Rock Mass Condition Control by the Method of Predicting of Water-conducting Fracture Zone Parameters for the Deposits of Polymetallic Ores

Mining companies, that are mining minerals in difficult mining and geological conditions, regularly face the problem of ensuring the safety of mine workings from water breakthrough from overlying aquifers due to the lack of possibility of predicting the spread of the fracture zone above the mining face. Currently, there are direct methods of determining the geometric parameters of the water-conducting fracture zones above the excavation space. These methods are capital-intensive, allowing one to estimate the location of the upper boundary of the fracture zone at once, without the possibility of predicting it in advance. In this paper, we propose an approach to manage the state of the rock mass by predicting the height of the zone of water-conducting cracks depending on the changes in the size of the excavation space. The approach makes it possible to minimize the risk of man-made accidents and provide an operational forecast of the development of the fracture zone, taking into account the plans of mining operations.