Mining Development Research Articles

History of development of the Russian mining and geological information systems

History of development of the Russian mining and geological information systems

Feasibility Study on the Construction of Underground Reservoirs in Coal Goaf—A Case Study from Buertai Coal Mine, China

The construction of underground reservoirs in coal goaf is a new technology aimed to realize the sustainable development of coal mining-water storage-surface ecology in arid areas of northwest China. The key to the feasibility of this technology is that underground coal mining cannot affect the near-surface aquifer, and the amount of water entering the underground reservoir must meet the needs of the coal mine. Taking Buertai Coal Mine, one of the largest underground coal mines in the world, as an example, this article used similar simulation, numerical simulation and in-situ test methods to study the height of the water-conducting fracture zone of overlying strata and water inflow of underground reservoirs. The results show that, under the repeated mining of the 22- and 42-coal seams, the maximum height of the water-conducting fracture zone is 178 m, and the distance between the near-surface aquifer and the 42 coal is about 240 m, so the mining has little effect on the near-surface aquifer. During the mining period of the 22-coal seam, the groundwater of the Zhidan and Zhiluo Formations was mainly discharged vertically, while the groundwater of the Yanan Formation was mainly a horizontal flow during the period of the 42-coal mining. In this way, the total water inflow of Buertai Coal Mine reaches 500 m3/h, which not only meets the needs of the mine, but also, the rest of the water can irrigate about 98 hectares of farmland nearby. Underground reservoirs in coal goaf could achieve sustainable development of coal mining, groundwater storage and surface ecology in semi-arid areas.

Sustainable Development in Green Mining and Geotechnical Engineering—An Overview

The sustainable development of green mining and geotechnical engineering has become a crucial area of study in light of the increasing global efforts toward environmental conservation and responsible resource extraction [...]

Contribution of the Commission Bureau of the Ural Mining Technicians Society to the development of mining in the Urals at the beginning of the XX century.

The article considers the organization of the Commission Bureau by the Society of Ural Mining Technicians and its activities from the moment of its creation in 1903 to 1917. Since the bureau was under the jurisdiction of the OGT and was part of it, attention is paid to the generalized characteristics of the activities of the OGT, which consisted in educational and social protective work, library and exhibition business, the reasons and principles of creation are indicated Societies as a professional scientific and technical organization in the Urals during the formation of new socio-economic processes at the beginning of the XX century. The multifaceted activities of the Ural Mining Technicians Society have made a powerful contribution to the development of scientific and technical knowledge in the professional environment, contributed to the cohesion of engineers, technicians, mining workers and the development of mining in the Urals. The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze the work of the Commission Bureau in the context of the activities of the Society of Ural Mining Technicians in the pre–revolutionary period, whose work has not been fully investigated in the scientific literature. Currently, the importance of the social experience of the UGT is of great interest for the study and preservation of respect for the historical past of the Ural region. The authors traced and analyzed in detail the characteristic features of the activity and the main functions performed by the Commission Bureau, which were limited not only to mediation between the seller and the buyer on commission terms, but also other powers. The article substantiates the creation of a reference bureau in the structure of the Commission Bureau, as well as a warehouse for technical products and repair shops. Based on the studied material, the effectiveness of the Commission Bureau within the framework of the Society of Ural Mining Technicians and the expansion of its capabilities are revealed, the popularity of the Commission Bureau among mining engineers, technicians and factory owners is justified. The nature of the interaction between the Society of Ural Mining Technicians and the Commission Bureau was determined, which consisted not only in publications in the journal Uralsky Technik, but also in mediation in the purchase of machinery, materials and land, organization of repair and storage of equipment, as well as material support to the Board of the OGT. В статье рассмотрены организация Комиссионного бюро Обществом уральских горных техников и его деятельность с момента создания в 1903 г. до 1917 г. Поскольку бюро находилось в ведении ОУГТ и входило в его состав, уделено внимание обобщенной характеристике деятельности ОУГТ, заключавшейся в просветительской и социально-защитной работе, библиотечном и выставочном деле, обозначены причины и принципы создания Общества как профессиональной научно-технической организации на Урале в период складывания новых социально-экономических процессов начала XX в. Многогранная деятельность Общества уральских горных техников внесла мощный вклад в развитие научно-технических знаний в профессиональной среде, способствовала сплочению инженеров, техников, горнозаводских рабочих и развитию горного дела на Урале. Цель исследования – описание и анализ работы Комиссионного бюро в контексте деятельности Общества уральских горных техников в дореволюционный период, работа которого недостаточно полно исследована в научной литературе. В настоящее время значимость социального опыта ОУГТ представляет большой интерес для изучения и сохранения бережного отношения к историческому прошлому Уральского региона. Авторы подробно проследили и проанализировали характерные особенности деятельности и основные функции, выполняемые Комиссионным бюро, которые ограничивались не только посредничеством между продавцом и покупателем на условиях комиссии, но и другими полномочиями. В статье обосновано создание в структуре Комиссионного бюро справочного бюро, а также склада технической продукции и ремонтных мастерских. На основании изученного материала выявлена эффективность деятельности Комиссионного бюро в рамках Общества уральских горных техников и расширение его возможностей, обоснована популярность Комиссионного бюро в среде горных инженеров, техников и заводовладельцев. Определен характер взаимодействия Общества уральских горных техников и Комиссионного бюро, который заключался не только в публикациях в журнале «Уральский техник», но и в посредничестве при закупе техники, материалов и земель, организации ремонта и хранения оборудования, а также материальной поддержки Правления ОУГТ.

