Mining Geotechnics: Recent Advancements and Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

With the exponential growth of the global human population (expected to exceed 10 billion by 2050), there is an unprecedented increasing demand for mineral resources, thereby creating a critical need for innovative, safe, cost effective and environmentally friendly mining practices. For instance, open pit mines are becoming aggressively deeper (in the realm of 400 m or more). In addition, massive underground excavations are also being undertaken in very difficult, or low mineral-grade environments. In confronting these multiple challenges of the mining industry, geotechnical engineering principles, if applied appropriately and soundly, can provide viable economic solutions. Using interdisciplinary tools from broad disciplines, geotechnical challenges such as pit slope stability, mine water management, mine waste and tailings management, hydrogeological characterization of active and abandoned mine sites, improved rock excavation in difficult environments and others can be addressed. In recent years, although outcomes from pioneering research in mining geotechnics have helped to make surface and underground mining operations more efficient, economic and safer, efforts to minimize environmental impacts and footprints have not yet been successful.

Improved knowledge of best practices and emerging technologies in mining geotechnics will significantly enhance the success of current and future mining operations by helping to avoid the erroneous ways of the past mining excavations. This is especially important in light of the looming clean energy transition and the exploration, exploitation and extraction of critical minerals.

We invite papers on, but not limited to, the following topics with respect to mining geotechnics for surface and underground mining:

• Best practices and emerging technologies;
• Geotechnical data collection;
• Mine water and environment;
• Open pit slope monitoring;
• Mining-induced subsidence;
• Application of machine learning and data analytics;
• Application of numerical modeling;
• Ground control and stabilization;
• Mine waste and tailings;
• Tailings impoundment facilities;
• Risk assessment and management;
• Rock dumps and Stockpiles;
• Mine backfill.

Dr. Rennie Kaunda
Guest Editor

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