PrefaceSince 1995 Siberian State Industrial University in Novokuznetsk, Russia, within the framework of International Specialized Exhibition of Mining Technologies “Russian Coal and Mining” has been holding an annual scientific conference Knowledge-based technologies in development and utilization of mineral resources, which is devoted to the problems of coal production diversification and generalization of the investigation's results, including creation of robotic and automated coal-mining and coal-processing enterprises, based on the use of the advanced technologies in coal and methane mining, complex processing of these products in the coal-mining regions and sales of energy products to consumers in the form of thermal and electric power.This year the conference was held from June 7 to June 10, 2016. The Organizers of the Conference are: Siberian State Industrial University (Novokuznetsk, Russia), Federal Research Centre of Coal and Coal Chemistry of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kemerovo, Russia), University of Science and Technology Liaoning (Anshan, China), Expo center “Kuzbass Fair” (Novokuznetsk, Russia). The event was actively supported by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation and administration of Kemerovo region and Novokuznetsk city.The conference is a recognized scientific and practical forum for professional discussions of the problems concerning state and prospects of new technologies and devices development ensuring rational use of mineral resources in the present conditions of socio-economic development of coal-mining regions. The event was attended by scientists and specialists from different institutions, companies and coal mining enterprises from Russia, Germany, Poland, Kazakhstan and the Republic of Belarus. Active participation of PhD students and young scientists is particularly noteworthy.More than 120 authors and research teams contributed their papers to the conference. The present issue of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science contains 19 specially selected research papers covering the following topics: scientific bases of new technologies of production, processing and use of mineral resources, design of modern automated control systems of mining production, development and implementation of multifunctional systems of industrial and environmental safety, improvement of forms of economic management of mining enterprises.The Organizing Committee would like to thank the Russian Foundation for Basic Research for it financial support (project No.16-05-20136 G). We also appreciate contribution of all participants into development of mining science and practice.Vice-chair of the Organizing Committee and Editor-in-chief Prof. Dr. Viktor Fryanov