Department of Geology and Mining, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa:

Sengani F., Acting Head of Department Geology and Mining, and Lecturer, PhD (Rock Mechanics) Сandidate, Professional Rock Mechanical Scientist, fhatuwani.sengani@ul.ac.za

Preconditioning techniques have been applied in rockburst prone mines around the world to redistribute the stress peak further into the solid region ahead of the mining face by eradicating the strain energy in the asperities of the mining-induced fractures. This paper reviewed the application of preconditioning practice, specifically in South African hard rock mines and outline gap knowledge revolving around this study. The study has shown that there are two types of preconditioning techniques (face perpendicular and parallel). Only face perpendicular preconditioning practice has been documented to have been successfully implemented in both conventional and fully mechanized gold mines. In this paper, it is maintained that although this technique has been reported to have been successfully implemented in many cases, there are still unanswered questions concerning this technique, therefore it is argued that this practice cannot be made an international practice before this gap knowledge are well addressed.

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