The formation and development of faults are a manifestation of stress concentrations and energy release in crustal rocks, and faults have a great influence on the occurrence of dynamic mine disasters. This study proposed mapping technology as a fault identification method. The mapping procedure included four steps: (1) Drawing points on topographic maps. The information of topographic maps, such as elevation, rivers, and lakes was copied onto sulfuric acid paper. (2) Classifying the landform. Based on the highest and lowest points in the studied area, the minimum elevation difference was calculated and the elevation points were graded according to the minimum elevation difference. (3) Determining the block boundaries. The elevation points in the same grade were categorized into the same blocks. (4) Mapping the fault distribution. The boundaries between different blocks were considered as faults. In this regard, numbers were assigned to the faults, and a graphic scale, coordinate grid, and legends were added to the map. Fault identification for classes I–V was conducted at different scales. Fault identification for the next class always retained the previous results. Using this method, the faults in the Pingdingshan coal mining zone were divided into classes I–V. By comparing the classes with historical coal and gas outbursts, it was indicated that more than 90% of the coal and gas outbursts occurred in the vicinity of faults, especially at the intersections of multiple faults and in areas with concentrated faults. This study provided a scientific basis for predicting coal and gas outbursts.

Borehole drilling in a coal seam is an efficient way to relieve ground stress and prevent coal burst. The deformational behavior and failure mechanism of a Φ50mm×L100mm coal sample with a 2–4 mm diameter drilling hole were studied under standard burst proneness laboratory testing. The results show that with the increase in borehole diameter, the uniaxial compressive strength (RC), impact energy index (KE), and elastic energy index (WET) decrease, and the dynamic failure time (DT) is prolonged. The overall burst proneness of the seam changes from strong to weak for a 4 mm hole sample. A high speed camera and acoustic emission (AE) monitor were used to study the deformation procedure and failure mode of the samples. It is found that cracks are propagated around the drilled hole at the initial stage of the loading, and the AE event and energy are weakened around the peak load. This suggests that the hole may significantly reduce the brittleness of the sample. The numerical method is employed to provide further insights on the internal deformation characteristics; the effect of hole sizes with diameters of 2–10 mm is also discussed. This paper provides quantified analysis methodology, monitoring technology, and borehole optimization for pressure relief drilling and burst proneness reduction in high coal burst-prone seams.