Rock engineering services include:
Assist mines without resident rock engineering practitioners and/or complement existing rock engineering departments.
Provision of RE consultant or legal appointee services.
Assessment of stable mine designs, layouts, and sequences, including excavation sizes and orientation to best ensure safe extraction.
Rock support design for excavation, and support performance evaluation.
Numerical modelling for analysis of mining layouts, mining sequence and support problems using software such as Examine2D, UDEC , FLAC3D and FLAC-Slope.
Compilation, evaluation and updating a mine's Code of Practice in terms of the DMR guidelines.
Rock engineering audits and inspections.
Latona Consulting Mining Experts Geotechnical investigations
We carry out geotechnical investigations as part of both routine rock engineering work, for site investigations, and as input for feasibility studies. For both underground and open pit work this may include:
Outcrop or face mapping of bedding, joints, veins and other geological structures
Core logging, both geological and geotechnical using either conventional hand measurement or photogrammetric techniques providing descriptions, RQD and structural orientations.
Point load testing using our own calibrated equipment.
Sampling for laboratory strength testing (using third party laboratory facilities)
Geotechnical characterisation
Derivation of rock mass ratings (RMR, Q, GSI, etc.) For both investigations for surface structures (roads, buildings) this may also include: Test pit excavation and soil logging (SAICE/SAIEG 1990 guidelines)
Sampling for soil indicator tests (testwork by third party laboratory).
In-situ bearing capacity testing or penetrometer testing.
Description of soils and identification of key features relevant to the proposed surface structure.
Latona Consulting Services Numerical modelling
We have extensive experience in numerical modelling in rock and geotechnical engineering, built up over 30 years of mining experience.
We own, and regularly apply, the codes Examine2D, UDEC , FLAC3D and FLAC-Slope. These permit analysis of most mining situations, covering a range of analyses in two and three dimensions with elastic, plastic and discontinuous rock mass behaviour.
We have experience in using, and can hire if required, the codes 3DEC and PFC, permitting more complex three dimensional discontinuous analyses.
Other codes we have experience with include MINSIM, BESOL, LAMODEL, Phase2 and Slide.