Destressing 3

An in str u m en ted a n a ly sis of sto pe d e st r e ssin g at
C r e ig h t o n M in e
by
Sean A. Gregersen
A thesis subm itted to the D epartm ent of Mining Engineering

in conformity with the requirements for
the degree of M asters of Science (Engineering)
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
November, 2006
Copyright © Sean A. Gregersen, 2006
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A b stract
This thesis is an analysis of a destressing technique used during the production of
stope 1299 on the 6400 level (1950 m depth) of Creighton Mine in October of 2004.
Destressing was proposed for this stope due to stress related production problems
within the previous stopes of this orebody. The primary goal of destressing was to
reduce the stresses in the stope such th a t the production holes would remain intact
and not require redrilling or cleaning.
The 1299 stope was instrum ented and monitored throughout destressing and min
ing. The instrum entation program generated multiple results across a range of instru
ments. Seismic data, tape extensometer measurements and accurate camera surveys
of the destress holes are presented in this thesis.
An analysis is made of the destressing using numerical modelling and the inter
pretation of the instrum ent data. The conclusions obtained relate to the success
of the destressing, in this case, and to the applicability of extending the method of
destressing to other mining scenarios with varying stress distributions.
The destressing attem pt did not appear to be a success. However, the method
of destressing is shown to have great potential. Recommendations are made in the
thesis to improve the success of the destressing method. The thesis also shows th at
the results of the instrum entation, specifically the seismic data, are difficult to explain
within the context of the numerical modelling.
ii
A cknow ledgem ents
This thesis would not have been possible without the support of INCO Ltd.,
Queen’s University and the O ntario G raduate Scholarship program.
Special thanks to John G albraith (INCO) who provided the experience and pa
tience necessary for the instrum entation program and to Steve McKinnon (Queen’s)
for his expertise in rock mechanics.
iii
Contents
A b stract ii
A ck n ow led gem en ts iii
C on ten ts iv
List o f F igu res vii
List o f T ables x
C hapter 1 In trod u ction 1
1.1 Reasons for D estressing.................................................................................. 1
1.2 Scope and Scale of D estressing..................................................................... 2
1.3 Damage and D e stre ssin g ............................................................................... 4
1.4 1299 Destressing Case S tu d y ......................................................................... 6
1.5 Outline of T h e s i s ............................................................................................ 7
C hapter 2 L iterature R ev iew o f D estressin g C ases 8
2.1 In tro d u c tio n ...................................................................................................... 8
2.2 Brunswick Mine Destress Blast .................................................................. 11
2.3 Destressing Pillars in Thin VeinedS to p e s ................................................... 15
2.3.1 Pillar Destressing at Campbell Mine ............................................ 15
2.3.2 Pillar Destressing in the Coeur d ’Alene M i n e s ............................. 17
iv
2.3.3 T heoretical A spects of P illar D e s tr e s s in g ........................................... 18
2.4 South African Face D e s tr e s s in g ................................................................. 20
2.5 Hanging Wall Destressing ........................................................................... 24
2.6 Summary ........................................................................................................ 27
C hapter 3 G eology and M inin g in th e 1290 O reb ody 29
3.1 Sudbury, Creighton and 1290 Orebody G e o lo g y .................................... 29
3.1.1 Rock Mass in 1299S to p e ................................................................... 30
3.1.2 Stresses in the 1299S t o p e ................................................................. 33
3.2 Mining of the 1290 O r e b o d y ........................................................................ 35
C hapter 4 In stru m en tatio n in th e 1299 S to p e 39
4.1 Instrum entation P l a n n i n g ........................................................................... 39
4.2 Tape Extensometers ..................................................................................... 42
4.2.1 M e th o d s ................................................................................................ 42
4.2.2 R e su lts.................................................................................................... 43
4.3 Borehole Camera Surveys ........................................................................... 48
4.3.1 M e th o d s ................................................................................................ 48
4.3.2 R e su lts .................................................................................................... 49
4.4 Stress M e a su re m e n ts..................................................................................... 55
4.5 Local and Mine Wide SeismicS y s t e m s ...................................................... 56
4.5.1 M e th o d s ................................................................................................ 56
4.5.2 R e su lts.................................................................................................... 60
4.6 Drilling R e p o rts .............................................................................................. 75
4.6.1 M e th o d s ................................................................................................ 75
4.6.2 R e su lts.................................................................................................... 75
C hapter 5 A n alysis M eth o d o lo g y 77
5.1 Scope of the A n a ly sis .................................................................................... 77
5.2 Elastic Isotropic Continuum M o d e llin g ..................................................... 78
5.3 Initial Stress Distribution ............................................................................ 80
5.4 Damage and Material Properties ............................................................... 82
C hap ter 6 A nalysis o f H W d estressin g 84
6.1 In tro d u c tio n ...................................................................................................... 84
6.2 HW Destressing in G en eral............................................................................ 86
6.3 Seismicity and Stress P a t h ............................................................................ 90
6.4 Displacements Around Destress H o le s........................................................ 95
6.5 HW Destressing in the 1299 S to p e ............................................................... 103
6.6 Limitations of the A n aly sis............................................................................ 105
C hapter 7 C onclusions and R eco m m en d a tio n s 107
7.1 In tro d u c tio n ...................................................................................................... 107
7.2 Success of HW D estressin g ............................................................................ 108
7.3 Mechanics of D estressin g ............................................................................... 109
7.4 Recommendations for the Monitoring of D estressing................................ 110
7.5 Recommendations for the Application of HW D estressin g ...................... 112
B ibliograph y 113
A p p en d ix A 118
vi
List o f Figures
1.1 Im portant scales in rock mechanics and destressing.................................. 3
2.1 Specific explosive energy from destressing case s tu d ie s ........................... 10
2.2 Plan view of Brunswick Mine 1000 m sill l e v e l ........................................ 11
2.3 Instrum entation of Brunswick Mine destress b l a s t .................................. 12
2.4 Destressing of thin vein cut and fill p i l l a r s ............................................... 17
2.5 Theoretical energy changes during pillar destressing................................. 19
2.6 Results of South African face destressing..................................................... 22
2.7 Convergence measurements after face destressing...................................... 23
2.8 Hanging wall destressing at Creighton Mine............................................... 25
2.9 Suggested mechanics of hanging wall d e stre ssin g ..................................... 26
3.1 Creighton Mine and Sudbury structure g e o lo g y ...................................... 31
3.2 General cross section of the 1290 o re b o d y .................................................. 32
3.3 1290 shear zone exposed in topsill.................................................................. 33
3.4 Disking in core indicates high stresses and brittle rock.............................. 35
3.5 Isometric view showing orebodies near the 1299 stope............................. 36
3.6 Plan view of Creighton orebodies on 6400 level......................................... 37
3.7 Drilling of the destress line in 1299 s t o p e .................................................. 38
4.1 Planned instrum entation program in 1299 stope........................................ 40
4.2 Tape extensometer measurement points....................................................... 43
vii
4.3 Tape extensometer apparatus . 44
4.4 Strain in topsill measured with tape extensometer.................................. 45
4.5 Displacements in the topsill after destressing............................................ 46
4.6 Displacements in the D04 section after destressing.................................. 47
4.7 Shadow casting axially rotating downhole cam era................................... 48
4.8 Method used to analyze the downhole video logs..................................... 49
4.9 Results of downhole camera s u r v e y .......................................................... 51
4.10 Extent of breakouts in destress h o l e s ....................................................... 52
4.11 Angles of breakouts in destress holes ...................................................... 53
4.12 Extent of damage in hole D09 over tim e.................................................... 54
4.13 Stress change measurements in 1290 topsill.............................................. 56
4.14 Local seismic system in 1299 stope.............................................................. 57
4.15 Wave from rejection with the local seismic system.................................. 61
4.16 Seismic magnitude distributions................................................................... 62
4.17 Local seismic events per day.......................................................................... 64
4.18 Local and Mine wide seismic events............................................................ 65
4.19 Large seismic(uM a g > —2) events during destressing looking east. . 67
4.20 Small seismic(uM ag < —2) events during destressing looking east. . 68
4.21 Large seismic(uM a g > —2) events during destressing looking north. . 70
4.22 Small seismic(uM ag < —2) events during destressing looking north. . 71
4.23 Large seismic(uM a g > —2) events during destressing looking down. . 72
4.24 Small seismic(uM a g < —2) events during destressing looking down. . 73
4.25 Seismicity at varying times during stope e x t r a c t i o n ............................ 74
5.1 Numerical modelling 2D plane of a n aly sis................................................ 78
6.1 Ground reaction concept applied to the HW destress line..................... 85
viii
6.2 Major principal stress distributions showing the effects of stress orien
tation and relaxation........................................................................................ 88
6.3 Minor principal stress distributions showing the effects of stress orien
tation and relaxation........................................................................................ 89
6.4 Spatial distribution of seismicity and stress changes in 1299 stope, plan
view...................................................................................................................... 91
6.5 Stress paths during HW destressing at center of stope........................... 93
6.6 Factor of safety against shear failure ....................................................... 94
6.7 Numerical grids to represent the borehole breakouts.............................. 97
6.8 Displacements normal to boundary as a function of dam age........... 99
6.9 Displacements normal to boundary as a function of the breakout angle. 100
6.10 Displacements parallel to boundary as a function of dam age.......... 100
6.11 Displacements parallel to boundary as a function of breakout angle. . 101
6.12 Super-imposed displacements normal to boundary along destress line. 101
6.13 Super-imposed shear displacements along destress line boundary. . . . 102
6.14 Stress orientation along the destress line.................................................... 103
6.15 Predicted relaxation results of 1299 destressing........................................ 104
ix
List of Tables
2.1 Results of instrum entation and analysis of Campbell Mine destressing 16
3.1 Stress measurements from Creighton M i n e .............................................. 34
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 R easons for D estressin g
Mining at depth results in a number of stress related problems. Production delays
are common as drill holes are difficult to m aintain with redrilling and hole cleaning
often being required. Ground conditions deteriorate close to openings due to high
stress adding to re-habilitation costs. Seismicity and rockbursting risk increases in
deep mines with high stress.
Due to these and other problems involved with mining at depth, engineers have
often considered destressing as an option. Destressing is a term used when a mass of
rock is purposefully damaged, usually by blasting, in order to affect the stress field
in the area of mining, with the intent of reducing or eliminating the stress related
problems.
The application of destressing techniques is generally undertaken with very little
understanding of the underlying mechanics. For this reason destressing techniques
are not widely used. W hen they are used, they are designed based on experience and
are updated on a trial and error basis. Very few instrumented case studies have been
published.
C h a p t e r 1. In t r o d u c t io n 2
Destressing can be accomplished in many ways. The mining geometry, the local
geology and current stress state all affect the choice of the destressing technique. The
intended results of the destressing and the manner in which the rock is damaged also
vary from case to case.
1.2 Scope and Scale o f D estressin g
Destressing is a complex engineering problem. It involves the interplay of explosives,
damage, geology, mechanics of materials and stress distributions around deep mining
excavations. All of these aspects are fields of study in their own right w ith large bodies
of research existing in each. Destressing is a type of problem which must generalize
these fields to be applied and understood.
In the earth sciences problems of interest occur at different scales. In mining
engineering the difference in the scale of the problems of interest is quite large. This
is especially true in the case of destressing. This concept is examined in Figure 1.1.
In Figure 1.1 (a) the scale of the problem is th at of the grain size of the rock in
question. Damage occurs at this scale in the form of micro-cracks. The mechanisms
of crack generation are variable since the mineralogical composition of the rock is
extremely heterogeneous. Voids between mineral grains and induced cracking between
grains are forms of damage. Damage at this scale has an effect on the mechanical
properties of the rock. Voids and cracks allow for more displacement under the same
loadings than in the case of undamaged rock. Damage softens the rock, and it allows
for a plastic behaviour where rock is more easily deformed.
Figure 1.1 (b) shows the scale which is visible to the engineer and workers at the
mine. At this scale we would like to control ground conditions for the safety of workers
and the ease of production. Stress induces damage at this scale and the damage comes
in many forms: spalled excavation, breakouts in drillholes, slip on joints etc. Damage
R eproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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1$. ""y-'Mfk ,
a) scale on the order of millimeters
r
b) scale in the order of meters
Ik .
c) scale on the order of kilometers
Figure 1.1: Im portant scales in rock mechanics and destressing.
at this scale is different from the microscopic damage but is generally caused by the
localization of the microscopic damage. The mechanisms of damage generation at
this scale require an understanding of the effects of microscopic damage and how
they affect the rock at this larger scale.
Figure 1.1 (c) shows the scale at the size of the mine. Here the geometry of the
mine and the sequence of the excavations will have a large effect on the distribution of
stress in the ground. Seismic d ata can be collected to examine the spatial distribution
of damage induced by mining. The large scale geology of the deposit governs the
geometry of the mine and has an effect on the mineralogical scale in (a). The zone of
structural motion will have been weakened and the quality of the rockmass reduced.
The scales in Figure 1.1 each play a role in destressing. Damage is induced at
scales (a) and (b) usually through blasting. This affects an area of rock initially acted
on by stresses determined from (c). The stresses will then redistribute in some manner
due to the changes of mechanical response of the damaged rock or to displacement
induced by the damage.
It is clear th a t the scope of destressing as an engineering problem spans a wide
range of scales.
1.3 D am age and D estressin g
Damage is one of the most im portant aspects in the problem of destressing. It is a
difficult aspect to define. In this thesis damage is loosely defined as the degradation
of the structure of the rock mass. It is related to the strength of the rock and also the
stiffness of the rock. It is a progressive phenomenon in which rock can vary from an
intact competent state into one in which the damage is so great th at it can no longer
support any load. Damaged rock is more easily deformed since it strains more under
the same load and thus is softer than undamaged rock. Damage occurs in rock in
many forms and at many scales as discussed in the previous section: micro-cracking,
slip on joints, breakouts in drill holes and seismicity are all elements of damage which
are im portant to destressing.
The desired type and degree of damage in destressing generally vary by case as do
the methods for developing it. Blasting is the most common way of inducing damage
for destressing. Explosive gas pressures can heave a rock mass and it can readily
open existing joints. Stress wave energy is transferred through the rock and it too
can induce damage at a microscopic level. The rock on the walls of a blasted borehole
are obliterated and spalling fractures occur after a reflection from a free-face.
Confined blasting in rock with the intent of leaving the damaged rock in place
has not been examined closely in the explosives literature. It is a non-typical blasting
application in th a t most blasting applications are concerned with the fragmentation of
the rockmass. It is a difficult subject since the explosive/rock interaction is a complex
phenomena. The effect of the in situ stress field adds an additional complexity to
the subject. Some results have been generated and empirical models do exist to
predict the extent of a damage zone, as shown in LeBlanc et al. (1999). These models
can predict the size and shape of a damage envelope surrounding a borehole. They
are based on a relationship between observed damage and the peak particle velocity
associated with the blast. There are also several models available for predicting
the material properties of rock th at has been damaged by blasting, reported by Liu
(2003). However without an adequate understanding of the effects of blasting on rock
one cannot be certain th at the measures of damage used by such models are adequate.
Damage during destressing also comes in the form of seismicity. Seismicity is not
easily related to the mechanical behavior of a rock mass. It is a form of damage
which occurs over a wide range of scales. Seismic events occur with such great energy
release th a t blocks of distant rock can be ejected from walls at tremendous velocities.
Seismicity also occurs with such a small energy release th a t microscopic laboratory
equipment is required to measure it. The regions surrounding active mining and
destressing operations are almost always seismically active. The effects th a t this seis
micity has on the mechanical behaviour of the rock and the excavations are generally
unknown.
Damage is relevant to destressing if it causes a change in the stress distribution in
the rock mass. One way to affect the stress distribution is by inducing displacements
(strain). These displacements occur in a number of different ways depending on the
type of damage.
1.4 1299 D estressin g C ase S tu d y
This thesis examines a destressing attem pt in the 1299 stope at Creighton Mine in
October of 2004. Destressing was proposed for this stope due to production problems
within the previous stopes of this orebody. The orebody is a typical case of high stress
abutm ent mining. A small thin zone of ore remained to be mined in the high stress
abutm ent of a previously mined larger orebody. The high stress caused production
holes to become unstable and which often required redrilling or cleaning in order to
load explosives.
The destressing technique used in the 1299 stope is called hanging wall (HW)
destressing. The technique consists of drilling a row of sacrificial, tightly spaced holes
into the hanging wall of the stope prior to production drilling. The holes become
extensively damaged due to the high stresses, and this causes the stress in the stope to
redistribute and ideally make production drill holes stable. It is a technique which has
been reported in the literature (J.P.D. O ’Donnell Sr., 1999) but never instrumented.
1.5 O utline o f T hesis
This thesis provides an analysis of the destressing of the 1299 stope. Chapter 2 pro
vides a review of destressing case-studies and shows how the 1299 stope case relates
to other instrum ented destressing cases. Chapter 3 describes the mining methods and
geology of the 1299 stope and 1290 orebody. C hapter 4 outlines the instrum entation
program and provides the results obtained during the destressing and mining of the
1299 stope. Chapter 5 is a discussion about the methodology used in the analysis of
the destressing case study. Chapter 6 contains the details and results of the analysis.
The final chapter presents the conclusions obtained during the case study and rec
ommendations for the application of destressing and the monitoring of destressing.
Chapter 2
Literature R eview of D estressing
Cases
2.1 In trod u ction
Destressing techniques have been used in the mining industry for many years. Gen
erally techniques of this sort are either called destressing or pre-conditioning - the
distinction being th a t cases are labelled pre-conditioning only when the damaged
area will be excavated in the future. It is convenient to drop the labelling. In this
thesis all cases where a purposefully damaged rock mass is created during the mining
of any area, with the intent of re-distributing stress will be referred to as destressing.
A summary of the published and unpublished literature on destressing has been
undertaken by a number of sources including Blake et al. (1998) and Mitri and Mar-
wan (2000). These literature reviews have examined the purposes, the methods and
the measures of success for a wide range of destressing case studies.
The goal of destressing in most cases is to promote displacements in the damage
zone. These displacement occur along existing fractures or along new fractures created
during the damage process. The net effect is to change the mechanical response of
C h apter 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e s t r e s s in g C a se s 9
the damaged zone from a brittle mode to a plastic mode (Brummer and Andrieux,
2002). The increased network of fractures and the displacements which occur along
the fractures softens the rock.
The softening of a rock mass can have a number of beneficial effects with respect
to mining activities. Softening can lead to a reduction in risk of rockbursting since
the strain energy released upon failure will not be released in a brittle mode. The
plastic failure mode is more controlled as the intact surrounding rock does not drive
the failure process in an unstable manner. Softening can also lead to increased dis
placements into the damaged zone which can effectively reduce the stresses in the
area around the damage.
The m ajority of destress cases have utilized explosives to damage the rock. Figure
2.1 shows most of the documented cases and compares the size of the desired damaged
area with the quantity of explosive energy used to provide the damage. The ratio of
these values (cal in explosive/kg of rock) gives a measure of explosive energy per unit
of rock similar to the powder factor. It is clear th at there are a wide range of specific
explosive energies th a t have been used to damage the rock for destressing.
The explosive energy is one of the blasting variables that is im portant for inducing
damage in the rockmass. However it is not the only variable. Other im portant blast
variables will include the relative timing of the individual borehole detonations, the
number if any of unloaded holes and the burden and spacing of the blast design
(Brummer and Andrieux, 2002).
It has also been suggested th a t the type of explosive will affect the amount of
the damage. Ammonium N itrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) explosives generally have more
gas pressure while emulsion explosives induce a larger shock to the rock mass. The
relative effects th a t each of these types have on the damaged rockmass has been
disputed in the literature and generally there is no consensus on which is better. It is
suggested th a t ANFO explosives due to their gas pressure will open existing fractures
C h a pt e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e s t r e s s in g C a s e s 10
I Bnmswick 1999
iwfcyFiufay 19S8
fjjg g —Campbell
Macitsa
• F a k o 1 9 6 4 /^
Mpr v 'C r M c e n t/^ i
j/r . , . Galena.............
Cm glltou#.
Kerr Addison
10000 rnpoo
M ats o f the Targtted P illar (tonnes)
Figure 2.1: Specific explosive energy from destressing case studies, from Brummer
( 20 01 ).
in the rock while emulsion explosives induce new fractures (Blake et ah, 1998).
The literature summaries on destressing are an excellent means of comparing
destressing applications. They do not, however, provide for a general framework for
destressing applications. Destressing attem pts are still planned on a case by case
basis.
Since there are a number of general literature surveys on destressing th a t are
relatively up to date, there is no need to provide another one in this thesis. Instead
the literature review in this thesis will focus on the instrumented destressing case
studies.
It is the goal of the literature review to obtain a clearer view of some of the
instruments used and the results generated during the instrumented destressing cases.
Additionally the interpretation of the instrum entation results will be discussed. This
will include a description of any numerical analyses of the destressing. There have
been relatively few instrum ented analyses made of destressing. All of the major
reported work will be discussed in the sections th a t follow.
2.2 B runsw ick M ine D estress B last
Brunswick Mine utilized a destressing blast in October 1999, and a full case study
with instrum entation and analysis was published with the support oTCAMIRO and
Noranda (Brummer and Andrieux, 2001).
The blast was loaded into the 29-9 stope, which is a sub-economic stope of the
west ore zone (WOZ) at Brunswick Mine. Figure 2.2 shows a plan view of the 1000
m sill level of the mine and the relative locations of the destress blast and ore zones.
The west ore zone is a thin stringer which is located about 100m to the east of the
thicker main ore zone (MOZ).
WOZ
woz /C
MOZ
\ \ MOZ South 1
)I ^ --—4
Figure 2.2: Plan view of Brunswick Mine 1000 m sill level, from Andrieux et al.
(2003).
The stope was blasted and left in place for a number of reasons. Prim arily it
was thought th a t if the intact rock of the 29-9 stope was left in place th a t it would
act as a window for stresses to flow through onto the MOZ. This was undesirable
as the mining of the MOZ could be affected by the higher than usual stress. The
secondary reason for blasting the stope was to ease the mining in the WOZ. The
extraction pattern for the WOZ would have been compromised had the 29-9 stope
remained intact. At the time of blasting the stopes adjacent to the 29-9 stope were
already starting to show signs of higher stress. Unravelling failure in the back of the
nearby stopes threatened nearby haulage drifts and thus the sustainability of all WOZ
mining. For these reasons the 29-9 stope was to be blasted and the broken rock left
in place with the hope th a t stress in the rock would be reduced and pushed towards
the abutments.
The destressing was conducted by loading 165 mm (6.5” ) boreholes on a 2.4 m
square pattern. The blast had a specific energy of 350 cal/kg with the total size of
the stope being in excess of 20,000 tonnes. The stope was extensively instrumented.
The design of the instrum entation program is shown in Figure 2.3.
1000-1 sub
29-9 pillar
5 1000 Sill
Geokon stress cells 1125-5 sub

