Enhanced mine safety and productivity in burst prone ground using destress blasting

Destress blasting is a rockburst control technique where highly stressed rock is lightly blasted to reduce stress. This technique is currently used in Canadian mines to reduce stresses around mine production openings. In this research project, the intern will build a numerical model to simulate the destress blasting that will be undertaken at a Canadian nickel mine to extract a highly stressed ore pillar. The aim of the numerical modelling analysis is to determine the stresses in the ore pillar after the destress blasts and then to evaluate the risk of rockbursts and the safety of mining. A numerical modelling back analysis based on measured pillar stress changes will serve to validate the simulation techniques. Development and validation of new constitutive models to simulate destress blasting in a numerical model will help the partner organization predict the effectiveness of future blasts, allowing the partner organization to optimize the design of future the destress blasts, maximizing ore recovery and minimizing ore at risk.

Faculty Supervisor:

Hani Mitri

Student:

Isaac Vennes

Partner:

Vale Ltd.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Mining and quarrying

University:

McGill University