Oil Shale mining-related research in Estonia
txt: Oil Shale, 2009, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 445–450 ISSN 0208-189X
doi: 10.3176/oil.2009.4.01 © 2009 Estonian Academy Publishers
EDITOR’S PAGE
OIL SHALE MINING-RELATED RESEARCH
IN ESTONIA
Finally the long-announced changes
arrived, caused by environmental, geological
and technological changes in oil
shale mining sector. In addition, the
biggest change has occurred with
alteration of professionals’ generation.
In most of the countries, the institutions
dealing with mining are facing difficult
questions – to continue or not to
continue, and if, then how. Research,
development and teaching work are
facing a low at the moment.
The biggest section in oil shale business
in which saving and effectiveness
could be achieved is the mining sector.
It includes social and environmental
restrictions in deposits, losses in pillars and separation of products and waste
rock. Losses are closely related to backfilling and waste rock usage. Much
smaller sections include production of oil, electricity and chemicals in which
most of the research and development is performed today.
Efficiency of oil shale usage depends manly on mining technology.
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Current urgent topics for investigating, testing and developing of oil shale
mining related questions are backfilling, mechanical extracting of shale and
digital modelling of mining processes.
Estonian oil shale mining industry with its 90 years of history has been a
test polygon for equipment manufacturers, geologists and mining engineers
from Germany, Soviet Union, Finland and Sweden.
These are the reasons why Estonia has recently hosted in average one
international mining-related conference per year and is going to host the
most important and highest level of the conferences – Annual General
Meeting of the Society of Mining Professors “Innovation in Mining” (SOMP
AGM 2010, http://mi.ttu.ee/somp2010).
Mining research concerning Estonian oil shale deposits
Several mining-related factors, such as changes in environment, underground
conditions, landscape and property, tend to awoke public resistance.
In order to create sustainable mining conditions, research on the natural
environment and experiments conducted in mines and mined areas are
required. Together with physical experiments, computer modelling is a widespread
method in mining engineering. The principal task of modelling is to
choose criteria and constraints satisfying all involved parties, as well as ways
of presenting. In reaction to this, various restrictions for mining (mainly
environmental ones) are created. In most cases, their argumentation is onesided,
often subjective. As a result, it is not possible to exploit a large part of
deposits due to environmental restrictions, but also due to expiration of evaluation
criteria of the supplies of resources. Part of the problems is caused by
miners that do not apply environmentally friendly mining technologies.
Mining environment is understood as the entity including resources
(deposits and groundwater), land (agricultural and housing land), engineering
and technology. Research has shown that ground and landscapes
changed by mining can afterwards be of better quality than before. If
reclaiming is planned skilfully, the soil, landforms, forest, water bodies and
agricultural land can be more valuable than before mining. All this is the
basis for developing acceptable, environmentally friendly mining.
Acceptable mining requires engineering research concerning both natural
and technogenic environment, e.g. modelling and pilot projects. As such
research is voluminous, computer modelling has become the principal tool in
solving problems related to all sorts of developments, technologies and
effects. The key issue is defining criteria and restrictions that satisfy all the
involved parties. Creating models and estimation criteria requires miningrelated
expertise and a database acquired from measurements, experimenting
and laboratory testing. Modelling is followed by laboratory and industrial
experiments, which require profound know-how. The experiments include
e.g. chronometry of technological productivity, geometric and geological
measurements, and measurements of rock quality. The parties that compose
mining plans, development plans and estimations of environmental effects
Editor’s Page 447
have acquired planning and modelling software for various purposes, which
causes some problems: the geological database requires skilful treatment;
data exist in several geodetic coordinate systems and include partly obsolete
stratigraphic terminology. Unfitting coordinate systems disturb the usage of
cross-use of spatial data in various geoinformation databases (digital maps,
border files, land registers, building registers, databases of technological
networks of enterprises, etc.). This creates further problems related to mined
areas. Most environmental restrictions, which have to be taken into account
in mining and building, are not based on real measurements. Usually the
restrictions are two-dimensional and do not take into account the structures
of the geological environment. Such vagueness does not support precise
engineering calculations or modelling. Basic modelling systems that are
designed in developed mining countries are principally meant for deep
deposits. However, in Estonia there are blanket deposits, which cause wider
environmental effect of mining. Because of that, imported systems have to
be adapted.
