The coal mining industry is the largest segment of the fuel industry. Worldwide, it outnumbers any other in terms of the number of workers and the amount of equipment.

What is the coal industry

The coal mining industry involves the extraction of coal and its subsequent processing. Work is carried out both on the surface and underground.

If the deposits are located at a depth of no more than 100 meters, the work is carried out in a quarry way. Mines are used to develop deposits at great depths.

Classic coal mining methods

Working in coal mines and underground are the main methods of mining. Most of the work in Russia and in the world is carried out open way. This is due to financial gain and high speed mining.

The process is as follows:

• With the help of special equipment, the upper layer of the earth covering the deposit is removed. A few years ago, the depth of open works was limited to 30 meters, the latest technology allowed to increase it by 3 times. If the top layer is soft and small, it is removed with an excavator. A thick and dense layer of earth is pre-crushed.
• Coal deposits are beaten off and taken away with the help of special equipment to the enterprise for further processing.
• The workers are restoring the natural relief in order to avoid harm to the environment.

The disadvantage of this method is that coal deposits located at a shallow depth contain impurities of dirt and other rocks.

Coal mined underground is considered cleaner and of better quality.

The main task of this method is to transport coal from great depths to the surface. For this, passages are created: an adit (horizontal) and a shaft (inclined or vertical).

In the tunnels, coal seams are cut by special combines and loaded onto a conveyor that lifts them to the surface.

The underground method allows you to get a large number of fossil, but it has significant drawbacks: high cost and increased danger to workers.

Unconventional methods of coal mining

These methods are effective, but do not have a mass distribution - on this moment there are no technologies that allow you to clearly establish the process:

• Hydraulic. Mining is carried out in a mine at great depths. The coal seam is crushed and brought to the surface under strong water pressure.
• The energy of compressed air. It acts as both a destructive and lifting force, compressed air is under strong pressure.
• Vibroimpulse. The formations are destroyed under the influence of powerful vibrations generated by the equipment.

These methods were used back in the Soviet Union, but did not become popular due to the need for large financial investments. Only a few coal mining companies continue to use unconventional methods.

Their main advantage is the absence of workers in potentially life-threatening areas.

Leading countries in coal mining

According to the statistics of world energy, a ranking of countries that occupy leading positions in coal production in the world has been compiled:

1. India.
2. Australia.
3. Indonesia.
4. Russia.
5. Germany.
6. Poland.
7. Kazakhstan.

For many years, China has been the leader in terms of coal production. In China, only 1/7 of the available deposits are being developed, this is due to the fact that coal is not exported outside the country, and the existing reserves will last at least 70 years.

On the territory of the United States, the deposits are evenly scattered throughout the country. They will provide the country with their reserves for at least 300 years.

Coal deposits in India are very rich, but almost all of the coal produced is used in the energy industry, since the available reserves are of very low quality. Despite the fact that India occupies one of the leading positions, artisanal methods of coal mining are progressing in this country.

Australia's coal reserves will last approximately 240 years. The mined coal has the highest quality rating, a significant part of it is intended for export.

In Indonesia, the level of coal production is growing every year. A few years ago, most of the produced was exported to other countries, now the country is gradually abandoning the use of oil, in connection with which the demand for coal for domestic consumption is growing.

Russia has 1/3 of the world's coal reserves, while not all the country's lands have yet been explored.

Germany, Poland and Kazakhstan are gradually reducing coal production due to the non-competitive cost of raw materials. Most of the coal is intended for domestic consumption.

The main places of coal mining in Russia

Let's figure it out. Coal mining in Russia is carried out mainly by open-pit mining. Deposits across the country are scattered unevenly - most of them are located in the eastern region.

The most significant coal deposits in Russia are:

• Kuznetsk (Kuzbass). It is considered the largest not only in Russia, but throughout the world, located in Western Siberia. Coking and hard coal is mined here.
• Kansko-Achinsk. Production is carried out here. The field is located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, occupying part of the territories of the Irkutsk and Kemerovo regions, the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• Tunguska coal basin. Represented by brown and hard coal. It covers part of the territory of the Republic of Sakha, and the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
• Pechora coal basin. Mining is carried out at this deposit Works are carried out in mines, which makes it possible to extract high-quality coal. It is located on the territories of the Komi Republic and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
• Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo coal basin. It is located on the territory of the Upper Sayan. Provides coal only to nearby enterprises and settlements.

