Ground Control Research at a Sandstone Mine
Abstract
Pattison Mine is a small sandstone mine located in Iowa. The sandstones produced by the mine are not common construction and aggregate materials. The stones are used to produce a special type of sand for hydraulic fracturing, a critical technique for recovering tight gas and shale gas. These sandstones are very different from the minerals and rocks which have been studied extensively in mining. On the one hand, they are brittle as characterized by an unusually high friction angle, up to 69°, and steeply curved failure envelopes. On the other hand, they are friable, possessing extremely low, and in most cases zero cohesion. The scarcity of the ground control techniques for this particular mining environment has created many difficulties for the mine operators. In order to resolve these problems, a research program was set up by the mine and Missouri University of Science and Technology. This paper discusses the preliminary results of this investigation. Copyright © 2012 by SME.
Recommended Citation
M. C. Ge and A. Bagherieh, "Ground Control Research at a Sandstone Mine," Proceedings of the 2012 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit (2012, Seattle, WA), Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME), Feb 2012.
Meeting Name
2012 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit, SME 2012 (2012: Feb. 19-22, Seattle, WA)
Department(s)
Mining Engineering
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2012 Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
22 Feb 2012
