A review on utilisation of coal mine overburden dump waste as underground mine filling material: a sustainable approach of mining

摘要

This paper reviews the application of coal mine overburden (OB) dump material for backfilling in underground mine voids created due to coal mining in deeper seams/horizons. Backfilling, which is commonly known as stowing, provides stability of ground by preventing land subsidence, reducing mine fire and improving the coal production by increasing extraction of coal pillars. Different materials have been used for backfilling in underground mine voids such as river sand, fly ash, mine tailing and waste foundry sand (WFS). From last few decades, coal mining industry in India is facing scarcity of river sand owing to some new mining legislations and its heavy demand in infrastructure development. The existing coal mine overburden dumps might be a good alternative for sand and provide a sustainable mining practice. Geotechnical and physicochemical characterisation is required to evaluate the suitability of OB dump material to be used as an alternative of river sand.