The cessation of coal production at Herne-based RAG’s last two collieries at the end of 2018 will mark the end of several hundred years of mining in the Ruhr, Saar and Ibbenbüren coalfields in Germany. The end of the production period will immediately be followed by a decommissioning phase during which the current underground workings will have to be evacuated ...
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We Can Do Transformation in this Region – Interview with Prof. Hans-Peter Noll
For some 40 years Essen-based RAG Montan Immobilien has been helping shape structural change in North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland by way of future-oriented and sustainable development projects. Based on former mining land these initiatives range from sports centres, business parks and logistics sites through to smart, liveable urban quarters. RAG Montan Immobilien is currently responsible for around 9,400 ha of RAG ...
Read More »Meeting Technical, Ecological, and Social Challenges in the Decommissioning of Potash Mines in Eastern Germany
With annual production of almost 3.5 mt of K2O, former East Germany (GDR) was the third-largest producer of potassium, ranking behind only the Soviet Union and Canada. More than 80 % of production was intended for export, to obtain urgently required hard currency. For this reason, beginning in the 1970s, East Germany also began mining of otherwise unprofitable hard-salt deposits and ...
Read More »Progress Report on the Wismut Decommissioning Project at the Flooded Königstein Uranium Mine
Prospecting for uranium began in the Upper Cretaceous sandstones of the Elbe river valley southeast of Dresden in 1961. Systematic mine operations commenced 1964. As a response to low and decreasing ore grades alternatives to conventional mining were precociously searched for. Development of in-situ leaching technology started at the end of the sixties leading to a changed exploitation method using ...
Read More »Innovative Monitoring Measures in the Phase of Post-Mining
Mining activities often influence huge areas which can only be observed efficiently with remote sensing methods. Recently the European Programme of Earth Observation Copernicus began to offer the opportunity to pursue this monitoring with innovative attempts in the production phase as well as in the post-mining phase. The combination of spatial data gained from satellite-supported sensors allows a precise verification ...
Read More »Occupational Safety as Central Element of a Modern Open Pit Planning Project
This article calls for a better consideration as well as integration of health and safety issues into all parts of the surface mining industry and points out the strong affiliation of occupational safety and modern mine planning projects. By the example of four major occupational safety issues – slope stability, bench width and height, planning of driveways and ramps, schedule ...
Read More »Mixing Technology in Mining Applications: Make the Mixer Match
It is often necessary to stabilize the backfill material in mining applications. The spectrum can range from stabilizing powdery materials with particle sizes of a few tenths of a millimeter, to mixing filter cake with lumps larger than a human fist, to dry processing or to manufacturing nearly liquid sludges. Mixers that cost-effectively process large quantities of materials into homo-genous ...
Read More »Energy Source Uranium – Resources, Production and Adequacy
Germany is one of the first developed industrialized countries that is leaving the peaceful use of nuclear energy. It is important to note that other industrialized countries, such as Austria and Australia, did not start and Italy confirmed its exit after Fukushima (Figure 1). In addition to the risk technology “nuclear power”, two other factors have been and are still ...
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