Brown coal: mining methods. How is coal mined? Largest coal mining region

Coal is a sedimentary rock formed by the decomposition of plant remains (tree ferns, horsetails and mosses, as well as the first gymnosperms). The main reserves of coal currently mined were formed during the Paleozoic period, about 300-350 million years ago. Coal has been mined for several centuries and is one of the most important minerals. Used as solid fuel.

Coal consists of a mixture of high molecular weight aromatic compounds (mainly carbon), as well as water and volatile substances with a small amount of impurities. Depending on the composition of coal, the amount of heat released during its combustion changes, as well as the amount of ash produced. The value of coal and its deposits depends on this ratio.

For the formation of a mineral, the following condition also had to be met: rotting plant material had to accumulate faster than its decomposition occurred. That is why coal was formed mainly on ancient peat soils, where carbon compounds accumulated and there was practically no access to oxygen. The starting material for the formation of coal is, in fact, peat itself, which was also used as fuel for some time. Coal was formed when peat layers were under other sediments. At the same time, the peat was compressed and lost water, resulting in the formation of coal.

Coal occurs when peat layers occur at a significant depth, usually more than 3 km. At greater depths, anthracite is formed - the highest grade of coal. However, this does not mean that all coal deposits are located at great depths. Over time, under the influence of tectonic processes various directions some layers experienced uplift, resulting in them being closer to the surface.

The method of coal mining also depends on the depth at which coal-bearing minerals are located. If coal lies at a depth of up to 100 meters, then mining is usually carried out by open-pit mining. This is the name for removing the top of a deposit, in which the mineral appears on the surface. For mining from great depths, the shaft method is used, in which access is achieved through the creation of special underground passages - shafts. The deepest coal mines in Russia are located at a distance of about 1200 meters from the surface.

The largest coal deposits in Russia

Elga field (Sakha)

This coal deposit, located in the southeast of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) 415 km east of the city of Neryungri, is the most promising for open source development. The field area is 246 km2. The deposit is a gentle asymmetrical fold.

The deposits of the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous are coal-bearing. The main coal seams are located in the deposits of the Neryungri (6 seams with a thickness of 0.7-17 m) and Undyktan (18 seams with a thickness of also 0.7-17 m) formations.

The coals here are mostly semi-shiny with a very high content of the most valuable component - vitrinite (78-98%), medium- and high-ash, low-sulfur, low-phosphorus, well-caking, with a high calorific value. Elga coal can be enriched using special technology, which will make it possible to obtain a product of more high quality, meeting international standards. Thick, flat coal seams are overlain by thin deposits, which is very important for open-pit mining.

Elegest deposit (Tuva)

Located in the Republic of Tuva. This field has reserves of about 20 billion tons. Most of the reserves (about 80%) are located in one layer 6.4 m thick. The development of this deposit is currently ongoing, so coal mining here should reach its maximum capacity around 2012.

Large coal deposits (the area of ​​which is thousands of km2) are called coal basins. Typically, such deposits are located in some large tectonic structure (for example, a trough). However, not all fields located close to each other are usually combined into basins, and sometimes they are considered as separate fields. This usually happens according to historically established ideas (deposits were discovered in different periods).

Minusinsk coal basin is located in the Republic of Khakassia. Coal mining here began in 1904. The largest deposits include Chernogorskoye and Izykhskoye. According to geologists, coal reserves in this area amount to 2.7 billion tons. The pool is dominated by long-flame coals with a high calorific value. The coals are classified as medium ash. The maximum ash content is typical for coals of the Izykh deposit, the minimum – for coals of the Beiskoe deposit. Coal mining in the basin is carried out in different ways: there are both open-pit mines and mines.

Kuznetsk coal basin (Kuzbass)– one of the largest coal deposits in the world. Kuzbass is located in the south in a shallow basin between the mountain ranges of Mountain Shoria and. This is the territory of the Kemerovo region. The abbreviation “Kuzbass” is the second name of the region. The first deposit in the Kemerovo region was discovered back in 1721, and in 1842 the geologist Chikhachev introduced the term “Kuznetsk coal basin.”

