Assessing the impact of climate change on Ha Tu coal mine, Quang Ninh province

Abstract

Climate change has been affecting the socio-economic life of Quang Ninh province in general, and the coal mining activities of many companies, including Ha Tu Coal Joint Stock Company in particular. By the methods of collection, synthesis, statistics, field survey, and public consultation, this study has evaluated the climate condition of the study region and the impact of climate change on the coal mines in the past. The environmental incident of landslides caused by heavy rain in 2015 has filled rivers and streams and destroyed infrastructure. According to the scenario of climate change for Quang Ninh province by 2100 (B2), the regional temperature will increase by 2.50C, and the rainfall will increase by 7.3% compared to the period 1980÷1999. The study predicted the potential impacts of climate change on mining operations in the future such as the increased risk of landslides, floods, geological hazards, the drawdown of groundwater levels, and subsidence of the ground surface at the mining site. By the forecast results, the larger the mining depth is, the higher the radius affected by the lowering of the groundwater level will become, which can be up to 2.4 km compared to the mining area. In addition, the increase in temperature will be one of the factors that cause difficulties for production activities, affect the health of workers, slow down the process of reclamation and restoration of the mine environment, and increase electricity and water costs, etc. The study also proposed several technical and management solutions to reduce the risk and respond to environmental incidents before the impact of climate change on the Ha Tu coal mine towards sustainable development.