Summary
With increased production and more stringent regulations for air, water and ground pollution control, the safe and environmentally acceptable disposal of coal-mine refuse is becoming ever more demanding. Backfilling may provide an environmentally acceptable method for the disposal of waste materials. Increased resource recovery, enhanced ventilation control, and minimizing surface subsidence, underground coal-mine fires and spontaneous combustion of coal are potential advantages of backfilling. In this paper the physical and mechanical properties of coal-mine waste from different sites are described and the effects of these properties on the duty requirements of fill material are assessed. As a result of testing, it is concluded that if improving ground control is the only reason for backfilling, coal refuse alone does not appear to be a suitable stowing material. If coal-refuse disposal is also a consideration, then it may be more attractive as a stowing material.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
AASHO (1970) Standard Specifications for Highway Materials and Methods of Sampling and Testing, Part 2, American Association of State Highway Officials, Washington, DC.
ASTM D4644-87 (1987) Slake durability of shales and similar weak rocks, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 4.08, Am. Soc. for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, pp. 848–50.
Bishop, A.W. (1971) Stress strain behaviour of soil, Proceedings of the Roscoe Memorial Symposium, Whitefriars, London, pp. 3–58.
Bishop, C.S. and Simon, N.R. (1976) Selected soil mechanics properties of Kentucky coal preparation plant refuse, Proceedings of the Second Kentucky Coal Refuse Disposal and Utilization Seminar, Pineville, Kentucky, pp. 61–67.
Bland, A.E., Robl, T.L. and Rose, J.G. (1976) Kentucky coal preparation plant refuse characterization and uses, Proceedings of the Second Kentucky Coal Refuse Disposal and Utilization Seminar, Pineville, Kentucky, pp. 21–35.
Blight, G.E. (1979) Properties of pumped tailings fill, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, October, Vol. 79, 446–53.
Bowles, J.E. (1979) Physical and Geotechnical Properties of Soils, McGraw-Hill, New York, 478 pp.
Brown, A., Berryhill, H.L., Taylor, D.A. and Trumbull, J. (1952) Coal Resources of Virginia, US Geological Survey Circular No. 171, Washington D.C., 57 pp.
Busch, R.A., Backer, R.R. and Atkins, L.A. (1974) Physical Property Data on Coal Waste Embankment Materials, Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations 7964, 142 pp.
Charles, J.A. (1984) Settlement of fill, in Ground Movements and Their Effects on Structures, Attewell, P.B. and Taylor, R.K. (eds), Chapman and Hall, New York, pp. 26–45.
Coates, D.F. (1981) Caving, subsidence and ground control, in Rock Mechanics Principles, Minister of Supply and Services Canada, Quebec, Chapter 5, pp. 5.1–5.42.
D'Appolonia, E. (1975) Engineering and Design Manual for Coal Refuse Facilities, Prepared for US Department of the Interior, MESA, Washington, DC.
Drnevich, V.P., Williams, G.P. and Ebelhar, R.J. (1976) Soil mechanics tests on coal mine spoils, Proceedings of the Second Kentucky Coal Refuse Disposal and Utilization Seminar, Rose, J.G. (ed.), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, Pineville, Kentucky, pp. 47–59.
Dunn, I.S., Anderson, L.R. and Kiefer, F.W. (1980) Fundamentals of Geotechnical Analysis, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 414 pp.
Franklin, J.A. and Dusseault, M.B. (1989) Rock Engineering, McGraw-Hill, New York, 600 pp.
Gamble, J.C. (1971) Durability-Plasticity: Classification of Shales and Other Argillaceous Rocks, Thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
Head, K.H. (1982) Manual of Soil Laboratory Testing, Vols 1–3, Pentech, London, 1238 pp.
Huddle, J.W., Lyons, E.J., Smith, H.L. and Ferm, J.C. (1963) Coal Reserves of Eastern Kentucky, US Geological Survey Bulletin 1120, 247 pp.
Hunt, R.E. (1986) Geotechnical Engineering Analysis and Evaluation, McGraw-Hill, New York, 729 pp.
