Abstract
Sudbury is an internationally recognized mining camp, and mines in the basin have served as living laboratories. Of significance are lessons learned from rockbursts. Rockbursts are stress driven mechanisms and mining systems selection requires satisfactory knowledge of the in-situ stresses and rockmass properties. Unfortunately, the accuracy of in-situ stress tensors remains unacceptable. The Sudbury Basin stress tensor is the seed around which most of the basin mine stress tensors evolved. This paper tracks down the source of the Sudbury Basin stress tensor to ascertain its reliability through a critical review of stress measurements campaigns in the basin. It is concluded that the source and database of the Sudbury Basin stress tensor remains a myth, and its reliability cannot be determined. A new stress tensor based on a certified in-situ stress measurement database is suggested. The review also provides a comprehensive chronology of in-situ stress measurement campaigns in the Canadian Shield.