Extensometer holes
SMART cablebolts
Cross-hole geophysics holes
Borehole camera holes
Figure 2.3: Instrum entation of Brunswick Mine destress blast, from Brummer and
Andrieux (2001).
Measurements of stress changes were made at two locations using Geokon vibrat
ing wire stress cells. Displacement measurements across the stope were taken with
C h a pter 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e s t r e s s in g C a s e s 13
borehole extensometers. Cam era surveys were conducted in non-production boreholes
which intersected the stope with the intent being to directly observe any changes in
the quality of the rockmass. A seismic tomographic survey was conducted in order
to quantify any changes in the P-wave velocity of the damaged rock. The instru
m entation and analysis conducted at Brunswick Mine is one of the most complete
destressing cases studies existing in the literature. The instruments generated several
significant results which are discussed below.
Extensometer measurements showed th a t the rock surrounding the stope was com
pressed, indicating th a t the blasted mass had expanded. The mechanisms involved
in this expansion were suggested to be a combination of blasting energy to heave the
rock and rock fracturing to m aintain the expansion.
Stress change measurements showed significant stress changes due to the blast.
The magnitudes of the stress increased in one of the Geokon cells and decreased in the
other. This result is not inconsistent as the cells each only measure a single component
of the stress tensor in separate directions. The stress measurements alone are not
sufficient to infer the total change in the stress tensor. The lack of complete point
measurements means th a t we cannot be certain if the stress at a distance from the
stope was increased or decreased. Only with numerical modelling and a comparison
of the measured and predicted stresses can such a determination be made.
The tomographic survey suggested th a t very little change of P-wave velocity oc
curred in the stope. This is a surprising result since a great deal of explosive energy
was applied to the rockmass of the 29-9 stope. One has a difficult time imagining th a t
this energy did nothing to the extent of fracturing in the rockmass. The tomographic
survey was more than likely compromised in its accuracy by several site factors which
are describe in the report.
Visual borehole inspection was deemed to be inconclusive since the pre and post
blast surveys were incapable of penetrating the full extent of the boreholes. This was
C h apter 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e s t r e s s in g C a s e s 14
due to spalling and clogging of the camera holes.
A numerical analysis of the destress blast was undertaken. A strain softening
3DEC model was used to predict the initial stress field around the 29-9 stope by
incorporating the relevant mining steps in the vicinity. The damaged area of the
29-9 stope was then represented as a rockmass with a reduced stiffness. Various
degrees of stiffness reduction were examined and the resultant stress distributions
were compared to the measured stress changes at the site. The stiffness reduction
method did not accurately represent the changes in stress seen at the site (Andrieux
et ah, 2003).
The success of this destressing attem pt is, as in most cases, difficult to determine.
No significant ground control problems arose in the latter mining of the MOZ or the
WOZ which suggests only th a t destressing was not unsuccessful.
There is, however, one problem with this destressing example th a t is not men
tioned in published reports. The prim ary goal of the destressing was to damage the
stope in such as way as to reduce the stress transferred into the MOZ and push the
high stress to the abutm ent of the WOZ. Had the stope been mined and filled in
the typical fashion this goal would have been achieved. In th at case there would,
w ithout question, have been displacements into the stope. Mining and filling lead to
convergence of the stope walls. This is presumably the type of mechanical behaviour
which was also desired from the destressing. However, the measurements of displace
ment surrounding the stope show exactly the opposite type of behaviour. Instead of
convergence into the stope the rock of the damaged stope expanded. The analogy
of softening becomes reversed and it appears th a t the damaged rock has hardened.
From this point of view it appears th a t destressing was completely unsuccessful and
in fact could have led to higher stress on the MOZ and no transfer of stress to the
abutm ents of the WOZ. Given this consideration it is not surprising th a t the numeri
cal modelling did not correlate with the measured stress changes, since the modelling
C h a pter 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e s t r e s s in g C a se s 15
was based on a stiffness reduction in the damaged zone.
2.3 D estressin g P illars in T h in V eined S top es
Mining methods used during the extraction of thin vein orebodies typically require
pillars. The pillars are often subject to risk of rockbursting as the induced stresses
rise due to the extraction of adjacent ore. Destressing is an option often used in such
situations to reduce the rockbursting risk and to allow excavation of the pillars for a
full recovery of ore.
A number of mines have used destressing in thin vein orebodies. Several instru
mented case studies from of this type of destressing are presented in this section.
2.3.1 P illa r D estre ssin g at C a m p b ell M ine
At the Campbell Mine in Red Lake, O ntario destressing of a number of highly stressed
pillars was instrum ented and documented throughout the early 1980’s. Four pillar
destress blasts are summarized in a report prepared with the support of CANMET
(Makuch et al., 1987).
At the time of the report Campbell Mine was producing primarily from steeply
dipping thin vein structures using an overhand cut and fill method. The ore is found
in fracture filled quartz-carbonate veins which are hosted in brittle andesite. Pillars
are destressed by drilling holes into the ore from the sill levels and then blasting with
a low specific energy ( < 100 cal/kg).
An instrum ented field trial was conducted for the 1604 E crown pillar. The pillar
was located at a depth of 685 m in the A l zone at Campbell. The ore zones in this
region are found in 3 parallel veins separated by approximately 15 m each having
a width of about 2 m. W hen the pillar in the 1604 stope reached a height of 15m
from the level above, destressing was carried out. This was done with the intention of
reducing seismicity and poor ground conditions while extracting the final lifts of the
stope. The damaged zone was placed in the outerm ost vein of the 3 vein system with
the hope th a t it would shadow the ore in the other two veins from the high stress.
The destressing was monitored with a number of different instruments. Stress
cells were placed directly in the ore. Stope closure was measured with borehole
extensometers. Seismicity was measured in addition to blast vibrations.
The results of the instrum entation program were followed up with a numerical
modelling analysis. This analysis treated the damaged zone in the outermost vein
as a zone of reduced stiffness. The results of the instrum entation program and the
numerical analysis are shown in Table 2.1:
Table 2.1: Results of instrum entation and analysis of Campbell Mine destressing,
'EX = extensometer stations), from Makuch et al. (1987}

Station Measured Change 25% Modulus Reduction 50% Modulus Reduction
EX-2 -2.89 mm -0.67 mm -2.06 mm
EX-4 -0.51 mm +0.13 mm +0.45 mm
EX-5 -1.41 mm -1.03 mm -1.90 mm
Stress-3 -0.77 MPa -0.70 MPa -2.10 MPa
Stress-5 -5.50 MPa -1.80 MPa -5.60 M Pa
Stress-6 +5.60 MPa +1.80 MPa +7.60 MPa
The predicted results generated from the numerical modelling match up extremely
well with the measured results. It appears th a t in this case the stiffness reduction
method proved to be a good theoretical tool for the numerical representation of the
damaged rock. It seems th at the actual level of stiffness reduction should be some
where in between the 50% and 25% values used in the analysis.
The mechanics of the destressing in this case seem to be clear. M aterial displaced
into the damage zone. This displacement led to a reduction of the stresses in the
veins surrounding the damaged zone.
2.3.2 P illar D estre ssin g in th e C oeu r d ’A len e M in es
A similar form of destressing used to be practiced regularly in the thin vein silver
mines of the Coeur d ’Alene region in Idaho. In the past these mines utilized overhand
cut and fill mining as the prim ary method. This mining m ethod involves a shrinking
pillar between the current stope and the previously mined and filled stope on the
level above. Destressing was used to aid in this portion of the production. The
purpose of destressing is to reduce the potential for rockbursting in the s h r i n k i n g
pillars by allowing for dissipation of stored strain energy through displacements on
newly formed fractures (McMahon, 1988). Recently the mining method has been
changed to underhand cut and fill to avoid the problem of pillar mining in its entirety.
M i n e d a n d f i ll ed
6 . 7 0 0 - f l leveT
Pi ll ar
D e s t r e s s holes
rea
Stope
Mi n e d a n d f i l l e d Raise
129
122 6 , 9 0 0 - f t level
Figure 2.4: Destressing layout in thin vein cut and fill pillars, from McMahon (1988).
W hen the pillars reached a critical size of 10 meters from the level above, destress
holes were drilled and blasted. Production of the remaining few lifts then proceeded
C h a p t e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e ssin g C ases 18
as normal mining through the damaged ore. Figure 2.4 shows a typical layout for
the destress blast. The specific energies are in the order of 100 cal/kg. The destress
holes typically do not extend the full length of the pillar, and the remaining pillar
will fail under the increased stresses. In this way destressing can be viewed as a way
of averting a critical state. The pillars start to fail at heights of 10 meters and are
completely failed at 5 meters. Destressing simply causes a jum p in the size of the
pillar such th a t the critical size is never present. This destressing technique has been
in use since the 1960’s (Blake, 1972) and has been well monitored and documented
in a number of cases since including Boler and Swanson (1993).
The monitored field trials have utilized a variety of instruments. Stress change
measurements have been made outside of the pillars on the same level as the blasts
and in the abutm ents of the pillars. Seismic tomography has been used to quantify
changes in the P-wave velocity in the pillar. Convergence measurements have been
made to quantify displacements into the damaged ore.
The results of the instrum entation for this type of destressing are generally simi
lar to those obtained at Campbell Mine as discussed in Section 2.3.1. Stress changes
around the stope due to displacements into the damaged zone. Seismic tomogra
phy results, which were not included at Campbell Mine, did show significant results
(McMahon, 1988). The P-wave velocity in the stope was shown to decrease from a
maximum of 5800 m /s (19000 ft/s) to 3000 m /s (10000 ft/s) due to destressing. This
indicates a significant increase in damage in the destressed pillars.
2.3 .3 T h eo retica l A sp e c ts o f P illa r D estressin g
There is a sound theoretical description for the destressing of a pillar and the interac
tion of a damaged zone with the local rockmass. This concept is examined in Figure
2.5.
The initial conditions of pillar and rockmass exist at the equilibrium position of
<n
iifi
D isplacem ent Displacement

[A] Net change in p o te n tia l [B] E x p lo s iv e ene rg y to push
energy. back w a lls.
Hi
a>
4-f
</) w
Uml
Displacement D isplace ment

