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International Symposium on Stability of Rock Slopes in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering
Peter Stacey
From the perspective of design implementation, even with the recent significant
advances in metal prices, mine operators remain under pressure to minimize mining
costs. To address these constraints, mining equipment of ever increasing size is being
introduced. There are, however, some disadvantages to this trend in the area of slope
design. For example, the large electric shovels are not well designed for scaling bench
faces, nor are they cost effective in this mode. As a result, specialized equipment may
be needed in the mining cycle to perform the clean-up duties, which in turn increases
operating costs. Further, where the large equipment is used in minimum width
pushbacks to reduce the instantaneous stripping ratio, the advance rates can be high, but
at the same time the associated changes in operating procedures are often not conducive
to the concurrent use of such measures as controlled blasting, careful scaling and drain
hole installation that generally improve stability. The resulting conflicts which may
arise between the interests of production and those of slope stability are often
exacerbated by the fact that these stabilization techniques actually increase the operating
costs on which the operations manager is frequently judged, even though there is an
overall increase in profit. Meeting the objective of developing slope designs which are
practicable , i.e., achievable in terms of every aspect of the operating constraints in the
specific pit, requires interaction and compromise between the geotechnical engineer,
mine planners and operating staff during the formulation of the design criteria.
In the current environment, it is often no longer sufficient to present slope designs in
deterministic terms to a mine planner who accepts them almost without question.
Increasingly, the requirement is that they be proposed within the framework of risk
levels, related both to safety and to economic outcomes, to a decision maker who may
not be a technical expert in the mining field. In this context, the mine executives must
have sufficient information and understanding to be able to establish acceptable levels
of risk for the company and other stakeholders; in this process the slope designers must
play a major role.
These changing requirements for presentation of slope designs necessitate clear
communication of the basis for the design, which may be very complex, so that the
implications of the designs may be thoroughly understood by all concerned. To ensure
clarity at this stage, the slope designer must not only quantify the uncertainty in the
input parameters, including the geological model, but must also be able to communicate
and defend the resulting design recommendations. Where particular designs may have
high associated risks, simply because of the degree of uncertainty in the data, this must
also be recognized and proposed methods of reducing the uncertainty included in the
presentation.
In summary, from a reviewers perspective slope designs must not only be technically
sound, but must also address the broader context of the mining operation as a whole,
taking into account such factors as safety aspects, the available equipment to implement
the designs, and the acceptable risk levels for the company. In addition, the designs
must be presented in a way that will allow the mine executives, who are ultimately
responsible, and the operators, who implement the designs, to fully understand the basis
and short-comings of the designs and the risks associated with deviation from any
constraints defined by the designer. It goes without saying that there must also be a
well-defined monitoring system to confirm stability and detect and manage any
variations in the design model or unexpected instability.
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