Preconditioning E48 Cave Extension

Adjacent to an Active Cave

S Webster1, L Snyman2 and J Samosir3

ABSTRACT
Northparkes was the first mine in Australia to use block cave mining method which relies on
gravity and natural rock stresses to fragment and recover the ore. It was also the first hard rock
mine to use hydraulic fracturing, in conjunction with CSIRO, to promote caving of E26 Lift 1. The
technique was later used on E26 Lift 2 wedge and E48 prior to undercutting.
Northparkes production is currently sourced from the E48 Lift 1 block cave mine and E26SLC.
The E48 block cave contains economic ore to the north and south of the current cave footprint.
To recover this ore the footprint has been extended on the north and south with two extraction
drives and one extraction drive, respectively. Modelling of cavability above the additional drives
indicated that the cave would not readily propagate to a sufficient height of draw to mobilise the
ore and tended to arch over into the existing cave. To address the modelling results and to reduce
the risk of the project, rock mass preconditioning was adopted.
This fracturing campaign was performed from surface drill holes adjacent the subsidence zone
angled to intersect the higher grade and higher elevation ore zones.
Optical televiewer surveys, run prior to fracturing, picked intervals and fault zones to be
avoided. Holes were resurveyed post-fracturing to detect newly created fractures and as a measure
of success of the program.
During fracturing operations water and gel fractures were run at varying depths and pumping
pressure was logged for each fracture. The mine seismic system monitored significant events and
dye in the fluids utilised for tracking water inflow locations during underground inspections.
Towards the end of the project, guar fibres from gel were detected within the mill circuit and
required treatment to resume optimum processing.

Introduction
The current E48 block cave mine was commissioned during
2010, with full production achieved in Q4 2010. A key risk
to the E48 Project was ensuring complete cave propagation
to the surface and a 15 holes hydrofracture program was
completed to reduce this risk. Actual cave propagation rates
significantly exceeded expectations with surface connection
achieved in December 2010.
Evaluation of the E48 resources using updated geological
information from the Step Change Project as well as updated
pricing assumptions, has identified an opportunity to
recover additional material to the north and south of the
current E48 cave. Potentially economic mineralisation also
extends incrementally to the west and east of the current
cave. However the east and west resource is not considered
economically recoverable as part of the Lift 1 cave due to the
positioning of the existing infrastructure. A small amount of
economic mineralisation also extends further to the south,
however extraction is compromised by the positioning of the
main E48 extraction level access, crib room and maintenance
workshop facilities.
Monitoring of the E48 cave volume also indicates that a
high portion of the E48 reserves (in the order of 92 per cent)
has been encompassed by the cave volume at an early stage,
thus reducing reserve recovery risk. Notwithstanding this,
it is estimated that up to 4.8 Mt of reserves remain outside
the current cave volume on the northern and southern
boundaries. To reduce the risk of reserves not caving and being
available for draw, a rock mass preconditioning program was
evaluated. Development of the northern extension began in
2013. Hydrofracturing started mid-2014 and was completed
prior to undercutting.
This paper outlines the decisions made during the project
that lead to a safe and on time hydrofracture program adjacent
to an active and developing block cave mine.
geometry of orebody
The E48 current cave interpretation tapers in on the southern
side leaving potentially uncaved reserves. The economic
regions of the orebody also extend further to the south and

1. MAusIMM(CP), Senior LOMEX Geotechnical Engineer, CMOC Northparkes Mine, Goonumbla NSW 2870. Email: sarah.webster@northparkes.com
2. MAusIMM, Senior Operations Geotechnical Engineer, CMOC Northparkes Mine, Goonumbla NSW 2870. Email: linda.snyman@northparkes.com
3. MAusIMM, Geotechnical Engineer, CMOC Northparkes Mine, Goonumbla NSW 2870. Email: jogi.samosir@northparkes.com

SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016 471
S Webster, L Snyman and J Samosir
north, beyond the original E48 footprint and drive extensions
were desirable for claiming these reserves (Figure 1).
Previous cave extensions at Northparkes indicate cave
propagation above 150 m tends to arch across to the old
cave rather than continuing vertical propagation. Flac3D
modelling of the extension also indicated little growth of
the cave shape with the addition of drives alone (Herbert,
Wines and Pierce, 2013). The extensions being one drive in
the south and two drives in the north with desired height of
draw of 500m and 300 m, risk against arching over and not
propagating vertically to the desired height.
Other mining scenarios evaluated included sublevel caving
up to the ore level; however, development amounts excluded
this option.
modelling
To evaluate the business case for the mine extension and
preconditioning program, growth in the cave shape needs
to be demonstrated and value of options determined. Ideally
cave shapes of the three scenarios (do nothing; do the
extension drives only; do the drives with preconditioning)
could be modelled. Such modelling is multidimensional
and related to the draw schedule of the cave below. For this
complexity, Flac3D modellers were approached to assist in
the analysis. Itasca Australia has a history of modelling with
Northparkes and were able to take on this project, building on
their previous E48 work.
Inputs into the Flac3D model were lithological units and
structural wireframes of faulting from development mapping.
Rock mass properties are domained on lithological units in
E48. Incremental cave boundaries throughout its growth,
wire framed from open monitoring holes, flyover surveys
and seismic monitoring, were incorporated into the model for
calibration.
E48 cavability has been difficult to calibrate due to the
cave breaking through to surface quickly and the model
parameters sensitive to small changes producing caving or
stalling results.
Modelling indicated that structures influenced the stress
and cavability in the north and south to predict different
FIG 1 Cave extension relative to existing cave (section looking west).
472 SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016
results. A subvertical fault, parallel to a northern drive is
predicted to act as a limit to caving towards the north and
causes the cave to grow upward from the location of the
fault to the surface. The model indicates rapid yielding and
mobilisation of the rock mass immediately above the northern
extension during the first two years of production from this
area. Modelling predicted that high stress concentration
and a lack of structures in the south result in most of the
southern extension cave column being already yielded before
production begins (see Figure 2) (Herbert, Wines and Pierce,
2013).
Consultation with Itasca personnel with caving experience
highlighted the risk that the extension scenario would be
more of a flow modelling problem than a cavability one. The
question arose on the need for developing a southern drive
if above had yielded already. Itasca were able to model these
scenarios using rapid emulation based on particle flow code
(REBOP) with clearer outcomes (Figure 3). If no extensions
are made to the footprint, REBOP predicted recovery of
30percent of the yielded ground vertically above the southern
extension and 20 per cent of the northern extension. With the
extensions constructed and assuming extension to the yield
zone, REBOP predicts recovery of 80 per cent of southern yield
zone and 50 per cent of the northern yield zone. These results
were encouraging based on percentage of recovery. However,
the results need to be kept in context specifically that the
best grade is situated high in the southern draw column and
80per cent of material recovered may not reflect 80 per cent
of copper metal recovered. This again highlighted a risk to the
project of not recovering the majority of the mineral resource.
Risk of ore loss and benefits to the
mine
Running internal PCBC (Personal Computer Block Cave)
scenarios constrained by cave shapes was an effective way
of demonstrating the value gained from preconditioning.
When applying for capital funding, management require
the applicant to demonstrate what return the project will
deliver. In this occasion the impact of not preconditioning the
extension was a loss of A$28 million in revenue.
 Preconditioning E48 Cave Extension Adjacent to an Active Cave

FIG 2 Southnorth section on looking west at yielding ground conditions before drawing the extension.

FIG 3 Rapid emulation based on particle flow code modelling of drawdown and associated recovery without drive extensions (left) and with drive extensions (right).

Benefits to the project less easily assigned a dollar value
include:
acceleration of cavability, improving even draw and
limiting rilling dilution from side material
reduced magnitude of seismic events in the cave backs
open holes are available as open and monitoring holes for
making informed decisions on draw tactics to promote
caving
the cave back and muck pile locations can be tracked for
managing air blast risks
core gained from diamond drilling will be used to confirm
grades and improve confidence in the mineral resource
block model
logging of diamond core and holes allows collection
of structural information aiding fragmentation and
cavability prediction
improved confidence in the cave shape and reconciliation
of the block model.
hydrofracture operational options
Once the project was approved and discussions
commenced with CSIRO, multiple options for conducting
the hydrofracturing project became apparent. CSIRO
traditionally hire and run hydrofracturing operations at
mine sites with offsider style assistance from site personnel.
CSIROs commitments to other projects meant that they were
not available to run the hydrofracture pumps. Northparkes
Mines (NPM) was approached by contractor companies
willing to purchase hydrofracturing equipment and to
perform the work. NPM also evaluated purchasing its own
hydrofracturing equipment; however, a long lead time to
source treating iron excluded NPM and any new contractors
from purchasing all equipment in time for the project. The
option chosen by NPM involved:
CSIRO hired all hydrofracture equipment to NPM
drill contractors operated the drill rig and hydrofracture
equipment

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S Webster, L Snyman and J Samosir

