As part of the stope stability assessment, it was found that there would be a high risk of experiencing a failure mode in the hanging wall (HW) due to the critical flat joint set recorded during window mapping. Furthermore, there was a triangle pillar formed between the paste filled stope above and the stope to be mined below.
Optimal drilling and blast techniques were used resulting in no failure after blasting the stope. Techniques included drilling up and down hole, using low density explosive product, adequate blasting sequence and slower delay timing, all contributed to the success of the stope.
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