Areas of coal mining in Russia. The hard work of a miner, or how coal is mined How coal is mined

The coal mining industry is the largest segment of the fuel industry. Worldwide, it outnumbers any other in terms of the number of workers and the amount of equipment.

What is the coal industry

The coal mining industry involves the extraction of coal and its subsequent processing. Work is carried out both on the surface and underground.

If the deposits are located at a depth of no more than 100 meters, the work is carried out in a quarry way. Mines are used to develop deposits at great depths.

Classic coal mining methods

Working in coal mines and underground are the main methods of mining. Most of the work in Russia and in the world is carried out open way. This is due to financial gain and high speed mining.

The process is as follows:

• With the help of special equipment, the upper layer of the earth covering the deposit is removed. A few years ago, the depth of open works was limited to 30 meters, the latest technology allowed to increase it by 3 times. If the top layer is soft and small, it is removed with an excavator. A thick and dense layer of earth is pre-crushed.
• Coal deposits are beaten off and taken away with the help of special equipment to the enterprise for further processing.
• The workers are restoring the natural relief in order to avoid harm to the environment.

The disadvantage of this method lies in the fact that coal deposits located at a shallow depth contain impurities of dirt and other rocks.

Coal mined underground is considered cleaner and of better quality.

The main task of this method is to transport coal from great depths to the surface. For this, passages are created: an adit (horizontal) and a shaft (inclined or vertical).

In the tunnels, coal seams are cut by special combines and loaded onto a conveyor that lifts them to the surface.

The underground method allows you to extract a large amount of minerals, but it has significant drawbacks: high cost and increased danger to workers.

Unconventional methods of coal mining

These methods are effective, but do not have mass distribution - at the moment there are no technologies that allow you to clearly establish the process:

• Hydraulic. Mining is carried out in a mine at great depths. The coal seam is crushed and brought to the surface under strong water pressure.
• The energy of compressed air. It is both destructive and lifting force compressed air is under strong pressure.
• Vibroimpulse. The formations are destroyed under the influence of powerful vibrations generated by the equipment.

These methods were used in the Soviet Union, but did not become popular due to the need for large financial investments. Only a few coal mining companies continue to use unconventional methods.

Their main advantage is the absence of workers in potentially life-threatening areas.

Leading countries in coal mining

According to the statistics of world energy, a ranking of countries that occupy leading positions in coal production in the world has been compiled:

1. India.
2. Australia.
3. Indonesia.
4. Russia.
5. Germany.
6. Poland.
7. Kazakhstan.

For many years, China has been the leader in terms of coal production. In China, only 1/7 of the available deposits are being developed, this is due to the fact that coal is not exported outside the country, and the existing reserves will last at least 70 years.

On the territory of the United States, the deposits are evenly scattered throughout the country. They will provide the country with their reserves for at least 300 years.

Coal deposits in India are very rich, but almost all of the coal produced is used in the energy industry, since the available reserves are of very low quality. Despite the fact that India occupies one of the leading positions, artisanal methods of coal mining are progressing in this country.

Australia's coal reserves will last approximately 240 years. The mined coal has the highest quality rating, a significant part of it is intended for export.

In Indonesia, the level of coal production is growing every year. A few years ago, most of the produced was exported to other countries, now the country is gradually phasing out the use of oil, in connection with which the demand for coal for domestic consumption is growing.

Russia has 1/3 of the world's coal reserves, while not all the country's lands have yet been explored.

Germany, Poland and Kazakhstan are gradually reducing coal production due to the non-competitive cost of raw materials. Most of the coal is intended for domestic consumption.

The main places of coal mining in Russia

Let's figure it out. Coal mining in Russia is carried out mainly by open-pit mining. Deposits across the country are scattered unevenly - most of them are located in the eastern region.

The most significant coal deposits in Russia are:

• Kuznetsk (Kuzbass). It is considered the largest not only in Russia, but throughout the world, located in Western Siberia. Coking and hard coal is mined here.
• Kansko-Achinsk. Production is carried out here. The field is located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, occupying part of the territories of the Irkutsk and Kemerovo regions, the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• Tunguska coal basin. Represented by brown and hard coal. It covers part of the territory of the Republic of Sakha, and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• Pechora coal basin. Mining is carried out at this deposit Works are carried out in mines, which makes it possible to extract high-quality coal. It is located on the territories of the Komi Republic and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
• Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo coal basin. It is located on the territory of the Upper Sayan. Provides coal only to nearby enterprises and settlements.

