Mining Project: Coal Mine Safety Applications of Seismic Monitoring

Research Summary

The objective of the project is to implement in-mine seismic monitoring techniques in coal mines to evaluate and demonstrate potential mine safety benefits of this technology. These benefits include use of the resulting data for improved ground control hazard management, rock mass modeling, and mine and support design practices in deep coal environments. The project works toward NIOSH Office of Mine Safety and Health goals to reduce ground failure fatalities and injuries in the mining industry. Major outputs include: (1) technology demonstration projects with stakeholders at cooperating underground mines, (2) development of guidelines for adapting microseismic monitoring systems, which were initially developed for hard rock mines, to significantly different coal mine environments, and (3) publications describing research efforts to use mine seismicity data to improve ground control safety. Potential intermediate outcomes include the incorporation of microseismic event data by stakeholders into the various mine safety applications. The ultimate outcome envisaged is the reduction in ground-control-related mine accidents.