Steinar L. Ellefmo

Sublevel caving mining causes surface deformation in three distinct zones parallel to the extracted deposit. Most of the published research is focused on the extent of the caved and fracture zones. The extent of the largest, continuous deformation zone and, thus, the influence of the mine on its surroundings is not yet fully documented. This study aimed at assessing the extent of surface deformation caused by the mining of a steep iron ore deposit in Norway. For this purpose, an innovative combination of the permanent scatterer (PS) InSAR technique and line-of-sight (LOS) movement data provided by a public web service and geographic information system (GIS) spatial interpolation methods was proposed. Two ascending tracks’ (A102 and A175) datasets spanning the period of 3 June 2016–11 October 2021 were used. Three interpolation methods, inverse distance weighted (IDW), radial basis function (RBF) and ordinary kriging (OK), were analysed in terms of their performance for mapping continuous deformation. The RBF and OK methods with anisotropy returned the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) values. The obtained difference in the maximum extent of deformation amounted to 26 m for the track A102 dataset and 44.5 m for the track A175 dataset, depending on the interpolation method used. The estimated maximum extent of the continuous deformation zone on the hanging-wall side of the sublevel caving mining operation is 663 m. This corresponds to a limit angle of 38.7 degrees, which is lower than in previously published studies. The results show that the influence of sublevel caving mining on the surroundings can be greater than previously thought. The usefulness of public PSInSAR data available from a national online service and spatial interpolation methods for determining the area of mining terrain deformations has been proven. The proposed approach provides a low-cost alternative and complementation for surveys performed about the mine and it is argued that it should be implemented as part of the mine’s monitoring system.