Bart Pienaar from CRC Mining said the project, Linear Gas Flow Measurement System for Gas Drainage Boreholes, aims to develop a method to measure the flow of gas along drainage boreholes drilled into underground coal seams.

“What we're going to be able to do is along the borehole itself we're going to be able to profile the flow … where the gas is actually coming into the borehole, whether it's a lot of gas or just a little bit, whether the hole is blocked or not. In other words, is it degassing properly and is it performing well," he said.

To construct the gas drainage map, an optical fibre is used to measure the temperature of the gas in a borehole, from which Pienaar said they can calculate the gas flow, and from that establish how well gas is draining.

For the underground coal mining industry, Pienaar said the project will give miners peace of mind that they are working in a safe environment.

“In terms of safety, [the project] tells you that regions of the borehole have been fully de-gassed, so that when they come in to mine the borehole the miners can be confident that they're not going to have any kind of pressure bursts and the like,” he said.

“It also reduces the amount of gas within the mine when they do the mining, so that creates a safer environment as well."

However, Pienaar said the project could also have environmental benefits, in particular for carbon capture projects.

“It will optimise the gas flows; if you're capturing the gas for commercial purposes it's always good to know whether the boreholes are performing at their best and if they're not you can actually go up and do something about it," he said.