SLOPE STABILITY MONITORING
mining companies around the world to disclose detailed information on
their tailings dams facilities.
David Noon, GroundProbe COO told IM: "GroundProbe is proud to have
been brought in to help to monitor tailings dams at several highly-
publicised sites in Brazil which experienced significant tailings failures in
recent years, including the Samarco Mineração SA tragedy that occurred in
2015. Despite not being on-site before or during the collapses,
GroundProbe systems were brought in to monitor the continued stability of
the dams moving forward for maximum safety. GroundProbe radars and
lasers are now also monitoring a number of tailings dams in a precautionary
capacity, as sites commonly do for their open cut slopes."
Some dams were deemed high risk with assumed instability, so
monitoring regimes were put in place to monitor the movement and predict
if and when a failure was likely to occur. Other sites have deployed
monitoring systems because of a hypothetical risk to the dam. "The
hypothetical risk or consequence classification doesn’t take into account
the actual stability of the dam, but rather the risk should the dam collapse.
Dams are classified according to: the potential loss of life; environmental,
cultural and social impacts; and infrastructure and economic losses."
Each tailings dam is unique and so is the consequence of failure should
the dam collapse. The size and volume of the dam, the type of material it
holds, its method of construction and consequence classification, as well as
the site’s geography and climate, should all be considered when
determining the level of monitoring required.
"GroundProbe believes the level of risk control required and the site’s
specific monitoring needs should correspondingly determine the monitoring
solution required. GroundProbe provided one such solution to Samarco
Mineração SA who purchased two safety-critical, mobile radar systems
(SSR-XT) and three long-range, fixed-deployment radar systems (SSR-SARx)
to monitor their Santarém and Germano dams, following their dam collapse
in 2015."
Whether post-failure or as a precautionary measure, GroundProbe is
deploying both radar and laser technologies to the dams, and sites are
commonly also employing its Geotechnical Support Services (GSS) remote
or local monitoring services.
“The GSS team are able to provide customers with dedicated 24-hour
remote monitoring solution for mine sites anywhere around the globe. The
remote monitoring team, all fully-qualified Geotechnical Engineers with
extensive radar knowledge and experience, operate 24/7 from a central,
remotely-located office. Providing real-time support, the team monitor live
radar data and respond to alarms and movement, remaining in close phone
and online contact with site-based staff."
GSS can be used to provide additional training as well as customised
report generation. The reports include detailed data analysis and
interpretation of data, and can be produced as often as required.
GroundProbe also provides hardware and software training on-site upon
deployment and further supports our users through a 24/7 support desk
and an online database of training manuals accessible for all its customers.
Noon says the company has deployed monitoring solutions to tailings dams
across the globe, including Brazil, Australia, Chile and South Africa.
Maptek helps ensure safe operations at Broadmeadow
BHP Coal's Broadmeadow Mine is one of only a few punch longwall mines
in Australia. This method makes use of abandoned open cut mine strips and
drives gateroads directly into the seam at the base of the highwall, with no
requirement for main entries. The longwall is then retreated towards the
open cut and recovered just short of the highwall, leaving a safe barrier
pillar.
Broadmeadow has mined 11 longwall panels by this method, from two
adjacent open cut strips. Significant highwall movement was related to the
effect of subsidence when longwalls approach their final position close to
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AUGUST 2019 | International Mining 63