Slope stability and rockfall Hazard analysis in open pit zinc mine
- Authors: Almandalawi, Maged , You, Greg , Dahlhaus, Peter , Dowling, Kim , Sabry, Mohannad
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of GEOMATE Vol. 8, no. 1 (2015), p. 1143-1150
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Rockfalls are a major safety hazard in open cut mines, particularly in large-scale deep pits. The geotechnical design relies on in-situ, site-specific, rock slope data to predict the trajectories and velocities of rockfalls that present a residual hazard in the mines. This paper presents slope stability analyses using both static general limit equilibrium methods and finite element stress analyses to estimate unstable areas and slope displacements in the mid-west slope at Glencore Zinc's Handlebar Hill Open Cut mine at Mt. Isa, Queensland, Australia. A conventional program -RocFall- was used for the slope rockfall risk assessment. Results indicate the possible slope benches involved in the initiation of rockfalls, and the maximum run-out distance, which could be defined as the pit's hazardous zone. A rockfall restraining system to absorb the impact energy of boulders and prevent them further falling was also modelled. © 2015, International Journal of GEOMATE.
Kinematic assessment of slopes at handlebar hill open cut mine, Mt. Isa, Queensland, Australia
- Authors: Almandalawi, Maged , You, Greg , Dowling, Kim , Dahlhaus, Peter
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of GEOMATE Vol. 10, no. 1 (2016), p. 1575-1583
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: A complete kinematic analysis was conducted for the west slope at the Handlebar Hill mine using the Rocscience/Dips 6.0 software. The west slope was divided into three zones: W1 (south-west), W2 (mid-west) and W3 (north-west), which were then subdivided into nine small elements to increase the certainty of parameters. This enabled the analysis to define the potential kinematics of motions of critical structures. Small scale joints, bedding, faults, shears along the discontinuities were plotted and the data were analysed systematically. The results indicated that the potential toppling mode created by discontinuities can lead to direct/flexural toppling failure. The kinematic feasibility also revealed that the intersections of the discontinuities within the critical zone can structurally control the wedge planar failure modes. The results will assist the mine geotechnical engineers to understand the potential slope failure mechanisms and their locations. © 2016, International Journal of GEOMATE.