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Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331

Symposium of the International Society for Rock Mechanics

Investigation of Geomechanical Features of the Rock Mass

in Mining of Two Contiguous Deposits under Tectonic Stresses
A.A. Kozyrev, I.E. Semenova, A.V. Zemtsovskiy*
Mining Institute of Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Science, 24th Fersman str., Apatity, Murmank region, 184209, Russia

Abstract

The paper presents the results of research about the stress-strain state in the eastern part of the Khibiny massif (the Kola
Peninsula, North-Western Russia) where the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey contiguous deposits are being mined by open
technologies. There are plans to develop the Oleniy Ruchey deposit by underground methods in the near future. The underground
mining operations will be restricted by protecting pillars because of nearby open-pits. High horizontal stresses and brittle rock
have a significant influence on mining operations and indicate rockburst hazardous conditions.
For estimating mutual influence of open-pit and underground mining in progress, the authors have designed a numerical
geomechanical model which includes basic geological and mining-engineering factors. Based on the results of numerical
modeling it has been found that the mutual influence occurs when underground mining reaches the rock mass under the open-pit.
This conclusion suggests that the protecting pillars’ boundaries can be revised for the purpose of the further decrease. This will
increase volume of reserves mined and efficiency of underground mining.
© 2017
© 2017The TheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Ltd. This
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EUROCK 2017.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EUROCK 2017
Keywords: stress-strain state; numerical modelling; open-pit and underground mining; protecting pillar

1. Introduction

The Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey apatite-nepheline ore deposits are located in the southern-eastern part of
the Khibiny massif [1, 2] North-Western Russia, see Fig. 1a. The deposits are mined by JSC Apatit and
North-Western Phosphorous Company (NWPC), respectively. The region given is characterized by a variable

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +7-815-557-9478; fax: +7-815-557-4625.

E-mail address: zemtsovskiy@yandex.ru

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EUROCK 2017
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.05.188
 A.A. Kozyrev et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331 325

mountainous relief. The elevations points above mean sea level (MSL) vary within +200 and +700 m, respectively.
Relative heights reach 500 meters. Now the Niorkpahk deposit is being mined by open-pit techniques. There are
plans to extract the reserves by underground technologies in the near future.

Fig. 1. (a) Khibiny massif location; (b) Oleniy Ruchey and Niorkpahk open-pits.

The Oleniy Ruchey deposit [3] is also being mined by open-pit technologies; in the near future an underground
mine will have been constructed. Due to close distance between the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey deposits
the underground mining operations will be restricted by the protecting pillars from both the Niorkpahk and Oleniy
Ruchey open-pits sides, see Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Location scheme of ore bodies, Oleniy Ruchey and Niorkpahk open-pit.

The efficient combination of open-pit and underground mining must be provided by the open-pit slope stability,
from the one side, and underground mining safety, from the other side. To reduce ore loss is possible by decreasing
the dimensions of the protecting pillars between open-pits and underground mines. The aim of the research was to
study the possible reduction of the pillars dimensions. This will allow increasing economic efficiency of
underground mining.
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2. Geological and geomechanical characteristics of deposits

The Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey deposits are a part of the southern-eastern segment of the ijolite-urtite arc at
the Khibiny alkaline intrusive massif.
The Niorkpahk apatite-nepheline ore and massive urtite and gneissic iolite form an ore zone. The zone consists of
3 groups of ore bodies separated by feldspathic massive urtite (uvite) and gneissic iolite. Country rocks (nephelinic
syenite), iolite-urtite and apatite-nepheline ore are intersected by dykes.
The Oleniy Ruchey deposit has a complex geological structure composed of alternated tabular apatite-nepheline
ore, urtite, iolite, meltegite, massive urtite, uvite and nepheline syenite ore bodies. There are two groups of ore
bodies – upper and lower. The thickness of the upper group is 200 m and of the lower group 50–330 m. The groups
are separated by the barren rock mass with thickness of 200–300 m.
The country rock and ore bodies are extremely strong and brittle. Basic physical and mechanical rock properties
are shown in Table1.

Table 1. Physical, mechanical and strength rock properties.

Parameter Country rock Apatite-nepheline ore
Compressive strength, ıc, MPa
variation limits 80–340 60–120
average value 210 95
Tensile strength, ıt, MPa
variation limits 8–37 5-8
average value 19 5
Brittle coefficient, ıc / ıt 11 19
Longitudinal wave velocity, 4.6 4.0
average value, km/s
Young's modulus, ȿ·104, MPa
variation limits 1.3–9.0 1.5–6.0
average value 5.5 3.8

Recently the specialists of the Mining institute KSC RAS have performed stress measurements by a doorstopper
method in the Niorkpahk open-pit and the Oleniy Ruchey underground mine. The stress measurement data for
the Niorkpahk open-pit [4] are shown in Table 2.
The stress measurements were performed directly in the Niorkpahk open-pit bench and present the level of
induced stress field. At the same time if we assume that the gravity stress field only affects the rock mass, then
the level of absolute magnitudes of the induced stress field must be ten times lower than in-situ measured
magnitudes regardless of their possible concentration or unloading zones near the open-pit. In this case the measured
absolute magnitudes of the induced stress field unambiguously indicate that the gravitational-tectonic type of
the stress field affects the intact rock mass out of the pit influence zone.