[CJ S tored s tra in e n e rg ie s [D] E nergy c o n s u m e d (e x c lu d in g
b e fo re and after d e s tre s sin g . e x p lo s iv e ) to fra ctu re p illa r.
Hi
Hi
0)
w
*•*
(/)
D isplacem ent
[E] S e is m ic energy released
Figure 2.5: Theoretical energy changes during pillar destressing, from Makuch et al.
(1987).
C h a p t e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e ssin g C a se s 20
A. The initial stiffness of the pillar E l and the local mine stiffness intersect to form
this equilibrium. During blasting the energy from the explosive pushes back on the
rockmass and expands the pillar to a point B along the local mine stiffness curve.
Once the pressure of the explosive attenuates or passes through the rockmass the
stress in the pillar drops to point C of equal magnitude to A. The explosive having
caused a network of cracks to be formed in the pillar will have reduced the modulus
of the pillar to a new value of E2. The curve drawn out from C to D represents the
rockmass pushing back on the damaged pillar until it reaches point D. From point D
further displacement in the pillar is induced along the residual strength curve which
is the flat portion from D to E. The final result of the pillar destressing is a new
equilibrium position of E where the stress in the pillar is reduced, the displacement
increased, and a balance once again exists with the surrounding rockmass.
This description takes into account the energy from the explosives and the inter
action of the damaged pillar with the surrounding rock. The new equilibrium position
is one in which the potential energy of the rockmass is reduced and the stored strain
energy in the pillar is reduced. These reductions in energy only occur if displacement
is induced into the pillar due to the damaging of the rock.
2.4 S ou th A frican Face D estressin g
The deep (up to 2500m) tabular gold mines in South Africa have to m aintain the
stability of an advancing mining face. Face bursting, and ground conditions for pro
duction drilling are issues which have necessitated a destressing program. Destressing
has been used since the 1950’s (Roux et al., 1957) and has been well documented
in terms of both instrum entation results and comparison with non-destressed cases
(Blake et al., 1998).
The layout of the destressing is designed such th at the advancing face is always
C h a pt e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e ssin g C a ses 21
proceeding through broken ground. A large diameter hole parallel to the face can be
used to load explosives into an area a distance away from the current face. Alter
natively, multiple small diam eter holes perpendicular to the face can be drilled with
the current production round. These holes are longer than the production holes and
extend the zone of fractured rock farther away from the face
Instrum ented monitoring of face destressing has been ongoing since the incep
tion of the technique. Various types of instruments have been used to monitor
the destressing. Convergence measurements have been made in destressed and non
destressed stopes. Ground penetrating radar has been used to examine open fractures
in the damaged zone. Large scale seismicity has been examined in destressed and
non-destressed cases. Production d ata such as workplace fatalities and productivity
statistics have also been collected.
The geometry of the stope and damaged region does not lend itself well to stress
measurements. These measurements would have to be made well in advance of the
damaged zone along the plane of the orebody for useful d ata to be acquired. It would
be a difficult task to m aintain the sensor connections since they would have to pass
through a production face.
Figure 2.6 (a) shows the ground conditions in separate panels, one of which was
mined using destressing. It seems clear th at the destressing ameliorates the ground
conditions at the face.
Figure 2.6 (b) shows the results of the ground penetrating radar used to examine
the damaged face. Ground penetrating radar is able to measure the open fractures
in rock. Clearly destressing does induce significant open fractures in the face.
Figure 2.7 shows convergence measurements th at were made over a period of more
than 8 months at both a destressed and non-destressed panel. These measurements
were taken over multiple advances of the mining face and provide a good average
over time. Destressing of the face induces more total convergence th an the non-
C h a p t e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e ssin g C a se s 22
a) (a) unpreconditioned (b) preconditioned
3.5 m
UNPRECONDITIONED
3.5 m
b) PRECONDITIONED
Figure 2.6: Results of face destressing a) qualitative ground conditions b) ground
penetrating radar, from Toper (2003).
C h a p t e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e ssin g C a ses 23
Non-Recondittoning - - - - Reconditioning
20 -4 0 m > 40m
1.47
mm/day .
2.81
mm/day f
.4 7
mm/day
5.26
mm/day
2.01
mm/day
•31
mm/dajy
Figure 2.7: Convergence measurements after face destressing, from (Toper, 2003).
destressed case. Additionally the rate of convergence is initially higher than for the
non-destressed case. As the face progresses away from the measurement location the
rate of convergence between both cases becomes equal.
Production statistics recorded for destressed and non-destressed cases during a
21 month research program initiated by CSIR/MiningTek all seem to show positive
increases in the recorded values as cited in Toper (2000). Drilling rates into the
damaged face showed increases from 0.19 m /m in to 0.28 m /m in. Safety records
showed less total injuries per volume mined with the difference reaching almost a
factor of 3.
Seismicity recorded during several tests of face destressing showed significant dif
ferences between destressed and non-destressed cases. In the destressed cases the
C h a pt e r 2. Lit e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e ssin g C a se s 24
b-values calculated from the seismic d ata sets increased significantly (Toper et al.,
1977). This indicates th a t the number of large events is reduced.
The mechanism of face destressing appears to be clear. The blast releases stored
strain energy in the face. The fracturing of the face allows displacements to occur
which has the effect of reducing the stress buildup. High stresses are pushed away
from the face and onto the un-fractured rock outside of the damaged zone.
2.5 H anging W all D estressin g
The destressing method th a t will be the focus of the remainder of this thesis is
known as hanging wall (HW) destressing. This method was first used in the 1980’s
at Creighton Mine in the 1290 orebody. It was documented by J.P.D. O ’Donnell Sr.
(1999) in a review of Inco Ltd. destressing practices. The technique, however, has
never been instrumented and many questions remain, including the mechanics of the
process and its successfulness.
The technique consists of drilling, and possibly blasting, a row of sacrificial holes
along the hanging wall of the stope. These holes are spaced apart in this case on 0.91
meter (3 feet) centers. However the spacing of the drill holes is a variable which has
never been examined.
A common observation in highly stressed thin longitudinally mined stopes is shown
in Figure 2.8. A damaged zone of material exists adjacent to the previously mined
stope. Drill holes in this damaged zone are all stable. Outside of this damaged zone
there exists an area where drill holes are not stable. They crush and break due to
high stresses.
Hanging wall destressing is used in such cases to alleviate the high stress zone and
allow for the holes to remain stable throughout the stope extraction.
The mechanics of this process were discussed at a meeting in August 2003 with
1830m LEVEL
UJ
O R Ill HOLES
NORITE
\ FRACTURE \
RING
ZONE /
GRANITE RE OUTLINE -& RING
RING
1890m LEVEL HIGH STRESS
RING
ZONE
RING
STOP
NOT |TO SCALE
PLAN CREIGHTOM MINE
1 8 3 0 m LEVEL
SECTION RING 15 RING HOLES o o o
NOT TO SCALE HW HOLES • •
PANEL SIZE 15m x 7.6m x 60m
PANELS 3 & 4 HW HOLES DRILLED
PANELS 5 ON, FRACTURE ZONE EXTENDED BEYOND THE NEXT STOPE.
0EA6F1O.0WC
Figure 2.8: Hanging wall destressing at Creighton Mine, from J.P.D. O ’Donnell Sr.
(1999).
W l Shear
Soft
Backfill Compression
1298 Stope 1299 Stope
Figure 2.9: Suggested mechanics of hanging wall destressing, plan view.
rock mechanics staff from Inco Ltd. and representatives from Queen’s University.
The suggested mechanical behaviour of the stope and the line of destress holes is
shown in Figure 2.9. Two prim ary mechanisms were suggested.
The compression mechanism is simply derived from the closure of the holes. The
destress holes squeeze and are broken and the rock of the stope and the hanging wall
are able to displace into this damaged zone. This would lead to destressing of the ore
as displacement would be developed and cause a drop in stress.
The second mechanism which was suggested to be applicable is shearing. The line
of destress holes will essentially act as a planar weakness. Any shear stress which
was originally present along this plane will no longer be able to be supported. This
mechanism can serve to destress the ore by allowing it to shear and expand into the
C h a p t e r 2. L it e r a t u r e R e v ie w o f D e st r e s s in g C a ses 27
soft backfill of the previously mined stope.
Although these two mechanisms are quite simplistic they will serve as a basis for
the design of the instrum entation program to monitor the destressing of the 1299
stope.
HW destressing is a technique which differs from most other destressing techniques
because blasting is not the prim ary means of damaging the rock. However it still can
be considered in the realm of destressing since it falls into the definition used at the
beginning of this chapter. It is an example of a purposefully damaged rock mass used
to alter stress to increase the stability of production drill holes.
2.6 Sum m ary
The goal of the literature review was to get a clearer view of some of the instrum ents
used and the results generated during the instrumented destressing cases. It is clear
th a t a wide range of instruments have been used to monitor destressing.
Generally stress measurements and displacement measurements are the most widely
used types of instrum entation. Stress measurements are no doubt crucial to the anal
ysis of destressing since it is the redistribution of stress around the damage zone th a t
is the goal of destressing. However displacement measurements are just as im portant.
W ithout displacements there will be no stress change. Stress is directly related to
strain and displacement measurements such as by borehole extensometers are able to
measure one component of this strain over a volume of rock.
Another types of instrum entation which is widely used is seismic monitoring. All
of the literature discussed has made use of large scale (mine wide) seismic arrays.
The data th a t is returned from such arrays are large seismic events. There are no
studies which have shown micro-seismic events in a destressing case. These events
could be critical to the understanding of the mechanics of destressing and have been
one missing aspect of monitored destressing case studies.
The literature review of instrum ented destressing case studies and discussion of
the mechanics of HW destressing will be used to design a instrum entation program
for the 1299 stope. This will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 4 of this thesis.
Chapter 3
G eology and M ining in the 1290

Orebody
3.1 Sudbury, C reighton and 1290 O rebody G eol
ogy
The Sudbury district is home to one of the world largest assemblies of mineral deposits
with nickel, copper and precious metals having been extracted since the early 1900’s.
These deposits all lie along the boundary of what is called the Sudbury structure -
this structure and the mines of the district are shown in Figure 3.1 (b).
The structure is interpreted to have been caused by the impact of a meteor some
1850 million years in the past (Krogh et al., 1984). The impact crater refilled with
brecciated material. Igneous rocks then intruded along the boundary of the crater.
The igneous rocks are known as the Sudbury igneous complex (SIC), and form the
hanging wall of the ore deposits in the structure. The footwall of the deposits in
the south range are composed of metavolcanic rocks and m eta sediments while in the
north of the crater the footwall rocks are archean aged granites and gabbros.
The genesis of the sulphide ores in the Sudbury region is complex but is generally
29
C h a p t e r 3. G e o l o g y a n d M i n i n g in t h e 1 2 9 0 O r e b o d y 30
understood to have been the derived from segregation of the SIC magmas. The ore
occurs in either offset dykes or embayment structures.
The southern region of the Sudbury district is home to the Creighton Mine which
was discovered in the 1890’s. and has been in continuous production for more than
100 years. Figure 3.1 (a) shows a general long section of the mine. The sulphide ores
extend from surface to at least 3000 m (10000 feet). The ore exists in an embayment
structure w ith granites in the footwall and norite (SIC) in the hanging wall.
The deepest shaft at Creighton Mine is the number 9 shaft which gives access to
the 7000 Level at a depth of 2100 m (7000 ft) below surface. Ore is currently being
extracted to a depth of 2400 m (7800 feet) with a ramp providing access.
Creighton Mine has a number of distinct orebodies. Strong deformations have
occurred since the ore deposition and this has led to the shearing and extension of
the prim ary ore structure into its current shape.
The 1290 orebody, the host of the destressing case study, is a sheared extension
of the 400 orebody. The 400 orebody is a thick sulphide zone which dips around
65 degrees and is found from 1500 m to 2200 m depth at Creighton. The 1290 ore
has been transported upwards towards the south from the 400 orebody. The ore is
approximately 4.-5 meters thick in the 1299 stope.
The 1290 shear zone forms the hanging wall of all stopes in the 1290 orebody.
The damage zone averages 2-6 meters in thickness but can reach thicknesses of up to
30 meters.
3.1.1 R ock M ass in 1299 S to p e
The rock mass in the 1299 stope, other than the strong shearing in the hanging wall
is generally competent. RQD values in this area are in the 80-100 range. From
underground observations jointing is not seen to be pervasive, however it is clear th at
several sets are present. Figure 3.2 shows a generalized cross section of the 1290
C h a p t e r 3. G e o l o g y a n d M in in g in t h e 1 2 9 0 O r e b o d y
S H I
mmmm
jeRANTTE/OABBRO
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r 1 0mvta|7«mMd«ii
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9edta«ntai7 Kecks
/X I w
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C re ig h to |> lOilm
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SUDBURY D IST R IC T
b)
Figure 3.1: Creighton Mine and Sudbury structure geology
C h a p t e r 3. G e o l o g y a n d M in in g in t h e 1 2 9 0 O r e b o d y 32
structural
movement
65° \
RQD\90+ .RQD 60 RQD 90+
4 .5 2-6
m 30 m +
su lp h id e granite
granite ore shear
zone
Figure 3.2: General cross section of the 1290 orebody, looking west.
orebody in the area of the 1299 stope. The RQD values in the shear zone are mapped
from drill logs to be in the range of 60 while in the ore and footwall the they are
above 90.
Figure 3.3 shows the 1290 shear zone exposed in the topsill during development.
The topsill is observed to break to the shear contact. Visible pieces of rock are slabby
and easy to pull apart from the shear zone. Observations underground indicate th a t
the shearing has im parted a continuous planar feature on the rocks. The rocks are
weaker in the plane of the shear.
Since the shear zone is substantially weaker than the ore and the granite, its role
in the destressing is likely non-negligible. Failure is expected in some form along the
destress line where the holes are drilled with the intent of intersecting the shear zone
Figure 3.3: 1290 shear zone exposed in topsill.
to further induce damage.
3 .1 .2 S tresses in th e 1299 S to p e
There have been no stress measurements taken at, or near, the 1299 stope. Table 3.1
shows the nearest stress measurements made at the Creighton Mine on levels 5600 and
7000 (Cochrane, 1991). These measurements are shown with the (plunge/azim uth) to
indicate the direction of the component of stress. These measurements are assumed
to be outside of the influence of mining activity and thus represent the far field stress
orientations.
The principal component of stress generally runs in an East-W est (EW) direction
and is almost horizontal. The intermediate component of stress dips slightly more
than the major principal component and it is generally oriented North-South (NS).
The minor principal stress, which is usually assumed to be due to the vertical weight
C h a pt e r 3. G e o l o g y a n d M i n i n g in t h e 1 2 9 0 O r e b o d y 34
Table 3.1: Stress measurements from Creighton Mine, from Cochrane (1991)
Level Major Minor Intermediate M ax/M In
5600 60.3 M Pa 34.3 MPa 45.7 MPa 1.76
5600 (13/250) (51/152) (35/348)
7000 79.5 M Pa 61.2 MPa 37.4 MPa 2.12
7000 (20/270) (51/152) (32/013)
of rock, dips less than vertical at 51 degrees.
These value, however, do little to characterize the stress in the 1299 stope, since
the induced stresses will play a much larger role than the far field stresses.
Modelling work by Mirarco has shown th a t the principal stresses could be as high
as 190 M Pa in the 1290 stopes with a minor component of 70 MPa (Suorineni, 2003).
The reason for the extremely high stresses is due to the geometry of the nearby
mining.
The effect of high stress is seen clearly in Figure 3.4 where disking occurs in drill
core taken from the 1299 stope during drilling of the instrum entation holes. Disking
indicates not only high stress conditions but also a brittle rock mass.
Figures 3.5 and 3.6 show the geometry of adjacent mining zones. The stopes of
the 400 orebodies are almost fully extracted.
This geometry puts the 1290 stopes in the abutm ent of the 400 orebody where
the stresses have been increased as a result of the excavations in the 400 orebody.
Additionally the 1290 stopes th a t are currently being mined are the last section to
be extracted. The stopes above and below in the 1290 orebody have already been
extracted.
The initial stresses key components necessary for understanding the mechanics
of destressing. The orientation and magnitude of the stress along the destress line
is a critical aspect of the problem, since in the absence of blasting stress will be
C h a pt e r 3. G e o l o g y a n d M in in g in t h e 1 2 9 0 O r e b o d y 35
Figure 3.4: Disking in core indicates high stresses and brittle rock.
5800 Lev
400 Orebodies
Thick Bulk Mining.
dip -65 \\
1290 Orebody^
Thin Stringer
100% Extracted 6400 Lev
1300+ Stopes '-'**^3 6600 Lev

1299 Stope '
1297-5 Stopes 100% V

Extracted'
Figure 3.5: Isometric view showing orebodies near the 1299 stope.
C hapter 36
Scale
100m
Figure 3.6: Plan view of Creighton orebodies on 6400 level.
used to induce damage along the line. Different stress orientations could generate
dramatically different results after the destress line is drilled.
C h a p t e r 3. G e o l o g y a n d M i n in g in t h e 1 2 9 0 O r e b o d y 37
3.2 M ining o f th e 1290 O rebody
The mining method at Creighton is generally vertical retreat mining (VRM). In areas
of high stress such as in the 1299 stope, where production holes frequently are too
damaged to remain open, a slot and slash (SS) method commonly is used.
The following is a description of the slot and slash m ethod used w ith the HW
destressing in the 1299 stope.
Figure 3.7: Drilling of the destress line in 1299 stope, looking at north wall.
• Top and bottom Sill development. The topsill was completed in 1997 however
the bottom sill called for development through the previously mined stopes
through the backfill and was not complete until September 2004.
• Destress holes drilled into HW. Sixteen 165 mm (6.5” ) destress holes were drilled
on 0.91 m (3 feet) centers. These holes started directly adjacent to the previ
ously rained stope and were drilled towards the east during the period of October
2nd - October 6th, 2004. Figure 3.2 shows the drill midway through the drilling
of the destress holes. The destress holes are labeled D01 - D16 where the hole
D01 is closest to the previously mined stope on the west of the current stope.
• Raisebore slot drilled. A raisebore is used to create the initial slot for the SS
method. The raisebore pilot and reaming commenced days after the destress
holes were completed. A 1.21 m (48” ) raisebore was used to create the slot.
• First ring o f prodcution holes drilled. 6 production holes were drilled on the
first ring. This ring was drilled close the raisebore slot and was aligned such
th a t blasting would increase the size of the slot formed in the ore.
• Production blasting of first ring into slot. The slot was expanded up to crown
pillar of the stope
• Second ring of production holes. After the slot had been blasted the remainder
of the production holes were drilled. Two additional rings of holes were drilled
to the east of the slot
• Production blasting of second ring. The second ring of production holes was
blasted in a typical VRM lift and the mining continued until a 10 m pillar was
left between the excavation and the topsill
• Production blasting o f crown pillar. The 10 m crown pillar was extracted in a
single blast.
• Backfilling of stope. Backfilling of the stope commenced within weeks of the
crown blast.
Chapter 4
Instrum entation in the 1299 Stope
4.1 In stru m en tation P lan n in g
The stopes in the 1290 orebody were instrum ented to determine if HW destressing
was successful and to understand the mechanics of the destress line. W ith these two
aspects in mind an instrum entation program was designed and is shown in Figure 4.1
The planned instrum entation consisted of a variety of different instruments which
are described below:
• Measurements of stress change on either side of the destress line. The measure
ments in the stope will be directly related to the success of destressing since
the prim ary goal is to reduce the state of stress. These measurements are also
critical to understand the mechanics of HW destressing. It is necessary to have
stress measurements on either side of the destress line since the geometry and
geology are not symmetrical. In addition, the site is directly influenced by a
planar feature (the destress line) in which displacements are likely to occur.
If significant shearing is induced then the stress changes on either side of the
line will be different. W ithout stress d ata the analysis of the mechanics and the
conclusion regarding the success will have to rely on other indirect observations.
39
C h a p t e r 4. In s t r u m e n t a t io n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e 40
>V ibrating wire etx e ss c e l l 0 Borehole Survey

