Case studies and analysis of mine shafts incidents in Europe

Amélie Lecomte (1) , Romuald Salmon (1) , W. Yang (2) , Alec Marshall (2) , M. Purvis (3) , S. Prusek (4) , Slawomir Bock (4) , L. Gajda (5) , J. Dziura (5) , Agustin Munos Niharra (6)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
2 UON - University of Nottingham, UK
3 Mines Rescue Service LTD
4 Central Mining Institute
5 Kompania Weglowa S.A.
6 Geocontrol S.A.

Entry to mine workings is normally gained by means of vertical shafts or horizontal or inclined tunnels called adits. Other mining objects such as fan drifts and wheel pits are often associated with mine shafts. Such mining objects may or may not have been filled, wholly or partially, or otherwise sealed to prevent entry when the mine was abandoned. Nowadays mine entries are usually adequately protected on abandonment to prevent accidental ingress. Many earlier mine entries remain open, however, and may pose a threat to human safety. Within the framework of MISSTER (Mine shafts: improving security and new tools for the evaluation of risks), a European RFCS project (Research Fund for Coal and Steel), a selection of representative cases of mine shafts incidents was reviewed. This work was carried out by INERIS (France), GEOCONTROL (Spain), University of Nottingham and Mine Rescue Service Ltd (United Kingdom), Central Mining Institute and KWSA (Poland). The experience accumulated through this work will allow a fuller determination of risk scenarios associated with mine shafts.

Keywords: MINE SHAFT; COLLAPSE; SUBSIDENCE; CASE STUDY

Domains: Earth Sciences; Environmental Sciences

Amélie Lecomte, Romuald Salmon, W. Yang, Alec Marshall, M. Purvis, et al.. Case studies and analysis of mine shafts incidents in Europe. 3. International Conference on Shaft Design and Construction (SDC 2012), Apr 2012, Londres, United Kingdom. pp.NC. ⟨ineris-00973661⟩