Geological Investigation of Clay Minerals (Swelling) Pt. Upb Antam Pongkor Bogor, West Java, Indoneisa

Rocks containing clay minerals can experience rock deformation when interacting with water, this can also caused by the argillic zone, in the underground tunnel at the Unfoloader 600 and Xc 600 loop 2 ciurug. The argillic process that causes actual material swelling that occurs in field causes rock mass around the mining development area to become weak. The location from tunnel cross cut of Unfoloader 600 and Xc 600 loop 2 contain active clay minerals which high percentage composition of swelling mineral material. The Unfoloader 600 location has a mineral swelling composition of 102.94% with 24 hours, justifying potential very high swelling. The minerals present based on XRD testing 70.8% illite, 25.4% kaolinite, 25.4% kaolinite and 3.8% montmorillonite. Location Xc 600 loop 2 has a mineral swelling composition of 131.25% with 24 hours, justifying potential for very high swelling. The minerals present based on XRD testing illite 49.7%, kaolinite 28.7%, quartz 20.3%, and montmorillonite 1.2%. The values obtained based on laboratory form free swelling tests and XRD that the location experienced of rock deformation, it’s swelling in the mining development area.

Central-Eastern Europe as a centre of Middle Ages extractive metallurgy

Central-eastern to southeastern Europe, from Bohemia to Greece is home to some of the richest ore deposits on earth, with archaeological evidence suggesting a long history of metal use. However, the exact timing and extent of past metal processing activities remains unclear. The Middle Ages and Early Modern period (c. 500–1800 common era (CE)) in Europe, saw the expansion of metal use at an unprecedented scale, continent-wide. Here we analysed rates of past atmospheric lead (Pb) deposition in six peat bogs from Romania, Serbia and Greece. We show that after 1000 CE, the redevelopment of central European mining industry was synchronous with Pb pollution in southeastern Europe, with the onset of metal pollution occurring in the area prior to central Europe. Therefore, southeastern Europe may have led regional mining developments, with technological advances rapidly shifting from east to west through the Middle Ages. This indicates how southeastern Europe should be included in future discussions of Middle Age metallurgy not simply as a contributor, but at times as a leader in metal production.

