College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China.
Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China.
PLoS One. 2020 Oct 29;15(10):e0239682. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239682. eCollection 2020.
Groundwater inflow to an underground mine will seriously affect its mining plan and engineering geology safety. Groundwater models are powerful tools commonly used in the mines to develop dewatering strategies. Many mines in the Kolwezi area have been present since the 1950s, and groundwater flow patterns have been significantly influenced by mining activities. A mining plan is developed for an underground mine with overturned syncline strata in Kolwezi, Congo. Previous groundwater models using layered homogeneous media lowered model accuracies. A new three-dimensional groundwater model using FEFLOW, consisting of a combined regionally and locally geology models integrating 16 hydrogeological cross-sections and borehole logging data, are formulated to predict the underground dewatering in the study area. A 31-days pumping tests with 3 pumping wells and 28 observation wells are carried out to estimate the hydrogeological properties. The simulated water level data match the observed data rather well. Under 8 scenarios of possible well designs, the model predicts a possible dewatering capacity greater 23,900 m3/d at the initial stage of mining. The concept of the model and its application can be a reference for other mines with complex geology for mining safety in the region of interest.
地下水流入地下矿山会严重影响其采矿计划和工程地质安全。地下水模型是矿山中常用的强大工具，用于制定排水策略。自 20 世纪 50 年代以来，科卢韦齐地区的许多矿山已经存在，地下水流动模式受到采矿活动的显著影响。在刚果科卢韦齐，为一个具有褶皱倒转地层的地下矿山制定了采矿计划。以前使用分层均匀介质的地下水模型降低了模型的准确性。使用 FEFLOW 构建了一个新的三维地下水模型，该模型由一个综合区域和局部地质模型组成，整合了 16 个水文地质横剖面和钻孔测井数据，用于预测研究区域的地下排水。进行了 31 天的抽水试验，有 3 口抽水井和 28 口观测井，以估算水文地质性质。模拟水位数据与观测数据非常吻合。在 8 种可能的井设计方案中，该模型预测在采矿的初始阶段可能有超过 23900m3/d 的排水量。该模型的概念及其应用可以为该地区其他具有复杂地质的矿山提供参考，以确保采矿安全。
