Study on the Surface Subsidence Trend of Fill Mining in Underground Mines With Different Mining Depths

Abstract

The extraction of underground mineral deposits can cause surface subsidence, which will bring danger to surface buildings or structures. In this paper, the Panlong lead–zinc mine in Guangxi, China, was taken as an example to analyze the correlation between underground mining-induced surface subsidence trends, and the depth of extraction. Based on the stochastic probability integral method, the surface subsidence trend at various different mining depths was analyzed. The results showed that with the increase of mining depth, the surface subsidence presents an obvious increasing trend, but the rate gradually decreases. The maximum surface subsidence is closely related to the mining depth and is less notably affected by the mining size. The maximum surface subsidence along the dip direction is basically the same as that along the strike direction for the same mining depth of the same ore body. In addition, numerical simulation by FLAC3D was conducted to analyze the evolution trend of surface subsidence at different mining depths. The subsidence cloud map demonstrated a significant expansion of the subsidence area until a depth of 680 m. With the further increase of mining depth, the subsidence area did not substantially increased, while the maximum subsidence at the center of the subsidence zone was increasing. Finally, the maximum subsidence at the center of the subsidence zone was measured by Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring instruments. The observed data showed that subsidence trend along the direction of the mineral body was basically consistent with the theoretical and numerical simulation results above. This verifies the reliability and accuracy of the above research methods for analyzing surface settlement trend.