• TDB. cable# 0 Tape Exteneornate:
i HI etxeee c e l l _ Saianla Syeten
1296
Section View
Hot to Scale
Figure 4.1: Planned instrum entation program in 1299 stope.
There are various instrum ents which are capable of measuring stress changes
at a point in a rock mass. Only the Hollow Inclusion cell (HI) is capable of
determining changes in the full stress tensor. In this case study HI cells were
planned in addition to Vibrating W ire Stress cells which are easier to install,
but are only capable of measuring stress change in a single axis, in the direction
of their installation.
• Measurements of displacement along the destress line. Displacement measure
ments were to be conducted with time domain reflectometry (TDR) cables and
tape extensometers. These measurements will give data regarding the displace
ments which are induced due to the HW destressing. These measurements will
suggest a mechanical response and can serve to differentiate the shearing vs
compression mechanics explained in C hapter 2.
• Seismic event collection around the stope. The location and magnitudes of
seismic events give a direct insight into the fracturing of the rock mass. This
C h a p t e r 4. I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e 41
in turn allows us to see where stress changes are occurring. Seismic d ata is
collected over volumes. This allows for a comparison w ith the spatial stress
distributions calculated from numerical modelling.
• Downhole Camera Surveys Camera surveys were planned in order to directly
examine the damage th a t is induced in the boreholes. These surveys can give
information regarding the orientation of the stress field which causes the dam
age. The spatial distribution of the damage in the destress line can be examined
as each hole will be surveyed. Surveys can also be done over time to determine
if the damage is changing in a time dependent manner.
The first goal of the instrum entation program is to determine if destressing was
successful. This is not an easy task since measures of success such as drilling time, cost
and safety require comparative d ata from destress and non-destress case studies. Since
this d ata is non-existent the measures used will largely rely on indirect observable
data.
The success will be determined from stress changes, induced displacements and
observations of borehole damage. In addition, the reports from production drillers
will be used to determine the drilling conditions in the stope. The seismic d ata
collected will show the extent of the stress change although it cannot be used to
generate quantitative values for this change.
The second goal of the destressing program is to understand the mechanics of
HW destressing. The mechanics refer to the manner in which the rock behaves with
respect to displacements and forces. The stress changes and the induced damage are
two of the major components of the mechanical description of the destressing. Stress
changes can be measured directly and also inferred from seismic data. Damage will
be measured using direct observations of borehole breakouts.
Measurements of shear and contraction in the topsill can be used to analyze the
displacements due to destressing. The stress measurement on either side of the de
stress line can be used in boundary value problems to back analyze a proposed me
chanical model of the destress line.
The remainder of this chapter will describe in more detail the methods and results
obtained for each of the instrum ents planned in Figure 4.1.
4.2 Tape E xten so m eters
4.2 .1 M eth o d s
Tape Extensometers provide a simple measure of the distance between two points. In
the case of the 1299 stope 8 points were distributed in the topsill with the configuration
shown in Figure 4.2.
The 8 points allowed for 16 unique measurements to be taken. These measure
ments were conducted using the apparatus shown in Figure 4.3. This apparatus
contains a steel tape with which a measurement of feet and inches is taken. After the
initial measurement the tape is tensioned until a reading with precision of 1 /1000th
of an inch is obtained.
The tape extensometer readings were taken at 5 times during the mining of the
stope, as listed:
• September 27 2004, prior to any production in the stope.
• October 6th 2004, after the destress line was drilled.
• November 3rd 2004, after the raise bore had completed the slot.
• December 23rd 2004, mid-way through the production blasting.
• February 4th 2005, prior to the crown blast.
2,3 6,7
-— Measurements
Hangingwall Points
• Footwall Points
East
1,2,... Point Numbers
*D4
'4 'D16
Figure 4.2: Tape extensometer measurement points.
4.2 .2 R esu lts
The tape extensometer measurements showed th a t the topsill of the 1299 stope was
subjected to significant displacements throughout the mining of the stope.
In Figure 4.4 the strain measured in each of the 16 measurement lines is shown at
4 different times throughout the mining of the stope with the initial measurements
acting as a reference length.
A number of observations can be made regarding the strain in the topsill.
The strain generally occurred only in sections perpendicular to the axis of the
stope. There is little evidence of displacements parallel to the stope axis. All large
strains were negative and thus contraction of measurement lines occurred. The major-
C h a p t e r 4. I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e
Figure 4.3: Tape extensometer apparatus.
C h a pt e r 4. I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e 45
1.60-|
1.40 - H After De-stress Drilling

■ After Slot Raise Boring
□ Spot check During Production Blasting
1.20 -
□ Before Crown Blast Loaded
* Measured on line D04
** Measured past line D16
1.00 -
0.80 -
&
•H
m
H
•u
to 0.60 -
0.40 -
0.20 -
0.00
-0.20 J
Figure 4.4: Strain in topsill measured with tape extensometer. Measurements are
from-to points from Figure 4.2. (*) Indicates measurements in the D04 section. (**)
Indicates measurements in the D16 section.
Figure 4.5: Displacements in the topsill after destressing.
ity of the strain occurred during the mining of the stope. However there are significant
displacements induced due to the destressing.
Figure 4.5 shows the displacements measured directly after the destressing. It is
clear th a t measurement point 4 has undergone the most significant movement.
Figure 4.6 shows the solution for the displacement vector of point 4 restricted to
the D04 section.
The tape extensometer system cannot be solved for the displacement vector of a
point w ithout making some assumptions. This solution requires three assumptions:
no change in the angles of the measurement lines is considered, the displacement is
restricted to the D04 section and the footwall points are assumed to be stationary.
The measured displacement of 3.40 mm at an angle of 19° from horizontal indicates
th at the destress line induced contraction from one side of the ore zone across the
HW
19
3 . 28mm
D04
Figure 4.6: Displacements in the D04 section after destressing.
destress line.
4.3 B orehole C am era Surveys
4.3.1 M e th o d s
Borehole cameras provide a visual log of the damage in holes along their length. The
downhole camera shown in Figure 4.7 was designed to be manually lowered into the
165 mm diameter destress holes. The depth is recorded as the camera descends.
Figure 4.7: Shadow casting axially rotating downhole camera.
The camera is installed on an axially rotating shaft and is weighted so th a t the
bottom of the video is always oriented vertically. A shadow casting light ahead of the
camera projects light onto a cross section of the hole.
Figure 4.8: Method used to analyze the downhole video logs.
D ata is gathered by manually analyzing the images. As seen in Figure 4.8 the
angle and the extent of the damage can be measured from still images. The angle is
measured from the bottom of the video which is in an EW plane since the holes are
drilled directly to the North. The extent of the damage has been classified based on
a scale of 1-5 where 1 is very little damage and 5 is an elliptical shaped breakout.
4.3.2 R esu lts
The video logs of the destress holes were analyzed at 1.52 meter (5 feet) intervals
down the hole. At each point a still image was taken and the angle and extent of the
breakouts recorded. Figure 4.9 shows some of the still images collected. These still
images represent the best surveys of the holes and are not correlated in term s of time
after the drilling of the hole. The blank areas are portions of the holes which could
C h a p t e r 4. In s t r u m e n t a t i o n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e 50
not be surveyed due to blockage in the hole either from water or rock. Appendix A
provides a more detailed view of the camera surveys.
Figure 4.10 shows the extent of the breakouts along the length and depth of the
destress line. From the western most edge of the stope at D01 to approximately D06
(5 meters from the 1298 stope) there is very little damage in the destress holes. The
damage reaches a maximum at the middle of the destress line (D09) and reduces
slightly towards the end of the line (D16).
Figure 4.11 shows th a t the angle of the breakouts dram atically changes along the
length of the destress line. From West to East (D01-D16) the measured angles change
from values of 45 0 from the EW to 0 ° with some angles less than 0 ° . This change
is abrupt and occurs between lines D06-D09.
The borehole surveys were conducted over a number of days which allowed for the
measurements to be analyzed over time.
In Figure 4.12 the extent of damage is plotted for 4 different surveys of the D09
destress hole, over a period of 4 days. The first survey was conducted 10 min after
drilling of the hole. It is clear th a t the m ajority of the damage is induced during the
drilling with very small increases afterwards.
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D e p th d o w n th e h o le (m)
Figure 4.9: Results of downhole camera survey. Depth is measured in meters with
each image separated by 1.5 m down the hole. Holes are labelled D01-D16 with D01
being the hole closest to the previously mined stope.
rm uum
xm um m
M uuum
■art
Damage H H Î
Scale nm
MW
Ml 0
□ 3-4 8 wi
u r
i m
□ 2-3 w
r ii
r|
36.5
T - C 0 tf> N -O )r- f0 lO
O O G O O t- t- t-
Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
Figure 4.10: Extent of breakouts in destress holes, using damage scale.
C h a p t e r 4. I n s t r u m e n t a t io n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e 53
D egrees
□ 40-60
□ 20-40
10-20
SB-20-0
i - c o i s f l r ^ a j T - c ^ i n
O O O O O t - t- t—
Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
Figure 4.11: Angles of breakouts in destress holes, Counter clockwise from EW.
4
Damage S cale
0
0 0.7 2.3 3.8 5.3 6.8 8.4 9.9 11-4 12.9 14.4
D e p th m
Figure 4.12: Extent of damage in hole D09 over time.
4.4 Stress M easurem ents
Stress measurements are undoubtedly the most im portant instrum entation results for
the analysis of destressing. They give a direct indication of the success of destressing
and also give insight into the mechanics of the process.
The 1299 stope was instrumented with six Roctest vibrating wire stress cells.
These cells measure changes in stress by measuring the vibration of a calibrated wire
attached to the cell which is wedged into a drill hole in the rock. If the stress changes
the rock will deform and the cell will deform along with it (up to a certain point). The
deformation of the cell will change the resonance frequency of the vibrating wire. This
change can be correlated to a stress change by inputting the mechanical properties
of the rock and using the conversion formulas provided in the installation manual
(ROCTEST Ltd, 2003).
The stress cells were installed in the 1299 stope in January of 2004 at a time when
the 1298 stope was initially being mined. The cells were installed at 3 locations along
the strike of the stope with 2 cells being installed at each location. The first set of
cells was installed in drilling ring 6 which was approximately 4.5 meters from the edge
of the 1298 stope. Rings 7 and 8 were each 1.5 meters from ring 6 proceeding further
to the east and farther away from the 1298 stope. Each cell was installed at a depth
of approximately 12 meters from the topsill of the stope.
Figure 4.13 shows the results of the stress change measurements made from the
installation date until July of 2004. The stress dram atically increased as the 1298
stope was being mined. Stress increases are greater in the measurement locations
closer to the 1298 stope as expected. The stress changes occur as both jumps in
stress, which can be tied to the blasting of the stope, and in a creeping fashion in
between blasting.
After the crown blast was taken in the 1298 stope in early April of 2004 the stress
changes drop off in each of the cells. This drop is attributed to a mechanical failure
Apparent Stress Changes in 1290 Area
‘CrtM-FtngS
Hot* 1093390
1 2 9 0 Crow n B last 94m
-C*fl 312-Ring?
Holt 1993400
948.25ft
J u m p s occur
d u e to
blasting or
large se is m ic Ct)l311-Ring9
Holt 1093230
ev en ts 949ft
- — Ctft 316-FSnge
Hole 1093390
939ft
C*fi313-«ng7
Holt 1993400
937.2ft
— C*«308-RIng3
Holt 1093230
933.4ft
^vvvvv>vvvvvvvy/vvv
Figure 4.13: Stress change measurements in 1290 topsill.
of the cells. It is most likely th a t the cells were stressed beyond their limits. If
the tension in the wire changes above a certain limit then the readings of the cells
will no longer be vaild. Multiple attem pts were made during 2004 to get vaild d ata
back from the cells by changing the initial excitation frequency to induce resonance
in the wire. These attem pts all failed to provide reasonable readings and the stress
monitoring program was regrettably abandoned before the destressing in the 1299
stope commenced.
4.5 Local and M ine W id e Seism ic S ystem s
4.5.1 M e th o d s
Creighton Mine utilizes a 36 sensor full waveform seismic system. This system records
approximately 50,000 seismic events per year at Creighton with a lower limit thresh
old of -2 on the Nulti magnitude scale. (Nulti, 1973) The system is primarily used
for locating large seismic events. It is useful for determining where rehabilitation
of ground support is necessary and when production areas can be re-entered after
blasting. The current array primarily covers an area between 7000-7800 levels. There
is generally poor coverage in the 1290 area, with the nearest sensor being placed at
the base of the 6600 level. However large seismic events in the area still trigger the
system and are processed to determine source param eters1 and magnitudes.
Figure 4.14: Local seismic system in 1299 stope.
In the 1299 stope a local 8 channel uniaxial Engineering Seismology Group (ESG)
Hyperpac system was installed around the stope with sensor locations shown in Figure
4.14. The system operates by powering and constantly recording up to 8 uniaxial
accelerometers. When a trigger condition is met the waveforms for 8 sensors over a
0.300s time window are written to disk. The trigger condition occurs when a certain
number of sensors (in our case 3) each record a voltage higher than the current
threshold. The base threshold voltage is 50 mV but it is dynamically updated above
this base level using a technique called auto-level, which will be discussed further.
The d ata is later downloaded to a computer and analyzed to determine if the tigger
1Source parameters are the calculated parameters from a model of rock failure. The parameters
typically used in rock mechanics are the shear wave energy Es, the P wave energy Ep and the radius
of failure R. The parameters are based on a circular shear failure model. (Madariaga, 1976)
was a seismic event and if so, the location and a magnitude are estimated.
The location of the seismic event is estim ated by using the least squares m ethod
(Engineering Seismology Group, 2002). This method uses a technique to minimize
the errors in the equation relating the distance from the source to the sensors. The
time-distance equation for each sensor is:
[(a; - X i f + { y - y*)2 + ( z - z*)2]* = vp(U - t) (4.1)
where x*, j/i, 2 ;, tt are the location and arrival time for the i th sensor. vp is the
site P wavevelocity and x, y, z , t are the three unknown event locations and unknown
event time.
Equation 4.1 is applied for each of the sensors with a good incoming signal (pick).
Since there are four unknowns a t least four equations/sensors must be present. The
system of i equations is solved using a least squares technique by linearizing the above
equations and solving with respect to one reference sensor in which there is assumed
no error.
Magnitudes are estim ated on the local system by calculating the uniaxial magni
tude (Engineering Seismology Group, 2002). This is a relationship which takes into
account the peak acceleration of the waveform and an attenuation factor to account
for the distance from each sensor to the source. It is a very rough estim ate of the
source strength, as calculated by the following equation:
uM a g = A l o g ( D ^ ) + B (4.2)
27T/
where uM a g is the uniaxial magnitude estimate, D is the source sensor distance,
ppA is the peak amplitude recorded on the sensor, / is the dominant frequency of the
waveform and A and B are constants. The uM a g is averaged over all sensors with
good picks and un-clipped peak accelerations.
The mine wide system calculates param eters th a t are not possible with the local
system. This is due to the lack of triaxial sensors in the local system. Triaxial sensors
give a value of energy flux at a point in the rock due to a seismic event. Such a value
cannot be determined without measuring the waveforms in three directions. Using
the energy flux the mine-wide system can calculate a number of source parameters.
These param eters will not be included in this case study but the magnitude of the
mine-wide events will be.
The estim ate of source strength most commonly used in the Canadian mining
industry is the moment magnitude (Hanks and Kanamori, 1979). This is calculated
from M = | log(M0) — 6 where M a is the source magnitude calculated from: (Aki,
1968)
(4.3)
where M a is the source magnitude, p is the density of the rock, c is the wave
velocity, Q is the frequency plateau and Fc is a geometrical radiation coefficient.
fl is calculated from the frequency domain of the waveform. It is the spectral level
of the dominant frequency. The Fc factor in the denominator accounts for an average
spreading of the energy flux based on a fault plane solution. This is needed because
the energy is not radiated in a symmetrical manner. Average coefficients are applied
throughout as estimates. The real coefficients could be used if the orientation of the
fault plane was determined.
A local seismic system is only useful if it can collect d ata at a scale th at the mine
wide system cannot. Collection of lower magnitude seismic events necessitates the
differentiation of seismicity and other noise associated with mining activities. In the
1299 stope the seismic d ata was to be collected at the same time th a t production
drilling was taking place.
Two methods were used to differentiate the drilling noise from the seismicity: Auto
level is a routine used by the Hyperpac system as d ata is being recorded. If there are
multiple triggers within a specified time period the system autom atically raises the
trigger condition threshold from 50 mV to 1500 mV depending on the duration of
the noise. In practice this means th a t the first 10 or so drill hits trigger the system.
The system then records nothing until the drilling is stopped. Generally the auto
level does not return to normal during the time require to change drill rods. It does
however during any longer breaks in drilling.
Multiple pick rejection is a routine which is used during the post processing of the
triggered data. If the software is capable of selecting multiple P -wave arrivals then
it will reject the trigger and not process it as a seismic event. The P -wave arrivals
are based on the rise to a specific threshold acceleration. Figure 4.15 shows a good
seismic event and one th a t was rejected. In the upper image the acceleration traces
from all the waveforms show th a t multiple triggers are possible and thus the d ata is
rejected as drill noise.
The auto level is used as a pre-screen on the hardware side and the multi-pick
rejection as the final screen on the software side.
4.5.2 R esu lts
The seismic d ata collected by both the local system and the mine wide system is
presented in this section. The d a ta is presented to show the spatial and temporal
distribution of seismicity recorded during mining of the 1299 stope with particular
interest to the destressing period.
The local seismic system recorded waveforms during the mining of the 1299 stope,
from September 28th 2004 until March 1st 2005. 250,000 waveforms triggered the
system during this period. 59,000 of these triggers were interpreted to be local seismic
events. The mine-wide system operating at Creighton mine recorded 2,392 events in
the 1290 area over the same period. During the destressing period the mine-wide
system recorded 96 events in the 1299 stope while the local system recorded 5,508
g g f le Event Vtew Widow lo g in s Help - 9 \X
Sensor
t!7I? : smtl id i SIS .SnrH'RwwfU. WrtFvwt.Vnuw : lrtnnM « & hnrnr*«*<f
Drill Noise, no Pick
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ôrHeip,preMFi_________________________________________________________________f ic tip rf !pt»t997 it»ftdiWQilg9~!5oitiftgcof<6 jsdiCvintVmew jUnfcnown. jC h p re w fe d
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Figure 4.15: Wave from rejection with the local seismic system.
Reproduced with perm ission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without perm ission.
events.
Seismicity is commonly observed to show a magnitude scaling relationship. This
relationship is expressed as:
log(n) = —mb + log(a) (4.4)
where n is the number of events greater than magnitude m, b is the slope (6-value)
and a is the intercept with m = 0
There is a linear relationship th a t commonly holds between the m agnitude and the
log of the number of events with a greater magnitude. The slope of this relationship
is called the 6 value. The 6 value tends to be similar for fracturing of rock over a range
of magnitudes. 6 values are almost always in the range of 0.8 - 1.2. This suggests
th a t the fracturing of rock is a scale invariant process.
The magnitude relationships for the mine-wide and local seismic systems are
shown in Figure 4.16. The moment magnitude and the uniaxial m agnitude are each
different estimates of the strength of the seismic event (see the previous section for
details).
LO C A L SEISMIC SYSTEM MINE W ID E SEISM IC SYSTEM
| 3.6
1 3
I
*
S15
§
1
0,6
0
3 -1.6 -1 -0.6 0 0.6 1 1.6
UNIAXIAL MAGNITUDE MOMENT MAGNITUDE
Figure 4.16: Seismic magnitude distributions in 1290 area, Sept 28 2004- March 1st
2005.
In both cases the linear trend line fits the data well with R 2 of 0.98 and above.
The calculated b values are 0.93 for the local system and 1.22 for the mine-wide array.
These values, while different, are generally in the same range. They fall into the range
of the typical scaling of rock fracture. The difference could be due to a number of
factors. The mine wide system only records large events, and the formula used to
calculate the magnitudes are different in each case.
The values for a give the intercept of the line with the mag — 0axis. Since the
magnitude scales are different this intercept will be different in each case.
The most im portant piece of information th a t can be gathered from Figure 4.16 is
the fact th a t the local system did show a relationship between the number of events
and the calculated magnitudes. This confirms th a t the recorded events were not all
drill noise. The drilling noise would not show such a scaling relationship since each
hammer of the drill im parts a similar amount of energy to the rock. We can be quite
certain th a t most of the 59,000 seismic events recorded in the 1299 stope are genuine
seismic events indicating a failure in the rock mass.
Figure 4.17 shows the seismic d ata collected with the localsystem over time.
The figure also outlines the production schedule. It is im portant to note th a t the
system was inactive due to a hardware failure from November 10th to December
10th. In addition, during the later stages of mining the number of active sensors
was decreased from 7 to 4. This was due to a number of factors including corrosion
of wires and decoupling of the sensors from the rock. Four sensors is the minimum
number required to solve for a location. These later locations will be less accurate
since there is no redundancy available in the estimates. Additionally there will be less
total triggered events since a larger percentage of the sensors must report a trigger
for the waveforms to be written to disk. This is clear in Figure 4.17 as the number of
events drops dram atically during the later stages of mining. The drop in seismicity
was due to instrum entation problems rather then a physical change in the rockmass
4500
7 sensors 6 sensors 5 sensors 4 sensors

