Slope Stability Radar for Managing Rock Fall Risks in Open Cut

Mines
D Noon
1
and N Harries
2
ABSTRACT
The management of risks associated with slope instability is an essential
process in the safe and economic operation of open cut mines. The slope
stability radar (SSR) has been developed to better manage those risks.
The SSR can remotely scan a rock slope to continuously measure any
movement of the face. The system can detect and alert users of wall
movements with submillimetre precision. The high level of movement
precision and broad area coverage of the rock face can allow for a better
understanding of the geomechanics of slope deformation, including
magnitude of potential failures and additional warning time of impending
instability. Additionally, radar waves adequately penetrate through rain,
dust and smoke to give reliable measurements, 24 hours a day.
SSR systems have been deployed in many mines in Australia,
Indonesia, Africa, Chile and the United States. Greater than 100 rock falls
and waste dump failures (from several tonnes to millions of tonnes) have
been monitored, and on every occasion precursor warning movements
were recorded by the SSR. This technology enables a radical change in
the management of risks in open cut mining. This paper presents recent
case studies of how the SSR technology has provided safety and
productivity benefits to large open cut metalliferous mines.
INTRODUCTION
Ground instability is normal in open cut mining operations,
mainly caused by blasting and excavating activities. Movement
of the ground can be acceptable provided it is not unexpected
and catastrophic. However, in steep mine walls and the very large
open pits being developed today the consequence of slope
collapse can be catastrophic. Such risks can be minimised at the
planning stage by reducing slope angles, but this carries a very
high cost. Also, instabilities which develop whilst mining can
lead to ore reserves being quarantined, which represent a high
cost to the mining operation. In spite of such safety measures,
unexpected failures have occurred in the past. These issues have
motivated the development and production of the slope stability
radar (SSR).
The unexpected failure of rock walls at mining sites is a major
cause of death and serious injury. Slope failure is also one of the
major causes of economic and production losses. An unexpected
wall failure can bury critical equipment. It also disrupts the mine
plan. It is common to cease mining for several days or weeks
following a wall collapse due to uncertainty over stability. Direct
economic losses in remediation alone can easily exceed
$1 000 000 per incident. The economic costs of injury or fatality
are much higher including closure of mines during the incident
investigation process. Massive wall failure can result in direct
and indirect costs measured in millions of dollars.
THE SLOPE STABILITY RADAR (SSR) SYSTEM
Traditional measurement of wall stability involved monitoring
the movement of points on the wall with single measurements
(such as with a laser or extensometer). Geotechnical experts
would then interpret and track the point measurements and
evaluate the stability of the wall. The Slope Stability Radar
(SSR) is a state-of-the-art technique for monitoring mine walls
and general slopes and is now a generally-accepted tool for
high-risk slope management with over 50 installations in many
of the worlds large open-pit mines. The SSR system monitors
movement of open cut mine walls with submillimetre precision
over large wall areas. This extraordinary capability allows walls
movements to be detected and displayed prior to a failure of the
wall.
The concept is based on differential radar interferometry
(Noon, 2003). The system scans a region of the wall and
compares the phase measurement in each footprint (pixel) with
the first scan to determine the amount of movement of the slope.
An advantage of radar over other slope monitoring techniques is
that it provides full area coverage of a rock slope without the
need for reflectors mounted on the rock face. The system offers
submillimetre precision of wall movements without being
adversely affected by rain, fog, dust, smoke and haze. The
system is housed in a self contained trailer that can be easily and
quickly moved around the site (Figure 1). It can be placed in the
excavation, or on top of a wall or on a bench to maximise slope
coverage whilst not interfering with operations. The radar
electronics and computer module are located on the tripod. The
tripod detaches from the trailer during deployment so that
vibrations from the trailer and generator do not degrade
reliability and performance. The two-axis mount can scan the
dish through 320 degrees in azimuth, and from -60 to
+60 degrees vertically from the horizon level. The scan area is
set manually using a visual image provided by a fully-integrated,
high-resolution digital camera.
The display and interface module contains a keyboard,
touchpad and display that are all weatherproof. Power is
provided by a remote area power supply, which consists of a
battery pack that is automatically charged during a short period
each day by a 12 V diesel generator. The system provides
immediate monitoring of slope movement without calibration
and prior history. Scan times are typically every one to ten
Large Open Pit Mining Conference Perth, WA, 10 - 11 September 2007 1
1. General Manager Technology, GroundProbe Pty Ltd, 8 Hockings
Street, South Brisbane Qld 4101.
