THE ROLE OF

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER
IN OPEN PIT MINING
What do I do with my mining degree after graduation?

ONLINE LECTURE
Rachmat Musa, MAusIMM, ASEAN Eng.
Slope failure risk

Slope failure presents significant risk to mining

operations
 Slope Failure Consequence

Cost of loading Failure

materials =
4 to 6 x the cost of
Normal Mining, excl. Economic Risk
Cost of Slope
Remediation, Value of
Sterilised Coal, etc.

Fatality / Lost of
Safety Risk
Equipment
What is Geotechnical ?
1. Geotechnical engineering is concerned with the engineering behavior
of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering is important in civil
engineering, but also has applications in military, mining,petroleum and
other engineering disciplines that are concerned with construction
occurring on the surface or within the ground.

2. The application of engineering geology, structural geology,

hydrogeology, soil mechanics, rock mechanics and mining seismology
to the practical solution of ground control challenges.

3. Rock and Soil will have unique/specific response behavior if those

disturbed by external forces like : excavated, pressure, vibration,
saturated etc.

4. In mining industry, a Geotechnical Engineer also must have additional

knowledge in : geology, hydrogeology, basic mine planning, surveying &
risk management.
Role of Geotechnical Engineer in
Mining
 The main purpose of Geotechnical
function in mining industry :
1. To provide ground engineering support by minimize and/or manage all geotechnical
hazard (mostly slope failure) to achieve company target of production, safety and
environmental.
2. Identify opportunities to improve geotechnical aspect of mine design.
3. To timely advise the mine management on the need to change the mine design
and/or mine plan to address the geotechnical risks.
Slope Design Process
1. Field Data Investigation :

a. Geotechnical core drilling: core description (lithology, structure

bedding/joint, RQD etc & core sampling for laboratory tests

b. Soil & Waste Dump Field Investigation to predict actual

soil/waste dump strength profile. Common field test : SPT
(Standard Penetration Test), DCPT (Dutch Cone Penetration
Test), field CBR (road) & Sandcone for compaction test
2. Geology Structural Mapping: describe and measure strike-dip,
dip direction of all exposed geological structure (fold, joints &fault) to
predict potential failure type.
3. Geotechnical Laboratory Testing : all core, bulk & disturbed
samples need to be tested to get physical & mechanical properties value

a. Physical properties testing : density, grain size analysis,

specific gravity, atterberg limit, slaking grade etc.

b. Mechanical properties testing : Uniaxial Compressive Strength

(UCS), PLI, Triaxial & Direct Shear
4. Rock Mass Strength Characterization : All field investigation data &
laboratory tests above is used to generate rock mass strength profile/failure
criteria. Rock mass strength consist : principal stress, tensile stress

There are many failure criteria formulations method based on field data and
laboratory tests. Two methods which commonly used in open pit mine :

a. Mohr - Coulomb Criteria (loose material : waste dump & soil)

b. Generalized Hoek & Brown Criteria . (natural rock material)

5. Hydrogeology
 Slope Stability Analysis

Three method for slope stability assessment are usually used :

1. Kinematic Analysis : using stereography projection from tructural

geological mapping data
2. Limit Equibrilium Analysis

LE Analysis is suitable for homogenous pit wall, soil & waste

dump.
LE method could not calculate deformation

3. Numerical Analysis : more advanced than LE method by adopting

finite element or discrete element method

Numerical Analysis is more suitable for pit wall with

fault/jointed condition. This method can simulate deformation.
Slope Stability Analysis
Slope Stability Analysis – Waste Dump
Slope Stability Analysis – Numerical Modelling

20 hari

5 hari
Controlling blast damage
Options for wall stability require a limit blast system typically include one or more;
• Pre-splits (creates a continuous crack that defines wall position, channels
gases away from in situ rock mass)
• Dedicated trim blasts (small blast designed to trim away material from the back
of the last production row to a pre-split line or the final wall), OR
• Buffer row in the main blast
Depressurisation

