The Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines (RaSiM10) conference is being held in Tucson, AZ for the first time this year and it is also the first time SME has managed it. The meeting opened with short courses on seismic rock mass responses to mining and managing seismic risk in mines on April 25. The keynote opening and full program started Tuesday and runs April 26—28, 2022.

This gathering of mining and geological engineers, project managers and experts in rock mass behavior deep in mines is held every four years and draws people from all over the world. This year participants came from Australia, Canada, Chile, Iran, Sweden and places throughout the United States.

Nearly 200 attendees are sharing information and knowledge on how to address and plan for rock burst events as mining operations go deeper into the earth in search of critical minerals like nickel and copper. This is all happening in an effort to keep pace with ever-increasing global demand of critical commodities that are necessary for everyday life.

Freeport-McMoRan is the overall sponsor of the program and kicked off the plenary sessions on Tuesday with a presentation by Matt Sullivan, Freeport McMoRan, Indonesia who discussed the importance of flexibility in design and developing the talent, technology and solutions for tomorrow at PT Freeport Indonesia. Brad Simser from Glencore, Canada was the second speaker and he discussed applied seismic monitoring for decision making in deep hard rock mines.

“Caving mines are going deeper and bigger to meet demands in more massive rock, which is intrinsically brittle and fragile. As the world grows and expands it needs more minerals,” said Sullivan.

The conference is packed with three days of technical sessions covering management and control, seismic monitoring and data analysis, mechanical analysis, risk assessment and mitigation and comprehensive case studies all presented by those who operate and work in these mines all over the world.

On Friday, interested participants will attend a field trip to the San Xavier underground mine and lab, which is operated by the University of Arizona. The mine has rehabilitated narrow vein working and a brand new tunnel driven in 2021.