The methods of predicting changes in the natural geological structure of the rocks of the immediate roof, soil and the developed formation ahead of a longwall (face) are considered.

The history of creation and modern directions of scientific and educational work of the oldest educational institution in Russia, which played a significant role in the history of creation of the domestic mining industry, are considered.

The history of the discovery of ore and non-metallic deposits, the origin and formation of the mining industry in Russia is briefly reviewed. The role of science in the development of mining art is analyzed.

Vladimir D. Slesarev occupies an honorable place among such glorious figures of mining science as Honored Professor B.I.Bokii, Academician A.A.Skochinsky, Professor M.M.Protodyakonov and others.

In underground mine workings (longwall faces, drifts, conjugates, etc.) and natural cavities (caves, grottos, etc.) roof collapses occur in different geologic conditions.

Professor Vladimir Dmitrievich Slesarev occupies an honorable place among such glorious figures of mining science, as Honored Professor R.I.Bokii, Academician A.A.Skochinsky, Professor M.M.Protodyakonov and others ...

In the practice of excavation of hollow coal seams by long-pillar mining systems, panel preparation is usually adopted. In this case the longwall face moves in the direction perpendicular to the drift ...

Among the most important problems of our time prominent place is occupied by the problems of subsurface mechanics, on the solution of which are working scientists of the largest countries in the world. ...

Mining engineer, Professor Dmitry F. Borisov for fourteen years, from 1954 to 1968 headed one of the leading departments of the Leningrad Mining Institute - the Department of Reservoir Deposits Development.

Chamber systems of development with solidifying backfill are becoming more and more widespread. This causes the need for further development of calculation methods for determining the basic parameters of the systems and strength properties of the backfill. The purpose of such calculations is a reasonable choice of the width of inter-chamber pillars, chamber spans, width of a panel or block, dimensions of inter-block (panel! pillars, determination of the required strength of artificial pillars. The results of calculations, of course, will be different depending on the order of development of sections (blocks), chambers within one block, the structure and properties of the filling massif and other conditions.

In the practice of construction and operation of mines, shafts and underground structures one of the urgent tasks is the calculation of pillars. Its solution is complicated by a variety of types of pillars and conditions of their operation. The nature of operation of inter-chamber pillars depends on a number of parameters, the most important of which, other things being equal, are: the structure of pillars, the properties of the rocks composing them, the depth of work, the type of links between pillars and the host rocks, the ratio of pillar sizes, etc.

In his works Boris Ivanovich Bokiy paid great attention to the issues of roof management and fastening, attached great importance to the introduction of metal fasteners for the mine faces and predicted its widespread use in the future. B. I. Bokii conducted observations of roof behavior at the Ivan mine (about a year). Naturally, in his works B. I. Bokii proceeded from the ideas of a flat problem.

In the Soviet Union, the anchoring of large cross-section excavations in unlayered and strong, but highly fractured rocks with rod supports was initiated by A.I. Golomolzin in 1955. Under his leadership, a group of engineers (R. E. Vasilevsky, V. G. Dominikov and Y. K. Manenkov) secured several experimental sites in rocks with different degrees of fracturing. However, the theoretical underdevelopment of the issues of interaction between the rod fastener and rocks in workings conducted in strong, but highly fractured rocks, leads quite often to mistrust and as a result to the rejection of the use of this new type of fastener.

Modern systems of development of thin and medium thickness steeply falling coal seams, despite continuous improvement, have major drawbacks. They do not guarantee complete safety of labor, do not achieve the flow of coal excavation, labor productivity continues to be insufficient. This is due to the fact that when working along the strike and the applied methods of roof management require significant exposures of the host rocks, and therefore, create conditions leading to face blockages and high labor intensity of the main production processes.

The problem of determining the strong dimensions of horizontal workings support elements constantly arises both during the operation of a deposit and during design. Its correct solution largely determines the safety, economy and uninterrupted operation. The variety of conditions in which a mine working passes does not allow determining the load on the support in the general case. Let us consider the issue of the roof pressure on the support of a horizontal working carried out in solid layered rocks, secured by a frame support with a straight top. A layered medium, each layer of which is a plate with sealed edges, is a repeatedly statically indeterminate system, and solving the problem of the pressure of this medium on the support by conventional methods was considered unrealizable for a long time. For the first time, a method for solving this problem was proposed by V.D. Slesarev in 1939 and called by him the sliding working method [9, 10]. Later, the sliding working method was applied by A.P. German [2], G.N. Kuznetsov [5] and others. The proposed work is devoted to the further development and specification of the processes under consideration. The description of the processes of deformation and destruction of roof rocks given below, of course, does not exhaust the issue and is to a certain extent schematic.