Email: david.noon@groundprobe.com
2. Principal Geotechnical Engineer, GroundProbe Pty Ltd, 8 Hockings
Street, South Brisbane Qld 4101.
Email: neal.harries@groundprobe.com
FIG 1 - Slope Stability Radar unit operating in a large mine in
Western Australia.
minutes. Data is uploaded to the office via a dedicated radio link
or via the mines WLAN. Custom software enables the user to
pinpoint movements with the help of a high-resolution visual
image, and to set alarm thresholds to warn of unstable
conditions. Data from the SSR is usually presented in two
formats. Firstly, a colour rainbow plot of the slope representing
total movement quickly enables the user to determine the extent
of the failure and the area where the greatest movement is
occurring (see Figure 2). Secondly, time/displacement graphs can
be selected at any locations to evaluate displacement rates.
Additional software can also be installed to allow the data to be
viewed at locations remote to the mine site.
The SSR system allows greater mine productivity and safety. It
allows mines to continuously monitor the stability of critical
slopes and to take action to safeguard people and equipment
prior to the failure of a slope. Further, it gives confidence for
mining to occur in areas that might otherwise be quarantined due
to uncertainty over the extent of instability.
APPLICATIONS OF THE SLOPE STABILITY
RADAR (SSR)
In the last four years, GroundProbe SSR systems have been used
in a variety of applications in highly variable geotechnical
conditions including massive hard rock, intensely fractured,
foliated ultramafics, weathered oxide pits, civil excavations, coal
strata and waste dumps of variable characteristics. To date, SSR
units have detected and recorded warning movements in over
100 rock falls and slope failures, ranging from small wedge
failures of just a few tonnes to dump failures of up to 30 million
tonnes. The diverse applications of the system have included:
Safety monitoring during production The radar is used
during mining production as a primary monitoring tool of a
designated unstable slope where excavation is occurring.
Monitoring of the slope walls in high risk areas ensures
production levels are not impacted by providing early
warning of impending slope failure and opportunity for
production teams to evacuate.
Background geotechnical monitoring Using the rapid
scanning and large area coverage, mine operations scan large
sections of the pit (sometimes up to two thirds of the pit) to
identify developing geotechnical hazards. Use of the SSR
systems in this manner can help mines identify which wall
areas should be targeted with other monitoring systems (eg
prisms, extensometers) to provide an ongoing cost-effective
solution.
Slope failure risk management A number of operations use
the SSR systems to monitor ongoing movement of large wall
failures. At this point any survey prisms have usually been
dislodged. The system is able to continuously monitor the
entire failure mass from a stand-off position (without the
requirement for targets or instrumentation on the wall), and
operates through the dust that is thrown off the failure mass.
This is important to identify smaller sections of the failure
that are detaching from the larger mass, which can
potentially affect mining operations.
Post failure recovery The real-time monitoring of SSR has
been used during the clean-up after slope failures and
rescue mining equipment that have been buried by the
failure. Use of SSR system means that assessments on the
stability of the slope can be made within a few minutes of the
failure and this provides far less impact on productivity.
Safety monitoring of access routes A large number of users
in mining and civil have used the SSR to safeguard an
access route. This is particularly important in pits with single
access ramps.
Subsidence monitoring Use of the system in monitoring
equipment working over mine voids (McGavigan, 2006).
Waste dump monitoring Monitoring the stability of large
rock dumps.
As the SSR system is further developed and users become
more aware of its potential, the SSR is likely to be used in other
applications. There seems to have been a trend with the system
moving from a passive geotechnical data collection tool to a
more active production tool to manage risks in working under
hazardous slopes. The huge financial benefits in designing
steeper pit slopes easily out-weigh the costs of increased
monitoring. For example, adopting advanced monitoring systems
in the early stages of an open pit mine may enable more
aggressive mine design and significant NPV gains (significantly
reduced stripping ratio), whilst maintaining a safe operation.
2 Perth, WA, 10 - 11 September 2007 Large Open Pit Mining Conference
D NOON and N HARRIES
Time of Failure
FIG 2 - SSR output showing many hours of warning prior to a large mine wall failure in Africa.
