AN EXPERIMENTAL CRITERION TO DETERMINE PILLAR STRENGTH IN SALT MINES

8th International Scientific Conference - SGEM2008, www.sgem.org, SGEM2008 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN: 954-918181-2, June 16-20, 2008, Vol. 1, 27-34 pp

ABSTRACT

Most of the salt that is being consumed in Iran is produced through stope and pillar
mines, located in north of the central desert of Iran. The very large stopes have been
excavated for applying open cut loading and hauling machines, so that those stopes have
to be supported by large pillars. Therefore, the excavation ratio and stability
considerations should be studied as two special cases in these mines. To determine the
pillar’s strength, in this paper, four of the largest mines have been studied. An
experimental criterion has been presented based on field investigations and mechanical
characteristics of the rock, using back analysis. Finally, the presented criterion has been
compared to the existing criteria and results have been reported.

Keywords: salt mine, underground mining, stope and pillar, pillar strength