Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Rock Mechanics and

Geotechnical Engineering
journal homepage: www.jrmge.cn

Full Length Article

An operational approach to ground control in deep mines

A. Moss a, P.K. Kaiser b, c, *
a
Sonal Mining Technology Inc., 2488 Shadbolt Lane, West Vancouver, BC, V7S 3J1, Canada
b
Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada
c
GeoK Inc., 680 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, P3E 6H5, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: As mines go deeper and get larger, mine designs become more fragile largely due to the response of the
Received 3 January 2021 rock mass to mining. Ground control and rock support become important levers in the mine construction
Received in revised form schedule, production performance, and excavation health. For example, in cave mines, the production
6 April 2021
footprint together with associated mine infrastructure are significant investments in a modern caving
Accepted 9 May 2021
Available online 14 August 2021
operation. This investment must be protected and maintained to reduce the risk of ground-related
production disruptions. It is necessary to preserve the health of these excavations and their mainte-
nance through an effective rock support design. Rock support thus becomes a strategic element in asset
Keywords:
Ground control
management. This article focuses on support design for brittle ground when displacements induced by
Rock support stress-fracturing consume much of the support’s capacity. It deals with the functionality of the support in
Deformation-based support design (DBSD) deforming ground. Several interlinked concepts are important when assessing excavation health. Designs
Gabion panel must not only account for load equilibrium but also for deformation compatibility and capacity con-
Deep mining sumption. Most importantly, the support’s displacement capacity is being consumed when the rock mass
Support consumption is deformed after support installation. Hence, it is necessary to design for the support capacity remaining
Preventive support maintenance (PSM) at the time when the support is needed. If support capacity can be consumed, it can also be restored by
Asset management
means of preventive support maintenance (PSM). This concept for cost-effective ground control is
introduced and illustrated on operational evidence. Furthermore, how design can impact construction
costs and schedule are discussed. Support is installed to provide a safe environment and preserve an
operationally functional excavation. It also must assure senior management that investments in high
quality support and its maintenance will substantially reduce delays and with it, costs. It is demonstrated
that the use of ‘gabion-like’ support systems can achieve these goals. A technical summary of the ‘gabion
panel’ support system design is presented.
Ó 2022 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by
Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction At depth, excavations become more vulnerable to mining-

induced stress and deformation changes that affect the load and
Projections for copper demand suggest an increase of up to 350% displacement demands on the support. In rockburst-prone mines,
by 2050 at which time the demand will exceed reserves (Elshkaki dynamic loading of the rock near an excavation adds an energy
et al., 2016). The lack of new discoveries means that lower grade demand. The outcome of these increased demands is that the
deposits at depth will be mined. The industry is thus faced with production system is more fragile with higher safety risks and a
developing underground mines at higher production rates and higher potential for mine construction and production delays due
greater depths. This will bring a new set of challenges in delivering to damage and rehabilitation unless the excavations are well-
a safe and productive environment. maintained during their operating life. A robust design must
consider the functionality of the excavation, aspects of construct-
ability, exposure of personnel, long-term behaviour of the rock
mass containing the excavation, construction and maintenance
schedules, and costs.
* Corresponding author. Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada. Excavations in underground mines such as crusher chambers,
E-mail address: [email protected] (P.K. Kaiser).
stopes, and drawpoints are major assets due to the level of in-
Peer review under responsibility of Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chi-
nese Academy of Sciences. vestment in their constructions and duties in the mining cycle. As

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2021.05.008
1674-7755 Ó 2022 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-
NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
68 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

major assets, these excavations must be designed with safety and The two excavation types experience different demands over
functionality in mind. This task becomes more challenging at their operating life enduring different operational consequences to
depth. Furthermore, with increased production rates, the conse- these demands. The most significant consequence, damage, occurs
quences of inappropriate design, construction, and a lack of sub- more frequently on the production footprint compared to that on
sequent excavation maintenance can be highly disruptive and the mine infrastructure. Footprint damage is often treated as an
costly. operational hazard while damage to infrastructure excavations can
In the authors’ opinion, support design approaches with an result in costly repairs and production interruptions. It is antici-
over-reliance on rock mass classification systems are no longer pated that the likelihood of damage will increase with greater
providing robust mine designs for the mining industry. These rock depths of operation and higher production lifts.
mass classification systems are useful to characterise the rock mass Fig. 1 provides an example from an operating cave, showing the
but not to arrive at efficient and effective support systems. The change in the percentage of temporary drawpoint closures for
impact of mining-induced deformations on rock support perfor- repair against the height of draw. Four stages are highlighted. The
mance must be considered when designing excavations in highly first is repairs that occur early in the life of a drawpoint, in part due
stressed ground, whether failing in a brittle manner or by to the support systems not functioning at design capacity and in
squeezing. This can be achieved by following the deformation- part due to unfavourable construction practices. The second in-
based support selection approach introduced by Kaiser (2014). volves repairs arising from a mixture of damage due to secondary
This approach, which is based on the concept of forming gabions of breaking, equipment interactions, and from cave induced de-
retained rock fragments to preserve the integrity of the surround- formations consuming installed support capacity. A reduction in
ing rock mass, respects that support capacity is being consumed repairs generally is observed during the third stage as non-
during mining and can be restored by timely and scheduled pre- performing drawpoints are closed. A substantial increase in re-
ventive support maintenance (PSM). The gabion concept is appli- pairs eventually occurs with higher heights of draw in the fourth
cable for conditions where the excavation skin is stress-fractured or stage. This is associated with increased cave-induced deformations
expected to stress-fracture during a rockburst. resulting from higher cave loads, production pressures, and draw
practices. Investigation into the causes of the damage revealed a
2. Operational considerations skin of damaged rock in the walls of the production footprint
varying in the thickness from less than 200 mm to over 1 m. It was
2.1. Overview evident from drilling the damaged skin that the rock had failed in a
brittle manner and had bulked into the excavation.
Industry forecasts indicate that a substantial portion of the Experience at other operations have shown similar behaviours,
future base metal supply will come from underground bulk mining suggesting that single pass support systems may not be tenable for
with much of the investment trending toward caving. Though deep high-lift caves. And that repairing damaged ground was time-
mining at depth is not new, for example deep gold mining in South consuming, costly, and hazardous. A loss of support capacity was
Africa and nickel mining in Canada, the new caving operations are observed as the undercut advanced over the extraction level
not only deep but impact large volumes of rock. For example, development which combined with the change in support de-
Freeport’s DMLZ (Deep Mill Level Zone of PT Freeport Indonesia) mands that occur as caving initiated and propagated, consumed
cave is 1300e1700 m deep, and its Grasberg mine is 300 m below a support capacity. If the design capacity is not maintained, the
1200 m deep open pit, Newcrest’s Cadia mine is some 1400 m support system can fail and excavation damage ensues leading to
below surface, and Rio Tinto’s Resolution project is examining the repairs and production interruptions.
feasibility of a 2000 m deep cave. Industry experience indicates that damage repair costs for the
The subsequent discussion focuses on caving, because rock production footprints are typically 2e2.5 times the original devel-
support has a greater effect on successful outcomes than that for opment cost. This compares to about one quarter to half of the
other mining methods. This is due to the impact of support original development cost, if conducted as part of a preventative
installation on schedule, and thus on the time to first ore (time rock support maintenance program. Repair costs in infrastructure
value of money), followed by the ability of the support to deal with with fixed machinery (e.g. crushers and conveyors) can be
caving-induced deformations that arise during major stages of
development, i.e. cave establishment, initiation, propagation, and
breakthrough.
The installation of rock support in the development cycle can
account for up to 50% of development costs and for between 30%
and 50% of the development schedule while inadequate support in
key development can result in damage and costly production in-
terruptions (due to revenue losses). Rock support is a critical
element in underground operations. The intent of support is to
provide safe and functional excavations, given support comes with
cost and schedule impacts.

