Sr. Harrison, Opportunities, not threats: how today's coal-mining industry can resolve problems created by past mining, T I MIN M-A, 109, 2000, pp. A157-A164
Citations number
5
Categorie Soggetti
Geological Petroleum & Minig Engineering
Journal title
Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. Section A, Mining technology
Viewed simply, the legacies of coal mining may appear to present insurmount
able problems for the environment, local communities and developers. From a
different perspective, however, these 'problems' can be transformed into c
hallenges and opportunities. The impact of previous coal-mining activity on
today's society can be subdivided into hazards for health and safety (e.g.
the production and release of harmful mine gases into the atmosphere), lan
dscape despoliation (e.g. unsightly and unrestored spoil tips), environment
al and agricultural impacts (e.g. inadequate soil restoration on early open
cast sites) and ground instability (e.g. arising from the presence of shall
ow mine workings). Careful planning, design and implementation, coupled wit
h a partnership approach between mining companies, the local community and
statutory authorities, can allow many of these problems to be minimized, ma
naged and, possibly, eradicated while allowing the exploitation of valuable
reserves of coal.
Three opencast coal sites where past mining has had a particular impact are
used to illustrate how problems created in the past can be rectified and h
ighlight some of the design and operational difficulties that can be encoun
tered on such projects.