Improving ground control safety in deep vein mines

Abstract

Researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Spokane, WA, USA are conducting research in collaboration with the Hecla Mining Company at the Lucky Friday Mine in northern Idaho to improve ground control safety in deep vein mines. Because Hecla is mining at depths of more than a mile beneath the surface, the geology and ground stresses create unique requirements for mining and ground support. Special measures are being implemented by Hecla to limit the intensity of mining-induced seismic events and to avoid compromising the static and dynamic capacity of their ground support systems. NIOSH researchers are studying these efforts by monitoring and assessing the fault slip mechanisms that initiate these seismic events and by quantifying the performance characteristics of the ground support systems.