Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘coal dust control’ Category

Haul Road Dust Control  is a fundamental element to the efficient venture of a mining company. Not only with regards to security but as well to the employees wellbeing.  Surface mining operations use huge off-road haul trucks extensively to move material at mining properties. Historical research, using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) emissions factors for unpaved haul roads, has revealed that haul trucks produce the bulk of dust emissions from surface mining sites, accounting for approximately 78%-97% of total dust emissions. This is even greater with a low value haul road dust control  program.

Observations of dust emissions from haul trucks prove that if the dust emissions are unrestrained, they can be a safety danger by means of impairing the operator’s visibility. This increases the likelihood for haul truck accidents. Yet, the greatest long-term health risk of dust generated from hauling operations is due to breathing of the respirable dust [median diameter <4 micrometers (μm)] and thoracic dust, which is equivalent to the EPA’s definition of PM10 [particulate matter with a median diameter <10 μm]. Exposure to respirable dust has always been considered a health hazard on surface mining operations, particularly if silica dust is there.

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Soils Control International has accomplished the same results with their product, Top-Seal Dust Control 

DuPont Australia’s groundbreaking work to reduce dust emissions from trains carrying coal and to improve air quality recently earned two industry awards:

* The Australian Mining Prospect Award for Excellence in Environmental Management
* The Australian Bulk Handling Award for Dust Control Technology

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Federal officials unveiled a three-pronged strategy to combat black lung disease during a meeting Thursday at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beaver.

Mining officials and medical experts say education, stricter enforcement and new regulations can curb the disease, which has been on the rise in the region and has killed some 10,000 miners in the last decade.

Thursday’s meeting was the first of four informational sessions planned by Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“There is a collective agreement that we have to fix this problem,” MSHA Director Joseph Main told a packed room that included representatives from mining companies, the United Mine Workers of America and former miners suffering from the ailment.

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The importance of Coal Dust Control – Coal dust control, can, if not handled carefully, result in serious health issues, chiefly high concentrations of breathable coal dust which can lead to pneumoconiosis – or ‘black lung disease’ – and silicosis from mining material with a high quartz content.

There are measures that mines can take such as ensuring workers wear masks and introducing engineering controls including ventilation dilution, water infusion, wet-cutting, water sprays, wetting agents and foam, and coal dust control collectors such as dust scrubbers.

Better-than-expected results from recent tests of a dust scrubber at BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance’s mine at Broadmeadow in Queensland’s Bowen Basin give hope for healthier mine environments.

Scrubber systems have been tested before but success was limited by a lack of understanding of the dust and airflow patterns around the sites for coal dust control.

With the support of the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP), CSIRO has taken on several research projects based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling to improve the understanding of dust flow patterns around the longwall shearer and walkway under different operating conditions.

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