Assessing the efficiency of radar monitoring of pit slope stability in Kuzbass coal mines

E.I. Shumskaya, O.V. Panina, S.G. Eremin, N.L. Krasyukova, T.V. Butova
Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation
Russian Mining Industry №3/ 2026 p. 79-87

Abstract: Intensification of surface coal mining in the Kuznetsk Basin when the pit depths reaching 250–320 m aggravates the problem of open-pit slope stability with 12 to 18 deformation events of varying magnitudes being recorded annually. This study assesses the efficiency of ground-based interferometric radar systems (GB-InSAR) in monitoring the geomechanical slope stability of open-pit coal mines in Kuzbass. The study makes a hypothesis that the use of submillimeter-accurate radar monitoring will significantly improve the reliability of slope failure prediction compared to the traditional geodetic methods and will ensure early warning of the destructive events at least 48 hours in advance. The study was conducted using data from three open-pit coal mines of Kuzbassrazrezugol Management Company (Bachatsky, Kedrovsky, and Taldinsky) for the period of 2022–2025. The IBIS ArcSAR and IBIS-Rover radar systems with the measurement precision of ±0.1 mm and the scanning range of up to 5 km were used. The radar data were verified using GNSS observations. The methodology includes calculating cumulative displacements in the line of sight (LOS), plotting inverse strain rate (INV) graphs, and determining the stability coefficient Fs using the circular sliding surface method. During the analyzed period, the radar systems recorded 23 cases of abnormal deformation acceleration, 19 of which were confirmed by subsequent destructive events (the detection accuracy of 82.6%). The average lead time for failure prediction using the inverse strain rate method was 67.4 hours with the determination factor of R2 = 0.91–0.96. Integration of the radar monitoring into the geotechnical risk management system reduced the number of incidents related to side failures by 64% over the three years of observation. The paper describes limitations of the method under the extreme atmospheric conditions of Western Siberia, the prospects for implementing neural network forecasting models, and the integration of the Sentinel-1 satellite data for upscaling the monitoring system to a number of open-pit mines in the basin

Keywords: radar monitoring, pit slop stability, ground-based interferometric radar, inverse strain rate method, Kuzbass openpit coal mines, rock mass deformations, failure prediction

For citation: E.I. Shumskaya, O.V. Panina, S.G. Eremin, N.L. Krasyukova, T.V. Butova. Assessing the efficiency of radar monitoring of pit slope stability in Kuzbass coal mines. Russian Mining Industry. 2026;(3):79–87. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30686/1609-9192- 2026-3-79-87

Article info

Received: 01.02.2026

Revised: 24.03.2026

Accepted: 06.04.2026

Information about the authors

Ekaterina I. Shumskaya – Cand. Sci. (Econ.), Associate Professor, Department of Public and Municipal Administration, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Olga V. Panina – Cand. Sci. (Econ.), Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sergey G. Eremin – Dr. Sci. (Law), Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Natalya L. Krasyukova – Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tatyana V. Butova – Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Administration, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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