Mining is also carried out here in different ways. There are 58 mines and more than 30 open-pit mines on the territory of the basin. The quality of "" coals is varied and is among the best coals.

The coal-bearing strata of the Kuznetsk coal basin consists of approximately 260 coal seams of varying thickness, unevenly distributed across the section. The predominant thickness of coal seams is from 1.3 to 4.0 m, but there are also thicker seams of 9-15 and even 20 m, and in some places up to 30 m.

The maximum depth of coal mines does not exceed 500 m (average depth is about 200 m). The average thickness of the developed coal seams is 2.1 m, but up to 25% of coal mine production occurs in seams over 6.5 m.

Today, coal is one of the most necessary minerals.

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

What is coal and what does it look like?

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

There is a possibility 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 produces coal will neglect its extraction in the name of oil, because solid fuel also has great value and high value.

Formation of coal

Coal in nature is formed by changing surface topography. 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 it hits land sea ​​water when it goes away, it also leaves behind a layer of deposits. After the river makes its own adjustments, the ground becomes swamped, again forms or covers the soil. Therefore, the composition of coal is highly dependent on age.

Hard coal is intermediate 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;
• fat;
• coke;
• low-caking;
• skinny.

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

Coal is distinguished by its black color, hard, layered, easily destructible structure, and has shiny inclusions. The combustible properties are quite high, since the material is used as fuel.

Let's 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. Combustion temperature - 2100°C (1000°C during processing).

Coal deposits in Russia

About a third of the world's reserves are located on Russian territory.

Coal and oil shale deposits in Russia (click to enlarge)

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

Reserves, according to approximate calculations, amount to more than 2 billion tons.

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

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 reserves of deposits in this field amount to 365 billion tons.

Coal mining

In our time, hard coal is 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, approximately one hundred meters deep or higher.

Quarries involve simply digging up the ground or sand pit from which mining is carried out; usually in such cases the coal seam is quite thick, which makes its extraction easier.

Adits mean wells with a large angle of inclination. All mined minerals are transported upward along it, without the need to use serious equipment or dig out a basin.

Typically, deposits in such places are thin and not buried particularly deep. Therefore, the method of mining through adits allows for rapid production without special costs.

Mining through mines is the most common method of extracting minerals, at the same time the most productive, but at the same time dangerous. The mines are drilled to great depths, reaching several hundred meters. However, this requires a permit confirming the justification for such large-scale work and evidence of the presence of deposits.

Sometimes the 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, settlements even formed around the mines and small towns, in which miners lived with their families.

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

Application of coal

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

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

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

To produce 1 ton of liquid fuel, 2-3 tons of coal will need to be processed. All industrial waste obtained during processing is often used for the production of building materials.

Conclusion

There are many coal deposits on earth that are still being actively mined to this day. In biology lessons in the 5th grade and even earlier, in natural history lessons in the second grade, children are introduced to this concept. In this work, we briefly repeated the basic facts about coal - origin, formula, grades, chemical composition and use, extraction and more.

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

Since ancient times, coal has been a source of energy for humanity, not the only one, but widely used. Sometimes it is compared to solar energy preserved in stone. It is burned to obtain heat for heating, heating water, converted into electricity at thermal stations, and used for smelting metals.

With the development of new technologies, we have learned to use coal not only to produce energy by burning. The chemical industry has successfully mastered production technologies for rare metals - gallium and germanium. Composite carbon-graphite materials with a high carbon content, gaseous fuel with high calorie content are extracted from it, and plastic production methods have been developed. The lowest grade coal, its very fine fraction and coal dust are processed and are excellent for heating as production premises and private houses. In total, more than 400 types of products are produced using the chemical processing of coal, which can cost tens of times more than the original product.

People have been actively using coal as a fuel for generating and converting energy for several centuries; with the development of the chemical industry and the need for rare and valuable materials in other industries, the need for coal is increasing. Therefore, exploration of new deposits is being intensively carried out, quarries and mines, and raw material processing enterprises are being built.

