Monitoring System of rock stability in mines based on Advanced 4D seismic analysis.

2026-07-22

PROBLEM Catastrophic ground collapse in mines is the main hazard for safety of workers and for the mining activity. Monitoring the alteration of the state of the rock mass during underground mining operations plays a key-role to forecast the failure of the rocks. This is currently done through 3D LET (Local Earthquake Tomography) computational analysis on data provided by existing seismographic networks once every month and through quasi-manual analysis of experts: the procedure is time-consuming and expensive, and the results are difficult to be interpreted by the mine’s decision makers and not fully reliable (high possibility of error). SOLUTION: MINES-IN-TIME Mines-In-Time (MIT) is an automatic solution for monitoring in real time the stress alteration of the rock mass during mining operations, to be integrated in a traffic-light Decision Support System (DSS) to avoid risks and cost related to mines collapse. The system is based on the innovative 4D LET algorithm (three spatial dimensions + time), able to analyze both natural and induced micro-seismicity such as movements due to drilling or other mining operations. The solution was validated in relevant environment thanks to its application in Garpenberg mine (owned by Boliden Group - Sweden), the world's most productive and automated underground zinc mine (1250 m depth), demonstrating outstanding monitoring capability, reliability and low cost (no hardware needed).

Italy

2026-02-15