The project is now in its fourth year and will be ongoing throughout 2009. It is funded by twelve mining companies, representing a majority of the world’s diamond and base metals production.
CSIRO Exploration & Mining is the lead research group, responsible for managing the research and co-ordinating the efforts of the participating research partners and industry practitioners.
The project’s objective is to address critical gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the relationships between the strength and deformability of rock masses and the likely mechanisms of rock slope failures and landslides in large open pit mines.
Research is divided between three complimentary research streams.
| Pit Slope Design Guidelines |
–
|
Publishing an authoritative new generation guidelines linking accepted practice with innovative new research. |
|
| Pit Slope Design Research |
–
|
Creating 3D structural modelling and slope failure analysis tools based on geomechanical research into the mechanisms of rock slope failure. |
|
| Pit Slope Hydrogeological Studies |
–
|
Hydrogeological studies to assess the effect of pore pressures on the strength and stability of closely jointed rock |
|
