Environmentally sustainable mining: a case study of intermittent cut-and-fill mining under sand aquifers

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation on the effects of intermittent cut-and-fill mining on the overburden failure under sand aquifers. In the intermittent cut-and-filling method, the panel is divided into long pillars, and then entries in every long pillar into a narrow strip; every narrow strip is then cut and backfilled. Field measurements, scale model tests and numerical simulations are used to compare overburden failure and subsidence due to three mining methods: intermittent cut-and-fill mining, longwall excavation and continuous filling. These methods were applied in a case study of the Taiping Coal Mine, in Shandong, China. The results of the numerical simulation and scale model testing reveal that the height of the maximum caving and water-conducting fractured zones, and the maximum subsidence due to intermittent cut-and-fill mining are much smaller than those with the use of longwall excavation and continuous filling and well verified by the field measurements. Additionally, the numerical simulation results of the stress distribution and variation during intermittent cut-and-fill mining are in close agreement with those of the field measurements. It has been proved that the intermittent cut-and-fill mining can successfully mitigate the overburden failure and subsidence, which contribute to preventing water and sand inrush into coal mines under sand aquifers. This provides a less costly and more effective approach to address surface subsidence and mine caving problems.