To date, five more deposits are being developed that can increase the annual volume of coal production in Russia by 70 million tons.

Prospects for the coal mining industry

Most of the coal deposits in the world have already been explored, from an economic point of view, the most promising belong to 70 countries. The level of coal production is growing rapidly: technologies are being improved, equipment is being modernized. This increases the profitability of the industry.

To date coal is one of the most essential minerals.

This resource is formed naturally, has huge reserves and a lot of useful properties.

What is coal and what does it look like?

The construction of a mine is a very expensive investment, but over time, all costs are fully paid off. When coal is mined, other resources also come to the surface.

There is a chance of mining precious metals and rare earth elements, which can later be sold and receive additional profit.

Oil is practically the most precious resource and the main source of fuel today. However, not a single company or country that extracts coal will neglect its extraction in the name of oil, because solid fuel is also of great importance and high value.

Formation of hard coal

Coal in nature is formed by changing the surface relief. Tree branches, plants, leaves and other natural remains that have not had time to rot are saturated with moisture from the swamps, which is why they are converted into peat.

Then sea water enters the land, when it leaves, it also leaves a layer of sediment. After the rivers make their own adjustments, the land becomes swampy, re-forms or covers the soil. Therefore, the composition of coal is highly dependent on age.

Coal is medium in age between brown, the youngest, and anthracite, the oldest.

Types of coal, their composition and properties

There are several types of coal:

• long-flame;
• gas;
• fatty;
• coke;
• weakly caking;
• skinny.

Also common are species consisting of several, the so-called mixed, with the properties of two groups.

Coal is black in color, hard, layered, easily destroyed structure, has shiny inclusions. The combustible properties are quite high, since the material is used as a fuel.

Consider physical characteristics:

1. Density (or specific gravity) varies greatly (the maximum can reach 1500 kg / m³).
2. The specific heat capacity is 1300 J/kg*K.
3. The combustion temperature is 2100°C (when processing 1000°C).

Coal deposits in Russia

On the Russian territory contains about a third of the world's reserves.

Deposits of coal and oil shale in Russia (click to enlarge)

The largest coal deposit in Russia is Elginskoye. It is located in the region of Yakutia.

Reserves according to approximate calculations are more than 2 billion tons.

The relief, close to the Kuznetsk coal basin (Kuzbass), was severely damaged due to large-scale resource extraction.

The largest coal deposits in the world

Map of coal deposits in the world (click to enlarge)

In the United States, the most famous coal basin is the Illinois. The total reserve of deposits in this field is 365 billion tons.

Coal mining

Coal is currently mined in three fundamental ways. Such as:

• career method;
• mining through adits;
• mining method.

The quarry mining method is used when coal seams lie on the surface, about a hundred meters deep and above.

Quarrying involves simply digging the earth or sand hole from which mining is carried out, usually in such cases the coal seam is thick enough to make it easier to extract.

Adits mean wells with a large angle of inclination. According to it, all mined minerals are delivered to the top, while there is no need to use serious equipment or dig a hollow.

Typically, deposits in such places are of small thickness and are not buried particularly deep. Therefore, the method of mining through adits allows you to quickly produce mining without much cost.

Extraction through mines is the most common method of mining, at the same time the most productive, but at the same time dangerous. Mines are drilled to a great depth, reaching several hundred meters. However, this requires a permit confirming the rationale for such large-scale work, evidence of the presence of deposits.

At times, mines can reach a kilometer or more in depth, and stretch for several kilometers in length, forming interconnected webs of corridors underground. In the 20th century, over time, even settlements and small towns were formed around the mines, in which miners lived with their families.

It is because of the mining conditions that work in the mines is considered very difficult and dangerous, because great amount once the mines collapsed, burying dozens or even hundreds of people working there.

The use of coal

Coal is used in a variety of fields. It is widely used as solid fuel(main purpose), in metallurgy and in chemical industry, plus many other components are produced from it.

It is from coal that some aromatic substances, metals, chemical substances, more than 360 other processed products are obtained.

In turn, the substances produced from it have market value ten times higher, the most expensive method is considered to be the method of processing coal into liquid fuel.