Briefly about the origin of coal

On our planet, many millions of years ago, vegetation developed rapidly in a humid climate. 210...280 million years have passed since then. For thousands of years, millions of years, billions of tons of vegetation died off, accumulated at the bottom of swamps, and became covered with layers of sediment. Slow decomposition in an oxygen-free atmosphere under the powerful pressure of water, sand, and other rocks, sometimes at high temperatures due to the close proximity of magma, led to the petrification of layers of this vegetation, with gradual degeneration into coal of varying degrees of carbonization.

Main Russian deposits and coal mining

The planet has coal reserves of more than 15 trillion tons. The largest mineral production comes from coal, approximately 0.7 tons per person, which is more than 2.6 billion tons per year. In Russia, hard coal is available in different regions. It has different characteristics, features and depth. Here are the largest and most successfully developed coal basins:

The active use of Siberian and Far Eastern deposits is limited by their remoteness from industrial European regions. In the western part of Russia, coal with excellent performance is also mined: in the Pechersk and Donetsk coal basins. In the Rostov region, local deposits are being actively developed, the most promising of which is Gukovskoye. Processing of hard coal from these deposits produces high-quality grades of hard coal - anthracite (AS and AO).

Main quality characteristics of coal

Different industries require different grades of coal. Its qualitative indicators vary widely even among those that have the same marking and largely depend on the deposit. Therefore, before purchasing coal, enterprises become familiar with the following physical characteristics:

According to the degree of enrichment, coal is divided into:

• — Concentrates (burned for heating in steam boilers and obtaining electricity);
• — Industrial products used in the metallurgical industry;
• — Sludge is actually a fine fraction (up to 6 mm) and dust after rock crushing. It is problematic to burn such fuel, therefore briquettes are formed from it, which have good performance characteristics and are used in household solid fuel boilers.

By degree of carbonization:

• — Brown coal is partially formed hard coal. It has a low heat of combustion, crumbles during transportation and storage, and has a tendency to spontaneous combustion;
• — Coal. It has many different brands (grades) with different characteristics. It has a wide range of uses: metallurgy, energy, housing and communal services, chemical industry, etc.
• — Anthracite is the highest quality form of coal.

If we compare peat and coal, the calorific value of coal is higher. Brown coal has the lowest calorific value, anthracite has the highest. However, based on economic feasibility, in great demand uses simple coal. It has the optimal combination of price and specific heat of combustion.

There are a lot of different characteristics of coal, but not all of them may be important when choosing coal for heating. In this case, it is important to know just a few key parameters: ash content, moisture and specific heat capacity. Sulfur content may be important. The rest are required when selecting raw materials for processing. What is important to know when choosing coal is the size: how large the pieces are offered to you. This data is encrypted in the brand name.

Size classification:

Classification by brands and their brief characteristics:

Depending on the characteristics of coal, its brand, type and fraction, it is stored different times. (The article contains a table showing the shelf life of coal depending on the deposit and brand).

Particular attention should be paid to protecting coal during long-term storage (more than 6 months). In this case, a special coal shed or bunker is required, where the fuel will be protected from precipitation and direct sunlight.

Large piles of coal during long-term storage require temperature control, since in the presence of small fractions in combination with moisture and high temperature, they tend to spontaneously ignite. It is advisable to purchase electronic thermometer and a thermocouple with a long cord, which should be buried in the center of the coal pile. You need to check the temperature once or twice a week, because some brands of coal spontaneously ignite at very low temperatures: brown - at 40-60 o C, others - 60-70 o C. Cases of spontaneous combustion of anthracite and semi-anthracite rarely occur (in Russia such cases not registered).

The range of its use is very wide. Coal is used to generate electricity, as an industrial raw material (coke), to produce graphite, and to produce liquid fuel by hydrogenation.

Russia has vast reserves of coal deposits and coal basins.

A coal basin is an area (often over 10 thousand square kilometers) of development of coal deposits that formed in certain conditions over a certain period of time. Coal field has a smaller area and is a separate tectonic structure.

On the territory of Russia there are platform, folded and transitional basins.