Efficient remediation of cadmium and lead contaminated soil in coal mining areas by MICP application in hydrothermal carbon-based bacterial agents: Nucleation pathways and mineralization mechanisms

The development of industrial mining has resulted in a large amount of Cd and Pb polluting the soil in mining areas, and leads to adverse health effects on the life of both plants and animals. Here, a soft template method was conducted to prepare hydrothermal carbon (HC) with regular morphology, which assisted with Bacillus pasteurii to induce calcite precipitation for decontamination of mining soil. Soil remediation experiments over 30 days of remediation with an HC microbial agent (HCMA) resulted in 89.4% and 87.8% decrease in the amount of leached Cd and Pb, respectively. The content of exchangeable Cd and Pb decreased by 76.1% and 81.0%, respectively. At the same time, soil fertility significantly improved. The electrostatic potential and surface charge distribution of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and sodium citrate (NaCit) were analyzed using DFT simulations, their nucleophilic and electrophilic regions were determined, and the nucleation mechanism was determined. The DFT results indicated that the oxygen-containing groups of EPS and NaCit had strong negative electrostatic potential and electronegativity, which could cause Cd2+, Pb2+, and Ca2+ to aggregate on their surfaces. They also combined with CO32− produced by urease during the decomposition of urea, resulting in Cd2+ and Pb2+ being encapsulated by calcium carbonate to form a coprecipitate. X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that the precipitate was mainly calcite calcium carbonate, which is more stable and less prone to secondary leaching of HMs. The gathered data prove the significant role of HCMA in remediation of mining soil contaminated with Cd and Pb.

Wind speed effect on infrared-image-based coal and gangue recognition with liquid intervention in LTCC

The commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 makes the clean transition of fossil energy production inevitable in China. As the primary fossil energy source, China produced approximately 4.66 billion tons of raw coal in 2023. Among them, in the fields of mining engineering and environmental science, the accurate recognition of gangue (one of the environmental pollutants produced by coal combustion is black-gray solid waste) from coal is crucial because it is a key step in reducing resource waste and environmental pollution. Hence, coal and gangue automatic recognition with high accuracy is very important for intelligent longwall top coal caving (LTCC) mining. A novel approach of “liquid intervention + infrared detection” is introduced to enhance the recognition accuracy when the exterior color of coal and gangue is similar. This study focuses on the infrared image recognition of coal and gangue after liquid intervention under varying wind speed conditions, and optimizes the image processing path. The effect of varying wind speed conditions on the recognition accuracy of coal and gangue after liquid intervention was analyzed, and the optimal wind speed range was determined. The morphological evolution characteristics of droplets under varying wind field conditions were studied by COMSOL two-phase flow interface. The results show that with the increase of wind speed, the surface contour of coal is gradually clear, and the overall recognition accuracy is also improved. When the high wind speed is 1.55 m/s, the recognition accuracy reaches 99.89%, and the recognition accuracy of other wind speed regions is also above 90% (within 7s). In addition, the numerical simulation can maintain the volume fraction of the droplet in a short time under the constant flow wind flow field, thus inhibiting the phenomenon that the recognition accuracy decreases with time. The simulation results are in good agreement with the physical experimental phenomena, which proves the reliability of the numerical simulation. This study is of great significance to the recognition of coal gangue types with low identification characteristics in LTCC, so as to ensure the primary economic benefits, ecological environment safety and sustainable development of coal mines.

Research on Enhancing Gas Extraction Efficiency through CO2 Gas Fracturing in Outburst-Prone Coal Seams.