For making 1 ton liquid fuel it will be necessary to process 2-3 tons of coal. All industrial waste obtained during processing is often sent to the production of building materials.

Conclusion

There are many coal deposits on earth that are actively developed to this day. In biology lessons in the 5th grade and even earlier, in the lessons of natural history in the second grade, children get acquainted with this concept. In this paper, we briefly repeated the main facts about coal - origin, formula, grades, chemical composition and use, extraction and much more.

Coal is one of the most important resources widely used in industry. However, you should still be careful when the natural course of substances is disturbed, because the development violates the relief and gradually depletes natural reserves.

The main tasks set before the coal industry include the extraction and primary processing (enrichment) of hard and brown coal. Coal mining is the largest of all branches of the fuel industry in terms of the number of personnel and the cost of fixed assets. Such a subject of the Russian Federation as the Kemerovo Region economic potential owe a lot coal industry. Russian coal basins

On the territory of Russia there are deposits various kinds coal - brown, stone and anthracite. the Russian Federation occupies one of the leading places in the world in terms of the amount of stone fuel in the bowels. The total amount of coal is 6421 billion tons, 5334 billion tons of which are conditioned.

The amount of hard coal in total reserves is more than 60% of all reserves. Technological fuel - coking coal - occupies 10% of the total reserves, 3.6% of the gross product falls on the share of coal production in the fuel and energy complex, and in the total volume of Russia's GDP this industry accounts for about one percent.

The amount of coal consumed by the domestic market of Russia increased by 2.3% and amounted to 178 million tons. Of these, 38 million tons were consumed for coking, and 140 million tons were consumed by power engineers.

If we look at the map of Russia, then more than 90% of the deposits are located in the east of the country, mainly in Siberia. If we compare the production volumes, then the most significant deposits for the country can be called the Kuznetsk, Kansko-Achinskoye, Tungusskoye, Pechorskoye and Irkutsko-Cheremkhovskoye deposits.

Development of the coal industry in Russia

In the world, in terms of coal production, Russia occupies the fifth place (China, the United States of America, Australia and India are ahead), 75% of the extracted fuel is used by power engineers in the production of heat and electricity, 25% is used for the needs of the metallurgical and chemical industries.

A small percentage of the total production is exported. The main export markets are Japan and the Republic of Korea.

In Russia, the main method is open-pit mining - 75% of the total. The use of the open method is due to the shallow depth of occurrence. To use this method of extraction, it is necessary to remove the upper layers of the soil. Bulldozers, scrapers, rotary excavators, draglines are used for opening.

Then the rock is crushed. For crushing, water cannons, crushers are used, sometimes drilling and blasting methods for breaking coal are used. Mining in this way occupies a fairly large area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe territory.

Open pit coal mining has the following advantages:

Coal mining

• production of a unit of production occurs in a short time interval;
• low cost;
• relative safety;

Disadvantages:

Coal mined by the open method contains a large percentage of impurities.

Mining is more costly. The use is due to the occurrence of useful rock layers at great depths. The development of mines requires large capital expenditures. financial plan, as well as in time. When mining coal in mines, a large proportion of manual labor takes place. The depth of some mines reaches one kilometer.

Advantages:

• high quality of the extracted raw materials;
• less impact on environment;

Disadvantages:

• the most unsafe way of extraction;
• significant financial investment is required.

The largest deposits of Russia

Kuzbass

Mineral resources. Brown coal basins

Kuznetsk coal basin, abbreviated as Kuzbass, is the largest deposit in terms of coal reserves in the Russian Federation, and the largest in the world. It is located in the West of Siberia.

The main part of the territory of the basin is located in the Kemerovo region. Kuzbass accounts for the extraction of 56% of hard coal and about 80% of coking coal mined in the Russian Federation, in the total amount of two hundred million tons per year.

In the Kuznetsk basin, coals are of different quality. Coal with higher quality lies deeper, and the closer to the surface the ash content and moisture content of coal increases. Long distances from the main consumers of fuel - the central part of the country, Kamchatka and Sakhalin - is the main disadvantage. Mining is carried out by an open method.

Kansko-Achinsk basin

This basin is located in central Siberia. The main type of mined coal is brown coal, which is widely used in the power industry. It is mined in an open pit.

