NATURE-ORIENTED OPEN COAL MINING TECHNOLOGIES USING MINED-OUT SPACE IN AN OPEN PIT. PART I: ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT MINERAL MINING METHODS

An analysis is performed into the currently applied coal mining methods using mined-out space in an open pit, with describing their basic advantages and disadvantages. The urgency of further development and wider application of the gritwise-and-capwise methods that involve differently directed advance of a mining front and mined-out space utilized to the limit for overburden storage is pointed out.