With the stopping of barrier pillars in metal mines the engineering background, a graded load-unload disturbance test of typical rocks has been conducted under uni-axial and conventional triaxial compression, with load / unload response ratio (LURR) theory applied in prediction of rock deformation and failure. An apparatus for loading conversion has been designed for the location of acoustic emission (AE), thus overcoming the interruption and reduction of AE signals in the process of the location of the surface of triaxial cavity. Experimental results show that, with axial strain and acoustic emission energy the LURR parameters, the deformation and failure process of rocks can be best reflected. Compared with two calculation methods including single and accumulation ones, LURR presents increment along with an increase in load, nevertheless, with the latter not so obvious as the former.