4000
3500
3000
2500
tj o>
OJc
I* 2000
| o:<o ow Q. Q
g 1500
0
1000
500
Hardware
Failure
<N <N CN
CO
date (mth.day)
Figure 4.17: Local seismic events per day.
behaviour.
It is clear th a t the blasting and excavation of m aterial from the stope initiated
the m ajority of the seismicity. Destressing did induce a large amount of seismicity
over and above the production drilling but not as much as blasting.
Figure 4.18 shows the events captured by the local system and the events recorded
by the mine wide array. Generally the events show a similar spatial distribution.
The mine-wide system shows events extending towards the east as depth increases.
However the number of events recorded is quite different. The mine-wide system
recorded only 96 events in the 1290 area from Oct 1- Oct 11, while the local system
recorded 5,508 events.
The low number of recorded events with the mine wide system makes it impractical
to draw conclusions regarding the spatial distribution of seismicity. Thus the spatial
distribution of seismicity will be examined using the d ata recorded by the local seismic
system.
Since a large amount of d ata was recorded with the local system the differences in
1299 Stope
Dip
6400
Backfilled
Stopes
r \ \
* .o * " "
'■ .*• l: . .. .. <
f ♦
*
*Mine-Wide
^ Local
Figure 4.18: Local and Mine wide seismic events.
event magnitude of a spatial region can also be examined. The d ata will be broken
into two groups, large and small events, and the spatial distribution of each will be
presented. The small events are those with uniaxial magnitudes less than -2 and the
large events all have uniaxial magnitudes greater than -2. The number of events in
each category are: 997 for the large events and 4,453 for the small events during the
destressing period.
Three viewing planes will be used in the spatial analysis. They are NS,EW and
Down which is looking directly down the dip of the destress plane. In the figures
which follow the upper figure shows the events with the m agnitude varying by color
and size and the lower figure shows the event density 2. The destress line is shown
on each of the figures.
Figure 4.19 and 4.20 show the large and small seismic events looking in an easterly
direction, directly along the strike of the destress plane. The hanging wall is to the
north of the line. The figures looking east show how the seismicity varies with depth
and with respect to the hanging wall contact.
The depth of the seismicity does not extend deeper than the destress line. It
appears th a t the deepest of the clusters are bounded by a perpendicular line from the
lowest point on the destress plane.
The seismicity is almost all on the footwall side of the destress line. There are no
clusters of high seismic activity on the hanging wall side.
There are significant differences in the large and small seismic event clusters. The
large events are all closely associated with the destress line. The small events are
bounded by the destress line but they extend farther into the footwall. The clusters
of large events are all in the ore however the whole of the ore is not seismically active.
The portion which is approximately 10 meters down from the topsill shows a relative
2The event density is an ESG contouring routine which is run through the ESG program seisvis
(Engineering Seismology Group, 2002). The routine projects all the events onto the two dimensional
plane perpendicular to the line of sight and then contours these values.
Magnitude
0.85
* « *•
**
* *
a)
Event D ensity
294
«
• U .
••
*• oL; • • •* » # »••
b)
Destress Line
Figure 4.19: Large seismic (u M ag > —2) events during destressing looking east.
.4517 Events Magnitude

A KK >A A
Magnitude
Destress Line
Figure 4.20: Small seismic (uM a g < —2) events during destressing looking east.
lack of large seismic events. This region, however, shows a distinct clustering of small
seismic events. This could possibly indicate th at the region below the topsill has
already failed and is incapable of holding the high stress needed for large seismic
events.
The largest of the large seismic events show a very wide spatial distribution. These
very large events occur at significant distances from the active destress line. These
events are shown in Figure 4.19 (a). They occur primarily in the footwall however
there are several on the hanging wall side. These dispersed events show a similar
spatial distribution to those recorded with the mine-wide array.
The views looking north in Figures 4.21 and 4.22 show the relationship of seis
micity with depth and the longitudinal extent of the seismicity along the stope axis.
From these figures it is clear th a t there is a trend of seismicity which flows to the
east as the depth increases. This trend dips at around 70 degrees and is parallel to
the stope axis. The trend is mainly composed of smaller events at depth.
These figures also show th at there is a remarkable drop in recorded seismicity
directly adjacent to the previously mined stope. The aseismic zone extends approxi
mately 4.5 meters from the edge of the previous stope. The peak of seismic activity
occurs quickly to the east of this aseismic zone. The peak is approximately 6 me
ters from the edge of the previous stope although the small seismic activity peaks at
approximately 12 meters depth.
Both the large and small seismic clusters are longitudinally restricted to the 1299
stope although at depth the small events extend into the adjacent stopes. It is quite
clear th a t the m ajority of seismicity is found on a very thin longitudinal section of
the stope. This section is approximately half the length of the stope and occurs at
half a stope length from the previously mined stope.
Figures 4.23 and 4.24 show the seismic activity in a plane looking directly down
the destress line. These figures confirm th at the seismic activity is restricted to the
Magnitude
-2JOO 0J65
♦
• •• • • •
* \ > 7
•• . ♦ • • .*«
•- •• • • ■* * . t •
*>**
I 122 r
a)
0 Events Event D ensity
♦# #
b)
Destress Line
Figure 4.21: Large seismic (uM a g > —2) events during destressing looking north.
453.3
U
Magnitude
W E
a)
4533 Events Event D en sity
Destress Line
Figure 4.22: Small seismic (u M ag < —2) events during destressing looking north.
991 Events Magnitude

-2.00
<L agnltMde
* • « ? > « % . < *
122 m
a)
• ^ # '•" • •
*« •
/* ••• * t. •
•
•• 1* I 4
• v y* • 122 m ^
b) •
Destress Line
Figure 4.23: Large seismic (uM a g > —2) events during destressing looking down.
4517 Events Magnitude

-4-55 - 2.00
Magnitude
C _. ■0^0
♦
% * ^ . *vf** ^ ♦
• A
v i **r^ , *
+ ♦“ ■» j
** * • >■ ^ •
«•
a)
1514
122 m
b)
Destress Line
Figure 4.24: Small seismic (uM a g < —2) events during destressing looking down.
Destress Line
Figure 4.25: Seismicity at varying times during stope extraction, a) Destressing,
b)Raise bore and slot drilling, c)Slot production blasting d) Drilling and blasting
remainder of stope.
footwall and does not extend past the 1299 stope’s eastern boundary.
The distance th a t the seismicity extends on the footwall side of the destress line
can be measured from these figures. The large events extend a distance of 6 meters
on the footwall of the destress line. The small events show clustering up to 25 meters
into the footwall.
Seismicity is associated with the failure of rock due to mining activities. Since the
mining activities in the 1299 stope change over time it makes sense to examine the
spatial distribution over time and relate this to the mining activities taking place.
Figure 4.25 shows the spatial and temporal variations in the seismicity. There are
C h a pter 4. I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n in t h e 1 2 9 9 S t o p e 75
clear differences in the clustering locations from the destressing onto the production
blasting. The seismicity migrates away from the center of the stope and focuses on the
10 meter area below the topsill. Figure 4.25 (d) shows the remaining portion of the
seismic data when the production blasting and drilling were taking place outside of
the slot. Unfortunately this d ata seems to be affected by the lack of sensor coverage.
This is clear from the clustering of events at the depth of the topsill. This clustering
occurs because the solution to the location equation cannot be forced off this plane
due to the small number of sensors and their geometry.
4.6 D rilling R ep orts
4.6.1 M e th o d s
Inco Ltd. records production statistics such as holes drilled and equipment consum
ables for all production workplaces. This d ata is used to quantify the number of holes
needed to produce a stope and whether or not equipment such as rods were stuck
and lost during the extraction of the stope. Comparisons of the time required from
initial drilling to filling of different stopes can be examined.
4.6.2 R esu lts
The exact values for reasons of confidentiality will not be included in this thesis.
However an overview can be given to describe the im portant and relevant results.
The 1298 and 1299 stopes at Creighton Mine were destressed using HW destress
ing. The 1297 stope was not destressed. The 1297 stope took 14 months to complete
while the 1298 and 1299 stopes each took only 5 months. Several drill rods were lost
in the 1297 stope. No rods were lost in the 1298 and 1299 stopes. In the 1299 stope
the raise bore used to drill the slot became stuck as it progressed up to the topsill. It
was later recovered from the bottom sill during the extraction of the ore.
The time required to extract the stopes of the 1290 orebody seemed to drop
dramatically with the use of destressing. It is likely however, th a t there are additional
factors, other then destressing which caused this drop. The 1297 mining method was
VRM while the 1298 and 1299 were mined using SS and HW destressing. The switch
from VRM to SS was likely a major contributing factor. Additionally there are
numerous production aspects which will have been different in each case, such as
availability of equipment and manpower, backups in filling and mucking schedules,
these aspects will affect the time required to extract a stope. Thus, the drop in
production time from the non-destress 1297 to the destressed 1298-99 stopes is not
conclusive evidence of the success of destressing.
Some additional observations were made underground during the destressing. The
drilling of the destress line itself was very difficult. Drillers reported th a t the rods
were hard to remove from the holes once the hole was complete. This was observed to
take in some cases up to an hour to pull the 36 meters (120 feet) of drilling rods out
of the hole. The drillers attributed this difficulty to squeezing of holes. However, it
could also be due to the deviation of the drill holes, although this was not surveyed.
Once the holes hit the shear zone they tend to drop more rapidly than they would in
solid rock. This would lead to a bending of the rods and a scraping on the northern
side of the hole as the rods are pulled out of the hole. This was confirmed in the
borehole logs as gouging on the north side of the holes was evident and the holes
clearly did deviate.
Chapter 5
Analysis M ethodology
5.1 Scope o f th e A n alysis
In the previous section the d ata collected during the 1299 stope destressing case study
was presented. This section and the following will present an analysis of the data.
The questions th at the analysis will seek to answer are the following.
• Was the HW destressing in the 1299 stope successful ?
• Can the mechanics of the destressing be understood and applied to different
mining scenarios ?
The answer to the above questions will require the use of all the d ata th a t was
gathered during the investigation. Additionally numerical stress modelling will be
used to examine the distribution of stresses in the ground. Numerical results will be
generated which indicate how the stresses changed due to destressing.
The numerical modelling will be based on a 2-dimensional (2D) analysis of the
HW destressing geometry. Figure 5.1 shows the 2D plane of the analysis. This
plane is assumed to be under conditions of plane strain. This means th a t all the
deformations of points on the plane are restricted to the plane. The assumption is
77
C h a pt e r 5. A n a l y s is M e t h o d o l o g y 78
1299 T o p s i l l
HW destress Holes
1299 Bottoms!!!
Section of 1299 Stope