To date, five more deposits are being developed that can increase the annual volume of coal production in Russia by 70 million tons.

Prospects for the coal mining industry

Most of the coal deposits in the world have already been explored, from an economic point of view, the most promising belong to 70 countries. The level of coal production is growing rapidly: technologies are being improved, equipment is being modernized. This increases the profitability of the industry.

coal industry is engaged in the extraction and primary processing (enrichment) of hard and brown coal and is the largest industry in terms of the number of workers and the cost of production fixed assets.

Russian coal

Russia has various types of coal - brown, black, anthracite - and occupies one of the leading places in the world in terms of reserves. The total geological reserves of coal amount to 6421 billion tons, of which 5334 billion tons are standard. More than 2/3 of the total reserves are coal. Technological fuel - coking coal - is 1/10 of the total amount of hard coal.

Coal distribution throughout the country uneven. 95% reserves account for eastern regions, of which more than 60% - to Siberia. The main part of the general geological reserves of coal is concentrated in the Tunguska and Lena basins. In terms of industrial coal reserves, the Kansk-Achinsk and Kuznetsk basins are distinguished.

Coal mining in Russia

In terms of coal production, Russia ranks fifth in the world (after China, the USA, India and Australia), 3/4 of the coal mined is used for the production of energy and heat, 1/4 - in metallurgy and the chemical industry. A small part is exported, mainly to Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Open pit coal mining in Russia is 2/3 of the total volume. This method of extraction is considered the most productive and cheapest. However, this does not take into account the severe disturbances of nature associated with it - the creation of deep quarries and extensive overburden dumps. Mine production is more expensive and has a high accident rate, which is largely determined by the depreciation of mining equipment (40% of it is outdated and requires urgent modernization).

Russian coal basins

The role of this or that coal basin in the territorial division of labor depends on the quality of coal, the size of the reserves, the technical and economic indicators of extraction, the degree of preparedness of the reserves for industrial exploitation, the size of the extraction, and the peculiarities of the transport and geographical position. Together, these conditions stand out sharply interdistrict coal bases— The Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk basins, which together account for 70% of coal production in Russia, as well as the Pechora, Donetsk, Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo and South Yakutsk basins.

Kuznetsk basin, located in the south of Western Siberia in the Kemerovo region, is the main coal base of the country and provides half of the all-Russian coal production. Here lies the coal High Quality, including coking. Almost 12% of mining is carried out by open pit mining. The main centers are Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Prokopievsk, Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Belovo, Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

Kansko-Achinsk basin located in the south of Eastern Siberia in the Krasnoyarsk Territory along the Trans-Siberian Railway and provides 12% of coal production in Russia. The lignite of this basin is the cheapest in the country, since it is mined in an open pit. Due to the low quality of coal, it is not very transportable, and therefore powerful thermal power plants operate on the basis of the largest mines (Irsha-Borodinsky, Nazarovsky, Berezovsky).

Pechora basin is the largest in the European part and provides 4% of the country's coal production. It is removed from the most important industrial centers and is located in the Arctic, mining is carried out only by the mine method. Coking coal is mined in the northern part of the basin (Vorkuta and Vorgashorskoye deposits), while in the southern part (Intinskoye deposit), mainly energy coal is mined. The main consumers of Pechora coal are Cherepovets steel plant, enterprises of the North-West, the Center and the Central Black Earth Region.

Donetsk basin in the Rostov region is the eastern part of the coal basin located in Ukraine. This is one of the oldest coal mining areas. The mining method of extraction led to the high cost of coal. Coal production is declining every year and in 2007 the basin produced only 2.4% of the total Russian production.

Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin in the Irkutsk region provides a low cost of coal, since mining is carried out in an open way and provides 3.4% of coal in the country. Due to the great distance from large consumers, it is used at local power plants.

South Yakutsk basin(3.9% of the total Russian production) is located in the Far East. It has significant reserves of energy and process fuels, and all mining is carried out by an open method.

