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Coal resources have always been an important driving force for macroeconomic growth and GDP growth in resource‐rich regions. However, this growth has also caused inequality of household income in developing regions. Using survey data on rural household livelihoods in Shenmu county, Shaanxi Province, in northwestern China, this paper analyzes the relationship between coal exploitation and income inequality. Four multivariate econometric analyses are developed. We find evidence for the resource curse theory of natural resource exploitation leading to inequality: the Gini coefficient for household revenue is discovered to be markedly related with the location of and participation in coal exploitation. Nevertheless, this correlation is not linear. Rather, household income inequality primitively rises with environmental and resource subsidies. We analyze the impacts of household income inequality and contrast the characteristics of household livelihood and location characteristics in the coal exploitation site of northern Shenmu with those in the whole survey site. Our statistical analysis shows that out‐migration, the level of total household income, and convenience of household transportation are the important elements devoting to household income in northern Shenmu, the coal resources endowment region. However, the environmental damage and pollution caused by coal exploitation has substantial negative impacts upon household income, especially for households not participating in coal activities. Overall, we found that coal exploitation did not develop local industries. Adversely, the ecological environment problem and the high subsidy for coal mining caused by the exploitation of coal resources have aggravated the inequality of household income in the sample areas. Additionally, the development of coal resources attracted youth labor from agriculture to the coal industry, which exacerbated the lack of labor force and weakened village agricultural productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revelation of the distribution characteristics of stress and fractures in the floor strata is of great significance to improve the regional gas drainage efficiency and to eliminate or reduce the risk of coal and gas outburst in adjacent coal seams during multi‐seam mining. In this paper, the stress distribution in the floor under mining condition was derived, and the characteristics of stress zones in the floor were elaborated while mining the 22201 working face in Shaqu coal mine in Shanxi province, China. Besides, the propagation laws of fractures in different stress zones were theoretically analyzed, and the distribution law of fracture angles in the floor strata under different mining‐induced stresses was obtained. The research results demonstrate that the compression and transition zones show high vertical stress and less developed fractures and are dominated by fractures with a large angle (>60°), which is unfavorable for gas drainage. The expansion zone in the floor within 2‐40 m in the rear of the working face is characterized by high unloading degree of vertical stress and developed fractures. Moreover, fractures with a small angle (<60°) dominate the spatial distribution of the fractures, which is favorable for gas drainage. The research results can not only be a beneficial supplement to the theory of coal and gas co‐exploitation in multi‐seam mining but also provide theoretical support for optimizing the design parameters of cross‐measure boreholes under similar conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coal production exploited from extra‐thick coal seams accounts for 45% of China's total coal production. With large coal output, the extra‐thick coal seams require that the chamber section be more than 100 m2. In case of parting (the noncoal rock, usually mudstone, sandwiched in the coal seam) in the extra‐thick coal seams, the integrity of the coal seams will be damaged and the large‐section chamber is extremely easy to occur rib spalling and roof leakage, which will increase the chamber's supporting difficulty. To solve such problems, this paper took the electromechanical chamber in Tashan Coal Mine as the engineering background and analyzed the deformation and failure characteristics of this chamber surrounding rocks by the numerical simulation method during the excavation process. The results indicated that the failure areas of surrounding rocks were mainly in partings, chamber ribs, and chamber dome with the failure depths of 15 m, 10 m, and 5 m, respectively. Based on the obtained deformation and failure characteristics, the supporting method of grouting integrated with high‐strength bolts and anchor cables was put forward. The grouting method was firstly used to improve the integrity of the chamber surrounding rocks, and the high‐strength bolts and anchor cables were used for supporting. Then, the supporting parameters of the bolts and anchor cables and the grouting parameters were optimized by the numerical simulation method. The optimized parameters were applied in the electromechanical chamber in Tashan Coal Mine, and the on‐site chamber ribs lateral displacement and roof separation amounts were only 0.018 m and 0.012 m, respectively, indicating that the surrounding rocks were controlled effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal and gas outburst is a potentially fatal risk during the mining of gassy coal seams, which seriously threatens the safe mining of collieries. To understand the outburst mechanism and evolution rules, a new apparatus (LSTT) was developed to conduct simulated experiment. In the context of an outburst accident in Dingji coal mine, the authors launched an authentic outburst experiment to replay the outburst accident. Experimental apparatus, similar criterion, coal‐like materials and gas sources, and experimental design were discussed systematically in this paper. Experimentally, the study analyzed the geo‐stress has significant influence on the outburst evolution. At the driving face, the stress concentration possibly caused gas outburst, under the influence of mining‐induced stress. After the outburst occurred, the stress balance of the coal changed, resulting in the instability of the coal. Furthermore, the elastic energy, gas enthalpy, and gravitational potential energy were released rapidly. The experimental result stated that outburst coal has the sorting characteristics, in line with the field outburst law. The intensity prediction model has been built based on the energy model. Moreover, the factors that impact outburst intensity were analyzed. In the process of coal and gas outburst, the gas enthalpy of gas and the elastic potential of coal are