Title: Assessment of social and environmental risks on opencast coal mines

Authors: Natalija Pavlovic; Dragan Ignjatovic; Vladimir Pavlovic

Addresses: Opencast Mining Centre, Kraljice Marije 25, Belgrade, Serbia ' Faculty of Mining and Geology, University of Belgrade, Djusina 7, Belgrade, Serbia ' Opencast Mining Centre, Kraljice Marije 25, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract: The opening and development of large opencast coal mines with complex continuous mining systems is subject to a large number of risks. The process of assessing social and ecological risks is based on the analysis and determination of the probability of occurrence, the operation reliability of the opencast mine and the required costs to minimise the impact of risk. Social risks are related to sustainable development, harmonisation with the local community and government legislation. Environmental risks can be controlled, when it comes to sustainable mining, and partially uncontrolled, in relation to natural disasters. Together they represent a serial stochastic process with probabilities which define the reliability of the mine. Detailed quantitative and qualitative risk analyses of opencast coal mine Tamnava-West Field have been examined and compared, with a commentary on the obtained results.

Keywords: mining risks; probability; risk assessment; environmental risks; social risks; Tamnava-West field; quantitative analysis; risk management; floods.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMME.2019.104449

International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering, 2019 Vol.10 No.2/3/4, pp.271 - 287

Received: 14 Jan 2019
Accepted: 17 May 2019
Published online: 12 Jan 2020 *

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