The amount of coal reserves is 638 billion tons, fuel is used by local power plants to generate electricity and heat. A significant part of the mined mineral is used at the thermal power plant of the Irkutsk energy system. The largest consumers of Kansk-Achinsk coal are thermal power plants located in the following cities:

• Krasnoyarsk;
• Abakan;
• Sunny;
• Zheleznogorsk.

Of no small importance for the basin is the presence of the Trans-Siberian railway, through which coal is transported both in the western direction of the country (for the needs of the Ryazanskaya GRES) and to the Far East.

Tunguska basin

Most large deposits coal

The Tunguska basin, the leader in Russia, is one of the largest coal basins in the world. Its area is approximately one million square kilometers. The amount of coal in the bowels is approximately two billion tons, and 95% of them are stone. This amount of coal is able to meet all the world's needs for a period of five hundred years.

Due to the lack of access roads and remoteness from industrial centers, it is not operated at full capacity. The main consumer of coal is the Krasnoyarsk Territory, a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

Pechora coal basin

Coal mining in the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin

It is located on the western slope of the Pai-Khoi ridge. Administratively located in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Komi Republic.

Coking coals are predominantly located in the depths of the basin High Quality. Mining is carried out using the mine method.

Annual production of 12.6 million tons of coal, which is equal to 4% of the total amount of coal mined in Russia. Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant is the largest consumer.

Irkutsk–Cheremkhovo basin

The Irkutsk coal basin covers an area of ​​42.7 thousand km². The amount of coal in the depths of the basin is 9 billion tons, of which 94% is hard coal, the remaining 6% is brown coal.

The thickness of the layers is from one to ten meters. Long distances from large consumers do not allow the use of mined coal, except in local power plants. An open method is used to extract fuel.

Impact on the environment

The nature of the environmental impact problems of the coal mining industry is mainly associated with mining operations. Especially in open pit coal mining. During blasting, tons of dust rise into the sky and are carried by the wind for many kilometers. More than fifty percent of coal mines are classified as explosive, and the danger of spontaneous combustion of coal dust is also high.

During blasting, tons of dust rise into the sky, and are carried by the wind for many kilometers

When working underground, there is a high probability of subsidence of the earth, which can be prevented. When mining, voids formed underground must be filled with worthless rock or other materials.

Many countries around the world are already successfully using this technology. First of all, in those countries where standards have been adopted, and programs for the reclamation of territories where mining operations have been carried out.

Each business entity in the extraction of fossil fuels must comply with the safety requirements adopted in the mining industry. Neglect of these rules can lead to very dangerous consequences:

• during mining, landscape changes are possible;
• the development of soil erosion associated with subsidence of the earth's surface, the soil cover is disturbed;
• deteriorating air and water quality;
• underground coal mining results in methane emissions;
• underground fires;
• spontaneous combustion in dumps;
• shedding of slopes;

To minimize environmental impact each subject economic activity, engaged in the extraction and processing of coal should contribute to solving this problem.

Video: Coal. Modern coal mining!

Since I live in the land of miners, I could not help but be interested in the methods of extracting this mineral, which, by the way, are not so many. Taking this opportunity, I will try to briefly talk about the pros and cons of each of them.

Coal mining: mine method

Mining in this way provides a huge advantage, since the most valuable fuels lie at great depths. At the same time, coal practically does not contain waste rocks, which cannot be said about the open method, but about it a little later. So, in order to get to the deposits, they drill deep vertical tunnels. As soon as a reservoir is discovered, its horizontal development begins. Sometimes the depth reaches 1.5 km, for example, the Gvardeiskaya mine, which is located in the Donbass. However, this method has many disadvantages:

• the threat of flooding;
• since methane is an eternal companion of coal seams, this is fraught with suffocation of workers or undermining;
• the greater the depth, the higher the temperature, which means that there is a risk to people and equipment.

In the world, about 40% of world reserves are mined in this way.

Coal mining: open pit or quarry

In this case, there is no need not only for expensive drilling, but also for the construction of a number of ground communications. The bottom line is to undermine the waste rock, and then huge excavators, crushers and trucks come into play, which process the rock and take it to the dumps. This method carries less danger, but still some risks are associated with it. This is the threat of an unscheduled explosion, and the poisoning of workers with exhaust, and careless handling of hazardous equipment.