Ko, H.Y. and Gerstle, K.H. (1974) Constitutive Relations of Coal, Annual report submitted to USBM under Grant G0110894, 220 pp.
McNay, L.M. and Corson, D.R. (1975) Hydraulic Sandfill in Deep Metal Mines, USBM, IC 8663, 40 pp.
Miller, M.S. (1973) Stratigraphy and Depositional Systems of Carboniferous Rocks in Southwest Virginia, Thesis, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Mitchell, R.J. (1983) Earth Structures Engineering, Allen and Unwin, Winchester, Massachusetts, 265 pp.
Morgenstern, N.R. and Eigenbrod, K.D. (1974) Classification of Argillaceous soils and rocks, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering Division, 100, 1137–57.
Moulton, L.K., Anderson, D.A., Seals, R.K. and Hussain, S.M. (1974) Coal mine refuse: an engineering material, Proceedings of the First Symposium on Mine and Preparation Plant Refuse Disposal, National Cool Association Louisville, Kentucky, October, pp. 1–25.
Munjeri, D. (1987) Prevention of subsidence using stowing methods, Colliery Guardman, 235, 245–8.
Murphy, D.J. (1987) Stress, degradation, and shear strength of granular material, Geotechnical Modeling and Applications, Sayed, S.M. (ed.), Gulf, Houston, pp. 181–211.
Nandy, S.K. and Szwilski, A.B. (1987) Disposal and utilization of mineral wastes as a mine backfill, Underground Mining Methods and Technology, Szwilski, A.B. and Richards, M.J. (eds), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 241–52.
National Academy of Sciences, (1975) Underground Disposal of Coal Mine Wastes, National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC, 172 pp.
Rose, J.G., Bland, A.E. and Robl, T.L. (1984), Utilization Potential of Kentucky Coal Refuse, University of Kentucky Institute for Mining and Minerals Research Publications Group, Lexington, Kentucky, 49 pp.
Senyur, G. (1989) The flow characteristics through hydraulic filling materials produced from coal washery rejects, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Mining with Backfill, Innovation in Mining Backfill Technology, Montreal, October, A.A. Balkema, Amsterdam, pp. 307–14.
Sinha, K.M. (1989) Hydraulic stowing — a solution for subsidence due to underground mining in the U.S.A., Rock Mechanics as a Guide for Efficient Utilization of Natural Resources: Proceedings of the 30th U.S. Symposium, Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 827–34.
Sleeman, W. (1987) Colliery spoil in urban development, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Reclamation, Treatment and Utilization of Coal Mining Wastes, Nottingham, England, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 163–77.
Sowers, G.F. (1979) Introductory Soil Mechanics and Foundations, Macmillan, New York, 621 pp.
Stewart B.R. (1990) Physical and Chemical Properties of Coarse Coal Refuse From Southwest Virginia, Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
Thomas, E.G. (1976) Thick seam underground coal mining by a slice and fill method, Proceedings of the Symposium on Thick Seam Mining by Underground Methods, Rockhampton, Queensland, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, September, pp 75–81.
Vesic, A.S. and Clough, G.W. (1968) Behavior of Granular Materials Under High Stresses, Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, ASCE, 94, 661–88.
Vick, S.G. (1983) Planning, Design, and Analysis of Tailings Dams, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 369 pp.
Vorobjev, B.M. and Deshmukh, R.T. (1966) Advanced Coal Mining Asia Publishing House, London, 909 pp.
Wahler and Associates (1973) Analysis of Coal Refuse Dam Failure, Middle Fork, Buffalo Creek, Saunders, WV, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA, Appendix B, 29 pp.
Wayment, W.R. (1978) Backfilling with tailings — a new approach, Mining With Backfill, 12th Canadian Rock Mechanics Symposium, Sudbury, Canadian Institute of Mining, Special Vol. 19, pp. 111–16.
Wray, W.K. (1986) Measuring Engineering Properties of Soil, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 276 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Karfakis, M.G., Bowman, C.H. & Topuz, E. Characterization of coal-mine refuse as backfilling material. Geotech Geol Eng 14, 129–150 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430273
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430273