The promising coal basins include the Lensky, Tungussky and Taimyrsky, located beyond the Yenisei to the north of the 60th parallel. They occupy vast areas in the poorly developed and sparsely populated areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

In parallel with the creation of coal bases of inter-district significance, there was a wide development of local coal basins, which made it possible to bring coal production closer to the areas of its consumption. At the same time, in the western regions of Russia, coal production is declining (Podmoskovny Basin), while in the eastern regions it is sharply increasing (deposits Novosibirsk region, Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye.

Coal mining as an industrial sector became widespread in the early twentieth century and to this day continues to be one of the most profitable types of mining of mineral deposits. Coal is mined commercially all over the world.

Contrary to popular belief, this fossil is used not only as a quality fuel. In the middle of the twentieth century, the coal industry gave a powerful impetus to the development of scientific research on the extraction of hydrocarbons from minerals.

Where is mining

The largest coal-producing countries are China, the USA, and India. ranks 6th in the world ranking in terms of its production, although it is in the top three in terms of reserves.

Brown coal, hard coal (including coking coal) and anthracite are mined in Russia. The main coal-mining regions in Russia are the Kemerovo region, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Irkutsk region, Chita, Buryatia, and the Komi Republic. There is coal in the Urals, the Far East, Kamchatka, Yakutia, the Tula and Kaluga regions. There are 16 coal basins in Russia. One of the largest - more than half of Russia's hard coal is mined there.

How coal is mined

Depending on the depth of the coal seam, its area, shape, thickness, various geographical and environmental factors, a certain method of coal mining is selected. The main methods include the following:

• mine;
• developments in a coal quarry;
• hydraulic.

In addition, there is open-pit coal mining, provided that the coal seam lies at a depth of no more than one hundred meters. But this method is very similar in form to quarry coal mining.

mine method

This method is used from great depths and has an undeniable advantage over open-cast coal mining methods: coal at great depths is of better quality and contains practically no impurities.

To access the coal seams, horizontal or vertical tunnels (adits and mines) are drilled. There are known cases of coal mining at a depth of up to 1500 meters (Gvardeyskaya, Shakhterskaya-Glubokaya mines).

Underground coal mining is one of the most difficult specializations due to a number of dangers:

1. Constant threat of groundwater breakthrough into the mine shaft.
2. The constant threat of a breakthrough of associated gases into the mine shaft. In addition to possible suffocation, a special danger is explosions and fires.
3. Accidents due to high temperature at great depths (up to 60 degrees), careless handling of equipment, etc.

In this way, approximately 36% of the world's coal reserves are extracted from the earth's interior, which is 2625.7 million tons.

open way

According to their classification, developments in a coal quarry belong to an open method of coal mining, since they do not require drilling mines and adits to a great depth.

This method of mining consists in undermining and removing overburden (a layer of excess rocks above coal deposits) from the mining site. After that, with the help of excavators, water guns, bulldozers, crushers, draglines and conveyors, the rock is crushed and transferred further.

This method of coal mining is considered less safe than closed (mine). But he also has certain risk factors associated with careless handling of equipment and large-sized vehicles, the possibility of poisoning with exhaust gases and substances accompanying machine activity.

A significant disadvantage of this method is considered to be causing great harm to the environment due to the removal large area land layer and accompanying natural elements.

The open-pit method is considered one of the most widespread in the world - it produces more than 55% of coal per year, which is 4102.1 million tons.

It was first used in the Soviet Union in the 30s of the twentieth century. It involves the extraction of coal in deep mines, while transporting coal to the surface occurs with the help of water jets under tension. This method made it possible to use the lack of underground coal mining - groundwater - to their advantage.

AT recent times hydraulic coal mining is considered one of the most respectable methods. It is able to replace the laborious and dangerous process of coal mining by miners, instead of which the destructive and lifting force water will come out.

The disadvantages of this method of coal mining include the following:

• constant contact of working tools and mechanisms with water and rock;
• certain difficulties in replacing or repairing working equipment;
• dependence of the process of coal mining on the thickness, angle of inclination and hardness of the rock.

This method produces approximately 7.5% of coal annually, which is 545.5 million tons.

