differ between the mines
depending on the mineralisation style and the mining method.
For example, open pit mines require rigorous documentation and
analysis of the rock fractures, whereas supporting in-situ leach (ISL)
operations require systematic measurement and documentation of the
porosity and permeability of the rocks that host mineralisation
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 4
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Consistency in core logging should apply and facilitated by
training the geologists in geotechnical documentation, which is
reported in geotechnical logging sheets and templates.
It is also a good practice to assign the codes to the observed
geotechnical features, which together with their clear description
in the logging sheets will allow selecting and grouping
geotechnical characteristics for structural analysis and for their
selective use in geotechnical model of the mine.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 5
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Table 1
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 6
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Drilling Parameters and Core Recovery
Drilling equipment and drilling parameters may carry important
geotechnical information on drilled rock masses and should be
recorded by drillers. Most common parameters that are
recorded to facilitate geotechnical interpretations of the rock
mass characteristics are shown in the Table 2.
Core recovery depends on the drilled ground conditions and
drilling methodology and therefore carries important
geotechnical information. It should be systematically recorded
for every drilled hole.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 7
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Drilling Parameters
Table 2
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 8
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Drilling Parameters and Core Recovery
Drilling equipment and drilling parameters may carry important
geotechnical information on drilled rock masses and should be
recorded by drillers. Most common parameters that are
recorded to facilitate geotechnical interpretations of the rock
mass characteristics are shown in the Table 2.
Core recovery depends on the drilled ground conditions and
drilling methodology and therefore, carries important
geotechnical information. It should be systematically recorded
for every drilled hole.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 9
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Rock Weathering
Weathering causes significant changes of the rock strengths
Therefore, degree of rock weathering should be defined and
documented by geologists.
It is recommended to use classification of the residual regolith
(Butt et al., 2000) to define the types of weathered material.
But site-specific classification of the weathered material should
be developed based on documented profile of the regolith
developed in the project area.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 10
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Rock Strength
Strength of individual rock fragments is determined and
described by mine geologists who are logging core.
Usually, rock strength is qualitatively defined in the field using
field equipment, such as geological hammer, pocketknife and
rock scratcher.
An example of the field classification of the rock strengths is
presented in the Table 3.
The measurements are made on the rock specimens, which are
collected by the field geologists, and which are representative for
the mapped or logged rock types
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 11
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Rock Strength
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 12
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Rock Quality Designation Index (RQD)
Rock Quality Designation index (RQD) was developed by
Deere (1964) and since then, it has become the standard
technique in the mining industry for quantitative assessment of
the rocks quality.
RQD is routinely documented by the mine geologists for rock
mass classification which is used for estimating support
requirements in the underground mining.
RQD is defined as the percentage of intact core pieces longer
than 10 cm recovered during a single core run
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 13
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Rock Quality Designation Index (RQD)
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 14
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Rock Quality Designation Index (RQD)
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 15
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE Rock Quality Designation Index (RQD)
Core should be not less than NQ size (48 mm core diameter).
HQ size (63 mm core diameter) and larger are preferred for RQD
measurements
It is important that only natural fractures and fragments are used for
calculation of RQD. Fractures and fragments that have been
induced by drilling or core handling processes should not be
excluded from RQD measurements (Fig. above). All defects
induced by drillers should be marked on the core to facilitate
geotechnical logging and Measurements
Measured RQD values are also used for estimating the mean
discontinuity spacing which are commonly used for calculation the
rock mass classification indexes
Thierry Bineli Betsi
PhD, P. Geo
5/5/2025 16
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Discontinuities
Discontinuities represent important geotechnical information and
therefore, their characteristics are thoroughly documented when core
is logged for geotechnical purposes.
Discontinuities, also referred to as rock defects can be open or
sealed, and represent different geological phenomena, such as
cleavage, bedding planes, joints, stress release fractures, faults, brittle
shear zones, geological contacts, dykes, veins and many others.
The geological nature of the defects should be clearly documented in
the logging guidelines where diagnostic features of each rock defect
types are concisely summarised. Type examples of each defect should
be photographed and included into logging manual.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 17
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
discontinuities
Discontinuities, when logged for geotechnical purposes are
classified by their strength. A common approach is to describe
strength of the rock defects depending on degree of cementation
of the rock fractures (Barton et al. 1974; Grimstad and Barton
1993).
Geotechnical modelling requires good understanding of
preferred orientation of the rock defects. Orientation of the rock
defects is measured on the orientated core; therefore, core
orientation should be carried out on each core run in the
geotechnical drill holes
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 18
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Discontinuities
Geotechnical characteristics of the rock Defects/Discontinuities include
description of the planarity and roughness of the breaks, which can
change from slickensided type, when roughness is less than 0.1 mm,
to very rough category, when roughness exceeds 5 mm (Barton et al.
