29th International Conference on Ground Control in Mining, Morgantown, West Virginia, July 27–29, 2010
Authors: D. Conover and T. Ross (AAI) and D. Bigby (Golder Associates (UK) Ltd)
Extensive arrays of telltale roof monitoring instruments were recently installed in a Mexican copper mine and a large underground mine storage facility in the eastern U.S. The data were used to evaluate roof stability during development and retreat mining and after installation of supplemental supports. Both manual-reading and automated systems were employed and consisted of up to 64 instruments. This paper will discuss the practical issues involved with installation and monitoring, including reliability and maintenance. Examples will be given for telltale response in relation to known events affecting roof stability, including nearby pillar extraction roof caving, installation of supplemental cable bolts, and separation of the immediate roof layer. The strategy for processing the large quantity of data, presenting the data for review, monitoring the system remotely, and identifying and reporting critical events will be described.
Downloadable PDF: Recent Experience Using Telltale Roof Monitoring Systems