The largest amount of coal deposits has been identified in Western and Eastern Siberia.

60% of Russian coal reserves are humic coals, including coking coal (Karaganda, South Yakutsk, Kuznetsk basins). Brown coals are also found (Ural, Eastern Siberia, Moscow region).

Coal reserves are dispersed across 25 coal basins and 650 individual deposits.

Coal mining is carried out using closed or open methods. Closed mining is carried out in mines, open - in quarries (cuts).

The life of a mine is on average 40 - 50 years. Each layer of coal takes about 10 years to be removed from the mine, followed by the development of the deeper layer through reconstruction. Reconstruction of the mine horizons is prerequisite to preserve the environment and ensure worker safety.

In open-pit mines, coal is extracted in successive strips.

As of 2010, coal in Russia was mined in 91 mines and 137 open-pit mines. The total annual capacity was 380 million tons.

After coal is extracted in mines or open pits, it goes directly to the consumer or is sent to coal enrichment enterprises.

In special factories, pieces of coal are sorted by size and then enriched.

The enrichment process is the purification of fuel from waste rock and foreign impurities.

Today, coal in Russia is mined mainly in the territory of 10 main basins. The largest deposit of hard and coking coals is the Kuznetsk basin (Kemerovo region), brown coal is mined in the Kansk-Achinsk basin (Krasnoyarsk Territory, Eastern Siberia), Anthracites - in the Gorlovka basin and in the Donbass.

The coal in these pools is of the highest quality.

Other well-known coal basins in Russia include the Pechora basin (Polar region), the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin in the Irkutsk region, the South Yakut basin in Far East.

The Taimyr, Lena and Tunguska basins are being actively developed in Eastern Siberia, as well as deposits in the Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye, and the Novosibirsk Region.

The largest industry (in terms of the number of workers and the cost of production fixed assets) of the fuel industry is coal mining in Russia.

The coal industry mines, processes (enriches) hard coal, brown coal and anthracite.

How and how much coal is produced in the Russian Federation

This mineral is mined depending on the depth of its location: open-pit (in open-pit mines) and underground (in mines) by methods.

During the period from 2000 to 2015, underground production increased from 90.9 to 103.7 million tons, and open-pit production increased by more than 100 million tons from 167.5 to 269.7 million tons. The amount of minerals mined in the country during this period, broken down by production method, can be seen in Fig. 1.

Rice. 1: Coal production in the Russian Federation from 2000 to 2015, broken down by production method, in million.

According to information from the Fuel and Energy Complex (FEC), 385 million tons of black minerals were produced in the Russian Federation in 2016, which is 3.2% higher than the previous year. This allows us to conclude that the industry has had positive growth dynamics in recent years and is promising despite the crisis.

The types of this mineral mined in our country are divided into energy coals and coals for coking.

IN total volume over the period from 2010 to 2015, the share of energy production increased from 197.4 to 284.4 million tons. The volumes of coal production in Russia by type, see Fig. 2.

2: Structure of coal production in the Russian Federation by type for 2010-2015, in million tons.

How much black mineral is there in the country and where is it mined?

According to Rosstat, Russian Federation(157 billion

tons) ranks second after the United States (237.3 billion tons) in the world in terms of coal reserves. The Russian Federation accounts for about 18% of all world reserves. See Figure 3.

Rice. 3: World reserves by leading countries

Information from Rosstat for 2010-2015 indicates that production in the country is carried out in 25 constituent entities of the Federation in 7 Federal Districts.

There are 192 coal enterprises. These include 71 mines and 121 coal mines. Their total production capacity is 408 million tons. More than 80% of it is mined in Siberia. Coal production in Russia by region is shown in Table 1.

In 2016, 227,400 thousand.

tons were mined in the Kemerovo region (such cities with one industry affiliation are called single-industry towns), of which about 125,000 thousand tons were exported.

Kuzbass accounts for about 60% of domestic coal production, there are about 120 mines and opencast mines.

At the beginning of February 2017, a new open-pit mine, Trudarmeysky Yuzhny, with a design capacity of 2,500 thousand, began work in the Kemerovo region.

