LEGISLATION AND RIGHTS
Original Paper
UDC 622.014.3:351.823.3 © S.V. Chmykhalova, V.Yu. Grishin, I.A. Pytalev, 2023
ISSN 0041-5790 (Print) • ISSN 2412-8333 (Online) • Ugol’ – Russian Coal Journal, 2023, № 1, pp. 70-75
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18796/0041-5790-2023-1-70-75
Title
CHALLENGES IN THE COAL MINING INDUSTRY, LIFE CYCLE OF COAL MINING OPERATIONS, AND SUBSEQUENT RECLAMATION OF DISTURBED LANDS
Authors
Chmykhalova S.V.1, Grishin V.Yu.2, Pytalev I.A.3
1National Research University of Science and Technology (MISIS), Moscow, 119049, Russian Federation
2Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 107996, Russian Federation
3Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, 455000, Russian Federation
Authors Information
Chmykhalova S.V., PhD (Engineering), Associate Professor Department of Mining Safety and Ecology
Grishin V.Yu., PhD (Engineering), Project Director Coal Industry Department, e-mail:GrishinVY @minenergo.gov.ru
Pytalev I.A., Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Professor, Director of the Mining Engineering and Transport Institute
Abstract
At the end of the 20th Century and early in the 21st Century, the mining industry faced serious problems and challenges that required solutions and changes in the internal policies of the mining companies. First and foremost is the attitude towards the lands disturbed by mining operations. Rock dumps, industrial sites, land subsidences and sags, surface excavations, ash and sludge storage pits, hydraulic engineering structures for water treatment, lands polluted with harmful chemical elements, etc. disturb the natural condition of the area and create man-made topography, which is not suitable for further economic activities. An analysis of the activities of a mining operation has shown that, similarly to all processes in animate and inanimate nature, it proceeds in time, i.e. it has its beginning, development and ending, in other words, it has its "life cycle". At present, the Russian Federation is noted to lag behind in restoration (reclamation) of lands disturbed by mining operations. The authors analyzed the factors that affect organization and execution of reclamation activities on the disturbed lands at the mining sites.
It was established that such factors include deficiencies in the legal framework that regulates relations during the reclamation of disturbed lands; clarification of the "reclamation" concept with account of the specific features of restoring the lands disturbed by the mining operations. Lands disturbed by mining have to be returned to a new economic turnover, and are to be regarded as components of the natural environment that are shaped immediately during the development of the balance reserves. Improvement of legislation can become a solid basis for large-scale activities on rehabilitation of lands disturbed by mining.
Keywords
Lifecycle of a mining operation, Coal industry, Disturbed and depleted lands, Man-made topography, Recultivation, Return to a new economic turnover, Ecological and social development of the region.
References
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For citation
Chmykhalova S.V., Grishin V.Yu., Pytalev I.A. Challenges in the coal mining industry, life cycle of coal mining operations, and subsequent reclamation of disturbed lands. Ugol’, 2023, (1), pp. 70-75. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.18796/0041-5790-2023-1-70-75.
Paper info
ReceivedNovember 14, 2022
Reviewed November 30, 2022
Accepted December 26, 2022
