Cavability of Inca Sector, El Salvador Mine

Abstract:

El Salvador mine, belonging to Codelco Chile is located around 1,000 km north of Santiago. Panel caving is used to mine the Inca West area. The main rock type is primary andesite and the height of the ore column varies between 180 m and 210 m. Mining of this sector started in 1995, with the undercutting of 11,439 m2, which was later increased in July 1999 to 20,280 m2. At this stage, it was evident that a hang up of around 15,000 m2 had been created, with the risk of a sudden collapse. Mining was stopped in the area to start a complete analysis of the problem and to establish a program of work to safely obtain the caving of the affected area. The following topics are discussed: (1) assessment of the size of the hang up, (2) monitoring systems, (3) analysis of options to solve the problem, and (4) numerical modeling (FLAC3D) to study the problem. The main conclusions of this work were: (1) The 3D model was …

Año de publicación:

2020

Keywords:

Fuente:

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