What is coal mining

Acid mine drainage contaminates ground and surface water with heavy metals and toxins exposed by mining. This destroys aquatic ecosystems and water supplies that communities depend on for drinking and agriculture. During mining operations, enormous amounts of groundwater are drained from aquifers so mining companies can access coal seams — up to 10, litres per tonne of coal.

This extraction will drastically lower the water table, rendering local wells unusable and impacting nearby rivers.

Open cut mines also result in massive erosion and sedimentation of streams, wetlands and rivers. Today communities around the world — in countries as diverse as China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Australia, Colombia and South Africa — are rising up to oppose new coal mines and demand reparations and restoration for the impacts to their livelihoods and the natural environment.

This report provides estimates of the health impacts and associated economic costs of current emissions of air pollutants from coal fired power stations in South Africa. Toggle navigation. Coal Mining Hunter Valley, Australia. Featured Resources New report on public financing for coal and renewables projects One year after the Paris Agreement entered into force, are countries really shifting their financial flows to be consistent with a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions future?

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Also in Coal explained Coal Mining and transportation Where our coal comes from Imports and exports How much coal is left Use of coal Prices and outlook Coal and the environment. Renewable sources. Renewable energy. Biofuels: Ethanol and Biomass-based diesel. Further, mining industry organizations in these states work closely with state agencies to support research programs that address the specific needs of coal reserve estimation and coal mining operations.

Some state governments have provided grants for coal processing research in academic departments e. The mining industry is truly international—not only are mining operations carried out globally, but there is considerable capital, knowledge, and mined-materials flow across international boundaries to satisfy the global demand for mined and processed materials.

The coal industries in different countries have much in common, particularly with regard to health, safety, and environmental issues. Because of these similarities, there is considerable exchange of research results—developments in one country are quickly incorporated into mining practices in other countries. This global interaction is particularly facilitated by mining equipment manufacturers.

The consolidation of coal mining equipment manufacturers over the past three decades and the broad applicability of equipment across a range of mining situations have led manufacturers to work with mining clients and their own suppliers to develop evolutionary improvements to their products. In addition, equipment manufacturers invest substantial resources to improve the durability and reliability of mining equipment. Some equipment manufacturers have worked in partnership with government agencies and mining companies to develop and demonstrate new concepts e.

For some equipment manufacturers, mining equipment is only one of many product lines. The applied engineering research and development work that they conduct is generally fundamental to their production and materials processes, and the research is often proprietary and not generally available to the wider industry.

Cross-industry research under the aegis of coal companies or coal industry organizations, or with support from industry organizations, appears to be minimal.

There are no longer organizations such as Bituminous Coal Research, Inc. BCR that used to work on coal mining and coal preparation issues. Several coal companies work in partnership with government agencies and academic institutions on coal mining research projects. The importance to researchers of access to operating mines and input from mining company experts is particularly worth noting. The funds are paid to Australian Coal Research Ltd.

ACR , a company established by the industry to manage all aspects of the program. The research projects, which are conducted by university, industrial, and government-affiliated researchers, are monitored by industry representatives. Under this agreement, the government agrees to provide a certain level of funding each year to the CRC, and CRC participants agree to undertake certain activities and contribute specified personnel and resources.

This recognized the importance of developing research priorities for new technologies and joint sponsorships of chosen projects, and resulted in an NMA-DOE partnership that supported several roadmaps as part of the Mining IOF program.

The more difficult mining conditions that will be encountered in the future will require improved methods to protect the health and safety of mine work-. A range of factors increase health and safety risks to the coal mining workforce, including the introduction of new equipment and systems; the commencement of mining in virgin areas; the infusion of new workers; and the mining of multiple seams, seams that are thinner, thicker, or deeper than those customarily mined at present and new seams that underlie or overlie previously mined-out seams.

All of these factors are likely to apply to some degree in future mines, irrespective of whether the higher production scenarios suggested in some forecasts eventuate. If they do materialize, then these risks are likely to become even more pronounced.

There are major knowledge gaps and technology needs in the areas of survival, escape, communications systems both surface-to-underground and underground-to-underground , and emergency preparedness and rescue.

Additional risk factors that are likely to apply in the deeper mines of the future are the potential hazards related to methane control, dust control, ignition sources, fires, and explosions.

Greater understanding and better prediction of strata behavior to prevent unanticipated 12 roof collapse, particularly problems associated with roof and side fall during thick seam extraction, are essential for maintaining and improving worker safety.

