Underground miners traditionally work in harsh environments containing dust and noxious gases. Recently, there is concern that the increasing risk of heat exposure may compound the deleterious effects of these conditions and further subject the workers to increased risk of heat stress. A new and growing challenge to the industry is that the Ontario mining […]

Crosswell seismic tomography is a geophysical survey method in which the propagation of sound waves through the Earth’s crust is used to infer geological structure. An array of acoustic sources and receivers are placed into two separate boreholes, and full waveform recordings are made of the response to each source, measured at each of the […]

We are conducting this study to determine to what extent air velocity affect sweating, skin blood flow and changes in core temperature in older workers during exercise performed in the heat (i.e., 30°C and 60% RH). Responses of older adults (55-65 years) will be compared to a younger group (20-25 years). Participants will perform four […]

This project will examine how heat stress develops in young {18-30 years) and older miners {45-65 years) of different levels of fitness when physically demanding mining jobs are made more challenging by increases in air temperature and humidity as well as changes In a worker’s hydration status. Further, a field-based study will be conducted to […]

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 […]

A strainburst is a sudden violent failure of rock triggered around a tunnel boundary. They are often unpredictable and pose an extreme risk to workers in deep underground mines and tunnels. The goal of this project is to investigate the fundamental mechanisms by which these failures can occur. This knowledge will be used to better […]