Stability assessment of mine waste dump, case study: optima mines and minerals limited

Abstract

Mining extracts useful materials from the earth. Although provides a large quantity of valuable minerals, it also generates a hung quantity of waste piled at different places called waste dumps in a gradual manner. Due to the limited space, dump structures are constructed with steep angles however if not well managed dump failure is most likely to occur which leads to loss of life, property and equipment as well as increases the mine economics. This has been a matter of concern in the past years for safe and optimum design of dump slope. This study presents the effect of different waste dump parameters that is the slope height, angle and the shear strength variables that affect the stability of slopes. For the stability assessment waste dump samples were tested in the laboratory for cohesion, internal angle of friction, unit weight etc. The shear test parameters gotten from the shear test were used in stability assessment performed using RocScience software. FoS was evaluated by varying the slope angle and height of dump. It was observed that as the angle and height of the slope increase FoS decreases.