SME Annual Meeting

Feb. 28-Mar. 03, 2010, Phoenix, AZ

Preprint 10-024

CONCRETE PILLAR METHOD TO ELIMINATE RISKS WORKING ABOVE OR BELOW WASTE ROCK BACKFILLS

S. Chen, GBG Hollister Mine, Winnemucca, NV

R. Mckinnon, GBG Hollister Mine, Winnemucca, NV
S. Konieczki, GBG Hollister Mine, Winnemucca, NV
D. Taylor, GBG Hollister Mine, Winnemucca, NV

ABSTRACT T 2. Concrete pillar was reinforced by steel rebar. Each reinforcement

set and the concrete around it were considered a beam unit.
When solid pillar is not left to separate different mining levels in
underground mine with high dip angle deposit, waste rock in the
backfilled stope could be a safety hazard to future mining activities on
levels above or below the backfill.
Different backfill methods can be used to eliminate this hazard

vein
according to the deposit shape and mining method. Building concrete
pillar in ore drift of each mining level is one of them. Concrete pillar had
been constructed in underground mines based on operational
experience. Little design literature and pillar performance data can be
found. At Great Basin Gold Hollister Mine, over two thousand feet of upper level drift
concrete pillar had been constructed. The project started with
engineering design which combined civil engineering concrete design
future mining
and the specialties of underground construction. Time Domain
Reflectometry technique was installed to monitor the pillar movement
and concrete cylinder samples were collected and tested for quality potential voids in backfill
control.
Engineering design, underground construction, quality control and
concrete pillar monitoring, as well as precious concrete mixing data
from years of experience are fully covered in this paper to give a
general frame of concrete pillar method. lower level drift
INTRODUCTION
Working directly above waste rock backfill in overhand stoping
can be as dangerous as below waste in underhand stoping in steep
deposit underground mine because waste rock can not reach some
voids in lower levels created by previous mining activities (Figure 1.). Figure 1. Void possibilities in backfilled overhand stopes.
Sink holes in backfilled stopes occur due to the introduction of water Concrete pillar strength design was based on BS8110 beam
and can be dangerous to people and equipment above. reinforced in tension method in Reinforced Concrete Designer’s
Cement rock fill, concrete pillar method or solid protection pillar Handbook authored by C.E. Reynolds and J.C. Steedman (1988).
can be used to eliminate this identified safety hazard for future Other assumptions were the basics outlined in this book:
activities either above or below current mining level. Most of the 1. Stress distribution pattern in concrete is parabolic-rectangular.
concrete pillar constructions were based on operational experience. 2. The resistance of the concrete in tension is ignored.
Few engineering design literature had been found. A concrete pillar 3. The distribution of strain across any section is linear.
procedure focused on underhand stoping from design to monitoring is 4. The relationship between stress and strain in reinforcement is
discussed here based on Hollister experience. linear and polynomial in concrete (Reynolds and Steedman,
ENGINEERING DESIGN 1988).

With current cut and fill mining method at Hollister Mine, the main The following equations were used in determining the pillar
level ore drift is about 7 feet wide and 9 feet high, supported with mesh thickness and the amount of reinforcement.
wire and split set bolts. Some stopes above the drift were backfilled
with waste rock or very low strength cellular concrete. Stopes were 3-4 Mu
feet wide and 120 feet high. Concrete pillar in level drift needs to be d min = (1)
x x
strong enough to hold self weight and part of the backfill weight above
(Figure 2a).
bk1 (1 − k2 )
d d
Pillar Strength Design
Concrete pillar was conceptually divided into a series of identical 1.15k1 x
beams along the vein strike for calculation purpose (Figure 2b). The ρ= ( ) (2)
reasons were: fy d
1. Proposed concrete joins or fracture across the drift in the vertical
direction will not affect the pillar strength. If d provided > d min
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 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 28-Mar. 03, 2010, Phoenix, AZ

because only tension reinforcement was used. Beam should be

0.575k1 k M
ρ = [1 − 1 − 4 2 u2 ] (3)
considered fixed ends if both tension and compression reinforcement
were used. Two different length (equals the width of the ore drift) of
f y k2 k1 bd beams were used in this design. They were 7feet and 10feet. The
uniform load on the beam can be very different depends on the backfill
material property and the amount of moisture in it. It is always a good
practice to keep the amount of water in the backfill as low as possible.
The load on pillar in psi in this case equals the sill width in feet times 3
plus the concrete thickness in feet. The maximum bending moment in
uniform loaded freely supported beam is:

1 1
M x max = Fl = mbl 2 (4)
8 8
Maximum bending moment in uniform loaded fully fixed beam is:

1 1
backfilled M x max = Fl = mbl 2 (5)
24 24
Safety Factor
As long as d min and ρ and ρ min are satisfied, the safety
factor from Reynolds and Steedman’s equation will not be less than
1.7. ρ min is the minimum steel ratio in the beam and can be found in
Reynolds and Steedman’s design book. ρ was calculated by using
pillar in drift Equations (1) to (3). Table 1 listed the key parameters used in the
design of Hollister project.
reinforcement
Table 1. Hollister Design Parameters.
Sill Width, feet 7 10
Load, psi 23 32
gravel
M max, PI, simply supported 486864 1382400

