Belgorod State University, Belgorod, Russia:

S. A. Vorobev, Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

Tula State University, Tula, Russia:
N. M. Kachurin, Head of a Chair, Professor, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, ecology@tsu.tula.ru

The article offers a review of international applied researches in the field of underground coal mining for the last ten years. The majority of the research is implemented in the countries with the traditionally developed coal mining industry—USA, Australia, Canada and Poland. The scope of the review embraces trends that are connected with the coal mining constraints, on the other hand, and precondition development of the alternative heat and electricity generation, on the other. For instance, the use of coalbed methane, gasification of coal, prevention of spontaneous fires and coal and gas outbursts, etc. The ecological aspect is involved in the form of mitigation of the environmental impact induced by mining, starting from the launch of a mine and finishing with the mine closure and complete utilization of waste accumulated in this fuel and energy sector of economy. The most important factor in coal mining is coalbed methane. A lot of international studies have focused on methane generation, removal and benefi cial use. The working knowledge on using methanebearing mine air taken from methane drainage systems in the capacity of an energy-carrier is available. The authors substantiate the conclusion that modern technologies of underground coal mining are extremely knowledge-intensive; for this reason, any production or mine requires technical and scientific support to be efficient and safe. Development of most efficient and safest technologies of coal mining and preparation in Russia under conditions of unsteady economic conditions requires analyzing foreign research fi ndings, selecting the best approaches and screening out admittedly poor results.

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