BHP/AIS's Rock Mechanics and Strata Control (RM & SC) Group was formed in the late 1960's to address a range of issues then facing BHP/AIS's underground coal mining operations. Building on a local tradition of innovative rock mechanics and a global body of research targeted at sedimentary strata behaviour, RM & SC tackled a number of critical areas and made substantive contributions in all of these. Alan Hargraves, as the leader of the group, had a significant influence on all activities, as well as continuing personal research in the area of seam gas management. A direct line can be traced from the initiatives implemented by Alan at RM & SC and many of the modern advances in coal mine geomechanics.
History
Citation
This conference paper was originally published as Enever, J, Early Days of Rock Mechanics and Strata Control, in Aziz, N (ed), Coal 2001: Coal Operators' Geotechnology Colloquium, University of Wollongong & the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2001, 8-12.