Mitigating the rock fall and rockburst risk in South African gold and platinum mines through advanced knowledge of the ore body

Abstract

The Mandela Mining Precinct was launched in 2018 with the goal of modernizing the South African mining industry. It comprises three major initiatives that seek to improve efficiency, health and safety in current mining operations; develop fully mechanized systems to mine narrow tabular ore bodies in hard rock; and develop non-explosive rock-breaking systems. The crosscutting Advanced Orebody Knowledge (AOK) program seeks to develop technologies to characterize the rock mass ahead of mining and identify potentially hazardous geological features. Mining methods, layouts and rock support systems will be adjusted accordingly to mitigate the risk of rock falls and bursts. Technologies include rock drilling, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), ground penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistance tomography (ERT), and various acoustic, thermographic and seismic techniques. Machine learning methods are being implemented to improve data processing and interpretation. This paper describes the status of the research program at 31 May 2023.