Ground support design is an important process of reducing geologically driven uncertainty and risk inside underground mines. As shafts, tunnels, stopes, and other excavations are created during mining operations, there is always the risk of weakening existing geological structures.
This can, of course, have a catastrophic effect on productivity, personnel, and equipment. Ground support measures can minimize these risks by controlling the development of the potential instability of geological structures, or in some cases making these exposed structures more stable.
Of course, as is the case in many branches of engineering, design and execution go hand-in-hand. Simply installing support measures is not enough; proper investigation and planning should be undertaken before support is installed.
The quality of the ground support design put together beforehand has a huge impact on the overall efficacy of the support measures afterwards. For example, an inaccurate characterization of the rock mass can lead to a poor design, which in turn can lead to inadequate support.
By contrast, a ground support design prepared by an expert engineer who specializes in this discipline and has suitable training, knowledge, and experience will lead to ground support measures that are appropriate for the situation, and will be more effective and safer as a result.
Don’t compromise on the quality of the ground support design work for your mine. At RockEng, we have highly skilled and experienced specialists who will focus all of their expertise on making sure your mine has the very best support structures possible.