CSIRO provided training to drill contractors and analysis

of results
NPM managed the project and provided daily support,
maintenance and consumables.
There was concern that following the sale of Northparkes to
CMOC (China Molybdenum Co Ltd), NPM no longer had site
personnel with hydrofracture knowledge. Through reviving
old documentation, site visits to Cadia East preconditioning
and CSIRO in Melbourne, sufficient knowledge was
regained to run the project. The framework of having drilling
contractors who had 24-hour shifts and seven day supervision
kept the project ahead of schedule. The drilling team was
focused on safe production from regular drilling activities
and brought this focus to the project to achieve record
numbers of fractures (fracs) per shift through hotseating the
equipment. Historically at Northparkes, (hydrofracturing)
fraccing operations hinged around having CSIRO technical
experts to be present on-site and schedules often ran over.
These schedule extensions incurred additional costs for pump
and drill rig hire.
Northparkes has a culture of innovation and collaboration.
These phrases can be thrown around lightly however when
a pump breaks down, water is in short supply and crews are
on standby it makes business sense to have underground
fitters travel to surface to troubleshoot the pump, shift bosses
with farm tank experience and drill crews who are happy
FIG 4 Plan view of drill holes used for hydrofracture
to perform fencing. The benefit of such a culture can be
quantified through the project costs staying close to budget,
relative to E48 extension drives.
within schedule and with no safety incidents.
This fraccing project occurred from surface within the E48
subsidence zone boundary. Should the project have been
located underground, fraccing may not have been as efficient
due to blasting delay and travel delays.

hydrofracturing process
The hydrofracturing process involves drilling a hole,
(preferably with a diamond drill), running the fracturing
tool down the hole and pressurising the borehole volume
between two packers with water until a fracture forms (frac).
The fracture is developed by maintaining the water pressure
as it grows out from the borehole, allowing it to extend up
to 100 m diameter around the drill hole (Van As, 2013). The
fracturing process is stopped when the pressure starts to
decline or after around 20 minutes had elapsed. Declining
pressure indicates that water is being shed off into the rock
mass rather than pressurising and creating new rock fractures
(van As and Jeffrey, 2005). The two fluid options were
established for fracturing were water and a guar cross linked
gel. The guar gel had a higher viscosity than water and was
used in fractured regions such as adjacent the cave (van As FIG 5 Southnorth section of E48 and hydrofracture holes relative
and Jeffrey, 2000a). to E48 current cave shape and target areas at side of cave.
For the E48 extension project, eight new holes were drilled
along the hole axis, avoiding overlap can be difficult. The
and three historic holes reamed out (Figure 4). Hole spacing
advantage of drilling flatter holes perpendicular to the cave is
was determined from previous work at Northparkes where
that multiple close fractures can be placed along the hole with
the diameter of a hydrofracture was up to 100 m. Previous cave
less chance of them interacting. Thus steeper holes, if possible,
extensions at Northparkes have arched over at 150 m height.
would not give more intercepts through the orebody.
To maximise recovery of the resource ore located above 150m
and high-grade zones were targeted with hydrofracture holes Planned fracture spacing is determined by the total length
(Figure 5). of the tool and packers at around 2.5 m.
The subsidence zone restricted access close to the cave Based on the above, the number of holes and fractures
edge thus steep drill holes through the mineralised zone possible could be calculated from the fracture diameter, width
parallel the cave were not possible. Hydrofractures spread of orebody and frac spacing up the hole.
perpendicular to the lowest stress acting on the ground which
aligns them parallel the cave back or wall. Hydrofracturing Pump pressures
is more successful if fractures do not overlap with adjacent During fracturing the pump pressures are logged and used
fractured intervals and if the fracture spreading direction is for determining success of the fracture. Results were sent to

474 SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016
 Preconditioning E48 Cave Extension Adjacent to an Active Cave

CSIRO for interpretation and comment. Successful fractures
should show an increase in pressure followed by a drop at the
breakdown pressure (crack formation) then a steady value
close to the value of Sigma 3 (perpendicular to the fracture)
(van As and Jeffrey, 2000b). For successful fracturing, this
pressure is maintained for around 20 minutes or until it
drops off as in Figure 6. If the pressure cant be maintained
due to water escaping into nearby faults or drill holes the
pressure will drop off and fracture will not extend very far
as in Figure7.

FIG 6 An example of a successful hydrofracturing pressure graph. Pressure is in red with the breakdown
pressure (fracture formation) at around 10.5 MPa and propagation pressure maintained around 8 MPa.