In 2017, it is planned to extract 1,500 thousand tons of minerals from the open-pit mine, and, according to forecasts, the open-pit mine will reach its design capacity in 2018. Also in 2017, three new enterprises are planned to be launched in Kuzbass.

Largest deposits

On the territory of the Russian Federation there are 22 coal basins (according to Rosstat information for 2014) and 129 individual deposits.

More than 2/3 of the reserves that have already been explored are concentrated in the Kansk-Achinsk (79.3 billion tons) and Kuznetsk (53.4 billion tons) basins. They are located in the Kemerovo region of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Also among the largest basins are: Irkutsk, Pechora, Donetsk, South Yakutsk, Minusinsk, and others.

Figure 4 shows the structure of proven reserves for the main basins.

Rice. 4: Proven reserves for the main basins in Russia, billion tons.

Import-export

The Russian Federation is one of the three largest coal exporters after Australia (export volume 390 million).

tons) and Indonesia (330 million tons) in 2015. Russia's share in 2015 - 156 million tons of black minerals were exported. This figure for the country has increased by 40 million tons over five years. In addition to the Russian Federation, Australia and Indonesia, the six leading countries include the United States of America, Colombia and South Africa.

The structure of world exports is shown in Fig. 5.

Rice. 5: Structure of world exports (largest exporting countries).

Central dispatch control The fuel and energy complex reports that total exports from the country increased in 2016, while imports decreased.

Data on export-import in 2016 are presented in Table 2.

Head of the information and analytical department of the department of coal and peat industry of the Ministry of Energy of the country V.

Grishin predicts an increase in exports by 6% in 2017, its volume could reach 175 million tons, that is, an increase of 10 million tons.

Which companies are the largest producers

Large oil companies Russia is on everyone’s lips, and the largest coal producing companies in the country in 2016 are: OJSC SUEK (105.47), Kuzbassrazrezugol (44.5), SDS-Ugol (28.6), “ Vostsibugol (13.1), Southern Kuzbass (9), Yuzhkuzbassugol (11.2), Yakutugol (9.9), Raspadskaya OJSC (10.5), the amount of coal produced is indicated in parentheses in millions of tons, see

Rice. 6. Largest producers in the Russian Federation in 2016, in million.

The companies OJSC SUEK, Kuzbassrazrezugol and SDS-Ugol have been leaders in production over recent years.

The largest producers for 2014-2015 are presented in Fig.

7. Among them, in addition to the two above-mentioned industry leaders, there are also processing enterprises: Kuzbass Fuel Company, Sibuglement Holding, Vostsibugol, Russian Coal, EVRAZ (which is one of the largest private companies in the country), "Mechel-Mining", "SDS-Coal".

7. The largest producers in the Russian Federation for 2014-2015, in million tons.

In November 2016, Evgeniy Kosmin’s team of section No. 1 of the V.D. mine.

Yalevsky JSC SUEK-Kuzbass set a new Russian production record for the year from one production face - 4,810 thousand tons.

Results and conclusions

• The Russian coal complex is actively developing.
• Imports have fallen slightly in recent years, while exports and production have increased.
• In terms of exports, the Russian Federation is one of the three leading countries after Australia and Indonesia.
• In the coming years, it is planned to open new mining and processing enterprises.
• The top three include companies from the Siberian region, which accounts for more than 80% of the country’s total production.

Lyudmila Poberezhnykh, 2017-03-29

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Reference materials on the topic

Coal basins of Russia

The role of a particular coal basin in the territorial division of labor depends on the quality of coal, the size of reserves, technical and economic indicators of production, the degree of preparedness of reserves for industrial exploitation, the size of production, and the characteristics of the transport and geographical location.

Based on the totality of these conditions, the following stand out: inter-district coal bases- Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk basins, which together account for 70% of coal production in Russia, as well as the Pechora, Donetsk, Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo and South Yakutsk basins.
The most important producer of hard coal in Russia is the Kuznetsk Coal Basin.

