ConclusionsThus, the completed studies have made it possible to develop a technology and methodology, based on the compensation method, for measuring the load on the edges of inter-chamber pillars. An experimental-theoretical method has also been proposed for estimating the residual life of such pillars in excavated sections of potassium mines.The results of full-scale measurements established that the edge regions of interchamber pillars located near the boundary of a cave-in (region of chamber 103 in our investigation) are in the supercritical state. For a subsidence rate of 1.5 mm/day at the surface, the residual life of such pillars is estimated to be 7–8 months.The zone loaded by bearing pressure from the caved-in rock is shifted toward the interior of the goal (regiona of chamber 120). The load factor of the pillars exceeds the allowable value [C]=0.4 specified by standards for “rigid” interchamber pillars in the mines of the Verknekamsk Potassium Salt Deposit, which accounts for their “compliant” regime of deformation. Thus, to reduce the strains of the water-protective stratum and prevent water above the deposit from entering the mine, the region of chamber 120 must be filled.