Monitoring open stope caving at Goldex Mine

Hudyma, Marty; Frenette, Patrick; Leslie, Ian

doi:10.1179/174328610x12820409992291

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…4a), the dataset is limited and the majority of the cases are from shallow depths (,600 m; no cases deeper than 1000 m; there are only two failed pillar cases above a width to height (W/ H) ratio of 1?5 and no failed cases after W/H of y2?3); various pillar types are included in the dataset that that would not likely display the same behaviour, e.g. open stope rib pillars (Hudyma, 1988) compared to square pillars or rib pillars (Lunder, 1994), and the dataset contains cases from various stress regimes, i.e. K o ranging from 0?5 to .2.…”

Section: Commonly Adopted Pillar Strength Estimation Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rock mass strength at depth and implications for pillar design

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Construction of infrastructure in deep underground mines depends on an understanding of near wall rock behaviour as well as the ultimate load bearing capacity of confined rock, and thus on a reliable strength criterion for the rock near and far from the excavation. The topic of brittle failing rock i.e. rock failure dominated by tensile crack and fracture propagation even under low overall compressive conditions, is briefly summarised. Recently, it was suggested that the failure envelop for the entire confinement range of brittle rocks and rock masses is distinctly S-shaped. If validated, this impacts engineering problems such as pillar design where both wall instability and confined rock mass stability issues need to be considered. This paper explores the limitations and potential opportunities in pillar design. It is illustrated that current empirical design rules may be flawed and further studies are required to arrive at more economic designs for pillars at depth, or under high stress, and in brittle failing rock masses. When confined in the core of pillars, the rock mass may exhibit superior strength than typically assumed by Mohr-Coulomb or Hoek-Brown failure criteria as it will fail differently than near the wall. As a result, pillar strength may be underestimated based on field observations and if procedures of rock strength back analysis from near wall behaviour are adopted to determine the rock mass strength envelop. This means that the strength of pillars with width to height (W/H) ratios exceeding 1?5 to 2 may be systematically underestimated and may become burst prone, as the core may not yield as anticipated. Consequently, pillar designs based on current empirical rules may be inadvertently conservative and thus not optimal from an economic perspective. This aspect is of particular interest for block cave mines where drawpoint spacing may have a significant impact on cave propagation, recovery performance, and economics.

show abstract

Section: Commonly Adopted Pillar Strength Estimation Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rock mass strength at depth and implications for pillar design

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Production from the 25 Mt (grading 2.05 g/t) GEZ started in 2008, with extraction operations from the two primary stopes progressing as expected for the first two years (Hudyma et al 2010). Unfortunately, in 2011, production from the mine had to be suspended when it appeared that a weak volcanic rock unit in the hanging wall of the Goldex deposit had failed.…”

Section: Goldex: a Story Of Resiliencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground support: a mine manager’s perspective

Mercier-Langevin¹

2019

Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Ground Support in Mining and Underground Construction

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As near-surface, easy-to-access mineral reserves progressively get depleted and become harder to replace, underground mines are pushed to greater depths and/or greater productivity to meet the increasing demand for raw materials. Nevertheless, despite increasingly challenging conditions, it can be argued that underground mining has never been safer than it is today. Part of this success can be attributed to advances in ground control practices. This paper provides a view on how ground support integrates into the modern mining business model, from the perspective of a former rock mechanics specialist now holding a management position. Furthermore, it provides the ground control specialist with strategies to optimise communication with management.

show abstract

“…The Goldex gold mine is located 4 km west of the town of Val-d'Or. The mineralization within the deposit is hosted by gold-bearing quartz-tourmaline veins that are located within a quartz diorite and granodiorite sill (Hudyma et al, 2010;Daver et al, 2015;Daver, 2017). The gold within the deposit is hosted predominantly by pyrite, and is associated with sericite, albite, and chlorite alteration (Bedeaux et al, 2017).…”

Section: Val-d'or Segmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical and mineralogical diagnosis on gold ores: A case study from the Cadillac–Larder Lake Fault Zone, Abitibi, Canada

Meng

Jébrak

Sasseville

et al. 2020

Ore Geology Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Numerous orogenic gold deposits have been discovered within the Archean Abitibi greenstone belt of Canada. These include the Francoeur, Wasamac, Astoria, Zulapa, Goldex, Lamaque, Lac Herbin, and Beaufor deposits, all of which are located within the Cadillac-Larder Lake Fault Zone (CLLFZ). These gold deposits are hosted by various lithologies and vary in terms of style of mineralization, sulfide abundance, and hydrothermal alteration. These variations mean that exploration for new deposits has been difficult in this area using common exploration criteria. This study presents the results of a principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach, combining geochemical and mineralogical data to quickly identify different types of gold mineralization within the CLLFZ, including assessing the use of this approach in mineral exploration.The first principal components in both classification methods used during this study (PC E 1 and PC M 1, representing element geochemical and mineralogical classification respectively) can efficiently discriminate between mineralization and barren/altered rocks. The second principal components (PC E 2 and PC M 2) can be used to constrain the host rocks (altered vs. barren) and style of mineralization (disseminated vs. vein-hosted), respectively. Finally, PC E 3 and PC M 3 give more detailed information on the nature of the mineralization in an area, possible reflecting variations in the composition of ore-forming fluids. All of the above indicates that the two PC E and PC M classification methods are complementary, which means that using approaches that combine these methods will provide a comprehensive understanding of the nature of studied samples and/or deposits.Information extracted from the results of the PCA undertaken during this study may be beneficial for mineral exploration in unknown districts, such as glaciated areas, where traditional geological fieldwork is challenging. This study also defines element and mineral mineralization indices based on PC E 1 and PC M 1, which enables evaluation of the extent and style of gold mineralization in an area. This study indicates that PCA-based automated mineralogical and geochemical classification methods could be highly useful in exploration for gold deposits.

show abstract

Monitoring open stope caving at Goldex Mine

Cited by 4 publications

References 3 publications

Rock mass strength at depth and implications for pillar design

Rock mass strength at depth and implications for pillar design

Ground support: a mine manager’s perspective

Geochemical and mineralogical diagnosis on gold ores: A case study from the Cadillac–Larder Lake Fault Zone, Abitibi, Canada

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About