Investigating the causes of stope instability at Golden Valley Mine

The study is based on mining operations that are concentrated in a ground exposed to flooding with varying stope dimensions. Stope stability was assessed in the four stopes, which resembled the mine’s different ground conditions using the stability graph complemented by the equivalent linear over break slough (ELOS) stability approach. The stability graph showed that the stopes in rock masses exposed to flooding fell in the potentially unstable and caving zones whereas the ones that were not affected by flooding fell in the stable zones. The ELOS approach showed that mining the previously flooded rock masses resulted in high over-breaks in the stopes despite them having smaller hydraulic radii. Therefore, it was deduced that although stope extension plays a part in the over-breaks experienced in different stopes, it is not the main cause of the overall stope instability. The results confirm the supposition that over-break is largely controlled by pore pressure than it is by blast induced stresses. Continuous implementation of the old support systems was no longer compatible with the state of the ground conditions. Hence, the mine should implement 6 × 8 m pillars, which have an acceptable factor of safety against failure.