Not to Scale
Figure 5.1: Numerical modelling 2D plane of analysis
generally valid in cases where the geometry of the problem does not drastically in
directions perpendicular to the plane, as is the case here.
5.2 E lastic Isotropic C ontinuum M od ellin g
Since numerical modelling will be used, a brief outline of its fundamentals will be
presented here. In this thesis infinitesimal isotropic elasticity theory will be used
throughout the analysis. This theory is able to predict the deformation and stress
distribution of a continuum under any loading. The theory describes a relationship
between the variables of stress and strain.
The stress tensor Oij is an objective variable defined at each point in the contin
uum. It is a symmetric tensor of rank 2. The tensor has the property th a t when
C h a p t e r 5. A n a l y s is M e t h o d o l o g y 79
projected onto an orthogonal coordinate system its components represent the net
force vectors acting on planes with normal vectors in the direction of the basis of the
coordinate system. It is a representation of the free body diagram of internal forces
acting on an infinitesimal volume of the continuum.
The deformation of this volume of material is defined by the small strain tensor
eij in Equation 5.1.
where u is the displacement vector of a continuum point and the x ’s are the
coordinate directions.
The relationship between stress and strain is the core of all continuum theories
and for the isotropic elastic case this relationship is shown in Equation 5.2.
_ 1+ V V V /r
îj ~~ a ij \^* /
where E is the Young’s Modulus, v is the Poisson’s ratio and 5 is the Kronecker
delta.
This relationship has only two param eters th a t relate the 6 independent strain
and 6 independent stress components.
The solution m ethod th a t will be used in this thesis is the finite differencemethod
as applied in the two-dimensional stress analysis program FLAC.(Itasca Ltd.) This
method uses the equation of motion shown in Equation 5.3.
D Vi d(JH t v
l,^ t = S ^ + x ' (5-3>
where V is the velocity ~ is the time derivative and X is the body force vector
(gravity in this case) and p is the density.
FLAC calculates the acceleration due to the stresses and body forces in the ma
terial and converts this to displacements over small time steps at a gridpoint in the
continuum. These gridpoint displacements are used to calculate the strain in Equa
tion 5.1 which is then used to recalculate the stress through Equation 5.2. The process
is repeated until an equilibrium condition arises where the forces are in balance, i.e.
d & ij v"
dXj ~ ^
The use of elasticity theory is a simplification of the mechanics of real rock. This
theory does not allow for failure. All of the energy stored in a volume of rock is
conserved. This is obviously inconsistent with the experimental results such as the
seismicity recorded in the stope. However the theory can be well applied as long as
we keep in mind th a t failure does occur and we somehow try to account for this after
the model is run.
Plasticity theory could serve to directly take into account this failure. However
there are multiple reasons for avoiding its use in this case.
Firstly there is a lack of baseline rock mechanics data. There is no d ata on the
strength of the rock to provide for a failure criteria. Additionally the post-peak
behaviour of the rock has not been defined. A strain softening type model, which has
been used in other destress cases, requires parameters which are not available here.
Had plasticity theory been used in this analysis we would have had to make a
number of additional assumptions regarding the mechanical behaviour. It is much
easier to apply a simple model and discuss its shortcomings than to apply a complex
model and try to understand the effects of the assumed param eters on the results.
5.3 In itial Stress D istrib u tion
Stress is a key aspect in the problem of destressing. It is the stress which causes
the rock mechanics problems in the first place and it is the re-distribution of stress
around the zone of damaged m aterial which will hopefully reduce these problems.
Numerical modelling requires a boundary stress distribution. This distribution
is dependent on the location of the boundary. If the boundary of the numerical
analysis were chosen to encompass all of Creighton Mine, then the far field stresses
would be the appropriate stresses to apply to the boundary. However such a large
analysis would require much more information about the geometry of all the mining
at Creighton and is beyond the scope of this thesis. In this analysis the boundary
is chosen as the area surrounding the 1299 site within approximately 100m in all
directions from the center of the stope.
The initial stress distribution at the 1299 site is dependent on three sources.
• The far field stresses at Creighton.
• The induced stresses from the mining of the bulk 400 orebodies.
• The induced stresses from the mining of the 129-5-1298 stopes.
The stresses th a t will be applied to the boundary of the numericalmodel in this
analysis will seek to incorporate the first two of these sources while the third will be
generated through the modelling process.
In choosing values for the stress inputs in the numerical model we would like to
have a framework which is specific enough to cover the 1299 case but also general
enough to be applied to other cases. For this reason a general 2:1 major to minor
stress ratio will be used. This is similar to the the stresses suggested in other analyses
of the 1290 area (Suorineni, 2003) yet it can also be applied to other abutm ent mining
scenarios.
The orientation of the stress distribution will be the variable th at will allow for
an examination of the destressing in other mining scenarios. The stress orientation
will be varied to encompass a full 180 degree rotation of the horizontal principal
stress tensor. The orientations of these boundary stresses were varied from 0 to 150
degrees in 30 degree increments starting from an EW direction. This gives six different
orientations of the 2:1 stress ratio.
The final values for the boundary stress distribution in the 1299 site models are
100 M Pa principal stress with 50 MPa minor stress. Both stresses are compressive.
The absolute values of stress underground will likely differ from the model values.
However since an elastic analysis will be used the magnitudes are not a concern, as
only their orientation and ratio will have an effect on the stress distribution. The
magnitudes can be linearly scaled to other values.
5.4 D am age and M aterial P rop erties
It is difficult to incorporate damage into the numerical analysis of rock mechanics
problems. Damage without a doubt plays an im portant role in destressing. The lit
erature review in Chapter 2 outlined several techniques for incorporating the damage
zone into a numerical model. These techniques change the material properties to
represent the damaged zone of rock.
In the 1299 case study the best estimates of the in situ material properties E and
v from Equation 5.2 are:(Suorineni, 2003)
E = 70 GPa
v = 0.27
If we were to use the modulus reduction technique as outlined in the literature
review these values would be reduced in the damage zone and the model run multiple
times. Each of the model runs would produce a distribution of stress at the specific
modulus. Then the results of the models would be compared to the experimental
data to determine an estim ated level of modulus reduction.
This technique is not the best one to apply to the 1299 case. The modulus
reduction m ethod requires stress or displacement d ata to estim ate the new modulus
of the damaged zone. This could possibly have been done in the 1299 case if the
stress measurements had provided results. Since the stress measurements did not,
the borehole camera surveys must be used to provide for the estim ate of damage.
For this reason a generalized representation of damage will be used in the nu
merical models. This representation seeks to take into account all the damage th a t
happened directly on the destress line. This damage took the form of borehole break
outs which showed a range of extent from a small notch to a large void of more than
a hole diameter. There is likely some zone of m icrostructural damage in the area
between adjacent holes however this is not included in the analysis.
The material response of the damaged zone will be described by a single parame
ter, the relaxation factor, which is discussed in the following chapter. This modelling
technique will be based on the ground reaction curve of undamaged rock and the rela
tionship of this with the damaged destress line. The relaxation factor is a param eter
which measures the drop in supporting forces along the boundary of the destress line.
100 % relaxation means the destress line behaves like a hole.
Chapter 6
Analysis of H W destressing
6.1 In trod u ction
The ground reaction concept will form the basis for the numerical analysis of HW
destressing. This concept is a valuable method for examining destressing. It allows
us to incorporate the damaged m aterial in a way th at does not require a complete
understanding the of mechanics of the damage process.
Typically the ground reaction curve is used to show the displacements around
tunnels and the effect th a t support pressure has on those displacements. (Hoek and
Brown, 1982) As the force on the tunnel is reduced the wall displaces inward and the
ground reaction curve draws out the equilibrium displacement for each force. The
displacement reaches a maximum when the force drops to zero. If support is added,
the force in the support increases as the wall displaces. W hen the force required by the
ground reaction curve is equal to the force in the support an equilibrium displacement
is reached.
This concept can be applied to destressing and is shown in Figure 6.1. Instead of
the boundary being the wall of a tunnel we can select it arbitrarily. In this case a 1
meter wide zone surrounding the destress line is used as the boundary. The ground
84
C hapter 85
Boundary
if •im t
E1 E2 Strain
Figure 6.1: Ground reaction concept applied to the HW destress line.
on the exterior of this boundary pushes inward on the interior ground. If the interior
ground was removed curves could be drawn for each point of the boundary showing
the force required to m aintain an equilibrium as a function of the displacement. Before
destressing the inner ground pushes back with the same stress and the boundary is
at the equilibrium position E l.
Damaging the rock mass on the interior of the boundary has an effect on its
mechanical response. If this effect leads to a reduction in the supporting capacity of
the rock then displacements will be induced and the boundary will move inwards to
a new equilibrium position E2. This equilibrium will lie along the ground reaction
curve of the exterior ground. The exact point along this curve will depend on the
degree of damage in the rock. In the 1299 case larger breakouts will lead to more
displacement.
The ground reaction concept will be applied in this thesis using two models. Firstly
the exterior of the boundary will be considered. Here the goal is to understand
the effect th a t destressing has on the stress distribution in and around the stope.
By taking steps down the ground reaction curve, the stresses in the stope can be
calculated for each possible new equilibrium position. Each of these steps is calculated
C h apter 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 86
for a bulk relaxation factor of the damaged zone. The relaxation factor is the new
force along the boundary of the zone as a percentage reduction from the initial force.
As the relaxation increases from 0% to 100% the material displaces into the destress
line. The 100 % level of relaxation is identical to a complete extraction of the 1
meter wide destress line and at this level of relaxation the displacement will reach a
maximum.
The second portion of the analysis will attem pt to quantify the degree of relax
ation. This will be accomplished by deriving an estim ate of the displacement induced
around the damaged boreholes. By using the logs of the borehole breakouts, the
shape and orientation of the damage can be reproduced in a numerical model. These
models will allow for a calculation of displacement along the length of the destress
line by super-imposing the displacements around individual holes.
6.2 H W D estressin g in G eneral
The first part of the analysis is focused on the large scale behaviour of the rock mass,
the portion th at is exterior to the damaged zone. An elastic 2-dimensional model was
created to represent the geometry of a general thin longitudinal orebody with a stope
being mined using HW destressing. The m aterial properties and far-held stresses
used in the model are described in C hapter 5. The model is run up to the point of
mining and filling the previous stopes in the longitudinal sequence.
In the model the 1 meter wide zone surrounding the destress line is represented as
a void. The forces along the boundary are reduced according to the bulk relaxation
factor. 100 % relaxation removes all forces from the boundary of the void.
The goal of the model is to understand how the stress changes as the relax
ation factor is varied. In this way an examination of the possible range of stress
re-distributions around the stope can be obtained.
C h a pt e r 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 87
The orientation of the in situ stresses and the relaxation factor will be the only
parameters th at will be analyzed. It is suggested th a t the orientation of stress will be
critical to understanding the mechanics and to understand if the techniques can be
applied in different mining regions w ith variable stress regimes. Additionally there
are no baseline stress measurements for the 1299 stope and the orientation of the
stress field is unknown.
A sample of the modelling results is presented in Figures 6.2 and 6.3 with the
stress orientation as a variable in each column and the relaxation factor as a variable
in each row. These figures show some of the relaxation steps and stress orientations
and allow us to draw general conclusions. The specific 1299 case will be looked at in
more detail in the sections to follow.
In Figure 6.2 it is clear th a t the major principal stresses near the destress slot
are reduced as the relaxation increases. The effect th a t the orientation of the stress
field has on the reduction is also shown. The orientation plays a significant role in
the final state of stress. The orientations where the major principal stress is oriented
near to perpendicular to the stope axis induce a larger destressed area. The parallel
orientations still lead to a destressed zone but it is thin and does not encompass
the entire stope. Additionally it is clear th at the orientation has a large effect on
the location of the destressed region. The cases with the stress orientation at 60°
and 120° show large differences in the location of the destressed region. While both
destress the ore to some extent, the hanging wall shows considerable stress changes
in the 60° case and not in the 120° case.
The principal stresses are generally reduced in the stope and are increased in the
region to the east of the stope. Relaxing the destress line pushes the high stresses
away from the current stope and into the next stope. This is most apparent in the
models which have a major stress orientation th at is non-parallel to the stope axis.
The minor principal stresses are shown in Figure 6.3. This Figure shows th a t
Stress Orientation
60V 120V
30% Major Principle S tr e s s

MPa
o
tO
60%
$to
0
on
90%
Figure 6.2: M ajor principal stress distributions showing the effects of stress orienta
tion and relaxation.
Stress Orientation
0+ 60V 120 \
30% Vfnor Prioapte Stress

*Pa
160%
C
o
co
x
iS
a>
a:
90%
Figure 6.3: Minor principal stress distributions showing the effects of stress orientation
and relaxation.
the minor principal stresses are reduced in any stress orientation as the relaxation
progresses. Generally conditions of low confinement result in the stope and in the
hanging wall. The minor stress quickly returns to in situ values east of the stope.
These models show th a t the stress distributions around a stope th a t is destressed
with HW destressing are quite complex. They depend on the orientation of the in
situ stresses and the degree of relaxation in the destress line.
6.3 S eism icity and Stress P a th
The stresses from the numerical model can be compared to the seismic d ata recorded
during the destress period from Oct 1st to Oct 11, 2004.
Seismicity is an indication th a t the rock is undergoing failure. The link between
recorded seismicity and results of numerical stress modelling is difficult to make. This
brief analysis will look at two aspects of the problem. The spatial changes in stress
from the numerical model will be compared to the spatial distribution of seismicity.
Additionally the stress paths will be examined at the locations of the maximum
seismic activity in the 1299 stope.
The 1299 stope is most likely an example of a site where a stress field was initially
oriented at 90° from the axis of the stope. This is based on the breakouts observed
in the drill holes and will be discussed further in Section 6.5.
Figure 6.4 shows the spatial distributions of seismicity as compared to the major
principal stress distribution with the stress field oriented at 90°.
It is clear from the distribution of seismicity th a t the m ajority of seismic activity
was restricted to the footwall side of the destress line. However the numerical models
of the 90° stress orientation predict th a t stress changes occur on both sides of the line.
There is a clear disconnect between the spatial distribution of stress change from the
numerical models and the recorded seismic data. This conclusion will be discussed
Sm all E vents
Figure 6.4: Spatial distribution of seismicity and stress changes in 1299 stope, plan
view.
later as it is only one of several discrepancies between the modelling and recorded
seismicity.
In this case study the majority of the seismicity was recorded in the eastern half
of the 1299 stope. The peak of the clusters were all close to the center of the ore.
Thus it makes sense to look at the stress results from the numerical modelling at this
location.
The stress paths are shown in Figure 6.5 for all the orientations of the in situ stress.
The stresses shown are the principal horizontal components of the stress tensors from
the numerical model at the center of the stope. These diagrams provide a useful way
of visualizing how the stresses change as the relaxation in the destress line increases.
From the figure it is clear th a t the stress changes in the ore are quite complex
showing large stress magnitude reductions and rotations. The stress path experienced
in the center stope depends greatly on the initial stress orientation at the site. The
total magnitude of change, the direction and magnitude of rotation and the ratio of
major to minor stress are all affected by the initial stress.
To compare stress change with seismicity a failure criteria is required. Failure
criteria can be derived from laboratory tests. Rock samples in these tests are failed
by increasing the major principal stress while keeping the minor stress constant.
A typical failure criteria used in rock mechanics to predict the factor of safety
against shear failure on a plane is:
crntan(j) ^ C
(6. 1)
T r
where an is the normal stress on the plane, r is the shear stress on the plane and
(p is the friction angle, C is the cohesion and F S is the factor of safety. This is the
Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion on a plane. In this case we are not concerned with
the actual values of the factor of safety but rather with the changes th at occur as the
relaxation is increased. W ith this goal in mind the parameters are selected as cf) — 30°
C h a p t e r 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s i n g
d)
a)
R elaxation F actor
100%
N
* Major Principle S tr e ss
* Minor Principle S tr e ss
0 30 S c a le MPa
0%
Fair Feild S tr e ss
Figure 6.5: Stress paths during HW destressing at center of stope.
C h a p t e r 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 94
and (7 = 0.
S tress
Orientation
150
120
u- 30 .
100
Relaxation %
Figure 6.6: .
Factor of safety against shear failure at the center of the stope, assuming 0 = 30°
and (7 = 0.
Figure 6.6 shows the factor of safety of the rock mass at the center of the stope as a
function of the relaxation. The factor of safety is dependent on the initial orientation
of the stress field. Some orientations do not show a downward trend while others
do with varying slopes. Most of the far field orientations do lead to lower factors of
safety when the relaxation approaches a maximum. The values for relaxation where
the factor of safety crosses below the FS=1 level are not important as the parameters
were estimated and not fitted to actual rock strength.
The im portant point to note is th a t the factor of safety for the 90° orientation
does not show a drop as the relaxation initially increases and in fact does not start
to drop until about 70 % relaxation. For this reason shear failure on a plane does not
appear to be a viable mechanism for the seismicity in the 1299 stope case.
C h a pter 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s i n g 95
This is not surprising since the shear failure criterion is derived from laboratory
testing with increasing principal stresses. This is not the same type of loading th at
occurs during the destressing and in most mining applications. In the case of HW
destressing the stresses are reduced from their maximum and the loss of confinement
is likely the cause of seismicity.
There are many other failure criteria which can be examined and compared to
the seismicity. For instance, seismicity recorded at the URL test mine showed a good
fit to an extensional failure criteria (Cai et ah, 2001). However this type of analysis
requires a lot of additional work and does not fit into the scope of the destressing
analysis, which is to determine the success of destressing in this case and applicability
of destressing to other cases.
In summary, there is significant additional work which is required to understand
the causes of seismicity in the 1299 case. All of the modelling suggests th at there is
some aspect of stress change which needs to be considered to represent the spatial
distribution of seismicity and the mechanism of its development. The models do
not show a similarity between the predicted spatial stress changes and the recorded
seismicity.
6.4 D isplacem ents A round D estress H oles
The second portion of the analysis is concerned with defining the displacements in
duced on the boundary of the destress line as explained in Section 6.1. The goal of
this analysis is to provide an estim ate of the relaxation factor which can be applied
in the stope model. This will be done by calculating a displacement profile along the
length of the destress line and then using this to determine the relaxation factor that
generates a similar displacement.
This portion of the analysis makes direct use of the observations taken from the
C h a pter 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 96
borehole camera logs in Chapter 4. These logs are used to re-create the approximate
geometry of the breakouts within the numerical model. The damage scale used in
Chapter 4 was re-created in the numerical grids. These grids are shown in Figure 6.7.
In each case a model was run using a major principle stress of 100 MPa and a
minor principle stress of 50 MPa. The major stress was oriented perpendicular to the
borehole breakout, while the minor stress was parallel to the direction of the break.
The models utilized two planes of symmetry.
The displacements were calculated at a distance of 0.5 meters from the center
line of the hole, since this is half the width of the destress line th a t was used in the
stope models. The normal displacement and shear displacement are calculated as a
function of the damage scale and breakout angle.
Figure 6.8 shows the effect th at the degree of damage has on the displacements
normal to the boundary of the destress line. The displacements are all negative which
indicate movement towards the center of the hole.
Figure 6.9 shows the normal displacements as a function of the breakout angle.
As the angle changes from 0° to 45° the point of maximum normal displacement is
reduced in magnitude and shifted in location towards the west. In addition some
displacements become positive which indicate th at the rock moves away from the
center of the destress line. The displacements are no longer symmetrical about the
hole center line.
Figure 6.10 shows the shear displacements as a function of the degree of damage
in the boreholes. As expected, these models show a symmetry about the centerline.
The material on either side of the centerline displaces inwards towards the hole. This
suggests th a t there will be no cumulative shear displacement along the destress line,
if the breakouts are parallel to the destress line. Only small local variations will occur
with material movement being in the direction of the closest hole.
Figure 6.11 shows the shear displacements along the boundary as a function of
C h a pter 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s in g
FULL SIZE MODEL
meet.
BOREHOLE BREAKOUTS
D am ag e = 2 D am age = 3
'W m
D am ag e = 4 D am ag e * 5
its is
« ta i
«*» &**■>
Figure 6.7: Numerical grids to represent the borehole breakouts.
the breakout angle. Here there is a significant effect induced due to the breakout
orientation. Whereas in Figure 6.10 the displacements were symmetrical this is no
longer the case when the angle is varied. As the angle increases the material shears
in a direction away from the breakout orientation. There is a net shearing which will
accumulate over the length of the destress line.
To analyze the net displacements along the destress line the displacements from
individual holes will be super-imposed.
Figures 6.12 and 6.13 show the result of superimposing the specific values ob
tained from the borehole camera surveys at a downhole depth of 10 meters. Linearly
superimposing the displacements for each hole does not affect the maximum inward
displacement. The inward displacement is predicted to be a maximum between de
stress holes 10 and 13. The shearing displacements are highly sensitive to the angle
of the breakouts. The net westerly shearing shown in Figure 6.13 is the result of the
borehole angles of 45 ° in th a t region.
The data generated by superimposing the displacements from individual holes can
be compared to the measured data from the tape extensometers. Since the topsill
measurement is more similar to a displacement along the edge of the hole this value
will be used rather than a value of displacement 0.5 meters into the rock. The
modelled displacement at the edge of the hole with damage level of 2 as recorded in
D04 is 1.79 mm. The measured displacement with the tape extensometer was 3.28
mm. The values are close but not convincing. The discrepancy could be due to the
unknown effect of measuring in the topsill itself rather than in solid rock.
The tape extensometer results and the modelled displacement also differ in a
directional shearing sense. The hanging wall side of the top sill was observed to
displace towards the South East. This is inconsistent with the results from Figure
6.13 which show shearing to the west. This could be due to the assumptions made in
the tape extensometer strain calculations described in Chapter 4, or it could be due
C h a pt e r 6. A n a l y s is o f H W d e s t r e s s in g
1 .5 2 E-OS — damage2
— damage3
damage4
1 0.6
■ .6A '“ —damages
E
1.52 E-05 -
c .
o
E
<D -3.05 E-05
OB disp lacem en t {♦)
C d ista n c e (•) d ista n ce (t)
Q.
M
■D £ : d isp lacem en t (•)
-7.62 E-05 J
distance (m)
Figure 6.8: Displacements normal to boundary as a function of damage,
to boundary effects again from measuring in the topsill rather than in rock.
1.52 E-05 —angle 45

