Environmentally sustainable mining: a case study of intermittent cut-and-fill mining under sand aquifers

This paper presents an investigation on the effects of intermittent cut-and-fill mining on the overburden failure under sand aquifers. In the intermittent cut-and-filling method, the panel is divided into long pillars, and then entries in every long pillar into a narrow strip; every narrow strip is then cut and backfilled. Field measurements, scale model tests and numerical simulations are used to compare overburden failure and subsidence due to...