Given the background of significant Coal Mine gas disasters worldwide, the research and development of efficient gas control technologies have become critical to ensuring mining safety. CO2 gas fracturing (CO2-Frac), an innovative technology for Coal Mine gas control, has demonstrated efficiency in various mining areas across China. However, its application in outburst-prone coal seams is not yet fully understood. This study presents a field-scale CO2-Frac project conducted in an outburst Coal Mine in China, specifically the Pingshu Coal Mine, where the previously employed dense-borehole gas extraction technology failed to efficiently achieve gas extraction and outburst prevention. The CO2-Frac plan was evaluated through fracture propagation experiments utilizing both single-hole and dual-hole configurations, highlighting the advantages of the dual-hole CO2-Frac method. Subsequently, on-site gas extraction tests were conducted to further assess the efficacy of the CO2-Frac plan. The results indicate that (1) In the dual-hole CO2-Frac scheme, the fractured and pressure relief area expanded to approximately 26.82 m2, which is 220% larger than that of the single-hole scheme. (2) The dual-hole CO2-Frac significantly enhanced gas extraction effectiveness, increasing the flow rate from 0.026 to 0.216 m3/min in a 100m borehole, a 7.3-fold improvement. Additionally, the gas extraction period to reach the standard was reduced from 20 to 6 days. These findings conclusively demonstrate that the dual-hole CO2-Frac technique is an effective method for safe excavation in outburst-prone coal seams, providing both theoretical and practical validation for its application in similar geological settings.

Drivers and barriers of voluntary sustainability initiatives in mining raw materials for batteries

The increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EV) is growing demand for battery raw materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. The potential for Voluntary Sustainability Initiatives (VSI) to mitigate the social and environmental impacts of mine development and operation is now in focus as resource supply scales rapidly. This study examines and synthesizes the drivers and barriers that influence extractive companies to voluntarily adopt sustainability initiatives, including certification and reporting, to mitigate social and environmental impacts. The methodology involved a thematic analysis of articles, initially identified through a systematic keyword search and further expanded with a snowball search technique. Thematic insights were classified and mapped against actors operating within the lithium-ion battery value-chain. The research found that drivers for adopting voluntary sustainability initiatives include maintaining market access, and addressing the increased need for frameworks to facilitate communication between companies and local communities. Barriers encompass short-term greenwashing undermining VSI legitimacy, and the lack of comprehensiveness of such initiatives regarding risk identification and risk mitigation for responsibly sourced commodities.

Discovery and Underground Mining of Large Deposits: Essential Training to Ensure Copper Supply

Editor’s note: The aim of the Geology and Mining series is to introduce early career professionals and students to various aspects of mineral exploration, development, and mining in order to share the experiences and insight of each author on the myriad of topics involved with the mineral industry and the ways in which geoscientists contribute to each. Abstract A supply shortfall of at least 6 million tonnes (Mt) Cu is expected by 2031—with total demand now forecast to increase from 25 Mt in 2023 to >36 Mt, and possibly to a suggested 50 Mt by 2050—given the present trend in demand. The deficit can be partially filled by increased mine production, expanding currently installed mine production capacity, and increasing Cu recycling. However, satisfying demand in 2050 as the demand-to-mining supply gap increases will require the accelerated discovery of at least five large Cu deposits—individually producing >0.5 to >1.0 Mt/yr Cu—and their related mine development, by 2030. These five deposit discoveries are required to replace mines scheduled to close in the 2050s, given the >20 years needed to take a deposit from discovery to mine production. The two largest sources of Cu supply, porphyry and sediment-hosted Cu deposits, can potentially fill the gap if enough discoveries are made; however, there is no evidence that this is about to occur. Future porphyry Cu discoveries are expected to be mined underground, mostly by a caving method. The demand increase is occurring at a time when the capital intensity of porphyry Cu mine development has almost doubled since 2006. We predict that the only solution to the future Cu demand-supply challenge for society and the mining industry in the short to medium term rests with simple demand-supply economics and a substantially increased Cu price. Copper substitution by other materials and recycling could potentially benefit from a significantly increased price; however, the major advantage will be conferred on deposits amenable to open-pit mining that are undeveloped because of price-dependent, failed feasibility studies. The challenge of possibly doubling Cu supply by ca. 2050 through developing mines on large Cu deposits—both discovered and undiscovered, in an unprecedented number and in a shorter period—will require a major increase in the number of competent mining industry personnel. This comes at a time when the industry faces an aging workforce, leading to a critical skills gap compounded by a chronic shortage of students graduating in the sciences and engineering with mining-related university degrees. There is an acute shortage of experienced professionals in cave mining, and the substantial number of open-pit mining professionals who are predicted to retire by 2030 will need to be replaced. On-the-job training of geoscientists and engineers after graduation, delivered by experienced practitioners through university-accredited professional development programs, is suggested as the solution.