2.2. Caving experience and lessons learned

2.2.1. Experience
In a caving operation (as in any underground mine), there are
two broad types of excavation, those that are part of the mine
infrastructure and those that are part of the production process.
Mine infrastructure excavations typically need to function for the
life of the mine. Production excavations have shorter lives, often Fig. 1. Example of percentage of temporary drawpoints closed for repair and upgrade
being consumed by the production itself. of support as a function of height of draw.
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 69

considerable, due to the size of excavation and difficulties in gain- the design and this leads to an increase in repairs during cave
ing access around fixed equipment. The temporary shutdown of establishment (refer to Fig. 1).
critical facilities to carry out repairs can be lengthy, substantially
impacting production. (3) Knowledge
The time to repair in active production areas can be a multiple of
4e5 times longer than that during the original development. By It is imperative to understand the way the ground responds to
way of example, one caving operation typically develop the development and subsequent mining. For this purpose, accumu-
extraction headings at speed of 70 m/month, but rehabilitation lation of geotechnical knowledge to reduce uncertainty is vital. The
speed in production areas is typically only 15 m/month (about 20% amount of bulking that can occur during development and mine
of the original rate), due to interference, congestion, short rounds, (cave) establishment must be closely measured, and the support
and ventilation constraints. adjusted accordingly. This highlights the imperative of compre-
Repair times in non-active production areas can be around 1e3 hensive displacement or convergence monitoring to establish
times longer than that taken for original development. There are deformation rates and the depth of bulked ground.
occasions when a drift can be repaired at the same speed as a new
development drift, but more typically the excavation, support, and (4) Monitoring
muck removal slow the process down by at least 50% and repairs
take longer to implement than that taken to drive the original More attention to measurement of ground performance is
development. Repair of infrastructure with fixed plant installed required. With rapid advances in monitoring technology, particularly
(e.g. crusher in crusher station) is assessed on a case-by-case basis, strain and displacement monitoring, new opportunities arise for
but considerable time should be allocated. Carrying out a PSM safety and economic improvements in ground control. In open pits,
program, whereby additional support components are installed to advances in radar, LiDAR and photogrammetry technologies have
restore some of the capacity consumed by mining-induced de- already revolutionised slope design by a seamless integration of
formations, will result in some disruption but can be proactively displacement data with design and performance assessments.
scheduled around planned maintenance of fixed equipment. Emerging displacement monitoring technologies for digital conver-
gence monitoring in underground construction and mining (e.g.
2.2.2. Lessons learned Fig. 2b) offer many opportunities to utilise displacements for design
verification and optimisation, safety assessment, and scheduling of
(1) Construction PSM. For example, Counter (2019) presented examples of “laser-
based scanning to manage geotechnical risk in deep mining” for a
How excavations are constructed is critical. Constructability mine experiencing repeated seismicity affecting rock support in
must be integrated into the design and implemented rigorously to domains of “significant deformation associated with mining at
provide development efficiency and ultimately operational effec- extreme depth”. As with all new approaches, operational experience
tiveness. Trade-offs in construction schedule and operational reli- is required to take full advantage of the information that scanning
ability must be made based on sound engineering principles, provides. The scan is an excellent indicator of support consumption
including support design. Project schedules are too often driven by but must be analysed with other information (e.g. seismicity data) to
ineffective construction practices. Short cuts are taken to achieve obtain a good appreciation of rock mass behaviour.
efficiencies that satisfy (unrealistic) schedules comprising the long- The combination of new monitoring methods and deformation-
term effectiveness of the installed support and ultimately the based design provides opportunities for improved management of
‘health’ of the asset. For example, good drill and blast control is excavations in stressed and poor ground, and in tunnels when large
required to reduce overbreak and to provide a reasonable regime deformations are induced by static mining-induced loading and
for support placement. This will also increase trucking costs due to during dynamic loading by blasts or rockbursts.
haul away overbreak. Shotcrete consumption increases with over-
break and it becomes increasingly difficult to develop an effective (5) Production governance
areal support.
The final checks on the overall process of mitigating or man-
(2) Timing aging ground related production interruptions come from good
controls. Their importance lies not so much on the direct actions
The timing when a support is installed is important. Work by that must be undertaken regarding seismicity and excavation
Yazici and Kaiser (1992) and Hutchinson and Diederichs (1996) damage, but in formalised checklists, response plans, operating
demonstrated that the holding capacity of unplated cable bolts rules, and practices that provide a framework for design and
can be lost during stress relaxation, resulting in cable bolts failing at management.
loads well below their design capacity. In caving, there are major The hierarchy of key governing processes is illustrated by Fig. 3,
reductions in stress as the undercut is advanced over the extraction with the foundation being the standard operating practices (SOPs),
level development. This can lead to changes of the capacity of the triggered action response plans (TARPs) and performance metrics
installed support or to excessive loading of bolts or cables at the that management uses to implement and control production. At the
plate. top of the pyramid is the policy set by the corporation. This specifies
Support installed in footprint and infrastructure excavations are key business objectives and implicitly states the risk tolerance of
subjected to load changes and seismicity. These subject the exca- the business. Underpinning the policy are ‘Standards and Guidance’
vation walls and the installed support to deformation, reducing the for the implementation of the standards, lessons and best practices,
system’s load, displacement, and energy dissipation capacity, and operating rules, and the various operating plans. Assurance then
thus increase the vulnerability of the excavation to seismic hazards. provides the link between the policy, standards, plans, and the
Schedule pressures typically require a support (primary and sec- reality of the operations (SOPs, TARPs, and metrics). The ‘assurance’
ondary) to be installed prior to the ground experiencing deforma- element provides senior management with an indication of how
tion and relaxation. The associated loss of support capacity, again in well an operation is implemented and complying with the plan,
terms of load, displacement, and energy, is rarely accounted for in and whether the plan is in fact realistic and achievable.
70 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

Fig. 2. (a) Stress-fractured ground with spalls driven from stress raisers in corner of excavation, and (b) displacement survey of sufficient accuracy for support performance
assessment and for deployment of PSM.

