Application of a Backfilling Method in Coal Mining to Realise an Ecologically Sensitive “Black Gold” Industry

Abstract

China, as the largest coal-producing and -consuming country in the world, is highly dependent on its coal industry, or "Black Gold" industry, for the national energy and economy. The consequent environmental crises, however, have persisted for decades, and the most serious effect is surface subsidence induced by underground mining. Underground coal excavation in China has ignored this problem for thousands of years, even though it causes conspicuous damage to the surface ecosystem and construction projects due to the subsidence of overlying strata. This study recommends paste backfilling to replace the space originally occupied by coal resources to avoid such subsidence and proposes backfilling schemes for two mainstream mining methods used in China's collieries, namely, continuous mining and fully mechanised coal mining. These methodologies have been successfully implemented in some collieries, and the gob area can be backfilled immediately to prevent surface subsidence. To promote an ecological OPEN ACCESSEnergies 2015, 8 3629 ideology when conflict exists between economic profits and environmental protection, experience from developed countries should be considered, support and appropriate legislation from the government are essential, and the perspective of colliery managers should be taken into account, and further in-depth study on strata subsidence and backfilling material must be pursued.

Exploitation Contradictions Concerning Multi-Energy Resources among Coal, Gas, Oil, and Uranium: A Case Study in the Ordos Basin (Western North China Craton and Southern Side of Yinshan Mountains)

“…Hence, it is unwise to explore coal resources at a higher cost. Furthermore, coal production in the eastern or southern regions of China is known for its high cost, serious environment pollution, and unresolved technological problems [4]. Based on the aforementioned analysis, new energy resource bases should move to the western and northern regions of China, and the latest "Energy Development Strategic Action Plan from 2014 to 2020" released by the General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China confirms this notion [5].…”

“…After the termination of uranium, large-scale surface and underground radioactive elements monitoring must still be conducted to guarantee absolute safety. Coal mining can then continue at the original site, and a backfilling measure can be applied to protect the underground water system without a preliminary water drainage procedure in aquifer strata [4].…”

“…Hence, it is unwise to explore coal resources at a higher cost. Furthermore, coal production in the eastern or southern regions of China is known for its high cost, serious environment pollution, and unresolved technological problems [4]. Figure 2 displays all large coal-bearing basins in China and their dominating mountains.…”

Green and Sustainable Mining: Underground Coal Mine Fully Mechanized Solid Dense Stowing-Mining Method

“…Currently, Chinese coal industry occupies more than one-third of global coal production with annual production up to about 3.5-4 billion tons, in which at least 2.5 billion tons coming from underground mining. However, together with the high-intensity exploitation of coal resource, a series of problems concerning environment, ecological, and geological destructions and damage have inevitably occurred [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

“…In addition to the common concerns of air pollution and greenhouse gas emission which are caused by coal combustion, the underground coal mining process causes more serious and permanent destruction, including land resource subsidence and occupation, water resource loss and pollution, air pollution, as well as ecological damage and degradation [1,2,4,[7][8][9][10][11].…”