Analysis of thermal production effect of multi-horizontal U-shaped well

The multi-horizontal section hot dry rock (HDR) heat extraction system is proposed for efficient deep geothermal resources mining in this study. The thermal-hydraulic numerical model of the multi-horizontal section geothermal exploitation system is set up, the space-time evolution of temperature field is analyzed. The sensitivity factors including completion schemes, horizontal well diameter, quantity of horizontal sections and spacing of horizontal sections are investigated. The simulation results show that the production temperature and heating power of the multi-horizontal HDR production system decrease with the development of mining, and the decreasing speed gradually slows down. The open hole completion can be preferred when the formation conditions permit. The variation of horizontal well diameter has little effect on heat production when other conditions remain unchanged. The quantity of horizontal sections to be 3 or 4 for better heat extraction performance under the spacing of horizontal section remains 300m and the spacing of the horizontal section to be 150m is recommended within the scoped of this study. The results of this study can provide guidance for HDR mining research.

Effects of groundwater level changes on soil characteristics and vegetation response in arid and semiarid coal mining areas.

Coal mining in arid and semiarid regions often leads to numerous ecological and environmental problems, such as aquifer depletion, lake shrinkage, vegetation degradation, and surface desertification. The drainage from coal mining activities is a major driving force in the evolution of the groundwater-soil-vegetation system. In order to explore the effect of groundwater level fluctuation on soil properties and the response mechanism of surface vegetation in coal mining areas, this study is based on hydrogeological and ecological vegetation investigations in the Bojianghaizi Basin, and soil and vegetation samples are collected in the areas with different groundwater levels, and soil and vegetation indexes are analyzed with the aid of methods such as numerical statistics, linear regression, and correlation analysis with the aid of the Origin software. The results show that there is a significant negative correlation between groundwater table (GWT) and soil water content (SWC), soil conductivity, soil organic matter (SOM), soil available nitrogen (SAN), and soil available potassium (SAK). Mining activities have led to the destruction of the soil structure, greatly reducing its ability to retain water and fertilizer. The contents of SWC, SOM, and SAN in the mining area are significantly reduced, which are at least 49.73%, 47.56% and 59.90% lower than those around the mining area. On the northern and southern sides of the lake, serious soil salinization exists in the lakeshore zone where the depth to the water table is <0.5m, and the water required for the growth of vegetation here mainly comes from the groundwater, so there are only a few water-loving and saline-resistant plants; when the depth to the water table is 0.5-7m, the growth of surface vegetation is influenced by the double impacts of the water table and atmospheric precipitation with a high degree of species richness; when the depth to the water table is >7m, the surface vegetation is only dependent on the limited atmospheric precipitation for water. When the depth of groundwater is >7m, the surface vegetation only relies on limited atmospheric precipitation for water, and drought-tolerant plants mainly grow in these areas. This study not only provides a scientific basis for the sustainable development and environmental protection of similar mines in the world, but also has important significance in guiding the ecological management and rational utilization of water resources in coal mine areas. What is more, This study provides valuable insights into sustainable water resource management in arid and semi-arid regions, crucial for mitigating the ecological impacts of coal mining activities.

Experimentation of Heat-Insulating Materials for Surrounding Rocks in Deep Mines and Simulation Study of Temperature Reduction

