An integrated risk management approach for underground coal pillar extraction in South Africa

摘要

Analysis for Pillar Extraction Potential (A-PEP) is an intelligent tool which could be used as a preliminary output indicator when considering the secondary extraction of regional support pillars in the Witbank and Highveld coalfields of South Africa. Pillar extraction practices inSouth Africa have consumed a significant proportion of safety and fatality statistics in relation to its relative output (less than 5 percent of total South African coal production) and as a result research was undertaken in local pillar extraction operations and extended to similar operations in New South Wales, Australia to assess a way forward for pillar extraction in South Africa. The A-PEP tool to assess pillar extraction potential is based on certain physical, risk and economic factors which combineto be indicative of operational success in terms of economic, health and safety attributes. In this paper it is successfully tested against two existing pillar extraction operations.