The technical program of Coal 2013 has been released and a total of 35 out of 50 papers are to be presented over the two-day conference covering both underground and surface mining operations.

Conference chairman Naj Aziz told ILN that many papers would this year be reporting on innovative technologies as well as on important industry developments such as the Royal Commission report on the Pike River mine accident.

“There are several papers on longwall mining practices related to operational and geotechnical issues,” he said.

“These include papers on geotechnical roof classification from borehole data including geophysical logging.

“A new method for longwall layout selection and longwall panel orientation based on identification of the geological, geotechnical and coal quality studies will be presented.

“Two papers will address the issues of mining subsidence, including the application of advanced synthetic aperture radar interferometry (INSUR) to detect ground movement in millimetres.”

The Pike River mine accident would again be intensely debated, particularly in the aftermath of the release of the Royal Commission report, Aziz said.

The examination of the survival of critical information sources after an underground incident will be presented.

In bolting technology for strata reinforcement, the importance of knowing the steel composition of bolt rebar and cables for corrosion protection will be addressed based on the four years of corrosion experimental study carried out at the University of Wollongong.

A new methodology of multiple sample preparation simultaneously from fast setting resin for strength tests will be presented.

On mine gas and outburst control, the focus of attention will be on the cyclic injection of inert gases and recovery of the coal seam gases from coal deposits.

The use of nitrogen as the injected gas is gaining interest from several mines in the Illawarra region in light of positive research findings recently.

This year there will be several papers in surface mining, including the economics of extended pre-strip stripping.

“Coal 2013 is supported by the industry and there will be more than 15 exhibitors displaying their services and products,” Aziz said.

The conference will be held on February 14 and 15 at the University of Wollongong.

A special conference dinner entertainment is being organised to coincide with St Valentine’s day.

For further information go to www.coalconference.net.au.