Ensuring geodynamic safety in coal mines

With all the diversity available, the most commonly used methods of predicting and preventing dynamic phenomena in coal mines, which are based on research done in the middle of the previous century, are characterized with a very limited range of application and a local impact; they are discrete, and highly dependent on the human factor and often do not have a stable effect. In the conditions of increasing complexity of mining and geological conditions, the growing capacity of mining equipment, it is necessary to improve, clarify the used and create new methods to control the state of the rock mass and make predictions of dynamic phenomena. When using the existing geophysical methods to assess the rock mass state, integrated approaches have not yet been tested: this is the nearest prospect for development. New research of intermediate states of the coal mass is necessary. There is a need for conceptual and fundamental changes in this area. The Raspadskaya Coal Company has started to develop an integrated approach to monitoring the rock mass state, predicting and preventing dynamic phenomena.