This course provides students with a practical understanding of the application of geotechnical engineering principles in mining - from the perspective of planning, design and operations, covering both, soft and hard rock, as well as underground and open cut mining systems.

The course is intended to develop the capability and requisite skills of a mining engineer to build the foundation of knowledge related to the mining and underground excavation geotechnical problems. This foundation provides a basis on applying geomechanics in mining and tunnelling (design and operations), including mine safety, risk assessment and management systems, and impact of geological factors on geotechnical behaviour and design, tailing dam design considerations.

The course provides an opportunity for the student to bring together engineering principles learned over their previous years of study and apply these principles to innovatively solve problems such as the development of a specific design, process and/or the investigation of a hypothesis.