Dissemination
Presentation of the HydroCoal Plus project key results
Conducted during HydroCoal Plus Project scientific research, experimental and pilot tests of HBM-technology confirmed that it can be applicable in deposits, which are either sterilised due to environmental concerns, unmined due to mine design limitations and mine closure requirements and what is even more common - in numerous cases, where significant brown coal deposits are covered by previously removed overburden. HBM technology can be also easily implemented in mining any other minerals which occur in focused deposits, at moderate depth and has certain strength. First tests in mining uranium ore, diamonds are very encouraging. Deposits of amber can be also fairly easy target for this technology.
To conclude it is worth to underline that HBM technology has a number of advantages comparing with conventional opencast mining in such domains like: safety- it practically excludes human from the coal extraction process, minimal environmental impact, small work force, selectivity, low capital and operating costs, universal applicability. Above advantages can be recognised as a real asset of HBM technology not only in present but first of all – in the future mining of different minerals.
Lessons learned document
As a culmination of the project's work, an Lessons learned document was
prepared, including a summary of the activities and lessons learned during the
project and final conclusions.
Conference – X School of Open Pit Mining
The 10th jubilee anniversary edition of the School of Open Pit Mining (Szkoła Górnictwa Odkrywkowego SGO) was held on 04-06/09/2023 in Wisła, Poland, with more than 300 participants.
One of the sessions ("GIG-PIB Workshop for HydroCoal Plus Project") was dedicated to the project.
The session was chaired by Professor Józef Dubiński of GIG. Representatives of the HydroCoal Plus project team presented five papers (in Polish):
- Bartłomiej Jura, Sebastian Kujawiak, Radosław Matz: "System of transport of excavated material by an airlift (air type) - design, tests in laboratory and field conditions" („System transportu urobku powietrznym podnośnikiem cieczy (typu airlift) – projekt, testy w warunkach laboratoryjnych i polowych”)
- Tomasz Janoszek: "Design of a mining device" („Projekt urządzenia urabiającego”)
- Robert Hildebrandt: "Pilot tests of the hydro-borehole method of coal mining in the conditions of KD Barbara and KWB Bełchatów" („Testy pilotowe hydrootworowej metody urabiania węgla w warunkach KD Barbara i KWB Bełchatów”)
- Aleksander Frejowski: "Environmental impact assessment and risk assessment for the hydro-borehole mining method" („Ocena oddziaływania na środowisko oraz ocena ryzyka dla hydrootworowej metody urabiania”)
- Piotr Krawczyk: "Concept of application of the hydro-borehole method on the scale of the whole mine together with assessment of economic profitability" („Koncepcja zastosowania metody hydrootworowej w skali całej kopalni wraz z oceną opłacalności ekonomicznej”)
The presentation of the papers was followed by a discussion among the assembled session participants.
Conference – XXXII School of Underground Mining
Members of the HydroCoal Plus Project team participated in the Conference - XXXII School of Underground Mining, organised from February 27th to March 1st, 2023 in Cracow (Poland). A member of the HydroCoal Plus team, Mr Bartłomiej Jura, presented the current state of Hydraulic Borehole Mining (HBM) development, as a part of Plenary Session 7. „New Techniques and technologies in underground mining”.
The presentation included:
- Description of the Hydro-Borehole Mining method (HBM),
- Purpose of the HydroCoal Plus project, - Advantages and disadvantages of the hydro-borehole method,
- Hydro-cutting tests of coals carried out at experimental fields of: Experimental Mine “Barbara”, PONAR company and PGE “Bełchatów” Open Pit Mine,
- Air lift borehole installation at Experimental Mine "Barbara" mine: concept, design, construction, results,
- Possibilities of using the hydro-borehole mining method globally.
