Unique fall-of-ground prevention strategy implemented at Two Rivers Platinum Mine
A Esterhuizen
Since 2005 Two Rivers Platinum Mine has set out on an initiative to
actively monitor and control ground conditions on a daily basis, by making
use of borehole cameras and pro-actively amending the support and mining
strategies based on day-to-day observations of the hangingwall conditions.
Today the borehole camera observations form part of the Rock Engineering
Department’s daily function, and the size and frequency of falls of ground
and ensuing accident rates have been drastically reduced since implementation
of the system. The Two Rivers Platinum fall-of-ground management
system aims to support 100% of the possible fallout thickness, based on
ongoing data gathering and interpretation, thereby ensuring safety and
limiting support cost.
Keywords:
strata control, fall-of-ground management.