damage classes R4 and R5 (Heal et al., 2006) involving multi-tonne

failures are disruptive and can have detrimental impacts on the
viability of a mining project.
Brittle rock masses become increasingly vulnerable to damage
as induced stress levels increase. Once a critical load and defor-
mation stage is reached, damage ensues. The transformation from a
‘massive’ to a ‘damaged’ rock mass is irreversible, fundamentally
changing the excavation behaviour and support requirements. It is
this fragility and the associated failure processes of brittle failure
and bulking ground that drive the need for the deformation-based
design approach described in Section 4. For example, the condition
of the walls of an excavation is a function of applied stress and
intact strength (i.e. the intensity of jointing tends to decay with
depth, thus intact rock strength can become the key measure of
rock quality). It is suggested that operationally an excavation moves
Fig. 3. Production governance hierarchy.
from robust to fragile condition at the onset of moderate spalling
and bulking. The increased bulking associated with spalling in-
creases the demands on the installed support, resulting in an
(6) Asset management increasingly fragile system.
There are several steps in assessing the fragility and vulnera-
As mentioned in Section 1, the production footprint and the bility of excavations. The first is to recognise where and when
excavations associated with mine infrastructure are the significant conditions exist for brittle rock failure and that for fragility. This
investments in a modern caving operation, far greater than that in depends, amongst other factors, on the depth, rock mass charac-
fixed and mobile equipment. These investments must be main- teristics, and mine sequencing. Once brittle failure occurs, the
tained to reduce the risk of ground related production in- objective is to manage the skin of damaged rock around an exca-
terruptions. Standard measures used in asset management, such as vation to provide a safe and functional excavation by maintaining
availability, utilisation, mean time to repair need be used to the support’s load and displacement capacities, thereby limiting
establish excavation performance over time and to achieve the damage and lengthy production interruptions that ensue if repairs
operational efficiencies required for reliable production. are required.
Assessments must be carried out at regular intervals or when
(7) Excavation health, vulnerability, and fragility specified targets described in TARPs are exceeded. It is imperative
to establish the critical conditions or changes in conditions of ex-
Two interlinked concepts are important when assessing the cavations as mining progresses. This is done by measuring de-
health of any excavation. These are vulnerability and fragility. formations and observing damage that the excavation or installed
Vulnerability describes the state of exposure to the possibility of support experiences. The time between assessments depends on
being physically damaged. Strictly speaking, it is the probability of the criticality of the excavation to production. For example, there
damage without the consideration of the severity of the resulting may be a need to increase the support intensity to retain overall
damage. Fragility is described as the irreversible loss of function- reliability of the extraction level and the ore flow system because
ality when a system encounters disorder. Fragility implies that they are key to maintaining production. The vulnerability will
there is more to lose than gain, i.e. more downside than upside. change with time in response to changes in stress conditions and to
Options reduce the fragility of a system. Conversely a lack of options the support consumption associated with this change.
makes a system more fragile (Flyvbjerg, 2017). It is an indicator of An iterative process is followed (see Fig. 4) where the defor-
how easily a structure can be broken (antonym: robustness) and mation is monitored to assess the response of the installed support
damaged at a given damage level. For example, vulnerable exca- to changing mining-induced demands and whether significant
vations are more likely to suffer damage, but fragile excavations support capacity consumption has occurred. This allows the
will suffer more damage than robust and well-supported excava- vulnerability of the excavation to be assessed based on the ratio of
tions. Conditions leading to severe excavation damage, e.g. support tangential stress near the excavation to the rock mass strength, the
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 71

Fig. 4. Ground control process map.

energy stored near the excavation and the effectiveness of the

installed support (Kaiser and Cai, 2021).
Several key factors must be considered when following the
process map illustrated by Fig. 4:

(i) Damage in a brittle rock mass typically manifests itself as a

skin of stress-fractured, bulking rock adjacent to the wall or
backs of an excavation (e.g. Fig. 2a).
(ii) Brittle rock failure is irreversible but can be managed by
installing support to create gabion panels of well-retained,
reinforced fractured rock once the rock mass strength has
been exceeded and the broken rock highly strained. In a
nutshell, the ‘gabion panel’ concept implies that a deform-
able self-supporting rock wall or arch has to be created to
behave like gabions of broken rock.
(iii) These gabion panels act as an integrated support unit that
enhances the self-supporting capacity of the rock mass.
(iv) Mining-induced stress can increase the demands on the ga-
bion panels and consume support capacity.
(v) When the support system is heavily deformed, it must be
maintained by installing additional support to ensure that
load and displacement capacities are retained or restored
and the likelihood for further rock mass bulking is reduced.

(8) New design processes are required for mining at depth in

brittle rock masses

New approaches for support design are required to handle

mining-induced deformations that occur at depth in generally hard,
brittle rock masses. This requires a move from support for pre- Fig. 5. (a) Supported rock arch principle Hoek et al., (1995), (b) representation of self-
venting joint-controlled failure to support that can meet the de- supporting wall ‘arch’ or ‘gabion panel’, and (c) slope support using gabions of broken
mands of brittle rock failure where stress-fracturing results in a rock (photos: Courtesy M. Diederichs).
damaged ‘skin’ of ground near the excavation that must be stabi-
lised. A sound understanding of the rock mass characteristics,
including stress-fracturing and geometric bulking that dominates
the deformations in the ‘skin’ surrounding the excavation (see displacements on the support, and these displacements consume
Fig. 2a), is of critical importance. some or most of the capacity of a support system before the support
is critically loaded, i.e. before dominant critical load, displacement,
or energy demands are imposed. Furthermore, support design must
3. Role of support in highly stressed ground e gabion concept focus on excavation skin management. For this purpose, effective
areal support is used for rock retention, and for displacement
In moderately to highly stressed ground, bulking mechanisms in control, displacement compatibility of the integrated support sys-
hard rock and dilation of squeezing ground impose large tem and maintenance of this compatibility is essential. Hence,
72 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

deformation-based support design (DBSD) principles must be

applied and satisfied over the life of a support system, i.e. when
loaded and deformed during static and dynamic mining-induced
stress changes.

3.1. Creation of self-supporting arches or wall panels

The primary role of rock support is to establish self-supporting

stable arches (Lang, 1961; Hoek et al., 1995, Fig. 5a) that restrict
deformations. The challenge in highly stressed ground is to establish
deformable self-supporting arches in the backs and walls (see
Fig. 5b) that function like gabions and are able to deform with the
surrounding ground. This is best achieved by the creation of gabion-
like panels of well-retained blocky or fragmented rock (see Fig. 5c).

