The presence of water has a detrimental effect on slope stability.

Water pressure
acting in the pore spaces, fractures or other discontinuities in the materials that
make up the pit slope will reduce the strength of those materials, and may
therefore have a large influence on the performance, safety and economics of a
mining operation. There is increasing awareness that an inadequate
understanding of pore water pressures leads to mine production losses, either
from conservatively designed slope or under designed slopes that fail.

General impact of water on mining

Water Management issues
 The need to discharge excess water from the site, and the associated
engineering and environmental implications.
 The management of precipitation events, runoff and surface water
throughout the mine site, including storm water management.
 The protection of groundwater and surface water features and existing
water users from the mine operations, including process facilities,
dewatering and slope depressurisation activities.

Consequences of mining below the water table

 Water will flow into the mine workings. – Due to inflow of water to the
mine working areas, the operational efficiency of the mine reduces and
thereby increasing the cost due to several reasons.
 Reduction in slope stability – The presence of water invariably causes a
loss of performance of the pit slopes. The water pressure acting within
any discontinuities and pore spaces in the rock mass reduces the effective
stress, with a consequent reduction in shear strength of the rock mass.

General Goals for water control program

 To divert or remove water from the excavation in order to improve
operational conditions, reduce mining costs and improve safety
performance. (Mine Dewatering Program).
 To reduce the water pressure acting on the materials that form the pit
slopes. (Pit Slope Depressurisation System).
Pore Pressure
Pore pressure, ‘p’, is defined as the pressure of the groundwater occurring
within the pore spaces of the rock or soil. At any given point below the water
table, the pore pressure is the result of the weight of the column of water acting
on that point through the interconnected grains or fractures. Pore pressure is
positive below the water table, zero at the water table, and negative above the
water table.