Mining operations generates substantial quantities of airborne respirable dust, which leads to the development of lung disease in mine workers. Coal worker's pneumoconiosis and silicosis are lung diseases that have adversely impacted the health of thousands of mine workers. The increasing trend of opencast mining leads to release of huge amount of dust. These air borne dust particles, generally below 100 micron in size, are environmentally nuisance and cause health hazards as an ill effect of mining activities. Opencast extraction activities like drilling, blasting, material handling and transport are a potential source of air pollution. Therefore, a detailed study on emission sources and quantification of pollutant concentration by means of dispersion modeling is required to access the environmental impact of a opencast mine. On the basis of the predicted increments to air pollutant concentrations, an effective mitigation and environmental plan can be devised for sensitive areas. In the present study, Air quality modeling has been attempted using AERMOD. Line source & Volume source modeling has been carried out for haul road and open pit respectively. From the modeling exercise, dust concentrations at certain receptor locations have been predicted and it was found that the resultant SPM level at these locations will remain within the NAAQS norms.

This report presents the significant dust dispersion models that are pertinent to the mining industry in an effort to highlight past and current dust modeling exercises.

The Arctic region contains vast mineral resources and mining of these resources is a major activity in several countries, including the United States. With the advancement of open-pit mining technology, the depth to which minerals can be profitably mined has increased, resulting in deeper pits than ever before. This increase in depth has several inherent challenges for mining operations. The ventilation of an open-pit mine is mostly dependent on natural airflow patterns. The dispersion behavior of the pollutants generated in a mine is also dependent on the atmospheric conditions. The control of fugitive dust in high-latitude open-pit mines is challenging due to unique atmospheric phenomena resulting in complicated flow regimes as well as atmospheric inversion due to the lack of adequate insolation during prolonged winter seasons. The development of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of an open-pit mine is challenging due to the presence of several sharp and irregular features at the pit surface. A good quality mesh of the model domain is a prerequisite for convergence in solution. Besides good quality meshing, choices of various simulation setup parameters have significant impact in convergence or divergence of the simulation. Appropriate choices of simulation type, boundary and initial conditions, time stepping and various convergence criteria are important for realistic simulation of a model domain. Environmental conditions in the mine vary from season to season; hence, fugitive dust dispersion simulations using a commercial CFD software are conducted for various seasonal conditions along with several cloud conditions. Clear sky and cloudy sky conditions result in different radiative and turbulent energy fluxes. In each scenario, fugitive dust particles varying in size (PM0.1 to PM10) and concentrations are generated at various locations of the selected mine. The simulation results predict a speedy removal of fugitive dust in summer. However, during winter, the presence of an inversion layer in the open-pit results in extensive retention of fugitive dust. For removal of the atmospheric inversion during winter, it is observed that the presence of cloud cover and convective wind are the most important factors.

The papers in these two volumes were presented at the International Conference on “NexGen Technologies for Mining and Fuel Industries” [NxGnMiFu-2017] in New Delhi from February 15-17, 2017, organized by CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India. The proceedings include the contributions from authors across the globe on the latest research on mining and fuel technologies. The major issues focused on are: Innovative Mining Technology, Rock Mechanics and Stability Analysis, Advances in Explosives and Blasting, Mine Safety and Risk Management, Computer Simulation and Mine Automation, Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Development, Environmental Impacts and Remediation, Paste Fill Technology and Waste Utilisation, Fly Ash Management, Clean Coal Initiatives, Mineral Processing and Coal Beneficiation, Quality Coal for Power Generation and Conventional and Non-conventional Fuels and Gases. This collection of contemporary articles contains unique knowledge, case studies, ideas and insights, a must-have for researchers and engineers working in the areas of mining technologies and fuel sciences.

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of mining, geology and geo-spatial technologies, as presented by leading researchers and engineers at the International Conference on Innovations for Sustainable and Responsible Mining (ISRM), held in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 15-17 2020. The contributions cover a diverse range of topics, including mining technology, drilling and blasting engineering, tunneling and geotechnical applications, mineral processing, mine management and economy, environmental risk assessment and management, mining and local development, mined land rehabilitation, water management and hydrogeology, regional Geology and tectonics, spatial engineering for monitoring natural resources and environment change, GIS and remote sensing for natural disaster monitoring, risk mapping and revisualization, natural resources monitoring and management, mine occupational safety and health. Selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process, they will spur novel research directions and foster future multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book focuses on the study of chemical dust suppression in mine dust pollution control by means of theories, experiments, computer simulation, and case application, aiming at providing chemical dust suppression solutions for mining worksites. It has seven chapters, including the following contents: (1) introduces fundamental theories and applications of chemical dust suppression, analyzes the dust source intensity of worksites and the mechanisms of dust generation, and summarizes the dust control measures for different mining worksites. (2) According to the mechanisms of dust generation in different mining worksites, targeted dust suppressants were developed. Through optimization by monomer experiment and orthogonal experiment, the optimum formula of different types of dust suppressants was obtained, and its properties were characterized. (3) The dust suppressant field application process was introduced, and the economic benefits were analyzed. This book is expected to provide valuable references both for researchers and engineering technicians engaged in environmental engineering, safety engineering, occupational health, and mining metallurgical engineering, and it also serves as a textbook for graduate students in above disciplines.