The first crush pillars on the Bushveld Platinum mines were introduced at Union Section in 1978. Before the introduction of crush pillars, serious problems were experienced when stoping advanced to a point 30 m to 40 m on both sides of the centre gully. At ...

<p>Observations of pillar failures in Canadian hard-rock mines indicate that the dominant mode of failure is progressive slabbing and spalling. Empirical formulas developed for the stability of hard-rock pillars suggest that the pillar strength is directly ...