Mining is possible in any circumstances, provided that sustainable mining
environment has been created. In other words, with the proper choice of
mining technology, the effect of mining has been damped below the level
that the nature and man can tolerate. The methodology and criteria for
planning, designing, modelling and accepting of sustainable mining environment
will provide the basis for mineral raw material that the economy
requires, both in the near and far future.
The principal direction of developing mining technology is filling the
mined area. This provides control over majority of environmental effects.
For instance, filling the workings decreases the loss of resources and land
subsidence, and at the same time provides usage for stockpiling. Filling the
berms of surface mine decreases dewatering; harmless waste can be used for
filling open mines and in this manner offer new building land.
Local land subsidence related to mining may extend also to technological
networks. It is possible to find out deformation parameters by geodetic
monitoring. Taking these parameters into account enables to model further
the extent and effect of the deformation.
Modelling, including digital planning, is aimed at gaining and creating the
following: mining indicators needed for making decisions, future scenarios of
mining oil shale and building material, support for development planning at
state and regional level, technological solutions that take into account all
possible environmental effects and social reactions, new output: project solutions,
theme maps, inquiries, zoning, evaluations of crises or risks, optimal
methodology for gaining, storing and using information, having in mine
requirements for various purposes and levels, more effective usage of geological,
technological and spatial information, additional functionality of the
database.
The optimal solution is obtained by modelling. The most general but also
dominant criteria are: minimal effect on man and nature, minimal amount of
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residual and waste, maximal economic profit, also in other fields not only in
the mining industry. The problem includes several criteria, and its solving
requires both theoretical and computational solutions. Principal methods are
related to introducing sensors, measuring equipment and mining condition
experiment, matching structures of various data and modelling based on
them. The methods are: mapping the modelling criteria, indicators and processes
of the mined areas; experimenting the possibilities of application,
compatibility and results of mining software; applying laboratory experiments
and fieldwork in modelling; creating models for blanket deposits
(methodology in modelling MGIS, i.e. mining geoinformation system,
models of new mines, changes in ground conditions, environment (modelling
and analysis of groundwater dynamics, effects of dust, noise, etc.),
geotechnological models in mined areas); applying seismological methods
for developing theory for collapse risk, analysis methods for creating spatial
models from geodetic spatial information, studies on material properties
for developing theory for criteria for rock breakage, dendrochronologic
studies for monitoring changes caused by collapses and changes in the water
regime.
As a result, conditions for creating mining environment satisfying all
involved parties (industry, state, public, decision makers) will be developed,
applicable for any deposit of any resource. A system of criteria of evaluating
the mining environment will be designed.
This research provides for mining science a new level of digital modelling
of blanket deposits, basing on long-term experiments and modern digital
planning. The research results will be applied in compilation of the state
development plan, planning mined areas, as well as in teaching and science.
The results are relevant principally for users of land and ground (builders,
geologists, hydrogeologists, hydrologists, mining engineers and reclaimers).
The results provide better understanding between the public and the
miners, and further a basis for well-argumented communication and promotion
for economy in the manner that satisfies both parties. In recent years,
there has been a world-wide initiative for research, creating the concept of
sustainable mining, using relevant indicators and making decisions based on
them. MMSD (Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development), SDIMI
(Sustainable Development Indicators for the Minerals Industry) and other
international networks emphasize the need for creation of a concept for
regional sustainable mining, relevant for local conditions. At the same time,
modelling systems are being built and usage of non-traditional fuels is being
started.