Table 2. Stress measurements, the Niorkpahk open-pit.

Elevation point Depth below Major Minor Angle between maximum principal
above MSL, m, year surface, m principal principal stress vector and the horizon, degree
stress, MPa stress, MPa

+500, 2002. 100 18 12 -16

+470, 2003 130 24 10 -18
+440, 2003 160 33 20 56
+470, 2005. 130 22 12 106
 A.A. Kozyrev et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331 327

The stress measurements data for the Oleniy Ruchey underground mine on the level +240 are shown in Table 3.
The data also indicate that the stress state in the rock mass demonstrates the stress field of a gravity-tectonic type. At
that, the maximum principal stress vector is sub-horizontal and its absolute value achieves 36 MPa.

Table 3. Stress measurements, the Oleniy Ruchey underground mine.

Elevation point Depth below Major Minor Angle between
above MSL, m, year surface, m principal principal maximum principal
stress, MPa stress, MPa stress vector and
horizon, degree

+240, 2012 400 36 9 11

+240, 2013 350 30 8 30

3. Design of a numerical model

Nowadays with the growth of computer facilities, the numerical methods applied to research geomechanical
processes have become more popular because of the versatility and relative simplicity of computations [6, 7, 8].
According to the mining, geological and geomechanical data analysis results, the authors have designed a 3D
numerical model to assess the stress-strain state in the rock mass. The modelling was conducted in elastic conditions
by finite element methods on the basis of Sigma GT software developed in the Mining institute KSC RAS [9].
Definition of the model’s boundaries and dimensions was based on the Saint-Venant’s principle according to which
the influence of a feature is distributed on a distance less than 3 sizes of this feature.
In accordance with this principle the model’s boundaries must be removed from the mining area on the distance
of 3 radiuses of this region. As a result the dimensions of the modeling volume are 9,360 x 6,000 x 2,500 m taking
into account the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey open-pits and an adjoining surface relief (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. 3D finite element model of the Oleniy Ruchey and Niorkphk deposits with ore bodies.

The model also considers large structural discontinuities, differences in elastic and density rock properties,
geometry of open-pits and an underground mining stope planed.
The boundary conditions for the model were set based on the field data described earlier (see Table 2 and 3).
The stresses T1 = T were applied on the northern-eastern model boundary, where T increases from 2 MPa on
the surface level to 40 MPa on the 0 m level and to 65 MPa on the model’s bottom level. The stresses T2 = T·k were
applied on the southern-western boundary, where k = 0.65. All other boundaries were fixed except the surface relief.

4. The results of numerical modelling

The authors have performed a series of calculations under different variants and at different mining stages by
using the model designed.
The distance between the Oleniy Ruchey and Niorkpahk open-pits is correlated with their sizes, so primarily their
interaction was estimated. For this purpose the following variants were calculated:
328 A.A. Kozyrev et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331

x The Niorkpahk open-pit’s state in 2007, prior to the Oleniy Ruchey mining
x The actual state of the open-pits
x The final pit boundary with the Oleniy Ruchey underground mining
Let’s consider in more detail the results of the stress distribution in vicinity of the open-pits. The distribution of
the maximum principal stress is shown on Fig. 4 as isolines on +200 m level with different states of open-pits.

Fig. 4. Maximum principal stress distribution (MPa) on +200 m level (a) initial state; (b) the final boundaries of the Niorkpahk and
Oleniy Ruchey open-pit.

As is seen, the maximum principal stress ımax, in general, has a direction along a horizontal line of the coordinate
system both in the country rock and ore bodies. In all calculated variants ımax values in ore bodies are less than in
country rock. The difference is about 5–10 MPa. With mining development and deepening of open-pits, ımax values
increase.
When considering the rock mass between the open-pits we can see a zone with low ımax values of 35 MPa
(Fig. 4b) which can be explained by the relief particularities. It should be noted that the zone’s size and the stress
gradient increase with mining development. The stress concentration zones are located under the open-pits. With
increase of the open-pit depth the stress values reach 70 MPa for the Niorkpahk open-pit and 50 MPa for the Oleniy
Ruchey open-pit.
The vertical sections across the open-pits for the initial state (a) and the final open-pits boundaries (b) are shown
in Fig. 5 with isolines of ımax.