3.2. Key characteristics of ‘gabion panels’

Fig. 6. Critical elements of deformable ‘gabion panels’: Retention, reinforcement, and
tieback support to hold ‘gabion panel’ back to stable ground.
This ‘gabion panel’ concept works as an integrated system
consisting of a robust surface support to facilitate optimal uti-
lisation of the rock mass reinforcement capacity. Its performance
(2) Tangential and lateral resistances while deforming into the
depends on whether it is loaded by tangential wall rock straining
excavation;
between back and floor (or between the walls), or laterally loaded
(3) Ability to dissipate energy due to the large mass provided by
by a sudden bulking during a strainburst inside or behind the ga-
the reinforced ‘gabion panel’ (adding a reliable mass to
bion (i.e. in the reverse direction of the arrows in Fig. 6).
dissipate impact energy); and
The key elements of strong deformable support panels are high-
(4) Ability to maintain substantial remnant load and energy
lighted in Fig. 7. A ‘gabion panel’ connects the robust retention system
capacities as the panels are deformed.
(or areal support) to a dense reinforcement pattern of full column
grouted bolts to form a stack of ‘gabions’ and ties them back to stable
ground by preferably ductile tendons (cable bolts; red in Fig. 6). In
stress-fractured ground, debonding may not be required to achieve 3.4. Illustration of benefits of ‘gabion’ concept
sufficient ductility due to an auto-debonding process of grouted plain
cables that occurs in the relaxed damaged skin. The role and functions The concept of gabion support and deformation control has
of the support are thus to control large deformations by. been applied at PT Freeport Indonesia’s DMLZ mine where strain-
bursts occurred early in the cave establishment. In places, damage
(1) Reinforcing the damaged skin to reduce the effects of was observed to have led to total wall collapse (R5 damage), as
bulking; illustrated in Fig. 8a. Substantial efforts were made to better un-
(2) Retaining the rock mass between the reinforcing elements derstand the response of the rock mass to caving-induced stress
with a robust surface retention system that is well connected and the role of support in managing the skin of stress-fractured,
to reinforced elements; and bulked rock. Support was upgraded to develop deformable ‘ga-
(3) Providing a tough deformable retaining system. bion panels’ in the walls resulting in the prevention of collapses
through better bulking and deformation control. Even though
excavation damage with large convergence still occurred at criti-
3.3. Application of ‘gabion panels’ to create self-supporting arches cally loaded locations (see Fig. 8b), access was still available, and the
or walls repair of the damaged support was easier and quicker than before.
It is noted that the well-constructed ‘gabion panel’ retained its
In civil tunnelling, yielding steel arches and longitudinal slots integrity with little or no ‘shotcrete rain’. This is attributed to the
are used in weak ground to prevent excessive build-up of hoop fact that the entire ‘gabion panel’ in the pillar wall moved inward as
stresses in steel sets or shotcrete linings (Fig. 7a). In mining ap- a unit during the strainburst causing this support damage at a
plications, stable deformable arches can be established without lower rate of deformation.
steel arches by ‘stacked’ panels of reinforced rock or stacked ‘gabion Recent experience at the DMLZ has demonstrated that support
panels’ (Fig. 7b). Such stacked panels must be tightly linked to design using the ‘gabion’ concept can survive self-initiated or
prevent shear failure of the resulting deformable support arch (grey dynamically loaded strainburst events exceeding local magnitudes
arrows in Fig. 7b), or special measures must be used to provide M ¼ 2 as illustrated in Fig. 9. Furthermore, the application of the
shear resistance between individual panels. ‘gabion panels’ has drastically reduced the extent of severe exca-
For pillar support in squeezing or strainbursting ground (Fig. 7c), vation damage (ranging from R4 to R5). The length of development
single wall panels provide the ductility required to accommodate requiring repair to remain functional, decreased from some 20% to
large lateral bulking movements. Furthermore, such panels provide about 2% of the development within the undercut abutment once
a large mass (i.e. the mass of the ‘gabion panel’) to dissipate deformation control was established with the introduction of ga-
imposed energy from strainbursts or from ground motions emitted bion support together with an associated reduction in damage
from large remote seismic events (Kaiser and Moss, 2021). related delays and costs. This was the first step in a cave estab-
In summary, the practical benefits of ‘gabion panels’ are: lishment/propagation process that included pre-conditioning, cave
shaping, and rigorous undercut management.
(1) Deformability inside the ‘gabion panel’ and of the panels In summary, experience has shown that the implementation of
themselves relative to the surrounding ground against the ‘gabion panel’ concept can be effective in reducing the detri-
‘loading from behind’; mental impact of caving-induced seismicity on mine excavations.
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 73

Fig. 7. (a) Deformable steel arch support for squeezing ground, (b) equivalent deformable arch with stacked deformable ‘gabion panels’ (Kaiser, 2019), and (c) mining application of
laterally deformable ‘gabion panels’ for pillar support in strainbursting ground (photos: Courtesy PT Freeport Indonesia).

The first step is to recognise the failure process, i.e. where the
rock mass exhibits brittle characteristics, the size of the potential
skin damage (bulked) zone can be estimated, for example, by using
the empirical methods first proposed by Kaiser et al. (1996) and
later refined by Martin et al. (1999) and others as summarised in Cai
and Kaiser (2018). This provides the broad dimensions of the ga-
bion to be constructed. The reinforcing and retention elements can
then be selected to achieve an appropriate factor of safety (FS) with
due consideration given to all three demand types on the system
(load, deformation, and energy).

Fig. 8. (a) Excavation damage in inadequately supported ground, and (b) excavation Fig. 9. Drill drive in DMLZ after a local magnitude M ¼ 2 event in close proximity. Note
damage with deformable ‘gabion wall panel’ (photos: Courtesy PT Freeport Indonesia that there is minimal wall damage and little shotcrete ejection despite signs of floor
and R. Bewick). heave (Photo: Courtesy PT Freeport Indonesia).
74 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

Second, it is essential to effectively manage the damaged skin by (3) To use stress-change insensitive holding elements for deep
helping the ground to support itself through appropriate levels of anchorage.
reinforcement and retention of the skin (mesh and shotcrete) while
constructing the ‘gabion wall’ to hold the reinforced skin in place Currently available support tools for ground control can be
(e.g. by holding ‘gabion panels’ with cable bolts). deployed for the purposes listed in the last column in Fig. 10.
Next, the concept of support consumption and consequently
scheduled PSM by restoring the support capacity forms a critical 4.1. Rock mass characterisation
component of support design. This is particularly important for
seismically active mines where repeated seismically induced de- Many rock mass characterisation systems (i.e. rock mass rating
formations, by ‘seismic hammering’ or repeated co-seismic rock (RMR), Q, geological strength index (GSI), and others) have been
mass straining, gradually consumes the support’s capacity. developed over the years, building on the rock condition classes
Kaiser et al. (1996) have stated, as reiterated by Kaiser and Cai developed by Terzaghi (1946) for rock load estimation. He distin-
(2013), that the goal of support in burst-prone ground is to mitigate guished rock mass classes largely based on block size and joint
the potential consequences of rockbursts. Support must therefore condition:
meet load, displacement, and energy demands under the anticipated
static and seismic loading to maintain the integrity of the excavation. (1) For massive rock: Class 1: hard and intact; Class 2: hard
Because it is often not practically feasible to stop the driving defor- stratified or schistose;
mation, it is necessary to manage it in a safe and cost-effective (2) For jointed rock: Class 3: sparsely or moderately jointed;
manner. Class 4: moderately blocky and seamy; Class 5: very blocky
and seamy; Class 6: completely crushed but chemically
4. Technical considerations in excavation and support design intact;
(3) For squeezing rock: Class 7: at moderate depth; Class 8: at
The industry has (over-) relied on empirical rock support design great depth.
systems for many years. Because these systems were mostly derived
from experience in shallow ground and data from civil engineering Classes 1e4 impose no and Class 5 no or little side pressure;
tunnels, there are limitations in the applicability of rock mass classi- Class 6 imposes considerable side pressure (and potentially floor
fications for rock support design in highly stressed brittle ground in pressure). All-round support is needed in Classes 7 and 8. These
mines. Due to on-going operations, the ground experiences cycles of three groupings are sufficient to establish the excavation behav-
mining-induced stress changes that can alter conditions leading to iours for support design (Kaiser, 2019). It is unnecessary to go into
brittle failure which is a fragile process. They are associated with excessive detail when characterising the rock mass quality (RMQ)
generalisations of failure mechanisms and difficulties in reliably but it is essential to independently describe the prevailing stress
catering for changing conditions. More robust and reliable ap- condition, e.g. by a stress level index (SLI).
proaches are required for the new generation of deep mines. The rock mass quality can be established using Terzaghi’s
There are six key steps in arriving at DBSD: approach (block size and block boundary condition) or one of the
other classification systems listed in Table 1.
(1) Proper characterisation of ground in terms of rock mass The SLI is used to characterise the stress causing damage near
strength and in situ stress; excavations. Because the in situ stress is modified by mining, and
(2) Identification of the relevant potential failure mechanisms the stress ratio (vertical to horizontal) is not considered when using
that need to be assessed by recognizing that there often is the commonly adopted principal stress indicator s1/UCS, the SLI is
more than one possible failure mode (e.g. imposing loads by used, where s1 is the maximum principal stress perpendicular to a
wedges, deformations by stress-fracturing, and energy de- drift or tunnel at the boundaries of the representative volume of
mands from stress-fracturing or stress waves) and that fail- rock containing the excavation, and UCS is the unconfined
ure modes may change with depth and over the mine life; compressive strength of the rock. It is defined as the normalised
(3) Understanding the consequences of depth on excavation maximum stress smax around a circular excavation in elastic rock
behaviour (stress and rock quality); loaded by mining-induced stresses in a representative volume
(4) Identifying the cause and severity of the failure process to containing the excavation. The maximum stress smax is normalised
establish driving forces or deformation demands based on to a calibrated UCS (UCS0 ) of the intact rock or rock blocks:
the premise that support primarily serves to stabilise yielded SLI ¼ smax/UCS0 . The maximum stress, smax ¼ 3s1 e s3, where s3 is
or fractured rock near the excavation (i.e. skin management); the minimum principal stress of the rock. Laboratory UCS values are
(5) Definition of a ‘design event’, i.e. the intensity of demand that often excessively variable, depending on the sample size, thus the
needs to be survived or is acceptable (allowed) for a given average UCS values typically underestimate the rock block strength.
design period, and selection of an appropriate safety margin Hence, a representative UCS0 has to be back-analysed such that SLI
for each possible failure mechanism and design parameter < 0.4  0.1 when no sign of spalling or other stress-driven rock
(load, displacement, and energy); and deterioration is observed. If no underground access is available, it is
(6) Assessment of and accounting for support capacity con- often meaningful to set UCS0 as the upper 75 percentile value of the
sumption by displacements imposed during the mine life. UCS obtained from specimens without defects.
Based on SLI, three stress intensity classes are identified as listed
Fig. 10 shows the broad workflow for DBSD in burst-prone in Table 2. Accordingly, excavation behaviour can be grouped by
ground. The design objectives for the three elements of skin man- three rock mass quality classes (RMQ 1e3; Table 1) and three stress
agement are: level indices (SLI 1e3; Table 2).

