Geological hazards such as faulting, basement ridges, and zones of "thin" (< 6m) coal have a major impact on mining
economics of underground operations at Huntly Coalfield. Experience has shown that drillhole-based investigations do
not yield sufficiently detailed models of the coal seam to allow management of the planning risks associated with these
hazards. Consequently, operational performance is affected by unplanned costs associated with lower productivity, loss
of coal reserves, and expensive strata control remedies in problematic ground conditions. Huntly Coalfield is a
challenging environment for acquisition of good quality seismic reflection data due to the very thick (10-85m) weathering
layer. Since 1994, successful acquisition of 2D and 3D data has been achieved through a combination of careful testing of
technical parameters and experimental trials prior to committing to production recording. High resolution seismic
reflection (HRSR) is proving to be an investigations technique which results in accurate and reliable models of the coal
seam and associated structures such as normal faults and paleo-topography of the surface on which the coal seam rests.
The HRSR technique has been applied and developed in the Okowhao Sector where Huntly East Mine is developing and
extracting coal reserves. Results of a recent 3D survey demonstrate that this technique is capable of revolutionising risk
management in mine planning for underground mines in structurally complicated coal deposits.