N. A. Chinakal Institute of Mining Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia:

V. I. Vostrikov, Head of Laboratory, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, vvi.49@mail.ru
N. S. Polotnyanko, Engineer

Udachny Mining and Processing Plant, Udachny, Russia:
A. S. Trofimov, Deputy Chief Engineer
A. A. Potaka, Leading Engineer

Open pit mineral mining inevitably arrives to the need to increase the mine depth. In this case, it should be decided on either cutback or higher pitwall slope. The cutback results in considerable rise in financial expenses and labor input. The higher slope angle can largely reduce the cost of deep-level open pit mining. At the same time, it is required to carry out instrumental monitoring of pitwall stability in this case. The Institute of Mining, SB RAS designed and manufactured the experimental version of multichannel measurement system Karier for geomechanical monitoring of rock mass in deep open pit mines. In 2017 the system was deployed in the open pit mine at Udachnaya kimberlite pipe in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The geomechanical monitoring of a pitwall site was carried out in winter and in spring. The geomechanical monitoring of a fall-hazardous geoblock in the pitwall showed that the block bottom displaced toward the open pit. The maximum displacement totaled 0.57 mm. The top of the block tilted depthward the pitwall. The geoblock as if ‘drives down’ the pit. The largest displacements were recorded in the period of time when the air temperature fluctuated at 0 °C, i.e. in the freeze–thaw mode. A mild increase in the crack width at the present time allows a conclusion that the pitwall site is currently stable.

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