Polar Division, Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Company (Talnakh, Russia):

Marysyuk V. P., Chief Engineer, Geodynamic Safety Center, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, Phone: +7 (3919) 49-15-34
Korneichuk V. I., Deputy Chief Engineer, Geodynamic Safety Center
Fender S. N., Assistant Head of Technical Department, Oktyabrsky Mine

VNIMI Inter-Industry Scientific Center (Saint-Petersburg, Russia):
Andreev A. A., Head of Norilsk Division

Multi-Regional Technological Office, Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Norilsk, Russia):
Koretsky A. S., Government Controller

The method of preventing rock bursts and creating safe areas using destressing holes for the conditions of Talnakh deep mines at rockburst-hazardous copper–nickel ore deposits has been developed, tested and introduced in Oktyabrsky, Taimyrsky and Komsomolsky Mines. The destress hole drilling method allows generation of a local self-developing high yielding relief zone. This zone prevents from accumulation of elastic energy in the adjacent rock mass. An important feature of this method is that after completion of the first stage of failure, the method works as a loop system: if stresses increase, for instance, on approach of stope front, the process of failure in rock mass between the holes activates. Under high initial stresses, failure of the destress hole walls begins immediately during the hole drilling. The circular cross-section of the holes becomes ellipsoid and, accordingly, the rock mass block in-between the holes narrows. Simultaneously, the radius of the ellipse curvature decreases in the hole failure zone, which results in reduction of the high stress area in the failure zone. The article reports the results of research and pilot testing of the new destressing method in pillars and sections of mines at rockburst-hazardous deposits of the Polar Division of the Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Company. The resulting wide-range tool of the hole drilling techniques enables creation of safe zones by the destress hole drilling nearly in all minetechnical and mining-and-geological conditions. The new techniques have found wide application in rockburst-hazardous mining in the Talnakh area.

1. Kurlenya M. V., Seryakov V. M., Eremenko A. A. Tekhnogennye geomekhanicheskie polya napryazheniy (Anthropogenic geomechanical stress fields). Novosibirsk : Nauka, 2005, 264 p.
2. Ukazaniya po bezopasnomu vedeniyu gornykh rabot na Talnakhskom i Oktyabrskom mestorozhdeniyakh, sklonnykh i opasnykh k gornym udaram (Guidances on safe carrying out of mine operations at Talnakh and Oktyabrskoe deposits, inclined and prone to bounces). Norilsk, 2007, 107 p.