The shutdown of hard coal production in 2018 implicates a challenge in deriving of physical and chemical parameters of mine water in situ. Finishing underground activities is going along with a limitation of alternative application of monitoring methods. This report is focussing on measures to derive sufficient information about water rebound in former mines. Exemplarily results of an underground monitoring ...
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Integrated Monitoring of Rising Mine Water Levels in the Hard Coalfields of North Rhine-Westphalia – a System under Development
The year 2020 marked the start of an integrated process aimed at monitoring rising mine water levels in the former hard coal mining industry of the Ruhr coalfield and the Ibbenbüren coalfield. This paper presents the different topics that are to be dealt with and the assessment strategy that has been laid down for the monitoring operation and also examines ...
Read More »Abandoned Mine Workings in Western USA – Legal, Organisational and Technical Challenges
There is an old saying that “mining is not a one-man operation”. This is borne out by the ongoing dialogue that is needed across the disciplines to manage the environmental issues associated with the mining life cycle at a local and wider level. Given the global nature of the mining industry we now need to develop a productive outcome by ...
Read More »Restructuring of the Coal Industry in Ukraine
Ukraine ranks 7th place in the world in terms of coal reserves. On the territory of Ukraine there are three coal basins: Donetsk, Lviv-Volyn and Dnipro, the largest of which is the Donetsk basin, where 85 % of Ukraine’s coal resources are concentrated. Since the mid of the 1990s the coal industry of Ukraine is being restructured, the purpose of which ...
Read More »Digital Twin – Integrated Geomonitoring
One of the main challenges facing us today is the environment and how to protect it. Mining activities over the years have had an enormous impact on the three environmental elements water, soil and air. Ground movements in mining areas can be observed both during the mineral winning phase and after this has ended. This phenomenon may affect the water ...
Read More »Historic Mining Infrastructure as an Opportunity for Regional Water- and Energy Supply: The Water Reservoir Harz 2050 Project
High precipitation, dams and waterworks make the Harz Mountains a large freshwater supplier. But, challenges arise based on climate change and extreme weather events. Old mine working can support water management if integrated into the system. Successful planning and integration need a holistic understanding of the regional water cycle, the current situation of the mine workings and the interaction. The ...
Read More »Post-Mining as an Example of Economic Evolution. Explanatory Elements in the Work of Helmut Arndt.
Every mining operation and mine site will, as such, come to an end one day and so will transition to the post-mining era. That is simply part of the economic evolution. As for the post-mining sector, which it has long neglected, conventional economic science still finds it hard to accept realistic explanations of evolutionary developments. And yet productive ideas on ...
Read More »Targeting a Low-Carbon Economy Using China as an Example: The Pros & Cons of a Shift from Coal to Renewables
Climate neutrality is a global goal that requires the high integration and use of renewable energies to ensure such a transition. In this regard, China in particular, as the largest mining country in the world, is at the forefront of renewable energy production, both through hard coal and rare earths. The great potential faces crucial negative aspects: The production of ...
Read More »Emerging Global Trends in the Extractive Industry – International Potential and Future Roles of Remediation Expertise from Germany
Never in history were more mineral resources extracted than at present. In the past 20 years alone global metal ore extraction doubled. If current growth rates continue, more metals will be mined by 2028 than from the beginning of humankind to 2013. This exploding demand is set to rise even further as fossil-fuel based economies transform into low-carbon societies. Along ...
Read More »Suspend Coal Phase-Out – Keep Existing Plants in Operation and Reactivate Available Capacities, Give Transition More Time
While there are no fundamental doubts about the direction of the energy transition in Germany – much less the goal of achieving sustainability – the changes in the general circumstances dictating energy policy that have occurred in 2022 give rise to sound arguments in favour of suspending the coal phase-out agreed in Germany. Current law requires the completion of the ...
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