The range of its use is very wide. Coal is used to generate electricity, as an industrial raw material (coke), for the production of graphite, to obtain liquid fuel by hydrogenation.

Russia has vast reserves of coal deposits and coal basins.

A coal basin is an area (often over 10 thousand square kilometers) of coal-bearing deposits, formed under certain conditions over a certain period of time. The coal deposit has a smaller area and is a separate tectonic structure.

On the territory of Russia there are platform, folded and transitional basins.

The largest amount of coal deposits was found on the territory of Western and Eastern Siberia.

60% of Russian coal reserves are humic coals, including coking coal (Karaganda, South Yakutsk, Kuznetsk basin). There are also brown coals (Urals, Eastern Siberia, Moscow region).

Coal reserves are dispersed over 25 coal basins and 650 individual deposits.

Coal mining is carried out in a closed or open way. Closed mining is carried out in mines, open - in quarries (sections).

The life of the mine is on average 40 - 50 years. Each layer of coal is removed from the mine for about 10 years, followed by the development of a deeper layer through reconstruction. Reconstruction of mine horizons is prerequisite to save environment and ensuring the safety of workers.

In the cuts, the extraction of coal is carried out in successive strips.

For the period of 2010, coal in Russia was mined in 91 mines and 137 cuts. The total annual capacity was 380 million tons.

After coal is mined in mines or cuts, it goes directly to the consumer or is sent to coal enrichment enterprises.

At special factories, pieces of coal are sorted by size and then enriched.

The enrichment process is the purification of fuel from waste rock and impurities.

Today, coal in Russia is mined mainly in the territory and 10 main basins. The largest deposit of hard and coking coal is the Kuznetsk basin (Kemerovo region), brown coal is mined in the Kansko-Achinsk basin (Krasnoyarsk Territory, Eastern Siberia), Anthracites - in the Gorlovsky basin and in the Donbass.

The coal in these basins is of the highest quality.

Other well-known coal basins in Russia include the Pechora basin (Arctic), the Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin in the Irkutsk region, and the South Yakutsk basin in the Far East.

The Taimyr, Lena and Tunguska basins are being actively developed in Eastern Siberia, as well as deposits in the Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye, Novosibirsk Region.

The largest branch (in terms of the number of workers and the cost of production fixed assets) of the fuel industry is coal mining in Russia.

The coal industry extracts, processes (enriches) coal, lignite and anthracites.

How and how much coal is produced in the Russian Federation

This mineral is mined depending on the depth of location: open (in cuts) and underground (in mines) methods.

Between 2000 and 2015, underground production increased from 90.9 to 103.7 million tons, while open-pit production increased by more than 100 million tons from 167.5 to 269.7 million tons. The amount of the mineral mined in the country during this period, broken down by production methods, see fig. one.

Rice. 1: Coal production in the Russian Federation from 2000 to 2015 by production method, in million tons

According to the Fuel and Energy Complex (FEC), in the Russian Federation in 2016, 385 million tons of black minerals were mined, which is 3.2% higher than the previous year. This allows us to draw a conclusion about the positive dynamics of the growth of the industry in recent years and about the prospects, despite the crisis.

The types of this mineral, mined in our country, are divided into power and coking coals.

In the total volume for the period from 2010 to 2015, the share of energy production increased from 197.4 to 284.4 million tons. See fig. 2.

2: The structure of coal production in the Russian Federation by types for 2010-2015, in million tons.

How many black minerals are in the country and where is it mined

According to Rosstat, Russian Federation(157 billion

tons) ranks second after the United States (237.3 billion tons) in the world in terms of coal reserves. The Russian Federation accounts for about 18% of all world reserves. See figure 3.

Rice. 3: World reserves by leading countries

Information from Rosstat for 2010-2015 suggests that mining in the country is carried out in 25 subjects of the Federation in 7 Federal Districts.

There are 192 coal enterprises. Among them are 71 mines, and 121 coal mines. Their total productive capacity is 408 million tons. More than 80% of it is mined in Siberia. Coal mining in Russia by region is shown in Table 1.

In 2016, 227,400 thousand

tons mined in the Kemerovo region (such cities with one industry affiliation are called single-industry towns), of which about 125,000 thousand tons were exported.

