SLOPE STABILITY
Slope stability and support services
Orica-owned GroundProbe ’ s Geotechnical Support Services ( GSS ) unit is a world-class global support network that assists mining customers with effective slope stability and underground risk management through comprehensive technical support . We caught up with Ben Moke , Chief Commercial Officer and VP Americas
Q Last year , you expanded the GroundProbe remote monitoring centre in Belo Horizonte - can you give some information about this expanded facility in terms of what additional capacity , functions , and capabilities were added ? A Our remote monitoring centre in Belo Horizonte is rapidly growing as more customers join our service . Currently , we ’ re remotely monitoring about 30 sensors through our GSS- Remote service , and our GroundProbe experts are on-site monitoring around 40 sensors through our GSS-Local service . We ' re also excited to have boosted our capability to support our BlastVision product at two key sites in Brazil . Our range of sensors has also expanded significantly . The Belo centre now has the most diverse fleet of GroundProbe equipment , covering everything from geotechnical risk management to emergency management . This includes RAR and SAR Slope Stability Radars , RGR-Velox , and Robotic Total Stations ( RTS ). We ' re also now monitoring RTS from Trimble , which has opened up more business opportunities for us . Looking ahead , we ' re planning to extend our services to include brands and products from Terra Insights , now that we are unified under the
Geosolutions division of Orica Digital Solutions . Their technology portfolio includes five industry-leading brands : RST Instruments , Measurand , 3vGeomatics , Syscom Instruments and NavStar .
Q In particular does the Belo facility have an important role in tailings dam monitoring as well as open pit mine monitoring ? Are there protocol or strategy differences in how tailings are monitored versus mines ? Are they using a lot of RGR-Velox systems as an example as well as the SSR to have very precise reactive controls in place ? A Our Belo monitoring centre oversees both open pit environments and tailings dams , with around 65 % of our customers from open pits and 35 % from tailings dams . The Belo GSS team actually monitors about 71 % of the global tailings dams in our remote monitoring portfolio . There are some key differences in how we monitor these environments . Open pits are all about real-time , critical monitoring to support active mining operations where there ' s a risk to people , equipment , or production . Our engineers conduct continuous , real-time data analysis and interpretation and collapse forecasting . They track changes in trends and send out immediate alerts for any slope instability , following the site-specific Trigger Action Response Plan ( TARP ). On the other hand , monitoring tailings dams usually involves long-term data monitoring and retrospective analysis . We conduct objective data analysis , document everything , and communicate the findings to the customer in daily reports or as agreed . As a reactive control measure , we mainly use RGR-Velox systems for tailings
dams , especially in Brazil . They ' ve become a primary tool for detecting any unusual movements .
Q Today you have global remote monitoring centres in three locations - Belo , Balikpapan and Santiago . Are there a lot of learnings shared between each one and can you give any examples ? Are any other remote centres planned in 2024 / 2025 ? A Our GSS global monitoring teams work together as one cohesive unit to support our customers worldwide . Our teams , led by Rachmat Hamid Musa in Balikpapan , collaborate closely with each monitoring centre to ensure consistent operational procedures . This ensures the highest service and risk control level in all our remote monitoring contracts . Through this consistency , we can provide back up to a centre when needed . We ' ve developed an online platform for internal GSS training and annual certification in English , Spanish , and Portuguese . We ’ ve also adopted best practices , including regional geotechnical conferences , safety-based practices , a mental health program , and a global GSS team step challenge . Last year , we launched a leadership exchange program , inviting leaders from Belo and Santiago to visit Balikpapan to observe and learn from their operations . Beyond our internal practices , we share our knowledge with the geotechnical community . Our GSS team members are actively submitting papers and presenting case studies at geotechnical conferences . At the moment , we can expand our services to more customers through our existing three centres , so we ’ re not planning to open a fourth location just yet . s
Real-time remote monitoring at GroundProbe ’ s GSS monitoring centre in Brazil ( left ) and GroundProbe ’ s SSR-Omni with Precision Atmospherics ( right )
moderately to highly fractured rock masses , and that the coupled DFN-LE methodology can be used as a reliable predictive design tool .
The authors state : “ The DFN approach allows the generation of a more realistic structural fabric to better capture intermediate- and largescale structure at the inter-ramp and overall slope scales , including the consideration of uncertainty in key input parameters . The identification of blocks forming within the slope is used to assess the probability of blocks occurring at a certain location on the simulated
pit shell , with these blocks representing a precursor to potential instability . The DFN-LE method allows the probabilistic analysis of composite failure mechanisms comprising both structural and rock mass components for all identified rock blocks . The results of the
80 International Mining | AUGUST 2024