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An attempt to estimate waste rock and soil shear strengths based upon strengths of intact rock cores

Tailings and Mine Waste Conference (2015 : Vancouver, B.C.); University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

In the planning or expansion stages of an open pit mining project, there may be no waste rock available to undertake the testing of its shear strength parameters. Often, all that is available are the results of limited strength tests on intact core specimens recovered from exploration and geotechnical investigation boreholes. Subsequently, the waste rock that is generated from the rock surrounding the ore body can be tested for its shear strength parameters, although such testing is often very limited and may be non-existent. A comparison of the results from the testing of intact rock cores and the subsequent testing of scalped, loose, waste rock specimens and planes of weakness and weathered waste rock can be used to estimate a “waste rock strength classification” for a particular mining project and rock types, which may be used for the preliminary design of the waste rock dumps. Further, an indicative “soil strength classification” may be established to estimate the shear strength parameters of compacted surficial and residual soils at a site, relative to the intact strength of the parent rocks. The paper describes a case study of the testing of intact borehole rock cores and the subsequent testing of loose, scalped waste rock specimens, planes of weakness, weathered waste rock, and compacted surficial and residual soils, from which estimates are made of the waste rock and soil strength classifications.

Conference Paper

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0314306

Applied Science, Faculty of; Mining Engineering, Keevil Institute of

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