FIELD: mining industry. SUBSTANCE: method includes unloading of working at tested district, determination of initial rate of residual deformation increment of rocks in zone to be supported, and evaluation of rock stability depending on value of said rate. In so doing, pair determinations are carried out preliminarily in two unsupported breakage faces of values of mean initial rate Vc of displacement of mine working contour proportional to initial rate of increment of residual deformations of rocks of zone to be supported and time ts of its stable state. Then, determined for these breakage faces are constants a and b of empirical dependence and mean initial rate Vc of displacement of mine working contour at tested district. With use of given empirical dependence and obtained constants a and b in this dependence, time ts of stable state of mine working of tested district is calculated. Rock stability at this district is evaluated by comparison ts with reference values of time of working stable state for concrete classes of rock stability. EFFECT: higher accuracy of determination of rock stability under conditions of shortage in data on rock mass properties, for instance, at new deposits and ore fields. 2 cl, 4 dwg, 1 tbl
