Publications

Welcome to SCT's own publications library which contains a collection of recent publications and other resources with reliable research about our technology. 

• Caving Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing at North Parkes Mine - Rob Jeffrey - Published 2000

  Published Feb, 2000
  This paper describes the first use of hydraulic fracturing for cave inducement in a block caving mine. As of September 1999, several hundred hydraulic fracture treatments have been performed at Northparkes and are attributed with inducing about 7 million tonnes of ore to cave. Caving-Induced-by-Hydraulic-Fracturing-at-North-Parkes-Mine-R.Jeffrey.pdf267 KB

• Sand Propped Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation of Horizontal In seam Gas Drainage Holes at Dartbrook Coal Mine - Rob Jeffrey

  Published Jan, 2004
  Longwalls 107, 108 and 109 at Dartbrook Coal Mine contained coal with a high gas content and low permeability. Horizontal in-seam drain holes were found to have low gas production rates compared with drainage rates in previous panels. Hydraulic fracture stimulations, using water and sand, were therefore carried out in three boreholes in Longwalls 109 and 108 at Dartbrook to assess the effectiveness of sand propped fractures in stimulating gas drainage from in-seam boreholes. Boreholes 108-10-10 and 108 -7-1 were stimulated with 20 and 10 fractures respectively and, on average, 100 kg of sand was placed into each fracture. The fractures placed into LW 109 were to be mined and mapped, but operational constraints precluded mapping of these fractures.
  
  The stimulations produced a significant increase in gas drainage rates from the two boreholes. Hole 108-10-10, which ran perpendicular to the major joint system in the seam, increased its early gas rate by a factor of about 180 while hole 108-7-1, which was drilled parallel to the joint set, increased its rate by about 22 compared to pre-stimulation rates. The stimulated gas rates continuously increased for several weeks and the higher rates were sustained for the entire period the holes were monitored. Based on the higher stimulation effect achieved in hole 108-10-10 (drilled perpendicular to the jointing) compared with hole 108-7-1 (drilled parallel to the jointing), target drainage holes drilled perpendicular (northsouth) to the jointing are better stimulation candidates.
  
  Fracture modeling suggests the sand proppant bank may extend to 15m from the borehole. The unpropped portion of the fracture may extend to more than 40m. A purpose-built fracturing system was developed and used at Dartbrook to stimulate holes that covered most of LW109. This full-scale enhancement of gas drainage was successful and allowed efficient mining of that panel.
  
  [Coal Operators' Conference, University of Wollongong & the Australiasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2004] Sand-Propped-Hydraulic-Fracture-Stimulation-of-Horizontal-In-seam-Gas-Drainage-Holes-at-Dartbrook-Coal-Mine-R.Jeffrey-2004.pdf265 KB