Kuzbass accounts for about 60% of domestic coal production, there are about 120 mines and cuts.

At the beginning of February 2017, a new open-pit mine was launched in the Kemerovo region - Trudarmeisky Yuzhny with a design capacity of 2,500 thousand tons.

In 2017, it is planned to produce 1,500 thousand tons of minerals at the open pit, and, according to forecasts, the open pit will reach its design capacity in 2018. Also in 2017, three new enterprises are planned to be launched in Kuzbass.

The largest deposits

On the territory of the Russian Federation there are 22 coal basins (according to Rosstat for 2014) and 129 individual deposits.

More than 2/3 of the reserves of those that have already been explored are concentrated in the Kansk-Achinsk (79.3 billion tons) and Kuznetsk (53.4 billion tons) basins. They are located on the territory of the Kemerovo region of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Also among the largest basins are: Irkutsk, Pechora, Donetsk, South Yakutsk, Minusinsk, and others.

Figure 4 shows the structure of explored reserves for the main basins.

Rice. 4: Explored reserves in the main basins in Russia, billion tons

Import Export

The Russian Federation is in the top three largest exporters coal after Australia (export volume 390 mln.

tons) and Indonesia (330 million tons) in 2015. The share of Russia in 2015 - 156 million tons of black fossil went for export. This indicator for the country has grown by 40 million tons in five years. In addition to the Russian Federation, Australia and Indonesia, the top six countries include the United States of America, Colombia and South Africa.

The structure of world exports is shown in fig. 5.

Rice. 5: Structure of world exports (largest exporting countries).

The Central Dispatching Office of the Fuel and Energy Complex reports that in 2016, the total volume of exports from the country increased, while imports decreased.

Data on export-import in 2016 are presented in Table 2.

Head of the Information and Analytical Department of the Department of Coal and Peat Industry of the Ministry of Energy of the country V.

Grishin predicts an increase in exports by 6% in 2017, its volume may reach 175 million tons, that is, increase by 10 million tons.

Which companies are the largest producers

Large oil companies Everyone is talking about Russia, and the largest coal producing companies in the country in 2016 are: SUEK OJSC (105.47), Kuzbassrazrezugol (44.5), SDS-Coal (28.6), “ Vostsibugol (13.1), Yuzhny Kuzbass (9), Yuzhkuzbassugol (11.2), Yakutugol (9.9), Raspadskaya OJSC (10.5), the amount of coal produced is indicated in brackets in million tons, see

Rice. 6. The largest manufacturers in the Russian Federation in 2016, in mln.

The companies OJSC SUEK, Kuzbassrazrezugol and SDS-ugol have been leaders in production over the past years.

The largest manufacturers for 2014-2015 are shown in Fig.

7. Among them, in addition to the above two industry leaders, there are also processing enterprises: Kuzbass Fuel Company, Sibuglement Holding, Vostsibugol, Russian Coal, EVRAZ (one of the largest private companies in the country), Mechel Mining, SDS-coal.

7. The largest producers in the Russian Federation for 2014-2015, in million tons

In November 2016, the brigade of Evgeny Kosmin of section No. 1 of the mine named after V.D.

Yalevskoy JSC SUEK-Kuzbass set a new Russian production record for the year from one stope - 4,810 thousand tons.

Results and conclusions

• The coal complex of Russia is actively developing.
• Imports have declined slightly in recent years, while exports and production have increased.
• In terms of exports, the Russian Federation is one of the three leading countries after Australia and Indonesia.
• In the coming years, it is planned to open new mining and processing enterprises.
• The top three include companies from the Siberian region, which accounts for more than 80% of the total production in the country.

Lyudmila Poberezhnykh, 2017-03-29

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Related reference materials

Russian coal basins

The role of this or that coal basin in the territorial division of labor depends on the quality of coal, the size of the reserves, the technical and economic indicators of extraction, the degree of preparedness of the reserves for industrial exploitation, the size of the extraction, and the peculiarities of the transport and geographical position.

Together, these conditions stand out sharply interdistrict coal bases- Kuznetsk and Kansko-Achinsk basins, which together account for 70% of coal production in Russia, as well as the Pechora, Donetsk, Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo and South Yakutsk basins.
The most important coal producer in Russia is the Kuznetsk Coal Basin.