(1) To reinforce and retain broken rock by constructing a 4.2. Classification of rock mass behaviour near excavations
deformable ‘gabion panel’;
(2) To minimize the wall-to-wall convergence so as to minimize The RMQ and SLI classes, listed in Tables 1 and 2, are sufficient to
rock mass bulking; and identify dominant excavation behaviour modes. These two tables
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 75

Fig. 10. Workflow of deformation-based support selection.

define nine failure modes that need to be considered for support (2) DBSD principles are to be adopted for SLI 2 and SLI 3;
design (Kaiser, 2019; in modified form in Kaiser and Moss, 2021). (3) Retention of fractured or broken rock by effective areal
At low stress (SLI 1), where gravity-driven failure modes define support is critical with decreasing RMQ and particularly with
the load demand, Terzaghi’s rock load model is representative. The increasing SLI;
safety margin or factor of safety (FSL for Load) (i.e. FSL ¼ load capacity/ (4) Construction quality becomes increasingly important with
load demand) is defined by force equilibrium considerations. higher RMQ and SLI classes;
Unravelling risk and stand-up time issues can be managed by in- (5) Support capacity consumption by mining-induced displace-
cycle support (e.g. shotcrete), shorter rounds, and generally good ments must be accounted for when mining-induced stress-
construction practices. changes cause rock mass fracturing and impose displace-
At intermediate stress (SLI 2), stress-induced fracturing and slip ments after support installation;
along block forming joints locally influence both the depth of (6) Rock mass classifications are useful to establish the RMQ, but
gravity-driven failure modes and the bulking of stress-fractured standard support selection charts cannot be applied when
blocky ground, as illustrated by Fig. 11. This increases the support capacity consumption is anticipated;
displacement demand. The safety margin or FS is defined by force (7) Energy-based design approaches in burst-prone mines must
and displacement (FSD ¼ displacement or straining capacity/ account for support capacity consumption by mining-
displacement or strain demand) equilibrium considerations. Unrav- induced displacements; and
elling risk is manageable in RMQ 1 and RMQ 2 but stand-up time (8) The impact of stress-changes (loading or relaxation), i.e.
issues require special construction measures (e.g. spilling, pre- changes in SLI, must be considered.
grouting) in RMQ 3. Minor to moderate strainbursting is to be
anticipated in RMQ 1 and RMQ 2, and the safety margin or FS in
terms of energy balance (i.e. FSE ¼ energy dissipation capacity/en- 4.3. Behaviour of brittle hard rock
ergy demand) must also be assessed. Local, moderate squeezing is to
be expected in laminated or foliated ground. For the selection of an effective support system in brittle ground,
At high stress (SLI 3), the extent of stress-induced fracturing and generally with high intact strength and high modulus ratio (Chapter 1
rock mass yield involves the entire excavation (walls, backs, and by Deere and Chapter 4 by Hoek in Stagg and Zienkiewicz, 1968), it is
floors; Fig. 12). This further expands the extent of gravity-driven important to understand the bulking process that occurs when stress-
failure modes and imposes high displacement demands on the fractured moderately jointed or blocky rock is deformed. The rock
support due to bulking of stress-fractured and dilation of disturbed adjacent to the walls of an excavation is not well confined by the
or sheared ground. Whereas the safety margin or FS still needs to be installed support or the prevailing stress regime, and spalling occurs,
assessed in terms of force and displacement equilibrium consid- resulting in a skin of damaged ground (‘inner shell’ or red zone in
erations, the latter tends to dominate support design. Fig. 13b). Intact blocks of rock or rock fragments must readjust as the
Moderate to severe strainbursting is to be anticipated in RMQ 1 damaged rock mass bulks due to geometric incompatibilities. This
and possibly RMQ 2. The safety margins or factors of safety (FSD and bulking process is driven by tangential straining in the walls (or backs
FSE) must be simultaneously assessed. Moderate squeezing condi- and floors) and is a function of the mining-induced stresses or strains
tions with large displacements are to be expected in RMQ 2 and (vertical arrows in Fig. 13a). This bulked rock can only move toward
severe squeezing, likely with time-dependent displacements, is to the excavation, resulting in a magnified radial deformation that is
be expected in RMQ 3. predominantly perpendicular to the excavation walls and thus par-
In summary, support in active mining areas needs to account for allel to the installed reinforcement and perpendicular to the installed
mining-induced stress changes and related displacements: areal support (horizontal arrow in Fig. 13a).
In other words, brittle hard rock assumes a dual personality
(1) Gravity-driven failure modes are to be assessed in most when highly stressed. In the skin of the excavation, brittle rock
ground conditions; failure promotes rock fragmentation and bulking due to geometric
76 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

