Highlights

The cessation of coal mining in North Rhine-Westphalia on 31st December 2018 marked the start of a period of long-term aftercare measures. The end of coal winning also meant that the original purpose of the mine dewatering operations, which was to make it possible to extract the resources in the first place by collecting the mine water and pumping it ...

The Research Institute for Post-Mining (FZN) at TH Georg Agricola University (THGA) in Bochum/Germany, has developed an integrated approach to meet the challenges of the post-mining era. Therefore, post-mining covers four research areas: Perpetual tasks and minewater management; Geomonitoring in post-mining; Material science for the preservation of industrial heritage; Reactivation and transition. The institute is trying to fulfill central requirements ...

The goal of the German government’s new national raw materials strategy is to confront current and foreseeable future challenges in securing raw materials for the German economy and in particular for the German industry from 2020 onwards. Issues of sustainability will be given greater priority than in the first raw materials strategy from 2010, and for the first time aspects ...

The mining industry of the 21st century needs a new kind of leader as certain leadership styles currently employed in South Africa are not sustainable. This paper explores the historical leadership styles that are now outdated (with specific reference to the South African mining industry, but in many ways also applicable to other countries) and proposes a different approach in ...

Mining exploitation can, under certain conditions, cause the occurrence of tremors and rock bursts in rock excavations. In most of active hard coal mines in the region of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, seams that are classified as threat by rockbursts are exploited. Despite the restructuring changes in the Polish hard coal mining industry, and hence the limitation of coal ...

With the end of 2018 and the closure of the last two collieries, industrial hard coal mining in Germany came to an end. Unknown to most, at the same time metal ore mining in the Eastern part of Germany is booming again, with a large number of metal mining projects in different stages of realization and some mines even under ...

During the last decades, a transformation in various fields influencing education can be observed: Learning habits change, e. g., due to substantial changes in the channels and media used to acquire information. Teaching alternatives become broader and digital and follow these changes. Graduated profiles need to address 21st century skills for the work beyond the 4th industrial revolution. The transformation and ...

About 900 students have enrolled on the Specialist Group for Raw Materials and Waste Disposal Technology (FRE) at RWTH Aachen University, Aachen/Germany. This is the young talent whose know-how is now very much in demand both in Germany and around the world. With its Bachelor’s Degree course “Sustainable Resources and Energy Supply”, its Master’s courses on “Sustainable Energy Supply” and ...

International know-how transfer is the basis for reaching scientific excellence jointly all around the world. But: How can we transfer our know-how effectively from country A to country B? What are the prerequisites especially in applied sciences like engineering? Having given numerous lectures around the world during the last 15 years, the authors are convinced that participatory teaching methods can ...

The H2020-Project INTERMIN commenced in February 2018. Its goal is to create a feasible, long-lasting international network of technical and vocational training centres for mineral raw materials’ professionals. Specific objectives of the project are to develop common metrics and reference points for quality assurance and recognition of training and to create a comprehensive competency model for employment across the primary ...