Hydraulic coal mining

In principle, this is the same mine, but there is one feature: the transportation of the fossil is carried out by a jet of water under enormous pressure. It turns out that The groundwater- a headache for miners, they work for their benefit. Today, this method is considered one of the best, as it replaces the labor-intensive process of transportation. The disadvantages include the dependence of production on the type of rock, and the constant contact of water with the equipment.

coal industry is engaged in the extraction and primary processing (enrichment) of hard and brown coal and is the largest industry in terms of the number of workers and the cost of production fixed assets.

Russian coal

Russia has various types of coal - brown, black, anthracite - and occupies one of the leading places in the world in terms of reserves. The total geological reserves of coal amount to 6421 billion tons, of which 5334 billion tons are standard. More than 2/3 of the total reserves are coal. Technological fuel - coking coal - is 1/10 of total coals.

Coal distribution throughout the country uneven. 95% reserves account for eastern regions, of which more than 60% - to Siberia. The main part of the general geological reserves of coal is concentrated in the Tunguska and Lena basins. In terms of industrial coal reserves, the Kansk-Achinsk and Kuznetsk basins are distinguished.

Coal mining in Russia

In terms of coal production, Russia ranks fifth in the world (after China, the USA, India and Australia), 3/4 of the coal produced is used to produce energy and heat, 1/4 - in metallurgy and the chemical industry. A small part is exported, mainly to Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Open pit coal mining in Russia is 2/3 of the total volume. This method of extraction is considered the most productive and cheapest. However, this does not take into account the severe disturbances of nature associated with it - the creation of deep quarries and extensive overburden dumps. Mine production is more expensive and has a high accident rate, which is largely determined by the depreciation of mining equipment (40% of it is outdated and requires urgent modernization).

Russian coal basins

The role of this or that coal basin in the territorial division of labor depends on the quality of the coal, the size of the reserves, the technical and economic indicators of extraction, the degree of preparedness of the reserves for industrial exploitation, the size of the extraction, and the peculiarities of the transport and geographical position. Together, these conditions stand out sharply interdistrict coal bases— The Kuznetsk and Kansko-Achinsk basins, which together account for 70% of coal production in Russia, as well as the Pechora, Donetsk, Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo and South Yakutsk basins.

Kuznetsk basin, located in the south of Western Siberia in the Kemerovo region, is the main coal base of the country and provides half of the all-Russian coal production. High quality coal, including coking coal, is deposited here. Almost 12% of mining is carried out by open pit mining. The main centers are Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Prokopievsk, Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Belovo, Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

Kansko-Achinsk basin located in the south of Eastern Siberia in the Krasnoyarsk Territory along the Trans-Siberian Railway and provides 12% of coal production in Russia. The lignite of this basin is the cheapest in the country, since it is mined in an open pit. Due to the low quality of coal, it is not very transportable, and therefore powerful thermal power plants operate on the basis of the largest mines (Irsha-Borodinsky, Nazarovsky, Berezovsky).

Pechora basin is the largest in the European part and provides 4% of the country's coal production. It is remote from the most important industrial centers and is located in the Arctic; mining is carried out only by the mine method. Coking coal is mined in the northern part of the basin (Vorkuta and Vorgashorskoye deposits), while in the southern part (Intinskoye deposit), mainly energy coal is mined. The main consumers of Pechora coal are the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant, enterprises of the North-West, the Center and the Central Chernozem Region.

Donetsk basin in the Rostov region is the eastern part of the coal basin located in Ukraine. This is one of the oldest coal mining areas. The mining method of extraction led to the high cost of coal. Coal production is declining every year and in 2007 the basin produced only 2.4% of the total Russian production.

Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin in the Irkutsk region provides a low cost of coal, since mining is carried out in an open way and provides 3.4% of coal in the country. Due to the great distance from large consumers, it is used at local power plants.

South Yakutsk basin(3.9% of the total Russian production) is at Far East. It has significant reserves of energy and process fuels, and all mining is carried out by an open method.

The promising coal basins include the Lensky, Tungussky and Taimyrsky, located beyond the Yenisei to the north of the 60th parallel. They occupy vast areas in the poorly developed and sparsely populated areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

In parallel with the creation of coal bases of inter-district significance, there was a wide development of local coal basins, which made it possible to bring coal production closer to the areas of its consumption. At the same time, in the western regions of Russia, coal production is declining (the Moscow Basin), and in the eastern regions it is increasing sharply (deposits of the Novosibirsk Region, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye.