Cave Mining · August 2026
Continuous Strength Data for Cave Design
MPT strength measured on drill core from eight Oyu Tolgoi boreholes and compared with point load, Brazilian and UCS tests on neighbouring core.
- Project
- Oyu Tolgoi
- Location
- Mongolia
- Application
- Cave mining
- Samples
- PQ3 and HQ3 drill core
- Compared against
- Point load, Brazilian, UCS, lab density
PaperAdvancing Orebody Knowledge for Cave Mining Using High-Resolution Rock Strength Measurements · Caving 2026, Ulaanbaatar
Read the paperContext
Cave design depends on how rock strength varies through the rock mass. Conventional strength tests are sparse, so local changes in lithology, alteration and veining are easy to miss.
The Work
At Oyu Tolgoi, core from eight boreholes across eight lithologies was run through the MPT. Point load, Brazilian and UCS tests on neighbouring core provided the reference data, and MPT density was checked against lab density.
Results
MPT strength matched the lab results at the borehole scale and picked up the lower, more variable strength in heavily veined lithologies. MPT density agreed with lab density, with differences generally within 3%.