1974; Grimstad and Barton 1993).
Planarity represents the large-scale undulations on a rock defect
plane, and roughness of the break surfaces characterises small scale
irregularities on a defect plane.
To measure the roughness of breaks in the field, a surface roughness
tester can be used, employing a stylus to trace the surface and
measure the irregularities. Alternatively, non-contact methods like laser
scanning can also be used to create a 3D profile of the surface.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 19
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Discontinuities
Minerals that are developed on the surface of the rock defects
should be diagnosed and documented. And the thickness of
mineral infill developed on the rock defects is also an
important geotechnical characteristic that should be
measured and recorded in millimetres.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 20
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING OF THE DRILL CORE
Discontinuities
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 21
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Mapping
Geotechnical mapping of the rock faces includes collection of
the same information which was recorded during geotechnical
core logging.
However, several additional parameters can be observed on
the rock faces and mapped:
length of the discontinuities which is finite and can be
measured on the rock faces. Length is measured along strike
of discontinuity and in the down dip direction.
the type of termination of each end of the defect
(discontinuities can be terminated with other defects,
including faults, shear zones and joints or fading in the rocks)
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 22
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Mapping
Several additional parameters can be observed on the rock
faces and mapped:
Spacing between discontinuities. This is another parameter
which is difficult to measure in a drill core but is relatively
easy to deduce from rock faces. It is measured as the
perpendicular distance between two defects of the same
set.
Water seepage. This parameter is used in the rock mass
classification schemes (Grimstad and Barton 1993; Hudson
and Harrison 1997; Brady and Brown 2004).
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 23
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Mapping
Characteristics which are observed in the drill core and
mapped on the rock faces should be compared and
reconciled.
Some parameters, such as number of discontinuity sets and
their geological types, are usually more accurately defined
on the rock faces.
The discrepancies should be documented and considered
when recorded geotechnical data are analysed and the
geotechnical model is constructed.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 24
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Results of the geotechnical studies are used by the mine
design specialists for estimating the optimal parameters of
the mine excavation, including the pit slope in the open pit
mines and size and shape of underground workings
Based on the geotechnical data, the requirements for the
roof support of the underground workings is determined,
together with the definition of the optimal support methods
and parameters of the rock bolting and shotcreting.
This is usually made using a detailed information on in-situ
stresses, rock mass properties and planned excavation
sequence.
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 25
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
By using geotechnical documentation of the drill cores and
the rock faces, mine geology team can construct a 3D
geotechnical model of the mine, showing composition and
characteristics of a rock mass as determined by the chosen
rock mass classification scheme.
The model provides an initial estimate of support
requirements, and provide estimates of the strength and
deformation properties of the rock mass
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 26
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
The most widely used rock mass classification schemes are:
Rock Mass Rating (RMR) proposed by Bieniawski (1973)
Q-index (Barton et al. 1974; Grimstad and Barton 1993).
Both systems include geological, geometric, and the main
governing rock engineering parameters incorporating them into
a single quantitative value characterising the rock mass quality
The estimated indexes, thus, provide a basic guidance for
geotechnical assessment of the mine designs
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 27
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Application of the estimated Q-index for estimating the support
categories is made using classification diagrams . Simplicity in
using rock mass classification indexes made them routinely
used tools in the mining industry.
However, it should be remembered that the use of these
systems as the sole design tool cannot be supported on
scientific grounds.
Therefore, the classification indexes shell be used as
approximate guidance only
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 28
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 29
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL L OGGING AND MAPPING
Parameters for estimation Q – system (Barton et al. 1974; Grimstad and Barton 1993)
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 30
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Parameters for estimation Q – system (Barton et al. 1974; Grimstad and Barton 1993)
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 31
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Parameters for estimation Q – system (Barton et al. 1974; Grimstad and Barton 1993)
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 32
GLEN 324_2025
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Estimating support
requirements using Q-index
(Grimstad and Barton 1993).
ESR (excavation support
ratio) is explained in the
Table below
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 33
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Geotechnical Applications of Rock Mass Classification Schemes
Definition of the ESR (generalised after Barton et al. 1974)
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 34
GLEN 324_2025
GEOTECHNICAL LOGGING AND MAPPING
Thank you for your attention!!!!!!!!!
Thierry Bineli Betsi
5/5/2025 PhD, P. Geo 35
GLEN 324_2025