EXAMPLES OF SSR USE IN LARGE OPEN PITS
A selected number of case studies from large open pits are
discussed in this section.
Phelps Dodge Sierrita Mine
Phelps Dodge Mine Technology Group began testing the SSR
system in May 2004, at the Sierrita Mine site in south of Tucson,
Arizona. The radar system has proven to provide early warning
of accelerating wall movement at Sierrita. It as also provided
much needed information about slope behaviour in areas where
access limitations prevented the use of other monitoring tools.
Figure 3 shows the slope movement at Sierrita Mine, where the
SSR unit provided approximately three hours additional warning
of slope acceleration over slide-wire extensometers and prism
targets located within the moving mass.
Additionally, the deformation plot on the SSR viewer software
gave clear spatial definition of the extent of the wall that
ultimately released some eight hours later (~20 000 tonnes). Due
to the early warning provided by the SSR, operations had
sufficient time to ensure that no equipment or personnel were
exposed to the potential rock fall hazard. The SSR technology
complements existing slope monitoring programs and has
demonstrated early warning of slope movements with good
definition of the extent of the affected areas. The Phelps Dodge
Mine Technology Group has recommended this technology to
most of its mine sites.
PT Freeport Grasberg Mine
PT Freeports Grasberg Mine has been using SSR systems since
November 2003. Common to open pits with slope heights and
scale of mining comparable to Grasberg, there are geotechnical
challenges that need to be managed. The Grasberg mineralisation
is bounded by a heavy sulfide zone that is shaped like a funnel
around the intrusion. Radial concentric structures that pose
potential wedge and plane shear failure modes are present in all
wall orientations within the intrusive rock types. Grasbergs
monitoring strategy is currently made up of multiple monitoring
technologies. The mine uses approximately 140 prisms,
14 extensometers, 12 GPS systems and four of GroundProbes
SSR-X systems. Using these technologies, multiple layers of
monitoring enhances the management of slope stability risks. In
particular, the SSR-X systems provide monitoring of critical
areas where the potential for multiple bench instability exists and
where the occurrence of a failure would be considered highly
costly to the mine. In addition, the SSR-X systems are also used
Large Open Pit Mining Conference Perth, WA, 10 - 11 September 2007 3
SLOPE STABILITY RADAR FOR MANAGING ROCK FALL RISKS IN OPEN CUT MINES
FIG 3 - SSR output from Sierrita Mine showing wall accelerating to failure and providing three hours of warning to evacuate area (from
Seppala, 2005).
to monitor post-failure areas where the stability of adjacent areas
needs to be assessed prior to re-initialising activities.
The mine has experienced several failures in which the SSR-X
systems have provided the geotechnical team with the data
needed to manage risks. Today, these systems provide coverage
of critical areas where instability has occurred and where the
potential for instability exists.
Debswana diamond mines
All the major pits in the Debswana Diamond group are using
SSR systems. Jwaneng Mine was the first site in Botswana to
acquire a SSR with the system first installed on the 25 July 2005.
The implementation of the SSR enabled the mine to ensure that
more of the ground and slope failures were constantly monitored
and controlled. Controlling failures meant that Jwaneng could
minimise and prevent injuries to personnel as well as any
potential damage to company property such as shovels, drill rigs,
haul trucks and dozers. The implementation of the SSR at
Jwaneng Mine also prevented flattening of the slope angles and
with time, will potentially help increase the overall slope angles
of the mine. So far, this has resulted in less waste removal
thereby giving substantial cost savings to the mine. The mine
recognises that the cost of the SSR is expensive but also accepts
that the value it adds easily offsets the cost to the operation
through safety, productivity and mine design.
Orapa Mine has been operating the SSR since July 2006.
Orapa has also seen major benefits from the use of the system.
On the morning of Sunday 8 October 2006, Orapa Mine
experienced a major slope failure that would have had major
repercussions on the safety of people and the production aspect
of the mine. Orapa had been concerned with that wall since
September 2005 and was uncertain whether to continue mining
in the area. Under the watchful eye of the SSR, engineers were
able to make effective decisions about continuing production,
without ever compromising the safety of personnel or the
equipment used. In September 2006, still under the guidance of
the SSR, the area was blasted, allowing for loading and hauling
to commence. It was only at this time that the area began to show
instability, setting off SSR alarms and giving the geotechnical
engineer enough warning to stop all activities to move personnel
and the shovel to a safer position. This is one of the many
examples of how Orapa has benefited from the use of the SSR
system.
