
I read an interesting article in the Mining Magazine May 2015 edition called “Top 10 Technologies”. One of the new technologies that jumped out at me is the capability to directionally drill open pit dewatering wells. This is an oil field technology from Schlumberger Water Services that was now going to be applied to mining.
One of my past roles was as a mine engineer on the Diavik diamond mine team. Pit geotechnical and hydrogeology were under my domain during project design and permitting from 1997 to 2000.
The granitic rock mass was geotechnically very competent with a limited amount of jointing and fracturing. The pits were going to be located within a lake bed.
It was anticipated that groundwater seepage coming from a partly permafrost pit wall could create a host of operational problems in winter. Most of the groundwater flows were predicted to be along a few major structures or along single open joints.
Generally these major structures were near vertical, which created a problem when trying to intercept them with vertically drilled depressurization wells. Either you hit one or you didn’t.
The use of directional drilling of pumping wells is a great innovation