This development allows deposits not to have external dumps.
Kuzbass State Technical University (KuzSTU) was reported to have offered a solution aiming at improving the efficiency of the majority of open-cast coal mines in the Kuzbass Region. Some enterprises have already adopted the technology. The University's Press Office, in particular, mentioned SibGiproShaht, a design institute involved in the planning of underground and open-cast mines, preparation plants, and modernisation of mining enterprises.
The development will help reduce the allocation of land plots for storing mineral waste from open-cut mines. It will positively impact the environmental friendliness of open-pit coal mining. Besides, extracting companies will have a chance to lower expenditures for transporting overburden rock.
"Through analysing design options relating to open-cast coal mines in Kuzbass, we have found out that waste rock is rarely stored inside mined-out areas. Most projects are based on outdated regulatory and legal documents, meaning the same process design solutions were often repeated," notes Alexei Selyukov, the author of the development, D.Sc., Head of the Department of Open Pit Mining at Kuzbass State Technical University.
Selyukov proposed the longwall retreat open-cut mining method using the mined-out space as reservoirs for rubbish dumping. His idea formed the basis for the KuzSTU's development, which includes several process solutions based on possible combinations of technical standards adhered to at a particular deposit. Additionally, complex solutions for reclamation of abandoned mines sections and dumps were elaborated, which may have good potential as socially beneficial or environmental sites.
Let us remind that scientists from Bashkir State University presented an innovative technology for recycling oil sludge. Sludge is a water-containing mixture of petroleum products with clay, sand, and metal oxides, which accumulates during the hydrocarbon extraction and processing and causes considerable harm to nature.
