Improving the pit wall seepage resistance at the V. Grib diamond deposit

Abstract

Introduction. V. Grib deposit development includes complex dewatering operations, all water-bearing rocks overlying the mining floor are drained. The open pit is mainly flooded by the Padunsky aquifer system. At present, the open pit is being drained by surface dewatering wells together with mine drainage. In total about 7–8 thousand m3 /h of drainage water is pumped out. Setting of the problem. Uncovering a multilayer water-bearing strata characterized by different filtration characteristics of rocks contributes to the formation of pit walls in the Padunsky strata that have not been dewatered. The height of groundwater seepage on pit walls reaches 50 m due to the low conductivity of the Padunsky strata bottom. It is suggested that the Padunsky strata bottom should be dewatered using lateral drain holes built from the pit to the wall benches in areas with no dewatering wells. Methods of research. For pit wall stability improvement, the developed multilayer numerical model of geofiltration is applied to study the use of lateral drain holes built from the pit. The finite difference method in the GMS MODFLOW package was applied for modelling. Research results. It has been found that the operation of 12 lateral drain holes during 1 year reduces the height of groundwater seepage on pit walls by 15–20 m, contributes to the groundwater level decline of the Padunsky aquifer system by 5–10 m on the drainage contour of dewatering wells; water inflow to lateral drain holes will be 810–850 m3 /h. Conclusions. The feasibility of lateral drain holes for the Padunsky strata dewatering intensification in the adjacent rock mass has been established using the method of numerical modeling.