—angle 30
- 0.6 0.6 angle 15
- angle 0
£
1.52 E-05
c
<D
£
<u
o disp lacvm en t (♦)
OS
d ista n ce (<) ’ d ista n ce (♦)
a.
60 -4.57 E-05
T3 E s d is p la c e m e n t(?)
■:o . \
| x t ) d e g r ee s
ki_iZ— l
distance <m)
Figure 6.9: Displacements normal to boundary as a function of the breakout angle.
1,83 E-05 | damage2

damage3
1 22E-05 - damage4
£ damage5
•6,10 E-06 -
c
01
£
<L>
o 0.6
12
B - 1.2 - 0.6
a
m -6.10 E-06 -
displacem ent (-) d isp lacem en t (?)
'•o
d istan ce (-) d istan ce (+)
-1.22 E-05 -
-1.83 E-05 J
distance (m)
Figure 6.10: Displacements parallel to boundary as a function of damage.
3.05 E-05 — angle 45

angle 30
1.52 E-05 angle 15
angle 0
-1.52 E-05
d isplacem ent (-) d isp lacem en t (+)

distan ce (•) d ista n ce (*J
* ----------p.
4.57 E-05
> '''a n g le
/ degree* '
-6.10 E-05
/ », ■<
/
iw y
distance (m)
Figure 6.11: Displacements parallel to boundary as a function of breakout angle.
'T t '- O CO CO
o
Q Q Q Q Q d
1.52 E-05
12 15
S' -1.52 E-05

E
q>
x>
S. -3.05 E-05
7.62 E-05
distance along destress line (m)
Figure 6.12: Super-imposed displacements normal to boundary along destress line.
C h a p t e r 6. A n a ly sis o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 102
" 3- R- O
O Q Q
Q
2.44 E-05
o
Cl
£ -1.22 E-05
-2.44 E-05
distance along destress line (m)
Figure 6.13: Super-imposed shear displacements along destress line boundary.
C h a p t e r 6. A n a l y sis o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 103
6.5 H W D estressin g in th e 1299 S top e
This final section of the analysis will seek to integrate the stope scale model and the
breakout models. A relaxation factor and a specific stress distribution around the
1299 stope will be predicted.
To determine the relaxation factor in the case of the 1299 stope we require first
an estimate of the original orientation of the stress field in the region of the stope.
There is good reason to believe th at the actual orientation of stress in the 1299 stope
has a major principal stress component which runs in a North-South direction or 90°
from the East-West. 1
D02 D07 D14
filled
stress .
<7, i a .
(7
Figure 6.14: Stress orientation along the destress line.
Figure 6.14 shows the inference th at is made regarding the stress field in the 1299
stope. It is clear from the camera logs of the destress holes th at the orientation of the
W his is a 90 ° rotation of the far field stress orientation at Creighton mine.
C h a p t e r 6. A n a l y sis o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 104
Relaxation Factor %
0.00 E+00
20 30 50 80 90 100
3.00 C-03
6.10 E-03 -
9.15 E-03 -
£ 1.22 E-02-
c
I 1.52 E-02 -
o
S 1.83 E-02 -
o
Modeled: Displacement D13
2.13 E-02 - Measured Displacement D04
Gound Reaction Curve

