Violent failure of a remnant in a deep South African gold mine

Abstract

The violent failure of a peninsular remnant at a depth of 2300 m below surface occurred in a mine in the Carletonville Goldfield of South Africa, severely damaging a stope mining the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR). At the rockburst site the VCR is 1–2 m thick with a lava hangingwall and quartzite/conglomerate footwall. The remnant had been formed as the result of a fault and `roll' encountered during mining. Observations at the rockburst site led us to conclude that the seismic event, with local magnitude of 2.1, resulted from failure of the remnant with attendant movement into the workings. The event could not be explained by a single shear slip. Two different damage mechanisms were identified. Firstly, the face and footwall on the east side of the remnant were violently ejected into the void between the original face and first line of timber packs following failure and dilation of the remnant and its foundation. Secondly, the hangingwall on the south side of the remnant fragmented and collapsed when subjected to intense seismic shaking. This response was due to the presence of a bedding-parallel fault and calcite-coated joints in the vicinity of a `roll'. The stope support system failed to contain the seismically fragmented rock.