Fig. 5. Maximum principal stress distribution (MPa) in the vertical sections (a) initial state; (b) the final boundaries of the Niorkpahk and
Oleniy ruchey open-pit.
 A.A. Kozyrev et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331 329

The maximum principal stress distribution in a vertical section confirms existing of a low stress zone in the ore
bodies; stress concentration zones under the open-pits, and stress decreasing in the zone between the open-pits
during mining expansion.

5. Assessment of mining influence on the rock mass state

To estimate the influence of mining operations on the rock mass conditions the authors have determined
a relative change in the maximum component of the principal stresses.

0 m
| V max  V max |
k 0
˜ 100 %
V max (1)

where ımax0 – maximum principal stress value in the initial state, ımaxm – maximum principal stress in rock mass
state during mining. Suppose that more than the 5% change of the stress says about significant mining influence on
the stress state in the rock mass.
Comparison of two states of the rock mass (Fig. 6) shows that the zones of significant mining influence occur:
x In the vicinity of the open pits’ bottom and slope
x In a mountain part between the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey open-pits

Fig. 6. Relative change in maximum principal stress in vertical section (percent).

At that the influence of the open mining between the open-pits expands from surface to +250 m level. The lower
group of the ore bodies at the Oleniy Ruchey deposit is out of the open-pit mining influence zone. The lower group
of the ore bodies at the Niorkpahk deposit is partially located in the open-pit mining influence zone, especially its
western part.
The modelling of sequential underground mining at the Oleniy Ruchey deposit has showed that in case of mining
to section 9 (Fig. 7a, P9) there is no underground mining influence on the rock mass under the Niorkpahk open-pit.
The further development of the stope forms an interaction zone. From Fig. 7 it is seen that 5% influence zones are
located near the open-pit and underground mine (Fig. 7a). The distance between these zones is equal to 200 m. In
the second case (Fig. 7b) the influence zones are combined into one large zone.
330 A.A. Kozyrev et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331

Fig. 7. Relative change in maximum principal stress in vertical section (percent) with underground mining expansion to (a) section 9;
(b) section 8.

Now let’s consider the relative change of stresses in a case of the stope development under the Oleniy Ruchey
open-pit. Fig. 8 shows the relative change in the maximum principal stress in a vertical section along the ore bodies
strike. This change occurs in different underground mining stages for the stope development to sections 24 and 25.

Fig. 8. Relative change in maximum principal stress in vertical section (percent) with underground mining expansion to (a) section 24;
(b) section 25.

As is seen from the figure, the 5% influence zones are located near the stope and open-pit. With development of
the underground mining, the 5% influence zone increases. When the stope has reached section 25 (Fig. 8b),
the interaction zone occurs between the underground mine and open-pit. Therefore, mining operations essentially
change the stress state in the rock mass when the stope reaches the rock mass under the Oleniy Ruchey open-pit.

6. Discussion

Based on the stress measurement results received by using the doorstopper method and numerical modeling of
the stress-strain state in the rock mass the authors have established that vectors of the maximum component of
 A.A. Kozyrev et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 324 – 331 331

principal stresses are oriented sub-horizontally and close to ore bodies strike. This fact indicates that the stress field
in the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey deposits can be identified as gravity-tectonic one.
As a result of open-pit mining operations, the stress-strain state of the rock mass varies at three areas: 1) under
the bottom of the Niorkpahk open-pit, 2) under the bottom of the Oleniy Ruchey open-pit, and 3) in the rock mass
between the open-pits; at that, the changes mentioned can be observed to the depth of 300–400 m up to mark
+200 m.
The research of underground mining influence on the stress-strain state of the rock mass has established slight
change of the stress-strain state if the underground mining operations are in sections 9–24 (the Niorkpahk and
Oleniy Ruchey deposits). Consequently, the underground mining doesn’t impact on open-pit mining and allows
taking independent solutions relatively the order of mining operations.
According to the Design regulations for the Oleniy Ruchey underground mine developed earlier by the Mining
Institute KSC RAS, the underground stoping operations were restricted by sections 10–17 for the purpose to keep
the pillars under the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey open-pits. The studies performed have shown the possibility of
considerable reduction of protecting pillars sizes without significant influence on the state of the open-pit rock mass.

Conclusions

1. The initial stress field in the rock mass of the Niorkpahk and Oleniy Ruchey deposits is of gravitational-
tectonic type.
2. During ore reserves extraction by open-pit technologies the stress-strain state of the rock mass changes under
the open-pits and in the inter-pit zone to the depth up to 400 m.
3. Based on the analysis results of the open-pit and underground mining interaction it has been found that
boundaries of the protecting pillars under the open-pits can be reduced and the Oleniy Ruchey ore bodies can be
mined by underground methods in sections 9–24. This will provide the additional economic effect.

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