Application of seismic stress inversion to examine stress changes following a large seismic event

Project overview

The Kidd mine in northern Ontario is deep, high stress, and structurally complex. Following a series of large rockburst events, decisions needed to be made regarding the future mining sequence near the location of the rockbursts. A question remained as to whether the rockbursts had caused any modification to the stress field, and what would be the future stability of the volume affected. This question is impossible to answer without a knowledge of the stress field before and after the rockburst events. The objective of the project is therefore to use the technique of seismic stress inversion to compare stresses in the volume where the rockburst took place both before and after the event. This project is funded by Glencore and an NSERC Collaborative Research and Development grant.