ABSTRACT
The overburden rocks are separated tectonically and are partly highly stressed.
Because of the relatively small pillars and stopes the mine’s southern flank has the strongest geomechanical problems. Most of the volume of the chambers (in total approx. 3.5 Mio ⋅ m3) was exposed to free convergence until 1995, when a backfilling campaign by pneumatic transportation of a granular salt material started, which lasted until 2004. Currently, the most open volume in the Na3 and Na2 openings is backfilled whereas the cavities left from the potash mining in carnallitite were almost
1 INTRODUCTION
The Asse II mine which is located in Lower Saxony in a steep inclined structure in a salt ridge is probably a unique rock mechanical situation due to its long and changeable history as a commercially used salt mine, as research and development facility and as repository for radioactive waste.
