Energy West Mining Company In preparation for longwall mining beneath a 345-kV electrical transmission line, AAI was retained to evaluate the impacts of surface subsidence to a series of power line towers. AAI proprietary software was used to back-analyze subsidence data from previously mined panels at the mine and to develop a numerical model for [...]
Subsidence
Longwall Gateroad Analysis AAI performed a comparative stability evaluation for the East Longwall Panel 8 Gateroads. Four different gateroads were analyzed, including three- and four-entry layouts. Analyses were performed using SALT4 and EXPAREA, both of which can model time-dependent salt behavior. SALT4 was used for two-dimensional analyses of gateroad profile stresses, while EXPAREA was used [...]
West Ridge Resources, Inc. (WRRI) commissioned Agapito Associates, Inc. (AAI) to analyze subsidence potential from planned longwall mining in the vicinity of the Grassy Trail reservoir adjacent to the West Ridge Mine in Whitmore Canyon in 2004. The reservoir and earthen dam were constructed in the late 1950s and are a principal water source for [...]
Engineering Support for Start-up of Large Underground Coal Operation—Trinidad, Colorado Starting in 2009 and continuing into 2011, Agapito Associates, Inc. has provided most of the mining engineering services required to bring this large underground, multi-seam coal mining operation into production. At full production, the New Elk Coal Company mining complex is scheduled to produce over [...]
Southern Electric International (SEI) AAI was retained by SEI to assess the subsidence potential of the Central Avenue Property in Wyandotte, Michigan, which is underlain by extensive solution-mined salt cavities. AAI conducted an on-site inspection looking for any physical evidence of significant subsidence. In addition, AAI researched and reviewed literature and records relating to salt [...]
Solution Mining of Nahcolite Natural Soda took over operations at White River Nahcolite in 2003. AAI has continued to support the operations in permitting, ground control, cavern development, and subsidence monitoring. To monitor potential caving above the solution mine caverns, AAI has installed TDR cables and monitored the response as solution mining has progressed.
Solution Mining of Nahcolite NaTec/White River Nahcolite (WRN) was the first solution mine developed to recover soluble minerals from thin horizontal beds using long horizontal wells. AAI personnel provided field and technical support in a pilot drilling program to characterize rock structure and hydrologic data, and have since supported WRN with assistance in drilling production [...]
American Soda, L.L.P. Agapito Associates, Inc. has been actively involved with the American Soda Project from 1997 through 2003. Major projects include: Stability assessment of pilot test cavern for permit application Design of subsurface solution mining plan Design of solution well completion Support in permit application to BLM, EPA, and affected counties Core drilling (7 [...]
West Elk Mine—Somerset, CO AAI has provided underground geotechnical engineering services to Mountain Coal Company’s West Elk Mine since the 1980s. Services include installation of geotechnical instrumentation, in-situ stress measurements, laboratory rock properties testing, periodic ground control reviews, pillar and barrier sizing analysis, shield size specification, geotechnical characterization for shaft design, subsidence evaluation, and geological [...]
BHP Billiton AAI contracted to BHP Billiton to procure, install, and assist in monitoring the geotechnical instrumentation in and adjacent to the first longwall panel mined at the San Juan Mine. BHP Billiton provided the design of the instrument arrays to be used and worked closely with AAI engineers and technicians to establish the technical [...]
Canyon Fuel Company Longwall Mining—Shield Support Densities AAI has performed a full range of geotechnical analyses for SUFCO in support of their longwall operations, including pillar design, longwall shield support evaluations, and subsidence analyses. SUFCO currently mines with two-legged 970-T Joy shields in the Pines Tract (Upper Hiawatha Seam) under nominally 1,000 ft of cover. [...]
American Rock Salt Company, LLC The objective of this work was to calibrate the in situ properties of the overburden and mining horizon salt to reasonably reproduce measured subsidence and room closure and to simulate ground response to planned mining through 2011. A 2D numerical model was developed to predict mine-scale subsidence profiles along a [...]
Order of Magnitude Studies and Geotechnical Characterization Order of Magnitude studies for conventional room-and-pillar mining, longwall mining, and solution mining of a potential soda ash mine at Kazan, Turkey, were completed by AAI. The solution mining option was aggressively pursued by Rio Tinto and AAI was responsible for design of deep horizontal caverns, resource definition, [...]
(now owned by K+S) Feasibility Study Solution Mining AAI recently completed a Feasibility Study in conjunction with SNC Lavalin and Potash One for solution mining the Legacy project located to the south of the KP 289 permit area and where the recent exploration drilling and 3D seismic has confirmed the Measured and Indicated Resource. AAI [...]
Rio Tinto Technical Services: Conceptual and Feasibility Assessment AAI has completed studies leading to prefeasibility and feasibility level mine plans for solution mining the Potassio Rio Colorado potash deposits in Mendoza Provence, Argentina (now Vale). These deposits have long been known and were drilled in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and again in 2005. A [...]
