Underground mining continues to progress at deeper levels and industry is now extracting mineral reserves at depth that previously would have been considered unmineable. Deep mining is a very technical and challenging environment. A high level of understanding and technically sound approaches are essential to satisfactorily deal with the significant geotechnical (from squeezing ground to rockbursts) and logistical (transportation, ventilation) issues of deep and high stress mining, and best practice and innovation need to be implemented.

The Australian Centre for Geomechanics looks forward to hosting the Eighth International Conference on Deep and High Stress Mining in Perth in March 2017. This follows the previous conferences held in Sudbury, 2014; Perth, 2012; Santiago, 2010; Perth, 2007; Quebec City, 2006; Johannesburg, 2004; and Perth, 2002.