During the construction of underground caverns, the stability of deep underground cavern excavation, which affects the safety and sustainable development of such projects, is a hot issue. First, based on the mechanical properties of surrounding rock in deep tunnels, the strain-softening behavior, damage, and heterogeneity of rock masses are analyzed. Then, a strain-softening model of heterogeneous jointed rock mass that considers statistical damage (SSD) is developed and implemented through FLAC3D simulation software. Finally, the SSD is applied to a deep roadway in the Jinchuan mining area, and a comparative analysis of the computation results of the Mohr–Coulomb (MC) model and the strain-softening (SS) model are carried out. The numerical results are compared with the field-monitoring results, which show that the SSD model simulated the behavior of the surrounding rocks well. The results show that the deformations of the roof and floor are larger, which may serve as a reference for the support pattern of deep roadways.

The backfill mining method transports treated tailings to the mined-out area, which not only improves the surrounding environment of the mine but also enables the mined-out area to continue mining and production under the support of the filling body. However, with the growth in the depth and scale of mining, ground subsidence, and backfill deformation are becoming increasingly serious problems. As an example, in the Jinchuan mine, a typical multi-stage filling mining mine in China, the deformation law of surface rock mass and backfill are studied through a method combining field monitoring and numerical simulation. The major findings are as follows: (a) A settlement funnel is formed on the ground, and its radius gradually expands with continuous mining and filling. The location of the settlement center moves toward the surface above the footwall of the ore body, and the maximum subsidence reaches 739 mm in 14.5 years. (b) Three-section mining significantly affects the surface deformation, and the single subsidence center on the upper wall develops into the double subsidence center with the mining and filling. When the three-section mining is finished, the maximum value of the surface subsidence reaches about 1.35 m and the mining area is still in a relatively stable state. (c) The whole filling body presents obvious subsidence, with the development of the multi-stage mining and filling. Bed separation phenomena are found between the filling layers, and the closer to the interior, the more obvious it becomes. The backfill’s subsidence characteristics are similar to the surface’s; that is, both the subsidence amount and speed are higher on the hanging wall than on the footwall. (d) The backfill mainly shrinks inward in the horizontal direction, and the deformation is mainly manifested as an internal uplift and an external subsidence in the vertical direction. The mass instability of the backfill is difficult because of the insufficient deformation space, and the influence of large-scale deformation on the mining and overlying strata needs to be considered, as well as the local deformation near the rock contact zone surrounding the backfill. The results provide technical support for filling mining in the Jinchuan mine and provide a reference for other projects with similar engineering conditions.

Ground subsidence is a common geological phenomenon occurring in mining areas. As an important Chinese gold mine, Sanshandao Gold Mine has a mining history of 25 years, with remarkable ground subsidence deformation. Mining development, life security, property security and ecological protection all require comprehension of the ground subsidence characteristics and evolution in the mining area. In this study, the mining subsidence phenomenon of the Sanshandao Gold Mine was investigated and analyzed based on Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and small baseline subset (SBAS). The SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images covering the study area were acquired by the Sentinel-1A satellite between 2018 and 2021; 54 images (between 22 February 2018 and 25 May 2021) were processed using the PSI technique and 24 images (between 11 April 2018 and 12 July 2021) were processed using the SBAS technique. In addition, GACOS (generic atmospheric correction online service) data were adopted to eliminate the atmospheric error in both kinds of data processing. The interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) results showed a basically consistent subsidence area and a similar subsidence pattern. Both InSAR results indicated that the maximum LOS (line of sight) subsidence velocity is about 49 mm/year. The main subsidence zone is situated in the main mining area, extending in the northwest and southeast directions. According to the subsidence displacement of several representative sites in the mining area, we found that the PSI result has a higher subsidence displacement value compared to the SBAS result. Mining activities were accompanied by ground subsidence in the mining area: the ground subsidence phenomenon is exacerbated by the increasing mining quantity. Temporally, the mining subsidence lags behind the increase in mining quantity by about three months. In summary, the mining area has varying degrees of ground subsidence, monitored by two reliable time-series InSAR techniques. Further study of the subsidence mechanism is necessary to forecast ground subsidence and instruct mining activities.

The safety of underground roadways is a major issue in mining engineering, with economic impacts and potential threats to the lives of workers. Elucidating the deformation failure mechanisms is necessary to solve these problems. The deformation failure modes and characteristics of roadways buried at various depths were investigated using a detailed field survey in the Jinchuan nickel mine. At greater depths, roadway deformation was more serious, the creep phenomena were more prominent, and support structures were more prone to failure. Numerical simulations were performed on the roadways under various geo-stresses and rock mass structures, which indicated that the roadway deformation mode was mainly controlled by a rock mass structure in a lower stress environment and the control effect was weakened with the gradual increase of ground stress. Six deformation failure types were proposed to examine roadway deformation failure mechanisms. Field representation of each failure type was characterized under natural or induced conditions. The findings provide a reference for stability evaluation and support the design of roadway engineering under similar geological conditions.

Vertical shafts play an important role in the safe operation of mines. The stability of vertical shafts has always been a difficult problem in mining engineering, especially with the increasing of mining depth. In order to keep the engineering works stable, it is necessary to make the deformation failure mechanism of vertical shafts clear. This paper describes a case study of the deformation and failure mechanisms of the vertical shaft in Jinchuan No. 2 mining area in Gansu Province, China. Long-term deformation trends and characteristics of the vertical shaft are analyzed through ground movement and GPS monitoring of ground fissures. Then, based on previous research experience and a detailed field investigation, the modes, influencing factors, and mechanisms of deformation failure in the vertical shaft are studied. To further investigate the mechanism of shaft deformation failure and damage process under mining, the Universal Discrete Element Code (UDEC) software with Trigon approach is employed to build the numerical model of the vertical shaft. Through displacement, stress, and damage analysis, the time, location, and cause of vertical shaft failure during mining are explicitly illustrated. The results suggest that the upper and lower parts of the fault are activated in different ways. The damage to the vertical shaft is still developing at a very high rate under mining with filling method. All our results throw light on the nature of deformation and failure of vertical shafts, and several suggestions for the engineering of deep vertical shafts are finally put forward, providing a reference for other engineering.