ABSTRACT
Since August 2001, a series of annual International Seminars on Surface Support in Mines was held in Australia, South Africa and Canada. The aim of these seminars was to document the most recent developments and applications of thin spray-on liners, shotcrete, and mesh. This paper provides an overview of recent shotcrete applications in mines based on over 20 technical papers published at the three International Seminars. Shotcrete has rapidly gained acceptance as a surface support in underground mines around the world. It is often used to secure poor ground conditions or in rockburst-prone drives. Some operations have reported the use of shotcrete as a standard surface support in all drives, and all ground conditions, to be more cost effective than alternatives such as rockbolts and mesh.