Table 1 Support is installed to manage this skin of damaged, bulking

Rock mass quality (RMQ) classes for excavation behaviour identification (after ground. The load demand is controlled by the geometry of the
Kaiser, 2019).
bulked rock volume, and the displacement demand is a function
Rock mass quality class Block size RMR Q0 GSI of the depth of failure and the rock mass bulking factor (Kaiser,
(m) (edge 2016). During a strainburst, when brittle rock failure occurs
lengths)
suddenly, the failing ground bulks and deforms rapidly. It loads
RMQ 1 e MASSIVE to >1 >75 >40 >70 the support system ‘from behind’ or ‘from within’ the reinforced
discontinuously jointed/ Very Exceptionally Massive
rock mass by a sudden radial ground motion, impacting the
veined, strong rock good to to very good to blocky
good reinforced ground and imposing an energy demand inside and on
RMQ 2 e BLOCKY, persistently 0.1e1 75 to 40 to 0.4 70 to 30 the support arch or panel. If simultaneously loaded by ground
jointed/veined or fractured 35 motions from a remote seismic event, the load and displacement
strong rock with interlock Good to Good to very Blocky to
demands are magnified, adding further load, displacement, and
and good to poor block poor poor very
defining joint conditions blocky
energy demands on the support system. Under dynamic loading,
RMQ 3 e DISTURBED, very <0.1 <35 <0.4 <30 this energy demand must be dissipated as the support capacity is
blocky, weak and soft, poor Very to Disturbed being consumed by the displacement imposed by static and dy-
folded and sheared rock and exceptionally and namic bulking (Cai and Kaiser, 2018; Kaiser and Cai, 2021).
very poor sheared
Support in highly stress-fractured ground must therefore
poor
simultaneously meet load, displacement, and energy demands
Note: Because stress is treated separately in Q0 with Jw/SRF ¼ 1, Q0 rather than Q is to
under anticipated static and seismic loading to:
be used to describe the RMQ.

(1) Control the deformation before it reaches operationally

Table 2 allowable displacement limitations;
Stress level index classes for excavation behaviour identification (after Kaiser, 2019). (2) Reinforce the damaged skin to reduce the detrimental effects
of bulking on the rock reinforcement; and
In situ or mining- SLI Comment
induced stress (3) Provide a tough deformable retaining system to survive the
bulging action from bulking ground.
SLI 1 e Low <0.4  0.1 No signs of stress-driven rock failure (spalling
or fracturing) near the location with smax.
SLI 2 e 0.4 Depth of visible stress-driven failure of
Intermediate e1.15(0.1) unsupported ground is typically less than one
equivalent excavation radius. Rock fracturing/
4.4. Dynamic resistance capacity of ‘gabion’ arches
failure is typically localised (notch near smax).
SLI 3 e High >1.15  0.1 Rock fracturing or yielding typically involves Dr. Wenge Qiu (personal communication (Qiu, 2016) and re-
the entire excavation (walls and back/floor) ported by Kaiser, 2019) built a test facility for static and dynamic
and is deep seated (>one equivalent
testing of gabion arches and compared the behaviour of a rein-
excavation radius).
forced lining with two types of ‘gabion’ arches, one with circular
and the other with trapezoidal cross-sections (Fig. 14a and b).
Under static loading (Fig. 14c) with 1.75 m overburden (32 kPa),
the reinforced concrete liner arch deflected 1 mm and the ‘gabion’
arches deflected 26 mm and 4 mm with circular and trapezoidal
‘gabion’ shapes, respectively. The steel used to form the trapezoidal
‘gabion’ arch was less than one third (29%) of the reinforcement in the
concrete arch.
Most importantly, the reinforced concrete liner was punctured
when a 200 kg of weight was dropped from a height of 4 m (Fig. 14d
and e), exerting a kinetic energy of 7.8 kJ (roughly 30 kJ/m2) with
the reinforcement mesh holding the drop weight after more than
0.3 m sag. The trapezoidal ‘gabion’ arch flexed and rebounded
repeatedly thereby stopping the drop weight without breaking the
‘gabion’ arch by consuming the entire impact energy. The impact
Fig. 11. Example of blocky ground created in the immediate vicinity of the excavation forces were approximately 8 MN on the concrete liner and 2 MN on
by stress-fracturing of a moderately jointed rock mass. Open fractures and shears the trapezoidal ‘gabion’ arch.
illustrate the related bulking process due to geometric non-fit of blocks of hard rock. This example of deformable support arch performance illus-
trates the resilience of ‘gabion’ arches to dynamic loading, in part
incompatibility of strong rock fragments or blocks, whereas in the
‘confined zone’ beyond the stress-damage ground, the rock mass because of its mass and internal frictional resistance capacity.
strength increases rapidly due to confinement and may become
prone to strainbursting. 4.5. Support design goals
The primary target of the support therefore is to use the broken
rock near the excavation when formed by stress-fracturing to create The goal of rock support is to construct a structure skin to a
a self-supporting arch or panel of retained rock fragments, preser- ‘gabion panel’ in the wall or a set of stacked ‘gabion panels’ in the
ving interlock, and controlling rock mass bulking. By analogue, the back to provide:
goal is to create arches or panels of ‘gabions’ of retained broken rock.
The second target of the support is to tie the self-supporting arch or (1) Immediate retention of damaged rock;
panel(s) back to stable ground and to provide confinement to the (2) Reinforcement of broken rock in the skin of the excavation;
highly stressed rock in the ‘confined zone’ (orange arrows in Fig. 13c) (3) Surface pressure to increase self-supporting capacity of
and to resist the tangential load (yellow arrows in Fig. 13c). broken rock; and
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 77

Fig. 12. Examples of slabbing and severe excavation damage in highly stressed massive rock. (a) shows spalled rock delaminating between bolts, and (b) shows deep fracturing,
related bolts and cable failures.

(4) Enough mass to dissipate energy released from seismic 205 mm when the entire support system including cable bolts fails.
events (proximal and distal to the excavation). Fig. 16b presents the energy capacity evolution in black and the
remnant capacity in red. For this schematic example, the energy
The excavation behaviour matrix (Kaiser, 2019; modified in capacity is gradually lost until all of its capacity is consumed at
Kaiser and Moss, 2021) provides guidance to establish the appli- 205 mm of imposed central displacement. At 150 mm central
cable support design criteria. It also serves as a simple means for displacement, only 8 kJ/m2 or 40% of the initial energy capacity of
communicating to mine operators such that instability risks can be the rock and cable bolts remain.
assessed and addressed during underground inspections. Further- This example illustrates how the support system capacity is
more, it allows ground control engineers to identify construct- being consumed by mining-induced displacements, i.e. by dis-
ability issues, e.g. that increasing amounts of overbreak must be placements imposed in a static manner or by co-seismic de-
expected in RMQ 2 and RMQ 3 and at SLI 2 and SLI 3. The overall formations in seismically active mines (Kaiser, 2017). With digital
design goals are summarised in Table 3 for each ground condition. monitoring technology, support consumption can be monitored in
A full description of the gabion concept and associated DBSD the field and the remnant safety margin in terms of load,
principles and methods for burst-prone ground is presented by Cai displacement, and energy capacities can be assessed.
and Kaiser (2018) and Kaiser and Moss (2021).