Federal support for health and safety research significantly decreased about a decade ago, and has essentially remained constant since that time. Recommendation: Health and safety research and development should be expanded to anticipate increased hazards in future coal mines. This should be coupled with improved training of the mining workforce in all aspects of mine safety. Roof collapse is anticipated during longwall mining after the coal has been removed see Appendix E.

Most mining health and safety research by the federal government is carried out by the Mining Program at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Technology-related activities in the Mine Safety and Health Administration are limited to technical support and training services for its personnel and those from the mining industry. Coal mining has environmental impacts on air, water, and land. Actions taken to meet federal and state environmental regulations already respond to and ameliorate many of these effects.

However, there are gaps in the knowledge base related to a range of environmental issues that need to be addressed, and future changes in environmental requirements may drive the need for new coal mining and beneficiation technology.

As mining extracts coal from deeper and operationally more difficult seams by both surface and underground methods, it is likely that many existing environmental issues and concerns will be exacerbated. New concerns, particularly related to greater disturbance of hydrologic systems, ground subsidence, and waste management at mines and preparation plants, are likely to arise. Inadequate understanding of post-mining strata behavior and the associated hydrologic consequences of mining in both surface and underground mines affects mine permitting, mine development, environmental mitigation, and post-mining land use, including use for waste management.

Research offers considerable potential to mitigate the effects of past mining practices, particularly acid mine drainage on abandoned mine lands. The regulatory environment framed by such statutes as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and technical support programs administered by both state and federal agencies, and implemented by mining companies through their compliance practices, are inadequately supported by existing research programs. Recommendation: Additional research is needed to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts associated with past, existing, and future coal mining and processing.

Research activities should focus particularly on developing techniques to mitigate the alteration and collapse of strata overlying mined areas, to model the hydrological impacts of coal mining, to improve mine mapping and void detection, to improve the stability of.

The committee recommends that OSM should be the lead agency in this effort, and it should coordinate closely with related EPA and state research activities. The productivity of U. The sustained production and productivity increases that followed these changes resulted from incremental improvements in equipment and mining practices by mining companies and equipment manufacturers, and there has been little research and development on truly advanced mining technologies.

The development of advanced technologies, such as thin-seam underground mining technology or dry processing methods for western surface-mined coals, will present opportunities to recover a significant portion of potentially recoverable coal that currently is not extracted and may be permanently lost.

In situ extraction or utilization methods, while they have not found broad application in the past, may become attractive as more easily mined reserves are exhausted. Many advanced mining technologies with the potential to reduce mine hazards, such as remote sensing, continuous monitoring at the mine face, remote control, and autonomous systems, also have the potential to increase production and productivity and improve resource recovery.

Although the national coal resource is truly vast, the economically recoverable reserve base will depend on mining costs that in turn are determined by labor, environmental, and technological factors. Small percentage increases in coal recovery through improved coal preparation processes and improved mining methods, perhaps including in situ extraction, have the potential to significantly expand economically recoverable reserves of both eastern and western coals.

The global transfer of coal mining and processing technology within the industry is facilitated by international equipment manufacturers, who work. However, there is little evidence of the efficient transfer of technologies from outside the mining industry. This is at least partly due to the relatively small market that the coal mining industry represents to potential technology suppliers and the scarcity of coal mining research at academic institutions and national laboratories.

Although there is currently little federal funding for advanced mining technology to improve resource recovery, in the past the Department of Energy successfully partnered with the National Mining Association as part of the Mining Industry of the Future program. In addition, there are government-industry-academic cooperative models in other countries that are successful in directing and funding mining research e.

Research to develop advanced mining technologies requires not only cooperation among relevant federal agencies, but also participation by academic institutions as well as funding, guidance, and technology transfer by industry. The DOE Office of Fossil Energy should be the lead federal agency and should coordinate with the National Science Foundation, OSM, NIOSH, academic institutions, and the coal industry to ensure that all research activities carefully consider the environmental, reclamation, and health and safety aspects of coal mining.

Coal will continue to provide a major portion of energy requirements in the United States for at least the next several decades. It is imperative that accurate information describing the amount, location, and quality of the coal resources and reserves be available to fulfill energy needs. It is also important that the United States extract its coal resources efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible manner.

A renewed focus on federal support for coal-related research, coordinated across agencies and with the active participation of the states and industrial sector, is a critical element for each of these requirements. Coal focuses on the research and development needs and priorities in the areas of coal resource and reserve assessments, coal mining and processing, transportation of coal and coal products, and coal utilization.

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