In recent decades, in the world practice there is an increased interest in conducting mining operations in the fields using a combined mining method. This approach allows for more efficient extraction of minerals from the depths of the earth, and helps reduce environmental damage to our planet. Despite such obvious advantages, one should not lose sight of the fact that the risk of unforeseen hazardous situations arising due to complex natural geological, geomechanical and mining conditions of deposit development also increases, as well as the mutual influence and technological interrelation of open-pit and underground mining. Neglecting these factors can even lead to a technogenic disaster, as happened at the world notorious kimberlite deposit of the Mir pipe. At this deposit, in the process of underground mining, the cracks formed in the safety pillar, through which an uncontrolled breakthrough of water subsequently occurred into the underground mine workings from the quarry.
Monitoring the condition of rocks in the area of the safety pillar and taking preventive measures in advance will reduce the risk of recurrence of such catastrophic events in fields with difficult development conditions. Analysis of scientific and technical literature showed the prospects of using geophysical methods to study the characteristics of rocks and identify weakened zones in the massif. The main advantages include the ability to study the environment without violating its integrity and the efficiency of conducting research. The problem being solved is to predict possible zones of disturbance in the massif, which affect the efficiency and safety of mining operations, while traditional studies are often insufficient for such analysis. The use of ultrasonic logging for local depth studies in the vertical wells provides reliable results due to the high accuracy of determining the elastic properties of rocks, sufficient to identify heterogeneities in the massif and predict possible zones of feeding cracks.