4.7. Support system capacity restoration by PSM

4.6. Support system capacity consumption (SSCC)
The most important practical implication of support system
The effectiveness of support systems can be compromised by capacity consumption is that a support system rarely exhibits its
quality deterioration (e.g. corrosion; not covered here) and by the full capacity that was available at the time of support installation. If
consumption of a support system’s displacement and energy ca- too much capacity has been consumed, it will be necessary to
pacity. Mining not only causes stress changes but also produces restore some of the consumed capacity by PSM. The ‘timing’ of the
associated deformations and tunnel convergence which deform PSM installation is based on the measured deformation of the wall
and strain the support. As these displacements increase, more and and back, e.g. based on digital displacement measurements as
more of a support’s displacement and energy dissipation capacity illustrated by Fig. 2b. The frequency of monitoring depends on a
get consumed. The remnant support system capacity decreases number of factors including excavation use, occupancy, and criti-
while mining continues. cality. In major excavations, such as crusher chambers, it is
For example, if a support system is deformed to a wall defor- becoming increasingly common to have fixed real time scanning
mation of d1 (Fig. 15), the support will reach its yield load and be- while in production drives measurement is dependent on pro-
gins to work by plastic deformation (area under the loade duction activity and drive performance, ranging from daily to
displacement curve). Its elastic energy capacity E1 is consumed monthly. Fig. 17 demonstrates this process:
when the yield point is reached. The remnant displacement ca-
pacity is gradually reduced as the support is deformed from d1 to d3, (1) Once a drive is excavated and the base support (primary and
i.e. to the point where support system degradation starts (red and secondary) is installed, the damaged skin deforms due to
blue lines in Fig. 15). As a support is deformed during mining and mining-induced stress changes, consuming some of the ca-
the displacement capacity is consumed, the energy capacity is also pacity of the support. It can deform to a critical displacement
P
eroded, i.e. by  E ¼ (E1 þ E2 þ E3). level (100 mm in illustrative example of Fig. 17);
Fig. 16a provides a schematic example of the load capacity (2) At this threshold, established by field observations (i.e.
evolution with a drop in load capacity at 150 mm central TARPs), additional support (PSM) is installed to provide
displacement of the areal support between the bolts when the sufficient support capacity by extending the allowable
rebar fails, and failure of the most ductile support component at displacement limit;
78 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

Fig. 13. (a) Bulking of stress-fractured rock causing geometric bulking as illustrated by a Voronoi model (Kaiser, 2016), (b) location of damaged skin in vertically loaded drift, and (c)
‘gabion panel’ of fractured rock with effective retention, reinforcement and holding capacities (Fig. 6).

Fig. 14. Static and dynamic impact tests of ‘gabion’ arches at Southwest Jiaotong University by Qui (2016): (a) Gabions with circular and (b) with trapezoidal cross-sections; (c) Static
loading test of gabion arch; and (d, e) Dynamic loading by drop weight.

(3) The PSM support will continue to deform until a new (5) With PSM, rehabilitation can either be prevented or deferred
threshold (e.g. at 180e200 mm in illustrative example of without enduring collapse as illustrated in the photographs
Fig. 17) is reached and the skin either requires further PSM or in Fig. 17 without PSM.
becomes extensively damaged and requires repair;
(4) If no PSM was applied, the excavation would be excessively Traditionally, repairs to excavations are carried out reactively.
damaged once the deformation capacity of the base support PSM represents a move toward planned maintenance with the
is reached and rehabilitation work with removal of damaged required additional support appropriately scheduled. Significant
support would be required. Repair with reinstallation of the safety benefits and cost savings were realised with the adoption of
entire support system would be required much ‘earlier’ (i.e. this approach. At one operation, the direct cost of PSM was
at 100e150 mm in illustrative example of Fig. 17); and approximately $2000 per meter compared with approximately
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 79

Table 3
Description of support design goals.

SLI RMQ 1 RMQ 2 RMQ 3

1 Protection for Holding of key blocks Arch formation:

workplace safety by and structurally retaining small block
containment of any controlled block and prevention of failure
loose and specific joint (wedge): FSL of structurally controlled
bounded blocks volumes of ‘broken’
rock: FSL
Sensitive to relaxation Sensitive to relaxation
and unravelling
2 Arch formation in walls Arch formation in walls Formation of strong
or back: Reinforcement or back: Reinforcement deformable arch in walls
and retention of broken and retention of broken or back: Retention of
rock: FSL, FSD and FSE rock and structurally ‘broken’ rock and
controlled blocks: FSL, holding of reinforced
FSD and FSE arch and structurally
controlled blocks: FSL
and FSD
3 Flexible all-round arch Flexible all-round arch Flexible all-round arch
formation: Retention of formation: Retention of formation: Retention of
broken rock with broken rock with broken rock with
flexible arch or panels: flexible arch or panels: flexible arch or panels:
FSL, FSD and FSE FSL, FSD and FSE FSL and FSD

Fig. 16. Schematic load and energy capacity of a support system consisting of rebar
and cable bolts: (a) Load capacity evolution, and (b) Energy capacity (black) and
remnant capacity (red) (Cai and Kaiser, 2018).

(3) Continue measurements of deformations and install PSM

support accordingly in an orderly and safe manner. Thus, the
design must respect that, at any point of the support’s life,
the remnant support capacity is less than the installed ca-
pacity. In other words, the actual factor of safety FS is grad-
ually lowered by mining-induced displacements. From a
safety perspective, it is not of interest what the capacity of
the support was at time of installation, but that the current FS
demonstrates that there is sufficient capacity available when
Fig. 15. Schematic support system characteristics illustrating four stages of support
capacity consumption, indicated by 1e4. Energy E1 is the energy used to deform the needed. Particularly in yielding and brittle fractured ground,
support from 0 to d1, E2 from d1 to d2, etc. the design must account for displacement and deformation-
based consumption of support capacity.

$20,000 per meter for rehabilitation. Furthermore, substantially 5. Conclusions

more value accrued to PSM compared with repair due to the
reduction in unscheduled production interruptions. A growth in deep underground mining is anticipated to satisfy
For the implementation of PSM, the following methodology is increasing metal demands. Though deep mining is not new, the
recommended: scale of production from depths exceeding 1000 m is. Depth and
scale combined present a risk to construction and production
(1) Recognise changes in load (deformation, energy) as mining schedules and ultimately to the value proposition, particularly in
progresses by repeated digital displacement monitoring. caving operations.
(2) Develop a deformation-based TARPs for PSM. Separate TARPs Infrastructure excavations and production development are the
are required for footprint and infrastructure. For infrastruc- largest investments in many underground operations. Managing
ture, the TARP must consider the function of the excavation, these assets are key to successful operations. The need for good
criticality to production, and life span. Deformation thresh- management increases with depth as the rock mass responds to
olds will be typically lower than those for the footprint. This mining-induced deformations. Deeper excavations are more
is due to the importance of the facility and the generally vulnerable to mining-induced demands than those at shallower
difficult access which may require longer periods to fully depths as the rock behaviour changes from joint controlled wedge
implement PSM. Specialised equipment may have to be type failures to brittle failure and bulking of the rock mass. The
developed to ensure ease of PSM installation, i.e. to minimize approach to design and excavation management must reflect this
disruptions. change.
80 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81

Fig. 17. Illustration of support system capacity consumption and range of applicability of base design, PSM, and support rehabilitation (photos: Courtesy DMLZ at Grasberg Mine, PT
Freeport Indonesia (2017) and R. Bewick).