Ground Water Hole (GWH)

- flowing well
Geotechnical Monitoring

Basically geotechnical monitoring activity is divided with two method :

1. Visual Inspection : identify any hazard condition at mining area which

have potential to reduce stability of pit wall or disposal area such as :
water pond at bench slope, crack line, settlement, bulging, seepage
2. Slope Movement Monitoring System: concept of slope monitoring
system implementation is early warning system to avoid slope failure
risk to people and equipment. Any advanced of system will not use full
if we are not consistent to implement early warning awareness.

In practical, mine combine both method to ensure efficient and optimum

geotechnical inspection activity
INTRODUCTION TO MONITORING TOOLS

• Deformation measurement tools:

• Point/Line – prisms, extensometers, GPS
• Surface Area – laser scanners, photogrammetry, Radar, Satelite

 Safety-critical monitoring – active alarming, real-time analysis

 Background monitoring – long-term trending, post-analysis

Laser scanners, Photogrammetry,

Radar for Critical
Areas InSAR, Ground-based SAR, Broad
monitoring
Area Radar

Points Extensometers Prisms, GPS, Extensometers

Critical Background
Manual Monitoring – Simple Crack Meter

Crack meter
 Total Station Monitoring
RTS working principal:
 RTS needs stable pillar and back sight points as references
 RTS needs prisms as target
 Deformation is derived from the different of distance, and (X,Y, Z)
coordinate
BS Point
Fix (X,Y,Z)

PRS 3 (X,Y,Z)

PRS 2 (X,Y,Z)

PRS 1 (X,Y,Z)

RTS Sensor
Fix (X,Y,Z) BS Point
Fix (X,Y,Z)
Radar Monitoring

Slip Area

2 Sept 16.30am

Displacement (mm)
1 Sept 07.00am

31 Aug 07.00am

30 Aug 07.00am
Radar vs Prism Comparison

Radar good at detecting small slips, rock falls often missed by other
monitoring methods.
Example shows how prism arrays can miss small failures that may occur
between prism locations.

Small slip
Small slip
Prism location
 Satellite Monitoring

https://3vgeomatics.com/portfolio-items/open-pit-copper-mine
 Inclinometer – Subsurface Monitoring

Inclinometer
Hazard Map
TARP Example
Nominated TARP Risk Level

Role Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Static Existing Failure Progressive movement
Geotech/Production
of identified potential risk
Analysis: Slope Existence of minor long area.
Stability Analysis term cracks.
Opening of existing long
Set TARP Level AND/OR term and development of
new tensional cracks.
Wall monitoring is
showing <xxmm/day or AND/OR
0.xmm/hr convergence.
Wall monitoring showing
AND/OR >xxmm/day and <
xxmm/day or xxmm/hour
Deceleration path in wall convergence.
monitoring over two
weeks (at least 3 data AND/OR
sets required).
Consistent acceleration
path in monitoring area
showing over 1 week (at
least 3 data set
required).
Rapidly increasing Regional Rock Mass
movement of identified Failure.
production risk area.
AND/OR
AND/OR
Imminent failure of rock
Isolated movement of mass indicated by Rapid
wall material. opening of cracks, floor
heave, constant
AND/OR movement of material.
Wall monitoring showing AND/OR
> xxmm/hour and <
xxmm/ hour increase in Wall monitoring showing
rate over nn hour period. > xxmm/hour increase in
rate over a nn-hour
Rapid acceleration path period.
in wall monitoring
showing over 1 week (at
least 3 data set required
Geotechnical INVESTIGATION, DRILLING,
Engineer GEOTECHNICAL MAPPING, LIMIT
EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS, FINITE
ELEMENT ANALYSIS, KINEMATIC
ANALYSIS, HYDROGEOLOGY ANALYSIS,
INSPECTION, VISUAL MONITORING,
RISK ASSESSMENT, BLASTING
CONTROL, REPORTING, RTS, PRISM,
RADAR, EXTENSOMETER,
MEETING,
What do I do with my mining
degree after graduation?
OPEN PIT GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER

Australia -
Location: Job Code: 1231-D16
Brisbane
DESCRIPTION

KCB is seeking an Open Pit Geotechnical Engineer to join our Australasian

Group in our Brisbane office.
In this role, you will have the opportunity to work on large scale open pit projects
in Australia and internationally and be involved in prefeasibility, operations and
mine closure studies. You will also have the opportunity to utilise your
geotechnical engineering background and assist with the investigation, design,
construction and closure of mine waste management facilities, such as tailings
storage facilities and waste rock dumps, and related mine infrastructure.
This is a salary-based position, aimed at professionals with a drive to develop a
career as part of an established engineering team. Typical services you will
provide include:
 Planning, coordination, supervision, interpretation and reporting of site
investigation programs including geotechnical drilling, mapping, sampling
and testing.
 Collate and review geotechnical slope monitoring data, which include
prism, piezometer and extensometer readings.
 Structural mapping and analysis of photogrammetry mapping data.
 Geotechnical drill core logging and statistical analysis of laboratory test
results.
 Collate drill hole and laboratory testing data into databases for validation
and geotechnical model development.
 Develop open pit structural and geotechnical domain models from drill
hole and mapping data using software packages such as MineSite or
similar.
 Conduct kinematic and limit equilibrium pit slope stability analyses using
software packages such as Rocscience (Dips, Slide, etc.).
 Preparation of Pit Slope Design reports, including documenting of data
analyses, geotechnical model development and slope stability analyses.
The successful candidate will have the following qualifications and experience:
 Tertiary Qualifications in Geotechnical Engineering.
 Minimum 2 years Australasian experience in Open Pit Geotechnical
Engineering.
 Working knowledge of Rocscience software (Slide, Dips, Roclab, etc.) and
mining software such as MineSite.
 Experience in the geotechnical analysis and design of mine waste
management facilities such as tailings dams and waste rock dumps will be
viewed favourably.
The challenges facing the mining sector in
the future due to:
• Mines becoming deeper

• The nature of the jobs in the mining industry is changing too because of: ongoing

automation and robotics

• Mines moving off-shore (subsea mining) or even off-earth (asteroid mining)

• Grades generally becoming lower

• The need for improved community interaction and relations

• Increasing environmental restrictions.

• Increased real-time monitoring (of temperature, gases, movement, etc) to detect

potential problems sooner, providing large amounts of data that must be managed

• The need for more meaningful open discussions and collaborations with local

communities.

• Mine sites becoming more remote and/or located in developing countries

Future mining engineering skills

https://www.ausimmbulletin.com/opinion/future-mining-issues-and-mining-education/
Personal Requirements for a Mining
Engineer
• Soft Skill
1. Communication and interpersonal skill
2. Team player
3. Able to work under pressure
4. Highly analytical
5. Commitment
6. Fast learner
7. Hard worker
8. Safety focus
9. Adapt to new technologies

• Hard Skill

1. Strong basic geological and mining engineering

2. Knowledge in rock and soil mechanics
3. Geotechnical software skill (Slope W, Phase 2, slide, etc.)
4. Mining software skill (Surpac, Minescape, Auto cad, Arg Gis, etc.)
5. English, written and spoken
6. Geotechnical Mapping
7. Hydrogeology
8. Structural Geology
9. Familiar with open pit and underground operation
Engineers today need to weave the
knowledge of new technologies into their
skill set if they want to stay connected to
the future of work.
The Global Engineering Capability
Review
Technical and leadership skills as each
engineer is expected to manage data,
information and risks to make timely
decisions with uncertain and incomplete
information.

Both technical and leadership skills are

important for your future engineering
career as we head into Industry 4.0.
References
Thank You