Monitoring mining induced seismicity using optical fibre sensors during mine exploitation

Abstract

Fibre-optic based sensing technologies are becoming popular in the field of geophysics since enable long range and high spatial resolution acoustic measurements. In this work, we present preliminary results obtained using quasi-distributed Fibre-Bragg grating sensing and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) to monitor seismic activities in an operational underground mine. 12 FBGs and 800 metres of fiber optic cable was installed in the tunnel lining an operational mine and recorded mine seismicity such as production blasts and a small seismic activity of magnitude 1.41 in September 2022.