Analysis of space resources characteristics and transformation paths of mine closure in China

Abstract

The closure of mines in the coal industry has caused a certain degree of waste of resources, low utilisation rate of resource transformation, and damage to the ecological environment. China is planning to close a substantial number of mines by 2030. Direct closed mines will not only cause huge waste of resources and loss of state-owned assets, but also may include ecological and environmental problems. Main research contents of this paper: (1) Analysed the definition of mine closure and compared the transformation and paths of closed mines in China and abroad. The aboveground transformation paths included mine parks, mine museums, industrial relics, and the utilisation modes of underground space resources mainly include underground storage, underground laboratories, and energy development. (2) used coordinated air-sky-ground multi-source data, divided the types of above/underground resources in the mine, and gave the calculation methods of aboveground buildings space, underground roadways and shafts space, and the estimation methods of underground residual coal resources amount. built a constraint factors system of transformation of closed/abandoned mines. (3) Taked the closed coal mine of Zhujiahe in Shaanxi Province as an example, used the up/down shaft space resource evaluation model, the volume of the buildings was 104,000 m3, the volume of underground space including shafts, roadways, chambers, and underground car yard is 118,000 m3, and the total amount of residual coal resources was nearly 56 million tonnes (Mt). Three transformation paths considered for the Shaanxi Zhujiahe coal mine by comprehensive calculation results, mine transformation suitability evaluation, development and utilisation planning scheme. Through the comprehensive benefit evaluation, the optimal transformation path of the mine was determined as aboveground mine park and underground mine museum. The research on the transformation and utilisation of closed/abandoned mine resources can provide new solutions and sustainable development for closed mine enterprises, which is of great significance to reduce the waste of resources and implement China's ‘dual carbon’ strategic goal.