The 10th International Conference on Mining with Backfill will be held in 21– 25 March 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, one of the world’s most surpassingly attractive cities.
This decennial milestone event will cover the full spectrum: from the chronological developments in backfill technology, current operations and research, to a glimpse into new applications in the near future. Prior to the conference, a one-day workshop is planned, at which leading authorities will provide a broad overview of fundamental backfill principles and insights relating to their particular disciplines. This will cover business drivers, rock mechanics requirements, backfill preparation, hydraulic transportation and
placement aspects, as well as regulations, applicable standards and best practices. The beneficial interactions between rock mass and placed backfill have shown that not only can backfilling increase extraction ratios, but it also improves safety records on those mines where it is fully integrated with the mining method. Laboratory test methods and unique, specialised in situ instrumentation coupled with numeric modelling techniques, as well as practical case studies, demonstrate the predictability and reliability of well engineered backfill systems.