Instrumentation and monitoring of a nailed mine-waste slope

Surface mine operations in the southern Appalachian mountains of the USA have left numerous unstable or marginally stable waste-rock slopes. Typical remediation measures include reducing the slope angle or constructing expensive retaining structures. An investigation was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of soil nailing in these waste rock slopes. The paper discusses the advantages of soil nailing to stabilize mine spoil, and describes the demonstration program and the instrumentation plan to measure the response of the nailed slope. When complete, the results of the study will lead to recommendations regarding the application of soil nailing to the stabilization of mine-waste slopes.