M max, PI, fixed ends 162288 460800

vein
future minig
M max, PI, used in design 324576 921600

d min , inch 4.5 7.6

d provided , inch 24 24

a. cross section view, underhand ρ min 0.0013 0.0013

ρ provided 0.0014 0.0014

Safety Factor >1.7 >1.7

M max , used in design M u , was the average value of simply

supported maximum momentum and fixed ends maximum momentum.
vein strike

Reinforce strength, fy , was 77720 psi. According to Reynolds and

beam
units Steedman, k1 , k 2 were 11.95 and 0.4513. f cu was 4350psi. x,
b and d were 1, 2 and 2 feet respectively. Reynolds and Steedman’s
design is aimed at civil engineering design. Due to lack of space,
access and extra groundwater in underground construction, a
conservative beam thickness was used.
UNDERGROUND CONSTRUCTION
rib rib The following construction steps were followed at Hollister Mine
(Figure 3):
b. plan view
a. Prepare drift, pump out excessive water, dump 2 feet of gravel as
Figure 2. Concrete Pillar in Ore Drift. blasting cushion for lower level mining.
b. Install reinforcement based on reinforcement ratio.
Load on Concrete Pillar c. Build bulkhead for concrete pouring.
Top half of the beam was considered freely supported and bottom d. Hang concrete pipe in the drift.
half of the beam was considered fixed ends in stress calculation e. Install monitoring cable.

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 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 28-Mar. 03, 2010, Phoenix, AZ

f. Pump concrete from the cross cut, vibrate concrete. QUALITY CONTROL
g. Collect concrete samples at the same time as concrete is being
pumped. Concrete cylinder samples were collected for quality control
h. Prepare for the next round concrete pour. (Figure 3h). Two samples from each mixing truck were recommended
at the initial stage of the project. One sample was tested for 14 days
strength and the other one for 56 days of strength. Sample test results
can help on design and concrete mixing optimization. After gaining
enough experience, lower number of samples can be collected.
MONITORING
Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) analyzes the conductor by
sending a pulsed signal into it and then examining the reflected pulse.
By examining the polarity, amplitude, frequencies or other electrical
signatures, anomaly location and its size can be precisely determined.
Before being installed into concrete pillar, cable must be crimped down
a. gravel b. reinforcement to 6/8 of an inch from 7/8 of an inch at a determined interval along the
cable according to the drift length. Figure 4 is one section of the pre-
crimped monitoring cable. These crimps can be captured by the read
out unit (Figure 5). The peak size of the crimps will be compared to the
size of peaks caused by anomaly. Therefore the amount of movement
can be decided. Two cables were installed in a pillar with both ends
exposed out of the pillar. Under this situation, if one end of a cable is
broken, data can still be colleted from the other end. By moving the
second cursor to the center of the peak of the anomaly on the read out
screen, the location of the pillar movement will be displayed on this
unit.
c. bulkhead d. pumping pipe

e. monitoring f. concrete truck

Figure 4. Monitoring Cable and 1/8 inch of Crimp.

g. pumping h. sampling

i. pillar
Figure 3. Concrete Pillar Procedure.
Skills were needed in each of the steps mentioned above. Using
experienced construction crew and engineer were required.
Bonding between rocks and concrete pillar is important and can
be very different according to rock type of the ribs. In construction, 5-8
seconds/cubic yard vibration was required to ensure the concrete
settle quality and good contact between concrete and ribs (Heeter,
2008). Figure 5. Read Out Unit, Data Collection

3 Copyright © 2010 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 28-Mar. 03, 2010, Phoenix, AZ

DISCUSSIONS
Bending moment is the key design factor. Safety factor of shear
strength is much higher than that of the bending moment. This
underground concrete design was adopted from the civil engineering
design. When determining the concrete thickness, underground
construction factors like the uneven sill floor and the amount of
moisture in it must be considered. Bonding between different kind of
rocks and the concrete can be very different.
Load on concrete pillar can be affected by the amount of moisture
in the backfill material. Try to restrain the amount of water into the
backfill is always a good practice.
Pillar performance data should be collected regularly by
designated personnel. More frequent data collection is necessary
when accelerating pillar movement tendency is noticed and
correspondence activities should be adopted to guarantee safe
production.
Concrete pillar can be replaced when leaving a solid rock pillar is
economical. Minor change on concrete load can make this design
applicable to overhand stoping where requires less concrete
reinforcement.
Symbols
b Beam width
d Effective depth to tension reinforcement
f cu Characteristic cube strength of concrete

fy Characteristic strength of reinforcement

F Load force
k1 , k 2 Factors determining shape of parabolic rectangular
stress-block for limit-state design
m Uniform load
Mu Ultimate moment resistance
x Depth to neutral axis
z Lever arm
ρ Proportion of tension reinforcement

REFERENCE
1. C.E. Reynolds and J.C. Steedman, 1988, Reinforced Concrete
Designer’s Handbook.
2. D. Jordan, J. Oelofse and D.V.D. Heever, 2007, Technical Report
on the Feasibility Study for the Hollister Development Block Gold
Project.
3. D. White, 2007, Site Visit Report for Hollister Mine.
4. B. Heeter, 2008, Personal Conversation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors like to say thank you to Hollister Mine Management Mr.
Paul Huet and Mr. Don MacKinnon for their support on this project, and
Hollister Operations especially Mr. Bob Heeter for his valuable
experience in concrete mixing.

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