Groundwater inflow prediction using an analytical solution in the gold ore exploration tunnel of underground mine

Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources, especially gold resources. Gold mining in Indonesia is commonly using open pit and underground mining system. Although underground mining is not directly connected with weather and rainfall, that does not make an underground mining free of mine dewatering system's problem. The problems that may be occurred in the working front area of an underground mine are the high of the total head that has to be lifted by a pump, dimension of the mine channel and sump that small due to limited space of the tunnel, and flood. Flooding in a tunnel commonly caused by groundwater on the tunnel's surroundings. An accurate calculation of groundwater inflow into the tunnel is important to design the underground mine dewatering system. Measurement of actual groundwater inflow had been done to prove the accuracy of groundwater inflow's calculation using an analytical solution by El Tani method. This paper presents the alternative of the groundwaters seepage calculation those flows into the tunnel. The result of this research is the groundwater inflow can be predicted using an analytical solution accurately so that the design of the underground mine dewatering system can be held precisely.