Safety of mining with rope meshes nearby sinkholes

Ground caving incessantly takes place in karst regions and in mining areas, and the caving after-effects are to be eliminated. The key problem is that a sink can expand with time because of wall caving. The hazardous zone of the potential and often sudden sink expansion can be determined by geophysical surveys. Usually such zones are made totally inaccessible for people. Thus, elimination of caving after-effects should be implemented in the walk-in inaccessible zone. Within the limits of such zones, there may be special-purpose injection wells, or ground water observation wells, or sink backfill conveyors. After the review of the available literature and in-situ studies on operation in the totally walk-in inaccessible zone nearby the sinkhole in Solikamsk area, the conclusion was drawn on the lack of the current and sufficiently reasoned engineering solutions on safety of operations nearby sinkholes. This is a burning problem as sinkholes impose immense risks both on nature and people. People engaged in elimination of caving after-effects run a death risk. On 12 September 2012, in Berezniki area, a workman died in wall caving during sink fill night shift. This study focuses on mining safety nearby sinkholes and on proposal of an engineering solution on safety of people and work in the total walk-in inaccessible zone nearby sinkholes.

Lonskiy O. V., Golikova O. V. Safety of mining with rope meshes nearby sinkholes. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2021;(10):157-164. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_ 1493_2021_10_0_157.

O.V. Lonskiy¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: LOV000@yandex.ru,
O.V. Golikova¹, Magister, e-mail: Olya24.07.1997@mail.ru,
¹ Perm National Research Polytechnical University, 614990, Perm, Russia.

O.V. Lonskiy, e-mail: LOV000@yandex.ru.

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