Institute of Integrated Mineral Development – IPKON, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia:

M. A. Iofis, Leading Researcher, Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences
E. V. Fedorov, Head of Department, Candidate of Engineering Sciences
E. N. Esina, Senior Researcher, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, esina555@list.ru
N. A. Miletenko, Senior Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

In the context of preservation of mineral wealth in the course of mining, the article addresses the geomechanical research trends involving engineering methods and computer-aided modeling. The scope of the discussion embraces some geomechanical research findings on hydraulic borehole mining that allows abating environmental impact of mining and ensures mine safety in complicated gas- and hydrological conditions. To study scenarios of geomechanical and hydrogeological behavior of superincumbent rock, the model of the natural-and-induced hydraulic fracturing is constructed. Using this model, it is shown that under certain conditions, large-scale cleavage of rocks is possible at the boundary of an aquifer in the overlying formations, with filling of the formed space with water and with fracturing oriented from the waterfilled space toward rock mass areas with low induced stresses. An approximate layout of fractures by the moment when they stop growing is calculated. On the whole, the implemented ecology-oriented geomechanical researches show the capacity to make a background for the substantiation and development of innovative resource-saving borehole geotechnologies to develop mineral resources under complicated geological conditions.

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