The deeper the mineral deposits developments are, the worse the mining and geological conditions become. Significant growth of stress level in the rock mass contributes to possible manifestation of rock pressure in dynamic form. The resulting task of assessment of rock impact hazard is closely related to the task of obtaining more accurate results of compression tests of samples in rigid or servohydraulic test presses using graphs of their full deformation. This approach requires special expensive equipment, considerable time resources, and sufficient core material. Therefore, it is important to have an approach that allows to assess the propensity of rocks to brittle fracture with research methods simple enough not to result in the loss of quality and reliability of the obtained results. This paper presents the results of laboratory tests of rocks from the Norilsk Industrial Region to determine their tensile and compressive strengths. Test methods involved both domestic and foreign standards for determining the value of the brittleness coefficient. The impact hazard potential of rocks was determined using the Kaiser criterion. It is found that the tested lithological types (rich sulfide ores, hornblende, disseminated ores, and gabbro-dolerite rocks), with the exception of anhydrite, have a low impact hazard potential.
One of the most reliable methods for assessing the physical and mechanical properties of rocks as a result of their destruction are laboratory tests using hard or servo-driven test presses. They allow to obtain reliable information about changes in these properties beyond the limit of compressive strength. The results of laboratory tests of rich sulfide ore samples are presented, which made it possible to obtain graphs of their extreme deformation. Both monolithic samples and samples with stress concentrators in the form of circular holes with a diameter of 3, 5 and 10 mm were tested. It was revealed that during the destruction of the samples, the modules of elasticity and deformation decrease by 1.5-2 times, and in the zone of residual strength – by 5-7 times.
