Course Description
In open pit mining, the wall angle is the business case. A degree steeper strips less waste and transforms economics; a degree too steep buries the fleet. Geotechnical engineering is the discipline that finds the boundary and defends it with evidence.
This course develops mine geotechnical capability. Participants learn rock mass characterisation and classification, structural geology and its control on stability, geotechnical data collection and drilling, rock mass strength, slope stability analysis methods, pit slope design and the design acceptance criteria, ground support and stabilisation, blast damage and its control, monitoring including radar and prisms, and the management of geotechnical risk in operations.
What you will achieve
By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:
- Characterise and classify rock masses
- Apply structural geology to stability assessment
- Plan geotechnical data collection and drilling programmes
- Determine rock mass strength
- Conduct slope stability analysis
- Design pit slopes against acceptance criteria
- Specify ground support and stabilisation
- Monitor slopes and manage geotechnical risk
How the course is delivered
The course combines rock mechanics with practical stability analysis and design exercises using realistic pit geometries and rock mass data. Participants assess failure modes, run stability analyses and set design criteria.
The programme connects geotechnical engineering to the economics it drives — wall angle, stripping ratio and the value of the deposit — and to the monitoring through which risk is managed day to day.
Designed for
This training course is ideal for:
- Geotechnical and mining engineers
- Mine planning engineers
- Geologists supporting mine operations
- Technical services and operations managers
- Anyone accountable for slope stability
Daily programme
- Rock mass characterisation and classification
- Discontinuities and their properties
- Structural geology and stability control
- Geotechnical domains
- Geotechnical data collection
- Drilling, logging and testing
- Rock mass strength criteria
- Groundwater and its influence
- Failure modes in rock slopes
- Limit equilibrium analysis
- Numerical modelling
- Probabilistic analysis
- Pit slope design process
- Design acceptance criteria
- Ground support and stabilisation
- Blast damage and control blasting
- Slope monitoring: prisms, radar, InSAR
- Data interpretation and trigger levels
- Geotechnical risk management
- Design workshop and review
Certification & accreditation
BII Certificate of Completion
BII Certificate of Completion Upon successful completion, participants receive a BII Development Institute Certificate of Completion with a unique reference code that is independently verifiable. Our certificates are recognised internationally and reflect successful completion of your chosen programme.
