A 249 day long record of the accelerating creep of a slope of an open-pit coal mine is analyzed, using linear regression, to test four creep laws. The Saito and Zavodni and Broadbent laws did not lead to a satisfactory estimation of the time of failure as a range of times of failure satisfied the goodness of fit criteria. Using the generalized Saito law, the upper limit for the time of failure was 168 days after the actual failure. Our prediction of a critical slide velocity for the evacuation of pit personnel and equipment, as an indication of impending failure, used two new methods employing the power and exponential laws. Three accelerating creep stages were identified, threshold velocities of 0.02 mm/min and 0.1 mm/min marked the initiation of the second and third stages, respectively.