When mining from the surface is no longer feasible due to depleting deposits at certain depths, open pits are transformed into underground mines. To meet the ever-increasing demand for mineral resources, underground mining activities are currently taking place in deeper and more complex deposits often associated with challenging geological conditions and decreasing in ore grade. In the versatile world of mining, sub-level stope mining is a commonly used method that enables a multitude of production points in operation while offering good productivity and low dilution.
Stope mining methods are prone to danger related to the instability of the surrounding rock mass and other unforeseeable factors, that could result in life-threating events. Therefore an adequate evaluation of the rock mass stability is necessary to allow for its application. Ore grade is considered the fundamental driving factor in stope design, as mining activities aim at maximizing profit. The value of the mined ore depends on mining cost, processing cost, recovery, and the highly volatile commodity price amongst other factors. Finding an optimal stope design has always been a challenging subject due to various interdependencies that need to be addressed simultaneously.
As computational power nowadays is cheap and attainable, it becomes increasingly common to solve real-world geotechnical problems using numerical methods. The possibilities that come along with computerized numerical method include evaluating the behaviors of the rock mass in complex scenarios, producing quantifiable results, initiating an optimization process via iterations with certain level of automation.
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