Kuznetsk basin

The balance reserves of coal in Kuzbass category A + B + C1 are estimated at 57 billion tons, which is 58.8% of Russia's coal.

At the same time, coking coal reserves amount to 30.1 billion tons, or 73% of the country's total reserves.

Almost the entire range of grades of hard coal is mined in Kuzbass. The subsoil of Kuzbass is rich in other minerals - these are manganese, iron, phosphorite, nepheline ores, oil shale and other minerals.

Kuznetsk coals are of high quality: ash content is 8-22%, sulfur content is 0.3-0.6%, specific heat of combustion is 6000-8500 kcal/kg.

The average depth of underground mining reaches 315m.
About 40% of the mined coal is consumed in the Kemerovo region itself and 60% is exported to other regions of Russia and for export.
In the structure of coal exports from Russia, Kuzbass accounts for over 70% of its physical volume.
High quality coal, including coking coal, is deposited here. Almost 12% of mining is carried out by open pit mining.
Belovsky district is one of the oldest coal mining areas in Kuzbass.

The balance reserves of coal in the Belovsky district are more than 10 billion tons.

tons.
The development of the Kuznetsk coal basin began in 1851 with more or less regular extraction of fuel from the Bachat mine for the Guryev metallurgical plant. The Bachat mine was located six versts northeast of the village of Bachaty. Now at this place are the Chertinskaya-Koksovaya, Novaya-2 mines and the Novobochatsky open-pit mine.
The Pioneer mine is considered the firstborn of the Belovo coal industry. Here the first ton of coal was mined.

At present, the Belovsky district is the largest coal mining area in Kuzbass.
The Belovsky district is the geographical center of the Kemerovo region.
The main centers are Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, Prokopievsk, Anzhero-Sudzhensk, Belovo, Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

The Kansk-Achinsk basin is located in the south of Eastern Siberia in the Krasnoyarsk Territory along the Trans-Siberian Railway and provides 12% of coal production in Russia.

The lignite of this basin is the cheapest in the country, since it is mined in an open pit. Due to the low quality of coal, it is not very transportable, and therefore powerful thermal power plants operate on the basis of the largest mines (Irsha-Borodinsky, Nazarovsky, Berezovsky).

The Pechora basin is the largest in the European part and provides 4% of the country's coal production.

It is remote from the most important industrial centers and is located in the Arctic; mining is carried out only by the mine method. Coking coal is mined in the northern part of the basin (Vorkuta, Vorgashorskoye deposits), while in the southern part (Intinskoye deposit), mainly energy coal is mined.

The main consumers of Pechora coal are the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant, enterprises of the North-West, the Center and the Central Chernozem Region.

The Donets Basin in Rostov Oblast is the eastern part of the coal basin located in Ukraine.

This is one of the oldest coal mining areas. The mining method of extraction led to the high cost of coal. Coal production is declining every year and in 2007 the basin produced only 2.4% of the total Russian production.

The Irkutsk-Cheremkhovo basin in the Irkutsk region provides a low cost of coal, since mining is carried out in an open way and provides 3.4% of the coal in the country.

Due to the great distance from large consumers, it is used at local power plants.

The South Yakutsk basin (3.9% of the total Russian production) is located in the Far East. It has significant reserves of energy and process fuels, and all mining is carried out by an open method.

The promising coal basins include the Lensky, Tungussky and Taimyrsky, located beyond the Yenisei to the north of the 60th parallel.

They occupy vast areas in the poorly developed and sparsely populated areas of Eastern Siberia and the Far East.

In parallel with the creation of coal bases of inter-district significance, there was a wide development of local coal basins, which made it possible to bring coal production closer to the areas of its consumption. At the same time, in the western regions of Russia, coal production is declining (the Moscow Basin), and in the eastern regions it is sharply increasing (deposits of the Novosibirsk Region, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Primorye.

Today, coal is one of the most important minerals.

This resource is formed naturally, has huge reserves and a lot of useful properties.

What is coal and what does it look like?

The construction of a mine is a very expensive investment, but over time, all costs are fully paid off. When coal is mined, other resources also come to the surface.