FIG 7 An example of an unsuccessful hydrofracturing attempt where the breakdown pressure was not achieved
by 35 MPa. This is at 406 m depth and the fracture was attempted three times before being abandoned.

SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016 475
S Webster, L Snyman and J Samosir

The cave edge was identified during drilling through

water loss and broken ground. The broken zone around the
cave was not able to maintain high water pressures during
hydrofracturing so fractures had to be moved up the hole to
solid ground for good fracture formation.
Pumping pressures were plotted against depth and distance
from the cave boundary to evaluate trends. Linear increase in
pressure away from the cave was not evident. This may be
due to influences of faulting, changing pumps and alternating
between gel and water in fractures.

active mine interactions

The drilling and hydrofracturing program adjacent an active
cave and undercutting development created a number of
potential hazards.
Hydrofracturing adjacent to development has led to rock
bursts in the past at Northparkes. In order to reduce this risk
drilling within 50 m of development was avoided and put on FIG 8 Location of southern drill pad relative to E48
daily survey control to ensure accurate location. subsidence zone (grey rectangle in lower right side).
Hydrofracturing was scheduled ahead of undercutting
blasting in order to eliminate the risk of hydrofractures
washing out explosives. Some additional water was reported
in the newly development areas and was managed by
redirecting it into the underground drainage system. The
cave, being more permeable, was a more likely channel
for fluids to escape, rather than through the rock mass.
Excessive water entering the cave increased the risk of inrush
through drawpoints. E48 works under a trigger and action
plan for managing inrushes and this includes monitoring
the amount of water ingress at drawpoints as well as the
percentage of fines. To aid in distinguishing hydrofracture
water from groundwater, fluorescent green dye was added
to the hydrofracture fluid. During the program there was no
water increase in drawpoints that posed an inrush risk from
hydrofracturing.
The drilling and hydrofracturing was conducted from
surface at the northern and southern sides of the E48
subsidence zone (Figures 8 and 9). This is a restricted FIG 9 Northern site set-up.
access area where subsidence crater movement is tracked
through monthly inspections, monitoring holes and aerial
photography and photogrammetry. Access to the zone is
managed through a sign-in book at mine control as well as a
locked gate, tagging system and induction. This system was
also used for restricting access to the hydrofracture work area.
There was no expansion or new instabilities identified in the
subsidence zone during the hydrofracture program.
The site set-up restricted access to high pressure treating
irons through the use of no go exclusion zones (Figure 9). The
CSIRO pumps require operators to be stationed at the pump
rather than remotely. These extra efforts were required to
separate operators from high pressure areas.
A downstream effect of the preconditioning project was felt
at the processing plant. A concentration of foreign material
was found to be rafting in the Mod 1 Flash Flotation circuit
when preconditioning work began (Figure 10). The rafting
caused bubbles to burst and mineral to be lost. Recovery
losses were observed in the Module 1 circuit at the time.
The Northparkes scanning electron microscope was used to
identify the material as guar fibres (Figure 11). Discussions FIG 10 Foreign material found in module 1 flotation cell.
with CSIRO did not identify any previous operations reporting
impacts on flotation from guar and E48 had been treated with reported swiftly to drawpoints and was mined fast enough to
guar hydrofracturing prior to mining. While guar normally is survive and impacted to the mill.
believed to break down with bacteria in a time frame of days Previous hydrofracture gel campaigns reported decaying
or weeks, in this case the extension preconditioning water smell from guar breaking down in surface ponds and