Kuznetsk basin

The balance reserves of Kuzbass hard coal of category A+B+C1 are estimated at 57 billion tons, which is 58.8% of hard coal in Russia.

At the same time, coking coal reserves amount to 30.1 billion tons, or 73% of the country’s total reserves.

Almost the entire range of hard coal grades is mined in Kuzbass. The subsoil of Kuzbass is rich in other minerals - these are manganese, iron, phosphorite, nepheline ores, oil shale and other minerals.

Kuznetsk coals are of high quality: ash content is 8-22%, sulfur content is 0.3-0.6%, specific heat of combustion is 6000 - 8500 kcal/kg.

The average depth of underground development reaches 315m.
About 40% of the mined coal is consumed in the Kemerovo region itself and 60% is exported to other regions of Russia and for export.
In the structure of coal exports from Russia, Kuzbass accounts for over 70% of its physical volume.
High quality coal occurs here, including coking coal. Almost 12% of production is carried out by open pit mining.
Belovsky district is one of the oldest coal mining areas in Kuzbass.

The balance reserves of coal in the Belovsky district amount to more than 10 billion.

tons
The development of the Kuznetsk coal basin began in 1851 with more or less regular production of fuel at the Bachat mine for the Guryev Metallurgical Plant. The Bachat mine was located six miles northeast of the village of Bachat. Now this place is occupied by the Chertinskaya-Koksovaya and Novaya-2 mines and the Novobochatsky open-pit mine.
Firstborn coal industry Belova is considered to be the Pioneer mine, in 1933. The first ton of coal was mined here.

Currently, the Belovsky district is the largest coal mining region in Kuzbass.
The Belovsky district is the geographical center of the Kemerovo region.
The main centers are Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Prokopyevsk, Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Belovo, Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

The Kansk-Achinsk basin is located in the south of Eastern Siberia in the Krasnoyarsk Territory along the Trans-Siberian Railway and produces 12% of coal production in Russia.

Brown coal from this basin is the cheapest in the country, since mining is carried out by open-pit mining. Due to its low quality, coal is poorly transportable and therefore powerful thermal power plants operate on the basis of the largest open-pit mines (Irsha-Borodinsky, Nazarovsky, Berezovsky).

The Pechora basin is the largest in the European part and accounts for 4% of the country's coal production.

It is removed from the most important industrial centers and is located in the Arctic, mining is carried out only by the mine method. In the northern part of the basin (Vorkutinskoye and Vorgashorskoye deposits) coking coals are mined, and in the southern part (Intinskoye deposit) mainly energy coals are mined.

The main consumers of Pechora coal are Cherepovets metallurgical plant, enterprises of the North-West, Center and Central Black Earth Region.

The 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 mine method of extraction led to the high cost of coal. Coal production is declining every year and in 2007 the basin provided only 2.4% of all-Russian production.

The Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin in the Irkutsk region provides low cost of coal, since mining is carried out by open-pit mining and produces 3.4% of coal in the country.

Due to the great distance from large consumers, it is used at local power plants.

The South Yakut basin (3.9% of all-Russian production) is located in the Far East. Has significant reserves of energy and process fuel, and all mining is carried out by open-pit mining.

Promising coal basins include the Lensky, Tungussky and Taimyrsky, located beyond the Yenisei north of the 60th parallel.

They occupy vast spaces in poorly developed and sparsely populated areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

In parallel with the creation of inter-regional coal bases, there was widespread 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 (Moscow basin), and in the eastern regions it is increasing sharply (deposits of the Novosibirsk region, Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye.

Coal is one of the most famous fuel resources. The ancient Greeks were the first to learn about the flammable properties of this mineral. How coal is mined in modern world? Which countries are the leaders in its production? And what are the prospects for the coal industry in the near future?

What is coal and how is it used?

Coal is a hard and combustible mineral, a dark gray or black rock with a slight metallic sheen. “This substance flares up and burns like charcoal“- this is how Theophrastus of Eres, a student of Aristotle, described the breed. The ancient Romans actively used coal to heat their homes. And the Chinese learned to produce coke from it back in the 1st century BC.

