Spontaneous combustion of coal remains an important problem for coal mines, which can lead to an explosion of methane and coal dust. Accidents associated with spontaneous combustion of coal can cause significant economic losses to coal mining companies, as well as entail social damage – injuries and loss of life. Accidents are known at the Kuzbass mines, which occurred as a result of negligent attitude to the danger of spontaneous combustion of coal, the victims of which were dozens of people. The analysis of emergency situations associated with spontaneous combustion of coal shows that the existing wide range of means of preventing endogenous fires does not provide complete safety when working out coal seams prone to spontaneous combustion, therefore, spontaneous combustion places continue to occur in mines. The consequences that may arise as a result of a methane explosion initiated by a self-ignition place indicate the need to improve the used technologies. The purpose of the work is to determine the impact of modern technological solutions used in functioning mines during underground mining of flat-lying coal seams prone to spontaneous combustion, and to develop new solutions that reduce endogenous fire hazard. Conclusions on the influence of leaving coal pillars in the developed space, isolated air removal from the stoping face through the developed space, the length of the stoping face and the excavation pillar, and other factors on the danger of the formation of spontaneous combustion places are presented. Conclusions about the possibility of using modern technological solutions in future are also drawn.

Gently dipping coal seams of the Kuznetsk Coal Basin are cut exclusively by longwalls with preliminary drivage of twin gate ways. At the same time, the source of self-ignition in mines is pillars of coal left in mined-out areas. Endogenous fire hazard grows with higher losses of loose coal in mined-out areas due to a persistent increase in mining depth and in size of longwalls. This research aims at development of an alternative mining technology for gently dipping coal seams to reduce the risk of initiation of self-ignition sources in mined-out areas and at the determination of parameters of the technology elements as functions of coal seam thickness and mining depth. A new concept of preparatory works and actual mining in selfignitable coal seams is described. The study results obtained with numerical modeling of the stress-state behavior of rock mass and the developed technology elements at different stages of longwalling are presented. The studies show that endogenous fire hazard is reduced by means of extraction of coal pillar on the same line with face and due to elimination of aerological connection between the operating longwall and earlier mined-out area owing to construction of a separation belt made of solidifying materials between them. The cross-effect of the widths of the solidifying material belt and coal pillar as the elements of the developed technology is estimated.

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