2.74 E-02 -
3.05 E-02
Figure 6.15: Predicted relaxation results of 1299 destressing.
principal stress components change dramatically along the stope axis. A change of
45° occurred over a distance of half the stope length ( 7 m ) . As we progress eastward
away from the influence of the 1298 stope the stress field approaches a North-South
orientation. This is the value of the initial stress orientation present in the 1299 stope.
The case of the 1299 stope destressing can now be examined to determine the
relaxation factor. The best point along the boundary to measure this factor is the
one for which the damage is a maximum since this will at least give an upper bound to
the relaxation factor. For this purpose we choose to examine a point around destress
hole 13 which is 10 m from the 1298 stope. The ground reaction in a direction normal
to the boundary as a function of the relaxation factor is shown in Figure 6.15.
The ground reaction curve is linear since the constitutive equation is linear. Figure
6.15 shows the relaxation factor estimated from the maximum normal displacement
obtained using the borehole breakout models in Figure 6.12. The predicted borehole
displacement of 6.8 E-05 meters leads to a relaxation factor of less than 5% in the
C h a p t e r 6. A n a ly sis o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 105
numerical models. This level of relaxation is practically nil and we can conclude that
this will not be enough to affect the stress field in the 1299 stope. The displacement
measured in the D04 hole by the tape extensometers is also shown to confirm that
minimal relaxation took place.
The predicted amount of relaxation is not surprising. A level of 100% relaxation is
the same as a full excavation of the rock within the boundary. In the case of the HW
destressing there was significantly less than this amount of material removed. Ad
ditionally the supporting material between boreholes remained intact, which allowed
for the stress to flow between the holes. Practically speaking there was too much
supporting material on the destress line to permit the magnitude of displacements
needed to reach a significant degree of relaxation.
6.6 L im itations o f th e A nalysis
The analysis presented in the previous sections is limited in many respects. This
section will outline some of the limitations and discuss how they may affect the
results of the previous sections and the conclusions that were made.
Isotopic linear elasticity theory was used throughout the analysis. This theory is
founded on the local conservation of stored strain energy. This means th a t the rock
(outside of the destress line) is not damaged.
However, we know th a t certainly some of the rock is damaged. This is clearly
the case in the area adjacent to the previously mined stope. A zone of lower stress
fractured rock exists directly adjacent to the 1298 stope. This will cause the higher
stresses to move out of this zone and into the center of the stope. This feature
was not represented in the stope scale model. This will not change the conclusions
about the insignificant relaxation factor since the borehole models do account for this
feature indirectly though the damage scale. Rock damage is also occurring around
C h a pter 6. A n a l y sis o f H W d e s t r e s s in g 106
the stope as seen in the recorded seismicity. This damage is a feature which cannot
be represented with linear elasticity. The effect th at it will have on the results is
completely unclear. The seismicity will likely alter the material response of the rock
(i.e. softening) and this can affect the stress distributions.
Another limitation of this analysis occurs when the displacements are estimated
over the length of the destress line. In this case a single model was created where an
individual borehole and its breakout were represented and the resulting displacements
calculated. These displacements were then linearly superimposed.
This approach assumes th at there is no interaction of the stress fields surrounding
the boreholes. However, stresses surrounding a hole do have an influence on the
adjacent holes. The net effect is th a t the displacements calculated along the destress
line will be increased. However the amount by which these displacement are increased
is not likely to change the conclusions obtain in Figure 6.15. The breakouts in the
boreholes did not cause enough displacements. This conclusion will not be altered by
a more detailed analysis of the effects of stress interaction on the holes.
A final limitation occurs when estimating the relaxation factor. The relaxation
was estimated from a single borehole in row D13 since this represented a maximum of
displacement. A more detailed analysis would consider the entire displacement profile
of the destress line shown in Figures 6.12 and 6.13. These profiles could be completely
represented in the stope scale model by allowing the boundary to deform to a level
equal to the predicted displacements. This additional analysis will not change the
conclusions regarding the level of relaxation. The D13 hole showed the maximum
displacement and this lead to insignificant relaxation.
Chapter 7
Conclusions and Recommendations
7.1 Introduction
This final chapter of the thesis will outline the conclusions from the instrumentation
and analysis sections. Also recomendations will be made specifically regarding HW
destressing.
The purpose of the analysis and the instrumentation was to examine the HW
destressing in the 1299 stope with two questions in mind.
• Was destressing in the 1299 stope successful?
• Can the mechanics of destressing be understood and applied to other mining
scenarios?
The answers to these two questions will be discussed in the two sub-sections that
follow. The final two sub-sections of this thesis will present recommendations that
are im portant for both the application of destressing and the monitoring of a destress
program.
107
' C h a p t e r 7. C o n c l u sio n s a n d R e c o m m e n d a t io n s 108
7.2 Success of H W D estressin g
The success of the 1299 destressing case study hinges on whether or not the ore was
changed in such a way th at drilling problems would be reduced.
The numerical modelling showed th at the minimal amount of displacements in
duced by the breakouts would not be enough to alter the stresses in the ore. These
models were based on the actual shapes of borehole breakouts recorded with the cam
era system and this is a good reason to believe th at the predicted displacements are
reasonably accurate. If very little stress change occurred then it is hard to believe
th at destressing would make the ore better for drilling.
The results of the local seismic monitoring program show th a t destressing did
induce significant seismic activity in the ore. This seismicity could have made the ore
better for drilling as it indicates damage within the ore. However, the quantitative
effect of the induced seismicity on rock properties is not known.
These apparently conflicting results will be discussed further in the next section.
Ultimately though, it will not be a numerical model or a seismic data set that will
indicate the success of a destressing field trial. The destressing will be measured by
differences in the production statistics from non-destressed and destressed cases. In
this case study however the d ata was shown to be somewhat misleading. Although
a reduction in time and lost equipment was shown for the destressed 1298 and 1299
stopes as compared to the non-destressed 1297 stope, this could be the result of
numerous other factors beyond destressing. More care needs to be taken to isolate
the factors such th at two identical case studies - only differing in the use of destressing
- can be compared.
W ith the lack of comparable empirical d ata between two cases and a lack of a
quantifiable link between seismicity and stress the only remaining evidence is that
generated by the borehole breakouts and the numerical modelling. These results
clearly indicate th at minimal displacements occurred in the 1299 stope during the
C h a p t e r 7. C o n c l u sio n s a n d R e c o m m e n d a t io n s 109
destressing. Thus it is almost certain th a t there was no substantial stress change in
the 1299 ore. This indicates th at the destressing attem pt was unsuccessful.
7.3 M echanics o f D estressin g
The mechanics of the destressing process were examined in this thesis. This was done
with the intent of determining if destressing could be applied to other stopes with
varying stress distributions. The question of the mechanics of the destressing is a
broad based topic which requires simplification. The mechanics of the destressing
could refer to any of the processes occurring at the 1299 site. The breakouts of the
boreholes, the small and large seismic events and the displacements and the stress
changes in the rock are all components of the mechanical description of destressing.
The possible mechanics of HW destressing are discussed in Chapter 2. There it
was suggested th at compressive and shearing displacements might play an im portant
role in the destressing. This seems to be true in general although in the 1299 case
the compressive aspect dominated. All of the recorded and predicted displacements
indicate th at the shearing displacements were almost an order of magnitude less than
the compressive displacements along the destressline.
However, the borehole models show th at shearing will be developed by breakouts
th a t are oriented non-parallel to the destress plane. This will be occur in a stope with
a stress orientation th a t is not 90°. This is reinforced by the numerical stope modelling
which showed th a t destressing is highly dependent on the initial orientation of the
stress field in the ground. The results obtained in this case study will be different
than those in which the principal stress is not oriented at 90° to the stope axis. The
difference will be in both the redistributed stress field around the stope and in the
displacements induced by the destress line.
The final aspect of the mechanics, the induced seismicity, is more difficult to
analyze. As mentioned in the previous section there is a disconnect between the
numerical models and the recorded seismicity.
Modelling of the borehole breakouts provided displacement results th a t we assume
to be reasonably accurate. It was determined from the stope modelling results that
there were virtually no stress changes due to these displacements. The experimental
seismic data suggested th at there were stress changes as induced seismicity is the
result of instability due to stress changes in the rock.
This leads us to speculate th at the modelling method was not ideal for this situa
tion. This suggestion is based on our very limited understanding of the relationship
between stress changes and seismicity. We cannot quantify the amount of stress
change needed, nor the path of stress change th a t will cause seismicity. For this rea
son the fault could lie, not with the modelled displacements and stresses, but rather
with our knowledge of the causes of seismicity. It is all together possible th at the
seismicity could be initiated with very slight changes in displacements and ground
stress. It was shown th at there is much work th at needs to be done to derive a failure
criterion th a t is applicable to seismicity. The typical shear failure criterion used in
rock mechanics is inappropriate for the mechanisms of seismicity in this case.
In summary the mechanics of HW destressing appear to be extremely complex.
Great care should be taken when applying this type of destressing to another mining
situation in which the stress field is oriented differently from the 90 ° orientation of
this case study.
7.4 R ecom m endations for th e M onitoring o f D e
stressing
This thesis is one of only several instrumented case studies of a destressing attem pt.
The monitoring of the destressing used a variety of instruments and an assessment
was made of their results and shortcomings.
The local seismic data collected in this analysis proved to be quite useful. Seis
micity enables rock mechanics engineers to observe the bulk changes occurring in the
rock mass. The data from the local seismic system showed a much different picture
of the fracturing and stress changes in the rock compared to the mine-wide system.
The mine-wide system simply did not have the resolution needed to monitor the small
seismic events th a t occurred in the 1299 stope. The use of a local stope-scale seismic
system is highly recommended for any destressing instrum entation program..
Stress change measurements are very difficult to make in highly stressed ground.
The stress cells installed in the 1299 stope were the most expensive and time consum
ing aspect of the instrumentation program, yet they yielded no significant results. The
missing stress change measurements were a critical piece of information th at could
have been used to confirm the numerical results. Despite the difficulty in installing
stress cells, their potential benefits to the analysis of destressing make them useful
instruments. Their use in destress monitoring is also highly recommended.
The borehole camera surveys proved to be an inexpensive and invaluable form
of instrum entation in this case. They allow a direct observation of the breakouts
which allow for their shapes to be incorporated in a numerical model. The usefulness
of borehole camera surveys however is restricted to the case of HW destressing. In
this case it is possible and useful to examine the boreholes as they are the primary
source of damage and remain accessible. In other destressing cases this is not true.
Additional holes must be drilled with the intention of examining the rockmass for
damage along the length of the hole as in the Brunswick Mine destress blast. This type
of instrumentation did not seem to be useful there and would not be recommended.
The use of borehole cameras is only recommended when it is possible to directly
observe a relevant and quantifiable source of damage such as borehole breakouts.
The tape extensometers in the topsill did provide meaningful results. However,
C h a p t e r 7. C o n c l u sio n s a n d R ec o m m e n d a t io n s 112
a more useful form of displacement measurement would have been with a borehole
extensometer. The results of the tape extensometers are difficult to incorporate into
a full picture of destressing since the measurements do not occur in the rockmass.
The effect of the topsill itself on the displacements is uncertain.
The instrumentation program as a whole was quite satisfactory. The lack of stress
data was not a major problem. The missing piece of real information in this case
study was a complete comparison case. The 1297 and 1298 stopes only allowed for a
very rough comparison of the destressing vs. non-destressing cases. Ideally two (or
more) complete cases with seismic data, stress data, production logs and displacement
measurements would be required to fully determine if destressing was a success.
7.5 R ecom m endations for th e A pplication o f H W
D estressin g
It is quite clear from the analysis in Chapter 6 th at displacements into the destress
line are needed to induce stress changes in the ore. There are many methods for
inducing more displacements into the destress line.
Blasting of the holes would no doubt induce more displacement into the destress
line. Blasting does have its drawbacks, especially in the application of HW destressing.
Bootlegs could require that the production holes be drilled remotely. In addition,
blasting in the hanging wall especially near a zone of structural weakness, such as the
shear, has the potential to induce significant dilution into the stope.
Another method of inducing displacements in the destress line is a reduction in
the destress hole spacing. The 0.91 m (3 ft) hole spacing in the 1299 case study
was not enough to cause superposition of the maximum displacements surrounding
each individual hole. The displacements were shown to drop rapidly to zero at this
distance away from the hole center. Had the spacing been reduced then superposition
would have increased the maximum value of displacement and allowed for a larger
relaxation factor.
More displacements could be induced by changing the drill equipment. Different
drill bits, drilling hammers and air pressures have potential to increase the damage
in the holes. It was shown th at the majority of the damage was initiated during the
drilling and it makes sense to try to maximize the damage at this stage rather than
after the holes have been drilled.
The HW destressing technique is easy to apply and has the potential to aid in
the production of highly stressed stopes. More displacement is needed to allow for
larger stress changes but this can likely be accomplished through minor modifications
of the technique. It should be reiterated, however, th at caution must be taken when
applying HW destressing to another orebody with a different orientation of stress.
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Rock-Mass Failures in the Mines of the Sudbury District. Ph.D, Queen’s University,
1991.
Engineering Seismology Group Inc. Hyperion Software User Guide vlO.O, 2002.
Hanks T.and Kanamori H. A moment magnitude scale. Journal of Geophysical
Reasearch, 84:2348-2350, 1979.
Hoek E. and Brown E. Underground Excavations in Rock, Chapter 8: Underground
Excavation Support Design, pages 244-258. The Institution of Mining and Metal
lurgy, 1982.
Itasca Ltd. FLAC ver - 4- 0 User Manual. Itasca Ltd.
O ’Donnell J.P.D Sr. The development and application of destressing techniques in
the mines of Inco Ltd., Sudbury, Ontario. M aster’s thesis, Laurentian University,
April 1999.
Krogh T., Davis D., and Corfu F. Precise u-pb zircon and baddeleyite ages for the
Sudbury area. In P.E. Giblin E.G. Pye, A.J Naldrett, editor, The Geology and Ore
Deposits of the Sudbury Structure, volume 1, chapter 20, pages 431-447. Ontario
Geological Survey Special, 1984.
LeBlanc T.M, Ryan J, and Heilig J. Damage envelope. Technical report, Inco Mines
Reasearch, 1999.
Liu Q. Advanced blasting technology for large scale destress blasts at Brunswick
Mine. CIM Annual General Meeting, Montreal 2003, May 04-07 2003.
BIB LIO G R A P H Y 116
Madariaga R. Dynamic of an expanding circular fault. Bulletin of the Seismolgical
Society of America, 66(3):639-666, 1976.
Makuch A, Neuman M., Hedley D.G.F, and Blake W. Destress blasting at Campbell
Red Lake Mine. Mining Reasearch Laboratories Canmet Special Publications SP87-
8E, CANMET, 1987.
McMahon T. Rock burst reasearch and the coeur d ’alene district. Information Cir
cular 9186, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1988.
Mitri H.S. and Marwan J. Db-base: A geomechanical database for destress blasting
applications in hard rock mines. Mine Planning and Equipment Selection, pages
343-347, 2000.
Nulti O.N. Seismic wave attenuation and magnitude relations for eastern North
America. Journal of Geophysical Reasearch, 78:876-885, 1973.
ROCTEST Ltd. Vibrating Wire Stressmeter: Instruction Manual, Model VBS-2.
ROCTEST Ltd., 2003.
Roux A.J, Leeman E.R, and Denkhaus H.G. Destressing: A means of amerliorating
rockburst conditions, part 1: The concept of destressing and results obtained from
its application. Journal of South African Mining and Metallurgy, pages 101-127,
Oct 1957.
Suorineni F. Creighton Mine 1290 orebody destressing. Technical report, Mirarco -
Mining Innovation and Inco Ltd., 2003.
Toper A.Z. Destressing/Preconditioning to Control Rockbursts in South African Deep-
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Toper A.Z, Grodner R.D., Stewart, and Lightfoot N. Rockbursts and Seismicity in
BIB LIO G R A P H Y 117
Mines, chapter Preconditioning: A Rockburst Control Technique, pages 267-272.
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2000 .
A ppendix A
Appendix A contains the detailed images of the borehole surveys for all 16 destress-
holes. The photos were analyzed using the methods described in Section 4.3.1 of the
thesis. The results of the analysis as a whole are described in Section 4.3.2 of the
thesis. This appendix contains the raw digital images of the borehole surveys.
118
A ppe n d ix A. 119
A .l D estress H ole D01
Destress Hole D01 was drilled on October 2, 2004. It was located 0.91 meters to the
east of the 1298 stope. D01 is the closest destress hole to the previously mined stope.
36.6 meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole camera on October 3,2004
and again on October 6th, 2004. The results of the survey on the 6th are presented
in this section.
Figure A.l: a)Destress Hole D01 at 0.9m b)Destress Hole D01 at 1.5m
Figure A.2: a)Destress Hole D01 at 3.0m b)Destress Hole D01 at 4.6m
A ppe n d ix A . 120
A ppe n d ix A. 121
A ppe n d ix A. 122
Figure A.9: a)Destress Hole D01 a t 24.4m b)Destress Hole D01 at 25.9m
Figure A. 10: a)Destress Hole D01 at 27.4m b)Destress Hole D01 at 29.0m
A p p e n d ix A. 123
Figure A .12: a)Destress Hole D01 at 33.5m b)Destress Hole D01 at 35.1m
Figure A. 13: Destress Hole D01 at 36.6m
A .2 D estress H ole D 02
east of D01. D02 is the second closest destress hole to the previously mined stope.
36.6 meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole camera on October 3,2004.
The results are presented in this section.
A ppe n d ix A. 125
A ppe n d ix A. 127
A ppe n d ix A.
Figure A.26: Destress Hole D02 at 36.6m
A ppe n d ix A. 129
A .3 D estress H ole D 03
east of D02. D03 is the third closest destress hole to the previously mined stope.
and again on October 6th. The results of the survey on the 6th are presented in this
section.
' A p p e n d i x A. 130
A ppe n d ix A. 131
a)l b)i
V *'
A ppe n d ix A. 133
A .4 D e s tr e s s H o le D 0 4
east of D03. D04 is the fourth closest destress hole to the previously mined stope.
27.4 meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole camera on October 5,2004.
The results are presented in this section.
A p pe n d ix A. 134
A ppe n d ix A.
A ppe n d ix A. 137
A .5 D e str e ss H o le D 0 5
east of D04. D05 is the fifth closest destress hole to the previously mined stope, 19.8
meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole camera on October 6,2004. The
results are presented in this section.
I
b)l
A ppe n d ix A. 139
A ppe n d ix A. 140
east of D01. D06 is the sixth closest destress hole to the previously mined stope. 30.5
meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole camera on October 4,2004. The
results are presented in this section.
A ppe n d ix A. 141
A ppe n d ix A. 142
A ppe n d ix A.
a)l
y
A ppe n d ix A. 144
east of D06. D07 is the seventh closest destress hole to the previously mined stope.
and again on October 6th. The results of the survey on the 4th are presented in this
section.
Figure A.68: a)D estress Hole D07 a t 6.1m b)D estress Hole D07 a t 7.6m
A ppe n d ix A. 146
A ppe n d ix A. 147
*V
J ? -
;4
* s 'V '"
A ppe n d ix A. 148
east of D07. D08 is the eight closest destress hole to the previously mined stope. 25.9
meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole camera on October 4th , 2004
and again on October 6th, 2004.. The results of the survey on the 4th are presented
in this section.
V - '
A ppe n d ix A. 149
A ppe n d ix A. 150
A ppe n d ix A.
A ppe n d ix A. 152
east of D08. D09 is the ninth closest destress hole to the previously mined stope and
is in the center of the destressline. 19.8 meters of the hole were surveyed using the
borehole camera on October 3, 4, 5, and 6th, 2004. The results of the survey on the
6th are presented in this section.
A p p e n d i x A. 153
'-
Jjjr
a)l
A ppe n d ix A. 155
A . 10 D e s tr e s s H o le DIO
Destress Hole DIO was drilled on October 4, 2004. It was located 0.91 meters to the
east of D09. DIO is the tenth closest destress hole to the previously mined stope and
is 9.15m from the stope. 18.3 meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole
camera on October 5,2004. The results are presented in this section.
A ppe n d ix A. 156
Figure A.94: a)Destress Hole DIO at 6.1m b)Destress Hole DIO at 7.6m
A p p e n d i x A.
j ?
a)l
Figure A.98: Destress Hole DIO at 18.3m
A . 11 D e s tr e s s H o le D l l
Destress Hole D ll was drilled on October 4, 2004. It was located 0.91 meters to
the east of DIO. D ll is the eleventh closest destress hole to the previously mined
stope, and is 10.0 m from the stope. 27.4 meters of the hole were surveyed using the
borehole camera on October 5,2004. The results are presented in this section.
Figure A.99: a)Destress Hole D ll at 0.9m b)Destress Hole D ll at 1.5m
Figure A. 100: a)Destress Hole D ll at 3.0m b)Destress Hole D ll at 4.6m
. .. .
v*m
V
a)l
A ppendix A. 161
Figure A .107: a)Destress Hole D ll at 24.4m b)Destress Hole D ll at 25.9m
east of D ll. D12 is the fourth closest destress hole to the end of the destressline,
it is located 10.97 m from the previously mined stope. 32.0 meters of the hole were
surveyed using the borehole camera on October 5,2004. The results are presented in
this section.
Figure A .Ill: a)Destress Hole D12 at 6.1m b)Destress Hole D12 at 7.6m
■-44a'
A p p e n d ix A.
'■tf'
Destress Hole D13 was drilled on October 5, 2004. It was located 0.91 meters to
the east of D14. D13 is the third closest destress hole to the end of the destressline,
it is located 11.89m from the previously mined stope. 33.5 meters of the hole were
this section.
A ppen d ix A. 167
. \£ r
Z,*- >* "
PH
A ppendix A. 169
A ppe n d ix A.
Figure A. 131 Destress Hole D13 at 33.5m
A . 14 D e s tr e s s H o le D 1 4
east of D15. D14 is the second closest destress hole to the end of the destressline,
it is located 12.8m from the previously mined stope. 36.6 meters of the hole were
this section.
A ppendix A. 173
A ppendix A. 176
east of D14. D15 is the closest destress hole to the end of the destressline, it is located
13.71 m from the previously mined stope. 36.6 meters of the hole were surveyed using
the borehole camera on October 6,2004. The results are presented in this section.
A ppendix A. 177
jf
' A ppendix A . 179
east of D15. D16 is the final hole on the destressline, it is located 14.6 m from the
previously mined stope. 36.6 meters of the hole were surveyed using the borehole
camera on October 6,2004. The results are presented in this section.
A ppendix A. 183
A ppendix A. 184
A ppe n d ix A. 185

Destressing 3

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Destressing 3

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An in str u m en ted a n a ly sis of sto pe d e st r e ssin g at

A thesis subm itted to the D epartm ent of Mining Engineering

Copyright © Sean A. Gregersen, 2006

Published Heritage Direction du

395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington

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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur

In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne

While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires

This thesis is an analysis of a destressing technique used during the production of

and not require redrilling or cleaning.

of the destress holes are presented in this thesis.

destressing to other mining scenarios with varying stress distributions.

of destressing is shown to have great potential. Recommendations are made in the

within the context of the numerical modelling.

Queen’s University and the O ntario G raduate Scholarship program.

for his expertise in rock mechanics.

A ck n ow led gem en ts iii

List o f F igu res vii

C hapter 1 In trod u ction 1

1.1 Reasons for D estressing.................................................................................. 1

1.2 Scope and Scale of D estressing..................................................................... 2

1.3 Damage and D e stre ssin g ............................................................................... 4

1.4 1299 Destressing Case S tu d y ......................................................................... 6

1.5 Outline of T h e s i s ............................................................................................ 7

C hapter 2 L iterature R ev iew o f D estressin g C ases 8

2.1 In tro d u c tio n ...................................................................................................... 8

2.2 Brunswick Mine Destress Blast .................................................................. 11

2.3 Destressing Pillars in Thin VeinedS to p e s ................................................... 15

2.3.1 Pillar Destressing at Campbell Mine ............................................ 15

2.3.2 Pillar Destressing in the Coeur d ’Alene M i n e s ............................. 17

2.4 South African Face D e s tr e s s in g ................................................................. 20

2.5 Hanging Wall Destressing ........................................................................... 24

2.6 Summary ........................................................................................................ 27

C hapter 3 G eology and M inin g in th e 1290 O reb ody 29

3.1 Sudbury, Creighton and 1290 Orebody G e o lo g y .................................... 29

3.1.1 Rock Mass in 1299S to p e ................................................................... 30

3.1.2 Stresses in the 1299S t o p e ................................................................. 33

3.2 Mining of the 1290 O r e b o d y ........................................................................ 35

C hapter 4 In stru m en tatio n in th e 1299 S to p e 39

4.1 Instrum entation P l a n n i n g ........................................................................... 39

4.2 Tape Extensometers ..................................................................................... 42

4.3 Borehole Camera Surveys ........................................................................... 48

4.3.2 R e su lts .................................................................................................... 49

4.4 Stress M e a su re m e n ts..................................................................................... 55

4.5 Local and Mine Wide SeismicS y s t e m s ...................................................... 56

4.6 Drilling R e p o rts .............................................................................................. 75

C hapter 5 A n alysis M eth o d o lo g y 77

5.1 Scope of the A n a ly sis .................................................................................... 77

5.3 Initial Stress Distribution ............................................................................ 80

5.4 Damage and Material Properties ............................................................... 82

C hap ter 6 A nalysis o f H W d estressin g 84

6.1 In tro d u c tio n ...................................................................................................... 84

6.2 HW Destressing in G en eral............................................................................ 86

6.3 Seismicity and Stress P a t h ............................................................................ 90

6.4 Displacements Around Destress H o le s........................................................ 95

6.5 HW Destressing in the 1299 S to p e ............................................................... 103

6.6 Limitations of the A n aly sis............................................................................ 105

C hapter 7 C onclusions and R eco m m en d a tio n s 107

7.1 In tro d u c tio n ...................................................................................................... 107

7.2 Success of HW D estressin g ............................................................................ 108

7.3 Mechanics of D estressin g ............................................................................... 109

7.4 Recommendations for the Monitoring of D estressing................................ 110

7.5 Recommendations for the Application of HW D estressin g ...................... 112