Parameters of Transition from Deepening Longitudinal to Continuous Lateral Surface Mining Methods to Decrease Environmental Damage in Coal Clusters

Abstract

<jats:p>The present paper deals with an original way to reduce the environmental damage caused to land and air resources by surface coal mines with external dumping, due to the transition to internal dumping with filling the worked out space of the surface mine with overburden. The basic principle of the proposed idea is the transition from the deepening longitudinal mining method for the development of inclined and steep coal seam strata to lateral ones. This article substantiates the choice of technology for a block-and-layer continuous lateral mining method, including the construction of a first-stage pit, the use of a combined transport and direct dumping technology for moving overburden to an internal dump when mining blocks using draglines. The advantage of the presented technology, along with filling the internal capacity of the surface mine field with overburden, is the possibility of leveling the relief within the boundaries of the pit allotment and the implementation of reclamation as the mining front moves forward, without waiting for the dump to be completely filled in the boundary contours. Attention is also paid to the economic benefits of block-layer technology and the continuous lateral mining method, in the transition to which the overburden transporting costs can be significantly reduced, while the limitations of the proposed method’s implementation concern specific coal deposits that make up a small part of the fields being developed today by surface mining.</jats:p>

Analysis of Trends of the Sustainable Development Strategy of Coal Industry in Kuzbass

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Stimulating Environmental Investments in the “Green” Economy of Eurasia

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Histogram Method for Determining the Location of the Internal Dump in Coal Open Pits

“…Over the past twenty years, the volume of coal production in Kuzbass (Western Siberia, Russia) -the largest coal basin in the country -has been steadily increasing, reaching 220 million tons by 2020 [1], with a prospect of 320 million tons by 2030 [2 ]. In accordance with this, the annually recoverable volumes of overburden, placed in internal and external dumps, will reach 1.6 billion m 3 [3][4]. As a result, the deterioration of the ecological situation in the clusters of opencast mining [5][6][7], along with the issues of ensuring safe labor at mining enterprises [8][9], becomes the object of the closest attention of scientists [10].…”