There is a possibility of extracting precious metals and rare earth elements, which can later be sold and receive additional profit.

Oil is practically the most precious resource and the main source of fuel today. However, not a single company or country that extracts coal will neglect its extraction in the name of oil, because solid fuel is also of great importance and high value.

Formation of hard coal

Coal in nature is formed by changing the surface relief. Tree branches, plants, leaves and other natural remains that have not had time to rot are saturated with moisture from the swamps, which is why they are converted into peat.

Then sea water enters the land, when it leaves, it also leaves a layer of sediment. After the rivers make their own adjustments, the land becomes swampy, re-forms or covers the soil. Therefore, the composition of coal is highly dependent on age.

Coal is medium in age between brown, the youngest, and anthracite, the oldest.

Types of coal, their composition and properties

There are several types of coal:

• long-flame;
• gas;
• fatty;
• coke;
• weakly caking;
• skinny.

Also common are species consisting of several, the so-called mixed, with the properties of two groups.

Coal is black in color, hard, layered, easily destroyed structure, has shiny inclusions. The combustible properties are quite high, since the material is used as a fuel.

Consider physical characteristics:

1. Density (or specific gravity) varies greatly (the maximum can reach 1500 kg/m³).
2. The specific heat capacity is 1300 J/kg*K.
3. The combustion temperature is 2100°C (when processing 1000°C).

Coal deposits in Russia

On the Russian territory contains about a third of the world's reserves.

Deposits of coal and oil shale in Russia (click to enlarge)

The largest coal deposit in Russia is Elginskoye. It is located in the region of Yakutia.

Reserves according to approximate calculations are more than 2 billion tons.

The relief, close to the Kuznetsk coal basin (Kuzbass), was severely damaged due to large-scale resource extraction.

The largest coal deposits in the world

Map of coal deposits in the world (click to enlarge)

In the United States, the most famous coal basin is the Illinois. The total reserve of deposits in this field is 365 billion tons.

Coal mining

Coal is currently mined in three fundamental ways. Such as:

• career method;
• mining through adits;
• mining method.

The quarry mining method is used when coal seams lie on the surface, about a hundred meters deep and above.

Quarries involve simply digging the earth or sand hole from which mining is carried out, usually in such cases the coal seam is thick enough to make it easier to extract.

Adits mean wells with a large angle of inclination. According to it, all mined minerals are delivered to the top, while there is no need to use serious equipment or dig a hollow.

Typically, deposits in such places are of small thickness and are not buried particularly deep. Therefore, the method of mining through adits allows you to quickly produce mining without much cost.

Extraction through mines is the most common method of mining, at the same time the most productive, but at the same time dangerous. Mines are drilled to a great depth, reaching several hundred meters. However, this requires a permit confirming the justification for such large-scale works, evidence of deposits.

At times, mines can reach a kilometer or more in depth, and stretch for several kilometers in length, forming interconnected webs of corridors underground. In the 20th century, over time, even settlements and small towns were formed around the mines, in which miners lived with their families.

It is precisely because of the mining conditions that work in the mines is considered very difficult and dangerous, because a huge number of times the mines collapsed, burying dozens or even hundreds of people working there.

The use of coal

Coal is used in a variety of fields. It is widely used as a solid fuel (the main purpose), in metallurgy and in the chemical industry, plus many other components are produced from it.

It is from coal that some aromatic substances, metals, chemical substances, more than 360 other processed products are obtained.

In turn, the substances produced from it have market value ten times higher, the most expensive method is considered to be the method of processing coal into liquid fuel.

To produce 1 ton of liquid fuel, it will be necessary to process 2-3 tons of coal. All industrial waste obtained during processing is often sent to the production of building materials.

Conclusion

There are many coal deposits on earth that are actively developed to this day. In biology lessons in the 5th grade and even earlier, in the lessons of natural history in the second grade, children get acquainted with this concept. In this paper, we briefly repeated the main facts about coal - origin, formula, grades, chemical composition and use, extraction and much more.

Coal is one of the most important resources widely used in industry. However, you should still be careful when the natural course of substances is disturbed, because the development violates the relief and gradually depletes natural reserves.