103rd International Organising Committee meeting of the World Mining Congress
On July 12th, 2022, member of the HydroCoal Plus Project team – Ph.D. Eng Jacek Skiba participated in the 103rd International Organising Committee meeting of the World Mining Congress organisation, which was hosted by Mongolian Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry and Mongolian National Organising Committee of WMC in Ulaanbataar. Taking this opportunity Dr Skiba introduced all participants to activities performed under HydroCoal Plus Project performed so far. His presentation and short video was found with great interest by the participants and resulted in several letters of interest received by Project Coordinator after the event. The meeting was kept as “Hybrid” which resulted in 35 online participants and 38 in person from 18 mining countries.
Establishing fruitful contact with German company BAUER. Visit of German representatives in GIG experimental mine „Barbara” premises and project team in BAUER Headquarter - Germany (Schrobenhausen)
17-24.08.2019
One member of the HydroCoal Plus project participated in the Scientific
Workshop in Mongolia, organised by Mongolian Mining Designers Association,
Ułanbator, Mongolia with presentation: „Potential application of Hydro Borehole Mining method for exploitation of brown coal and other mineral resources”.
13-21.09.2019
One member of the HydroCoal Plus project participated in the „34th Mining Congress PERUMIN”, organised by Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers, Arequipa, Peru with presentation: „Potential application of Hydro Borehole Mining method for exploitation of brown coal and other mineral resources”
19-20.09.2019
One member of the HydroCoal Plus project participated in the „Power Hydraulics and water systems UHP” workshop, presentation PONAR in the scope of results of brown and hard coal samples hydro-cutting.
EUMICON 2018 European Mineral Resourecs Conference
On September 26th-28th, 2018, two members of the HydroCoal
Plus project participated in the conference: "EUMICON 2018 European
Mineral Resources Conference", organized in Vienna under the auspices of
the European Mineral Resources Confederation.
GIG purchased the NAS (Network Attached Storage) QNAP’s data server for the project. This is the system, which consists of two hard drives that are constantly connected to the internet. The QNAP became backup "hub", as storage unit which stores all important data files and media such as photos and videos. Apart from the storage, the server is used to share and disseminate project-related important data to all partners of the Project.
Publications
Publication of a scientific paper Dubiński, J., Jura, B., Makówka, J., Janoszek, T., Skiba, J., Hildebandt, R., Duda, A., Howaniec, N., & Smoliński, A. (2023). "In-situ experimental study on hydro-borehole technology application to improve the hard coal excavating techniques in coal mine."
The paper was published in Scientific Reports, 13(1), 1190.
Publication of a scientific paper Enany, P., Shevchenko, O., & Drebenstedt, C. (2022). "Particle Transport Velocity in Vertical Transmission with an Airlift Pump."
The paper was published in Fluids, 7(3), 95.
Publication of a scientific paper Maksymowicz, M., Frejowski, A., Bajcar, A., & Jura, B. (2022). "Application of Hydro Borehole Mining (HBM) Technology for Lignite Extraction - An Environmental Assessment (LCA) and a Comparative Study with the Opencast Method."
The paper was published in Energies, 15(13).
Publication of a scientific paper Enany, P., Shevchenko, O., & Drebenstedt, C. (2021). "Experimental Evaluation of Airlift Performance for Vertical Pumping of Water in Underground Mines."
The paper was published in Mine Water and the Environment, 40(4), 970–979.
Publication of an article "GIG scientists are returning to research results from forty years ago, there's a good chance to implement them".
The article was published in the Trybuna Górnicza newspaper on December 2022.
Publication of an article "Assumptions for the HydroCoal Plus project"
In the fourth quarter of 2018, in cooperation with POLTEGOR Wrocław, an article entitled "Assumptions for the HydroCoal Plus project" was prepared. The article was published in the Information Bulletin of the Brown Coal Producers Association no. 4 (105) 2018.
Article “Hydraulic Borehole Mining (HBM) Technology: An Overview by W. Jura
Presented paper contains general concept of a new mining technology
known as Hydraulic Borehole Mining (HBM). It consists of some
descriptions of technological principles, machinery, construction, as well
as results of studies, designs and testing operations, which have been
carried out so far.