476 SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016
 Preconditioning E48 Cave Extension Adjacent to an Active Cave
FIG 11 Guar identified in Northparkes scanning electron microscope.
underground. This strong smell was not reported in this
campaign and samples in the site laboratory have not broken
down in a time frame of months. Future work will require
investigation into breakdown of guar and experience from
other operations sought.
FIG 12 Optical televiewer surveys before hydrofracturing (left) and after hydrofracturing (right).
SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016
measure of success
A total of 451 fracs were completed during the program with
128 in the north and 323 in the south. This number represented
90 per cent of the total number planned. Most fracs not
performed were due to avoiding the base of holes close to the
cave where tools could be lost as blocks dislocated. The south
holes contained less faulting and broken zones and 93 per cent
of southern intervals were available for fraccing compared to
72 per cent of northern intervals.
Optical televiewer (OTV) surveys were attempted on
all holes. Where possible, surveys were repeated after
hydrofracturing in order to log new fractures. An example is
the resurvey of hole E48D61 complete with 33 new fractures
picked in an interval with 12 fracs performed. Figure 12
compares the pre- and post-fracking survey for an interval.
Three new fractures (see arrows) have been identified and
break-out on veins and perpendicularly through solid rock
between existing discontinuities.
As the new fractures do not contain infill and remain tight
(<1 mm in width) they are close to the detection limit of the
OTV and within a bad or pixeley survey. Attempts were
made to resurvey all holes, however, due to rig interaction,
broken ground and stuck tools limited resurvey intervals
were successfully completed.
Previous preconditioning projects in the adjacent E26
orebody produced many seismic events resulting in system
overload. During the E48 extension project on only one day
was seismicity recorded that can be directly correlated with
477
S Webster, L Snyman and J Samosir
FIG 13 Seismic events on 19 August 2014 that can be related to preconditioning activities.
the preconditioning as shown in Figure 13. These events were
localised to a flat dipping, volcanic sandstone horizon between
latites in the south. Local magnitudes were all less than zero.
Water return at the collar following hydrofracturing was only
experienced on the southern side. Modelling indicated the
southern side to contain a stress concentration compared with
the more fractured ground in the north. This was also evident
in the seismic response and tighter ground in the south
compared with faulting and no water return in the north. The
overall lower seismic response from E48 is fits with its history
of less triggered seismic events than that around E26.
After the program, the hydrofracture holes were reamed out
to clear broken rock and stuck fracturing tools. This reaming
allowed the holes to be dipped with a camera for monitoring
the location and growth of the cave. Steel casing installed prior
to hydrofracturing was left in the hole to keep the collar open.
While the cave had not yet reached the monitoring holes at
the time of this writing (it is expected to take at least one year),
fragmentation from the extension drawpoints is observed to
be coarse compared to the mature E48 cave suggesting that
cave back growth is still occurring in preference to lateral flow
of fine material.
To achieve as much vertical propagation as possible
preconditioning must be coupled with a draw strategy. To
cave any extension a yield zone and detailed draw strategy
is required. Once the cave is limited by draw propagation
(buttressed by flow material with no air gap) it is less likely to
extend above 150 m vertically. The draw strategy is still being
debated on-site with draw hard versus tickle tonnes opinions.
This will be the subject of further work in 2016, which will
include modelling of cavability and flow from the north with
a coupled modelling package, estimation of the proportion
of fines for the life of mine and ongoing assessments of the
extraction level.
CONCLUSIONS
Northparkes has utilised hydrofracturing before and during
the mining of block caves and extensions. Block cave mine
extensions have a tendency to arch over to the adjacent cave
rather than propagating vertically. Treating the ground to
introduce fractures and promote caving is a cost-effective
method of influencing the cave shape to make material
478 SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION ON MASS MINING / SYDNEY, NSW, 911 MAY 2016
available for draw. The project value can be expressed as a
different recovery of ore should the material not cave and
the hydrofracture process viewed as a tool to de-risk a non-
caving scenario.
When scoping the project, benchmarking against other
operations performing similar work and engaging CSIRO
allowed an informed decision on pump hire and contractor
options along with sharing of safety learnings. Utilising
existing exploration holes in conjunction with new
hydrofracture holes increased the coverage of fracturing
compared to that allowed for in the initial scope. To monitor
cave growth in the treated area, hydrofracture holes
can be reamed out and casing installed to serve as open
monitoring holes. Hydrofracturing programs can also aid in
understanding the rock mass through analysis of pumping
pressures and seismicity following fracturing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writers would like to thank Northparkes personnel in
particular Wayne Logan and Ray Taylor, CSIRO hydrofracture
staff and Robbie Lowther of Newcrest for their assistance
during this project.
REFERENCES
Herbert, Y, Wines, D and Pierce, M, 2013. Assessment of E48 Lift 1
Extension Cave Propagation Behaviour, Itasca Australia report to
Northparkes Mine.
van As, A, 2013. Block Cave Knowledge Centre Rockmass
Preconditioning and Cave Induction Techniques, Rio Tinto
internal course notes.
van As, A and Jeffrey, R G, 2000a. Hydraulic fracturing as a cave
inducement technique at Northparkes Mines, in Proceedings Third
International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin
2000) (ed: G Chitombo), pp 165172 (The Australasian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).
van As, A and Jeffrey, R G, 2000b. Caving induced by hydraulic
fracturing at Northparkes Mines, in Proceedings Fourth North
American Rock Mechanics Symposium, pp 353360 (American Rock
Mechanics Association).
van As, A and Jeffrey, R G, 2005. Preconditioning Design E48
Evaluation Stage B, Mine Geotechnical Services Pty Ltd and
CSIRO Petroleum report reference E48PC0605.