Excavations need to remain functional during their operating Acknowledgments

life and thus, ground control becomes central to good asset man-
agement. An outcome of deeper mining is increased deformation of The efforts of many individuals and their supporting companies
the wall of an excavation often resulting in a skin of failed and including PT Freeport Indonesia and Newcrest deserve to be
bulked rock that must be managed during the life of the excavation thankfully acknowledged. The list is too long to name all contrib-
by the installation of an appropriate support system. This system utors, but we wish to especially thank Matt Sullivan (PT Freeport
must be able to deal with the imposed deformation, load, and en- Indonesia), Jared De Ross (Newcrest, Australia), and Drs Ming Cai
ergy demands. For this purpose, the accepted wisdom of helping (Laurentian University, Canada) and Wenge Qiu (Southwest Jiao-
the rock mass support itself has evolved into the concept of ‘gabion tong University, China) for their contributions. This work was also
panel’ support. These ‘gabion panels’ are formed by a combination facilitated by financial support from NSERC (Canada’s Natural Sci-
of rock bolts, cable bolts, and robust areal support that with the ences and Engineering Research Council) and ORF (Ontario
bulked damaged skin forms a deformable self-supporting arch or Research Fund).
wall panel. The effectiveness of gabion support has been demon-
strated at a major caving operation where the system has sub-
stantially reduced damage and contained local strainbursts of local
References
magnitude up to M ¼ 2.
An equally important factor in excavation management is to Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., 2018. Rockburst phenomena and support characteristics. In:
appreciate that support capacity is consumed by mining-induced Rockburst Support Reference Book, vol. I. Laurentian University, ISBN 978-0-
88667-096-2, p. 191.
deformations, and that it is important to maintain this capacity to
Counter, D.B., 2019. Laser-based scanning to manage geotechnical risk in deep
ensure long-term excavation functionally. This can be achieved in a mines. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Ground Support
cost-effective manner by installing supplementary support during in Mining and Underground Construction. Sudbury, Canada, p. 16.
PSM. To be cost effective, the PSM support must be installed prior to Elshkaki, A., Graedel, T.E., Cracci, L., Reck, B., 2016. Copper demand, supply and
associated energy use to 2050. Global Environ. Change 39, 305e315.
the occurrence of significant damage in order to avoid repair or Flyvbjerg, B., 2017. The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management. Oxford
rehabilitation costs and associated delays. Thus, there is a need for University Press, Oxford, UK.
planned support maintenance. New technologies, such as LiDAR, Heal, D., Potvin, Y., Hudyma, M., 2006. Evaluating rockburst damage potential in
underground mines. In: Proceedings of the 41st U.S. Symposium on Rock Me-
provide the deformation information that determines when addi- chanics (USRMS). Golden, USA, p. 12.
tional support is required. Hoek, E., Kaiser, P.K., Bawden, W.F., 1995. Rock Support for Underground Excava-
In summary, deeper mining requires a robust process to manage tions in Hard Rock. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands, p. 215.
Hutchinson, D.J., Diederichs, M.S., 1996. Cablebolting in Underground Mines. BiTech
major assets, i.e. the excavations. Ground control utilising Publishers Ltd., Richmond, USA, p. 416.
deformation-based design principles is a cornerstone of the pro- Kaiser, P.K., McCreath, D.R., Tannant, D.D., 1996. Rockburst support. In: Canadian
posed process. The damaged rock that can occur around the exca- Rockburst Research Program 1990-95, vol. II. MIRARCO - Geomechanics
Research Centre, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada, p. 314.
vations is used in combination with bolts, screen, and shotcrete to
Kaiser, P.K., Cai, M., 2013. Critical review of design principles for rock support in
form deformable gabion panels. These gabion panels provide an burst-prone grounddtime to rethink! In: Potvin, Y., Brady, B. (Eds.), Pro-
effective means for enhancing stability. The consumption of sup- ceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Ground Support in Mining
and Underground Construction. Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth,
port by on-going mining-induced deformation is measured and
Australia, pp. 3e38.
system performance is monitored. Planned support maintenance is Kaiser, P.K., 2014. Deformation-based support selection for tunnels in strainburst-
used to maintain the design capacity and maintain excavation prone ground. In: Hudyma, M., Potvin, Y. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Seventh
functionality. International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining. Australian Centre for
Geomechanics, Perth, Australia, pp. 227e240.
Kaiser, P.K., 2016. Ground Support for Constructability of Deep Underground
ExcavationsdChallenge of Managing Highly Stressed Brittle Rock in Civil and
Declaration of competing interest Mining Projects. ITA Sir Muir Wood lecture of International Tunneling Associ-
ation, San Francisco, USA, p. 33.
The authors declare that they have no known competing Kaiser, P.K., 2017. Ground control in strainbursting groundda critical review and
path forward on design principles. In: Proceedings of the 9th International
financial interests or personal relationships that could have Symposium on Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines. Santiago, Chile, pp. 146e
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. 158.
 A. Moss, P.K. Kaiser / Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 14 (2022) 67e81 81

Kaiser, P.K., 2019. From common to best practices in underground rock engineering. Terzaghi, K., 1946. Rock defects and loads on tunnel support. In: Proctor, R.V.,
In: Mueller Lecture, 14th ISRM Congress, Brazil. CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA, White, T.L. (Eds.), Introduction to Rock Tunnelling with Steel Supports. Com-
pp. 141e182. mercial Sheering & Stamping Co., Youngstown, USA, p. 271.
Kaiser, P.K., Cai, M., 2021. Rock support to mitigate rockburst damage caused by Yazici, S., Kaiser, P.K., 1992. Bond strength of grouted cables and bolts. Int. J. Rock
dynamic excavation failure. In: Rockburst Support Reference Book, vol. II. Mech. Min. Sci. Geomech. Abstr. 29 (3), 279e292.
MIRARCO Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada, ISBN 978-0-88667-097-9 (to
be released late 2021).
Kaiser, P.K., Moss, A., 2021. Deformation-based support design for highly stressed Allan Moss is president of Sonal Mining Technology, an
ground with focus on rockburst damage mitigation. J. Rock Mech. Geotech. Eng. owner operated company specialising in technical aspects of
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2021.05.007. underground bulk mining operations and the application of
Lang, T.A., 1961. Theory and practice of rock bolting. Trans. Amer. Inst. Min. Engrs. technology to underground mining. Allan has been active in
220, 333e348. underground mining for over 45 years and in caving for 20
Martin, C.D., Kaiser, P.K., McCreath, D.R., 1999. Hoek-Brown parameters for pre- years. Formerly a General Manager with Rio Tinto’s Copper
dicting the depth of brittle failure around tunnels. Can. Geotech. J. 36 (1), 136e Group, Allan now provides independent technical advice on
151. caving, chairing Newcrest’s Caving Advisory Panel (Cadia,
Qiu, W., 2016. Personal Communication via PPT-Slide Deck Including Photos and Telfer and Red Chris mines) and providing independent
Test Results provided to P. K. Kaiser for lecture by Kaiser, 2019. advice to Grasberg operations. He is an Adjunct Professor at
Stagg, K.G., Zienkiewicz, O.C., 1968. Rock Mechanics in Engineering Practice. John the University of British Columbia, teaching the practice of
Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, USA. caving and chairing the International Caving Research
Network (ICaRN) at the University of British Columbia (UBC).