Letlhakane Mine is the latest user of the SSR system in
Debswana. The SSR was deployed at Letlhakane in mid 2006 to
initially serve as a warning system in areas of the pit that was
unstable. With progression of time the application of the system
has reached new levels of integration. Currently, the system does
not only serve as a slope stability risk management tool, but it
also provides technical assurance to production and management
officials on slope stability as well as helping mine planners
verify the mines design.
Leinster Nickel Harmony Operation
BHP Billitons Leinster Nickel Operation (LNO) is located
600 km north-east of Perth in the Eastern Goldfields Region of
Western Australia. The internal approval process for the mining
of the Harmony open pit required the implementation of a
comprehensive Ground Control Management Plan in order to
ensure that the highest levels of safety and productivity were met
through the life of the operation. In particular, a low dipping
structure on the footwall of the pit situated above the pits single
access required continual real time monitoring. LNO included
two SSR systems in its plan to ensure that this and other
potentially unstable structures were continuously monitored in
real-time. The SSRs complimented and supported the traditional
slope monitoring techniques such as prisms and visual
inspections; particularly in areas where there was a reduced level
of confidence to predict failure with an adequate time to remove
all personnel and equipment.
The first SSR was deployed at Harmony Pit in October 2002.
The initial focus of the system was to monitor an area of
suspected instability which had the potential to close the mine. A
second SSR was added in 2003. The real-time ability of the SSR
to show when to safely suspend and re-initialise operations gave
the operation immense confidence as it progressed into this
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D NOON and N HARRIES
FIG 4 - SSR output from Leinster Mine showing wall accelerating to failure providing 12 hours of warning to evacuate area
(from Cahill and Lee, 2005).
critical stage of mining. The data example above shows how the
SSR provided LNO approximately 12 hours of warning prior to
this failure (shown in Figure 4). In another instance, where
installing prisms on the batter face of a wall was considered too
risky, the SSR was used to continuously scan the area while
working progressed. In this instance the Ground Control
Management Plan stipulated that if the SSR was inoperable,
mining ceased until radar surveillance could be resumed.
The application of the SSR systems enabled the Harmony Pit
to continue mining for months following the indication of the
major failure and highlights the importance of a critical real-time
monitoring tool as part of a comprehensive monitoring program.
CONCLUSIONS
The SSR is a state-of-the-art development for monitoring slope
movement in open pit mines. It offers unprecedented
submillimetre precision and broad area coverage of wall
movements through rain, dust and smoke. The real-time display
of the movement of mine walls has allowed continuous
management of the risk of slope instability at a mine operations
level. This has allowed large productivity gains in a large number
of operations but reducing production down-time due to
geotechnical issues to a minimum. The SSR technology has
enabled a radical change in the management of risks in open cut
mining operations, which has resulted in a rapid take-up of the
technology throughout the world to date. At a number of mines,
the SSR is now an integral part of the mine providing major
contributions to the mines future plans (Naismith, 2005). It is
also believed that the SSR will contribute significantly to safety
and mine design by providing accurate, reliable deformation data
that may be later reviewed to further develop our understanding
and analysis of failure mechanisms in open pit mines; eventually
leading to improved slope design.
REFERENCES
Cahill, J and Lee, M, 2005. Ground control at Leinster Nickel Operations.
in Proceedings International Symposium on Stability of Rock Slopes
in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering, pp 321-334 (Southern
African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Cape Town).
McGavigan, G, 2005. Management of subsidence associated with the
mining of the roof of the Sishen cave. An Application of the slope
stability radar, in Proceedings Symposium on Stability of Rock Slopes
in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering, pp 595-603 (Southern
African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Cape Town).
Naismith, A, 2005. SRK use new technology to manage slope collapse,
Mining Review Africa, 2:40.
Noon, D, 2003. Slope stability radar for monitoring mine walls, in
Proceedings Mining Risk Management Conference, pp 267-276 (The
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).
Seppala, V, 2005. Integration of technology in slope management
programs, presented to SME Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City.
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SLOPE STABILITY RADAR FOR MANAGING ROCK FALL RISKS IN OPEN CUT MINES
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