SOCIETIES

Society for Rock Engineering

In November 2004 the Council of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) recognized and welcomed the Society for Rock Engineering as a constituent society of the Institute. The Society for Rock Engineering traces its origins to 1984 when the Rock Mechanics Committee of the CIM was formed by members of the metal mining, coal mining and geology divisions. This was in direct recognition of the importance of rock mechanics, geotechnical and ground control issues to mining and the need to provide a forum to advance mining rock engineering in Canada.

The last 20 years found a large number of volunteers from the Rock Mechanics community working towards developing, and disseminating information and knowledge through workshops, technical meetings and the work of ad hoc sub committees. The priorities of the have evolved in response to the needs of the industry, and the interests of its members, and have included backfill, instrumentation, rock support, rockbursts, soft rock etc. The Rock Mechanics Committee has sponsored technical volumes on support, monitoring and backfill, and worked closely with the Canadian Geotechnical Society to represent Canada in the International Society for Rock Mechanics. This has resulted in Canada being the host of a several successful international conferences including the International Congress of Rock Mechanics and the North American Rock Mechanics Symposia.

The vision of the CIM Society for Rock Engineering is to promote high standards of professional practice among rock and geotechnical engineers so that mining engineering works might be safer, more economic and less disruptive to the environment. Its mission is to:

• Promote and encourage research in rock engineering;
• Facilitate information exchange;
• Promote knowledge sharing;
• Encourage technology transfer among industry players;
• Serve as a bridge into other industries, learning from their experience and insight.
• Support the organization of conferences seminars and training session in rock engineering
• Recognize excellence in rock engineering in the mining industry

Rock Engineering has evolved dramatically over the last 20 years. Our understanding of rock engineering principles has improved and we now have access to powerful analytical and design tools. Rock Mass Characterization is now undertaken using image and laser analysis. Geophysical techniques provide powerful insight on the behaviour of rock and its performance under stress. Analysis and design of structures in rock makes use of powerful 2D and 3D numerical analysis packages that can be used to design experiments, back analysis and the design of mining excavations. Monitoring is now an integral part of any excavation in rock and there have been major developments in innovative support systems.

The Canadian Institute of Mining is in the process of redefining itself to better respond to the needs of the industry and its members. The Society of Rock Engineering has identified as its main challenge to contribute to training the next generation of rock and geotechnical engineers so that they respond to the present and future needs of the mining industry. At the present time there is world wide shortage of qualified rock engineers with mining experience. It is a priority of the Rock engineering society, not only to develop technical exchange of information amongst its members, but also to provide a mentoring process towards its younger members. At the same time the challenge to the younger engineers is to get involved in the new Society and help make it more responsive to the needs of its members. This is an exciting time to be involved in mining rock engineering and an excellent opportunity to get involved in the Rock Engineering Society.