The international symposia on block and sublevel caving was initiated by the Australian Centre for Geomechanics, the Universidad of de los Andes, Chile, the University of Toronto, Canada, and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. The ACG was delighted to host the Second International Symposium on Block and Sublevel Caving for the first time in Australia. It is intended for this symposium to run every four years, in between the MassMin Symposia (Luleå 2008, Sudbury 2012).
The growing popularity of caving methods around the world is largely due to the very low production cost and the intrinsic safety associated with this mining approach. It is often the only viable mining method for some of the lower grade massive orebodies that are becoming too deep for open pit mining.
Strategically, most medium and large mining companies are operating or planning to operate a caving mine. Codelco's El Teniente mine in Chile and the LKAB Kiruna Mine in Sweden are among the largest and most famous caving operations in the world. Australia’s leading caving operations include Rio Tinto's Northparkes mines, BHP Billiton Nickel West's Perseverance Mine and Newcrest's Telfer and Ridgeway gold mines.
Thank you to all those who attended the Caving 2010 Symposium.
The ACG would welcome your feedback on the Caving 2010 Symposium. We have an online appraisal form - it will only take a minute of your time. | 
Editor: Yves Potvin
