ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with aspects of opencast mining with particular reference to the practice in the United Kingdom. Surface mining of coal deposits has in recent years survived a great deal of economic and environmental pressure. Many opencast coal sites are situated in areas with difficult physical terrain, unfavourable geological and geo-technical settings and complicated hydro-geology. Surface mine design in such areas is complex and there is, therefore, a need for continuous surveillance during the operational stage of the site in order to prevent instability problems. Monitoring the rock mass surrounding an opencast excavation, under such circumstances, may form an important feature of geo-technical input to the site operation.
