Crush pillar support - designing for controlled pillar failure

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Authors

Du Plessis, M.
Malan, D.F. (Daniel Francois)

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Abstract

The aim of any mine design is to ensure that the excavations remain stable for the period they will be in use. Various pillar systems are used to ensure that underground stopes remain stable and that mining activities do not affect the surface infrastructure through either surface subsidence or seismicity. Intermediate-depth platinum mines make use of in-stope pillars designed to fail while the pillars are being cut at the mining face. The pillar stress exceeds the loading capacity and the pillars crush as a result. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of in-stope crush pillars. This will include the application, behaviour, function, mechanism, impact, and design of a crush pillar system.

Description

This paper was first presented at the, Platinum Conference 2014, 20–24 October 2014, Sun City South Africa.
The work described in this paper forms part of the PhD study of Michael du Plessis at the University of Pretoria.

Keywords

Crush pillars, Controlled failure, Limit equilibrium model, Pillar layout

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Du Plessis, M & Malan, DF 2015, 'Crush pillar support - designing for controlled pillar failure', Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. 115, pp. 481-488.