Case study on the use of high hybrid MSE walls in mine industry

One of the leading sectors for the Turkish economy is the mining industry. Most of the mines in Turkey are in mountainous terrain so large terraces are required to house facilities which process the extracted ore. Because of the level differences, these large terraces can often be constructed most eco-nomically using high mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls. Two (2) “hybrid” MSE walls, 20m and 14m in height for the grinding and crusher areas, respectively, were constructed for a gold mine in Erzincan, Turkey. The MSE structures supporting these terraces were designed with a modular system consisting of a gabion box at the front with an integrated tail of double twist steel wire mesh acting as the secondary reinforcement, and high strength geogrids as the main reinforcement. The availability of crushed rock for the gabion baskets and the capability of the wall system to withstand impact loads from the haul trucks, make this type of MSE wall the most viable solution for the mines. The design of the walls has been carried out using pseudo-static method (limit equilibrium) taking into consideration differ-ent loading conditions, including seismic loading with peak ground acceleration, PGA=0.53g. Prior to the installation of the facilities on the grinding area wall and the dump slab on the crusher wall, deflection measurements were taken using a laser beam. The paper addresses the construction of the MSE wall; ad-vantages of using such system for the project are discussed; the basis of the monitoring and the results are introduced.