International Symposium on Application of Rock Characterization Techniques in Mine Design, SME-AIME Annual Meeting, New Orleans, March 1986
Authors: C. E. Brechtel and M. P. Hardy (AAI), T. W. Gulliver (Consulting Geologist), and H. A. Perry (Exxon Company)
Rock structural and mechanical properties data developed in geotechnical investigations at the Colony shale oil property are presented and compared to geotechnical data developed in rock mechanics studies at the Colony Pilot Mine. The comparison indicated that rock structure, rock quality, and mechanical properties were similar throughout Colony, and that design methodology developed from back analysis of conditions in the Mahogany (R-7) zone at the pilot mine could be applied with a high degree of confidence. Geotechnical data was developed from core drilling, fracture mapping, and remote imagery analysis. Rock quality data from core holes was compared cross hole, and correlated with data from the pilot mine. Fracture mapping identified dominant sets that were vertically pervasive, although discontinuous, through the stratigraphic section. Trends of lineaments identified in air photographs correlated with dominant fracture sets, indicating that fracture trends identified in localized exposures could be extrapolated over the entire property. These trends also correlated with regional tectonic grain in Landsat imagery. Rock mechanical properties exhibited grade dependence similar to that reported in other studies, and grade/mechanical properties correlations were similar from hole to hole in the Mahogany (R-7) zone.
