The large, massive low grade gold orebody at Mount Charlotte has demanded an innovative approach to mining engineering. In the last five years several advances occurred in the areas of rock mechanics, mass blasting, blasthole drilling and truck haulage._x000D_
Successive crown pillar failures throughout the life of the mine had resulted in a continuous geotechnical program, mostly utilising consultants. The culmination of this work was the development of a successful crown pillar support system. Several stopes have incorporated the technique and the most notable success has been the relatively large F3 crown pillar._x000D_
In hole hammer drilling was introduced to the mine in 1979, but little work had been done to develop a blasting system to suit the 165mm diameter holes. A non-electric sequential blasting system was adapted for use at the mine and up to 600,000 tonnes have been fired successfully in an individual blast. Problems with ground vibration were addressed although this work remains incomplete.