the main energy sources. This study provides guidance for the development of the outburst mechanism and outburst mine management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the complex geostress and mining conditions in the coal seam with depth of 800 m, stability of surrounding rock for gob‐side entry retaining is very difficult to achieve. In this paper, we firstly propose an innovative bolt‐grouting controlled roof‐cutting for gob‐side entry retaining (BCR‐GER) approach for deep coal mines. Secondly, a mechanical model of "surrounding rock‐supporting body" for BCR‐GER is constructed, which consists of coal wall, roadside props, and gangues in gob (the whole supporting body). Thirdly, the key parameters (ie, cutting height, cutting angle, grouting cable length, and row of roadside props) are designed. Finally, field practice was applied at the No. 31120 haulage roadway of the Suncun coal mine in China, and in situ investigations were conducted for verification. Field measurement results show that maximum convergences of roof‐to‐floor and side‐to‐side were 264 mm and 113 mm, respectively. What is more, the maximum support resistance of roadside props was reduced by approximately 58%. The deformation and failure of surrounding rock were effectively controlled, and the pressure on roadside props was greatly reduced. This research fully considers the bearing properties of gangues in gob, eliminates the secondary disasters caused by borehole blasting, and provides guidance and reference for deep surrounding rock control of the same or similar gob‐side entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is vigorously promoting the development of coalbed methane (CBM) resources because CBM is cleaner than coal and a hazardous gas in coal mining. However, the CBM production in China is significantly lower than that in other coal‐rich countries, such as Australia and the United States. In this paper, the main problems hindering CBM development in China are discussed to provide management suggestions for the government. These key problems include exploration and development techniques, the overlap of mining rights, management, financial supporting policy, investment environment, regulations, and market conditions. The results of this study indicate that to improve the development of the CBM industry in China, national and local governments must enact specific and exercisable regulations to increase financial support, improve technology, increase investment in CBM exploration, strengthen public project establishment, and improve the reform of CBM exploration and development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the mercury emitted from coal combustion can lead to serious environmental issues, researchers pay more attention to the content, distribution and occurrence of mercury in coal. In this paper, the content, distribution, and occurrence of mercury in the Permian tectonically deformed coals from Peigou Mine, Xinmi coalfield, Henan Province were investigated. A total of 18 bench samples were taken from No.2-1 coals seam in Peigou Mine, including 15 coal bench samples, two roofs and one floor. The mercury concentration, mineral composition, and main inorganic element content of 18 samples were determined by DMA-80 direct mercury analyzer, XRD, and XRF respectively. The results show that the mercury content ranges from 0.047 ppm to 0.643 ppm, with an average of 0.244 ppm. Though the coal seam has turned into typical tectonically deformed coal by the strong tectonic destruction and plastic deformation, the vertical distribution of mercury has remarkable heterogeneity in coal seam section. By the analysis of correlation between mercury and the main inorganic elements and the mineral composition in coal, we infer that majority of mercury mainly relates to pyrite or kaolinite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the path-creation mechanism of the coal-chemical industry and its relatedness to the old path of the coal mining industry in an old industrial region of China. It reveals that the rise of the new path benefits from the old path to a limited extent. The strong multi-scalar structured path dependence upon the coal industry fundamentally constrained local actors to mobilize resources from the old path for new industrial options. The findings show that on the basis of local (pre)existing fertilizer production assets, the new path was created by a combination of market-oriented state-owned enterprise ownership reforms, market induced trans-local entrepreneurship and local state-led developmental strategies. This form of path creation contributes to the extant literature, presenting a complex, multi-scalar, and multi-actor manner of industrial restructuring involving dynamic agencies that is not merely historically conditioned by place-specific assets and structures but also affected by the changing extra-regional political-institutional environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal mining subsidence is a universal environmental-geological problem in mining areas. By selecting the Shen-Dong coal mining subsidence area as the research field, this paper studies the changes in precipitation infiltration recharge in the circumstances of coal mining subsidence by means of field geological investigation and laboratory simulation experiments, which is expected to provide a scientific basis for eco-environmental restoration in the mining area. The results indicate that at the unstable stage of subsidence, three types of subsidence in the Shen-Dong mining area have positive effects on the precipitation infiltration recharge, and the type of full-thickness bedrock subsidence has the greatest influence. In the stable stage of subsidence, the precipitation infiltration process after long-term drought and the moisture migration in the aeration zone undergo three different stages: evaporation-infiltration before precipitation, infiltration-upward infiltration-infiltration during precipitation and evaporation-infiltration after precipitation. During a heavy rainfall infiltration process, the wetting front movement in fine sand, coarse sand and dualistic structure of fine-coarse sand consists of two stages: the stage of wetting front movement during precipitation, in which the wetting front movement distance has linear relationship with the depth, and the stage of wetting front movement after precipitation, in which the wetting front movement distance has the power function relationship with the depth. The wetting front movement velocity is influenced by the rainfall amount and the lithology in the aeration zone. However, as the depth increases, the movement velocity will decay exponentially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]