About three decades ago oil-shale mines of the former USSR including
Estonia did not use the progressive mining methods with continuous miner,
which are most suitable for the case of high-strength limestone layers in oilshale
bed. Therefore, oil shale mining with blasting has been used as a basic
mining method in Estonian minefields up to now while continuous miner
was tested for roadway driving only. As for cutting, the installed power of
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coal shearers and continuous miners has increased enormously since the
original work. The actual state of the market has changed, and a wide range
of powerful mining equipment from well-known manufacturers like
DOSCO, EIMCO, EICKHOFF, etc. is available now. Estonia has 30 years
of experience in cutting with longwall shearers which were not capable of
cutting hardest limestone layer inside of the seam. Tests with road headers
have been carried out in the 1970s. Additionally Wirtgen surface miners
have been tested (SM2100 and SM2600) for two years as well as SM2200
and Man Tackraf surface miner, and currently the testing of Wirtgen surface
miner SM2500 for high selective mining in an open cast mine is being
performed.
The main field to be developed in addition to mine backfilling is
mechanical extraction of oil shale. Potentially this allows increasing oil
yield, decreasing CO2 pollution, decreasing ash amount, decreasing oil shale
losses, avoiding vibration caused by blasting, avoiding ground surface
subsidence (in the case of longwall mining), increasing drifting and extracting
productivity compared with current room and pillar mining, increasing
safety of mining operations. The final aim of the research is to use BAT
(best available technology) for underground mining in areas with arduous
conditions of coal and oil-shale deposits. The main problems to be solved
are: selective cutting of oil shale (15 MPa) and hard limestone (up to
100 MPa), roof support at the face, stability of the main roof, roof bolting,
pillar parameters, backfilling with rock or residues (ash) from oil production,
water stopping and pumping in problematic environment (30 m3
/t expected).
Currently room and pillar mining with drill and blast technology is used
underground. Supporting is done with bolts. Mining production is in total
around 14 Mt/y, including 7 Mt/y underground. Total raw material amount
underground is 12 Mt/y. Tests are made for opening new mines, with total
production 15 Mt/y.
Continuous miners keep playing a major role in the underground industry
in over fourteen countries worldwide. Estonia’s oil-shale industry is at the
beginning of introducing modern fully mechanized continuous miner
systems, which could increase productivity and safety in the underground
mines.
A longitudinal cutting head-type miner was first introduced in the former
Soviet Union by modifying the Hungarian F2 roadheaders and in the 1970s
in Estonia by modifying the Russian coal roadheader 4PP-3. Evaluation of
breakability was performed by a method developed by A. A. Skotchinsky
Institute of Mining Engineering (St Petersburg, Russia). For this purpose
over a hundred samples produced by cutting of oil shale and limestone, as
well as taken in mines by mechanical cutting of oil shale were analysed.
Evaluations were made for using coal-mining equipment for mining oil
shale. Comparative evaluations were made by the experimental cutting of oil
shale in both directions – along and across the bedding, including also
mining-scale experiments with cutting heads rotating round horizontal
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(transverse heads) and vertical axes (longitudinal heads). In both cases the
efficiency was estimated by power requirement for cutting. The feasibility
was shown by breaking oil shale in direction of cutting across the bedding by
using cutting drums on horizontal axis of rotation. The research also
evidenced that the existing coal shearers proved low endurance for mining
oil shale. Therefore, there arose the problem of developing special types of
shearers for mining oil shale or modifying the existing coal shearers.
It was further stated that the better pick penetration of the longitudinal
machines allows excavation of harder strata at higher rates with lower pick
consumption for an equivalent-sized transverse machine. It was reported that
with the longitudinal cutting heads the dust forming per unit of time
decreases due to smaller peripheral speed. The change in the magnitude of
the resultant boom force reaction during a transition from arcing to lifting is
relatively high for the transverse heads, depending on cutting head design.
Specific energy for cutting across the bedding with longitudinal heads is
1.3–1.35 times lower which practically corresponds to the change of the
factor of stratification.
These are the questions waiting for answers in the near future for
effective oil shale extraction in Estonia and in similar mining conditions. In
spite of current economic problems, still everything begins with mining.
Ingo VALGMA
Head of Department of Mining of Tallinn University of Technology,
Head of Estonian Mining Society,
President of the Society of Mining Professors / Societät der Bergbaukunde
