Geological structures in rockmass, Objective and methods of rockmass characterisation. Methods of determination of strength and deformability of rock and rockmass, Failure criteria for rock and rockmass, Influence of anisotropy and discontinuity on rock behaviour, Pre-mining state of stress: sources, methods of determination and presentation, Propagation of elastic waves in rock medium and dynamic behaviour of rocks, Stress distributions around single and multiple openings in rocks: methods of estimation; factors influencing stress concentration; zone of influence of an excavation; effect of planes of weaknesses and shape of excavation; delineation of zone of failure. Introduction of mechanics of rock cutting, drilling and blasting.