How was coal formed? In ancient geological eras, large areas of the earth's surface were covered dense forests. Over time, the climate changed, and all this woody mass was buried under the thickness of the earth. Under conditions of high temperature and pressure, dead vegetation turned first into peat and then into coal. This is how powerful layers enriched with carbon arose underground. Coal was most actively formed in the Carboniferous, Permian and Jurassic periods.

Coal is used as an energy fuel. It is on this resource that the majority of all thermal power plants operate. In the 18th-19th centuries, active mining of coal became one of the decisive factors in the development of industrial revolution. Nowadays, coal is widely used in ferrous metallurgy, as well as in the production of so-called liquid fuels (by liquefaction).

Based on the amount of carbon in the rock, there are three main types of coal:

• brown coal (65-75% carbon);
• coal (75-95%);
• anthracite (over 95%).

Coal mining

Today, the total volume of industrial coal reserves on our planet reaches one trillion tons. Thus, this fuel resource will last humanity for many years to come (unlike oil or natural gas).

Coal is mined using two methods:

• open;
• closed.

The first method involves extracting rock from the bowels of the earth in quarries (coal mines), and the second - in closed mines. The depth of the latter varies widely from several hundred meters to one and a half kilometers. Each of these coal mining methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Thus, the open method is much cheaper and safer than the underground method. On the other hand, mines cause much less damage environment and natural landscapes rather than quarries.

It is worth noting that coal mining technologies do not stand in one place. If a hundred years ago primitive carts, picks and shovels were used to mine coal seams, now the latest ones are used for the same purposes. technical machines and equipment (jackhammers, combines, augers, etc.). In addition, completely developed and improved new way extraction - hydraulic. Its essence is this: a powerful jet of water crushes a layer of coal and carries it into a special chamber. From there, the rock is delivered directly to the factory for further beneficiation and processing.

Geography of world coal mining

Coal deposits are distributed more or less evenly around the world. Deposits of this resource are present on all continents of the planet. However, about 80% of all deposits are located in North America and post-Soviet countries. At the same time, a sixth of the world's coal reserves are contained in the subsoil of Russia.

The largest coal basins on the planet are the Pennsylvania and Appalachian (USA), Henshui and Fushun (China), Karaganda (Kazakhstan), Donetsk (Ukraine), Upper Silesian (Poland), Ruhr (Germany).

As of 2014, the top five leading coal mining countries in the world are: as follows(percentage of global coal production is indicated in parentheses):

1. China (46%).
2. USA (11%).
3. India (7.6%).
4. Australia (6.0%).
5. Indonesia (5.3%).

Problems and prospects of the coal industry

The main problem of the coal mining industry, of course, is environmental. Fossil coal contains mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals. When rock is extracted from the ground, all this gets into the soil, atmospheric air, surface and underground waters.

In addition to the damage caused to the natural environment, the coal industry also poses enormous risks to human life and health. First of all, this concerns miners. Excessive air dust in closed mines can lead to serious diseases such as silicosis or pneumoconiosis. We should not forget about large quantities tragedies that claim the lives of hundreds of coal workers around the world every year.

But, despite all the problems and dangers, humanity is unlikely to be able to abandon this fuel resource in the near future. Especially against the background of the rapid decline in oil and gas reserves in the world. Today, the coal mining industry is dominated by an increasing trend in anthracite production. In some countries (in particular, Russia, Turkey, Romania) the volume of brown coal production is growing.

Coal mining in Russia

Russia was first introduced to this mineral by Peter the Great. While relaxing on the banks of the Kalmius River, the king was shown a piece of black rock that burned beautifully. “If not for us, then for our descendants this mineral will be useful,” the sovereign rightly summed up then. The formation of the Russian coal industry took place in the first half of the 19th century.

Today, coal production in Russia amounts to over 300 million tons annually. In general, the country's depths contain about 5% of the world's reserves of this fuel resource. The largest coal basins in Russia are Kansko-Achinsky, Pechora, Tungussky and Kuzbass. Over 90% of all the country's deposits are located in Siberia.