With the increasing depletion of shallow resources, mining has gradually shifted to deeper levels, and the high-temperature problem of deep mining has restricted the efficient and safe development of mining. In this study, five types of thermal insulation materials for surrounding rocks with different ratios were produced using tailings, P.O.32.5 clinker, aluminum powder, glass beads, quick lime, and slaked lime as test materials. Based on the uniaxial compression test, the thermal constant analysis test, and numerical simulation analysis technology, the change rule of mortar compressive strength and thermal conductivity was analyzed, and the cooling effect of surrounding-rock thermal insulation materials with different ratios was discussed. The results showed that the compressive strength of the surrounding-rock thermal insulation materials ranged from 0.39 to 0.53 MPa, and the thermal conductivity ranged from 0.261 to 0.387 W/(K·m), with the compressive strength of ratio E being the largest and the thermal conductivity of ratio A being the lowest. In the numerical simulation analysis results, the thermal insulation layer thickness was taken as a value of 10 cm when, at this time, the best thermal insulation effect and economic benefits involved a temperature reduction of 0.9 K. In the case of changing the thermal conductivity and inlet wind speed, the original temperature of the rock temperature reduction was also very clear, with maximum reductions of 0.92 K, 0.92 K, and 1.42 K.

Extracting minerals for the energy transition – Local data for global decision making

Strong long-term demand outlooks are driving investments in energy transition minerals. New mines must be developed to supply the 34 minerals necessary for low-carbon energy technologies and infrastructure. Responsible investment is critical to ensure that mining for the energy transition does not come at unacceptable social and environmental costs. Investment decisions rely on access to site-level information. Achieving both reliable and sustainable mineral supply chains is a complex proposition that requires deep local-level knowledge for all sites across the supply chain. This paper analyses a global dataset of local disclosures for 444 geolocated mining projects hosting the bulk of future energy transition minerals supply. The dataset captures disclosures related to the interactions between mining projects and their local context and connects a supply source point and its host context to global supply chains. Our analysis reveals the paucity of local-level data, with 37% of analysed records containing no context-related disclosure, and another 30% containing minimal, compliance-centred disclosure. We also find evidence of disclosure not matching reality, e.g. 78% of records of projects intersecting Indigenous peoples land do not have Indigenous people-related disclosures. These findings put into question the capacity of investors and governments to make informed decisions about mining development, including which sites to develop and how. We also analyse the magnitude and types of costs incurred at mine sites and find that 12% of projects face or have faced severe costs originating from interactions with the local context. We stress the need for full local disclosures to ensure responsible governance and investment in the mining sector.

Transcriptomic Analysis of Antimony Response in Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea)

Antimony (Sb) is a toxic trace element for plants and animals. With the development of industrial applications and mining, Sb pollution is becoming more serious. Phytoremediation is regarded as an eco-friendly technique to reduce the threat of Sb to the environment and human health, and tall fescue that is highly adaptable to heavy metal stress can be a candidate species for Sb-contaminated soil phytoremediation. However, the mechanism of the Sb stress response in tall fescue is not clear. Therefore, transcriptomic analysis was used in this study to reveal the molecular mechanisms of Sb stress response regulation in tall fescue. The results suggested that the roots and leaves of tall fescue responded to Sb stress in different ways. In roots, the lignin and flavonoids might reduce the toxicity of Sb by anti-oxidation and Sb chelation. At the same time, the DEGs in leaves were mainly enriched in the pathways of glutathione metabolism, β-alanine metabolism, and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism. Additionally, genes related to the pathways, such as 4CL, GST, AGXT2, and ALDH7A1, especially cytochrome P450 family genes (e.g., CYP73A, CYP75A, and CYP98A), might play key roles in the regulation of the Sb stress response in tall fescue. These findings provided a theoretical reference for the efficient use of tall fescue to control Sb-contaminated soil in the future.

Promoting Sustainable Development of Coal Mines: CNN Model Optimization for Identification of Microseismic Signals Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing in Coal Seams

Borehole hydraulic fracturing in coal seams can prevent dynamic coal mine disasters and promote the sustainability of the mining industry, and microseismic signal recognition is a prerequisite and foundation for microseismic monitoring technology that evaluates the effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing. This study constructed ultra-lightweight CNN models specifically designed to identify microseismic waveforms induced by borehole hydraulic fracturing in coal seams, namely Ul-Inception28, Ul-ResNet12, Ul-MobileNet17, and Ul-TripleConv8. The three best-performing models were selected to create both a probability averaging ensemble CNN model and a voting ensemble CNN model. Additionally, an automatic threshold adjustment strategy for CNN identification was introduced. The relationships between feature map entropy, training data volume, and model performance were also analyzed. The results indicated that our in-house models surpassed the performance of the InceptionV3, ResNet50, and MobileNetV3 models from the TensorFlow Keras library. Notably, the voting ensemble CNN model achieved an improvement of at least 0.0452 in the F1 score compared to individual models. The automatic threshold adjustment strategy enhanced the identification threshold’s precision to 26 decimal places. However, a continuous zero-entropy value in the feature maps of various channels was found to detract from the model’s generalization performance. Moreover, the expanded training dataset, derived from thousands of waveforms, proved more compatible with CNN models comprising hundreds of thousands of parameters. The findings of this research significantly contribute to the prevention of dynamic coal mine disasters, potentially reducing casualties, economic losses, and promoting the sustainable progress of the coal mining industry.

Data-driven visual model development and 3D visual analytics framework for underground mining

Data visualisation is broadly utilised to aid in presenting complex information, facilitating decision-making, and enhancing operational efficiency in the mining sector. However, due to the extensive utilisation of CAD files and the complexity and difficulty of converting 2D drawings into 3D models, it is challenging to realise (near) real-time 3D data visualisation in mining applications. The difficulties are including site drawing complexity, lack of standardisation, time-consuming cleaning, and imperative manual intervention. This paper addresses these challenges by focusing on an automatic, data-driven approach for 3D visual model development in mining, with an emphasis on lifetime support and sustainability. Therefore, we introduce standardised visual model data diagram and proposed conversion workflows to leverage digitised 2D drawings in automatic 3D visual model development. Moreover, to improve visualisation efficiency and facilitate visual analytics construction in mining, this paper also proposes a 3D tile index methodology for efficient visual model reconstruction and generic production data integration. To ensure lifetime support and sustainable development in visualisation, we propose two model expansion schemes: one based on dxf file-driven model development, and the other one is interaction-oriented 3D model design and development, which the two schemes share the same data exchange and conversion workflows. Furthermore, to facilitate data fusion among various datasets, we also provide insights into revealing spatial–temporal patterns among multimodality data by real-time visualisation. These advancements aim to propel the field of underground mining visualisation, offering significant insights into enhancing the efficiency and safety of mining operations.

Diversification of chrysotile asbestos industry using resource-saving technologies: Risks and economic development of chrysotile mining and processing

Diversification of chrysotile asbestos industry using resource-saving technologies: Risks and economic development of chrysotile mining and processing

Enhanced fire suppression in coal mining—Development of konjac glucomannan-based bio-gel with coal slime

Based on the concept of green mines and in response to the country's call for resource conservation and environmental protection, konjac glucomannan (KGM) was combined with acrylamide (AM), acrylic acid (AA) and coal slime (SM) to prepare a new biodegradable fire prevention gel (AA-AM-KGM/SM). The experimental results show that when the KGM: AM: AA: SM was 1: 9: 6: 5, the mass percentage of cross-linker was 6.3 %, and the mass percentage of initiator was 0.5 %, the AA-AM-KGM/SM gel has the best water absorption and water retention performance. FTIR and x-ray diffraction analysis showed that the graft copolymerization took place among the components, and the amorphous structure was formed. The strong adhesive force between coal slime and KGM skeleton was observed by scanning electron microscope, which proved that the colloid has strong adsorption ability to coal slime, there are pores in the overall structure, and the elements are distributed uniformly and densely. Through the analysis of the flame retardant and anti-oxidation properties of the samples and the heat release rate and smoke release rate of the coal samples mixed with the fireproof gel, it is proved that the developed gel can effectively prevent the accumulation of heat and the generation of harmful gases during the oxidation combustion of coal, showing a certain fire extinguishing effect. The mechanism of gelation and flame retardation of the fireproofing gel was further explained by molecular dynamics simulation. Therefore, AA-AM-KGM/SM gel can effectively inhibit the oxidation of coal, and is an ideal fire-proof material.