In its project selection newsletter announcing next year’s funding recipients, ACARP also highlighted the ongoing importance of sustainability and safety and health.

The Australian coal industry pays a voluntary levy of 5 cents per tonne of black coal sold to fund research for around 150 contracted research projects, addressing a range of topics from geosequestration to longwall automation.

In this year’s round, ACARP will fund five projects that address issues related to mining legislation, underlining the growing impact of statutory requirements. Taking a collaborative approach to legislative pressure, through organisations such as ACARP for instance, enables industry to develop a cohesive response.

One project, for example, is developing a national framework for the use of explosives in Australian coal mines to overcome the problems associated with the “Buxton” test, first used to determine the suitability of specific explosives in 1924.

MISHC director professor Jim Joy and former director of safety operation for the NSW Department of Mineral Resources, Graham Terrey, will be putting underground coal mining regulations under the microscope to determine the degree to which the regulations incorporate risk management principles specified by the duty of care philosophy. It is hoped that with greater mine operator responsibility, increasing adoption of the risk management approach should lead to greater flexibility within the mines.

Project C14011 aims to quantify the impact of fraccing a virgin coal seam and its likely consequences on subsequent mining operations. This project will have particular relevance to Queensland given the impending petroleum and gas bill, which is expected to balance the competing interests of coal seam methane producers and coal miners.

Another key crisis facing the coal industry in general is the skills shortage with several projects in the just-announced funding round to tackle ways to capture intellectual capital.

At Wollongong University, the mining group is establishing a database of information and experience on outburst events to ensure the next generation of mine operators, who have not experienced an outburst, have access to critical information. The last outburst-related fatality occurred at West Cliff Colliery in 1994 and there is concern that, over time, the perception of the risk of an outburst will diminish.

In a project initiated by the Minerals Council of Australia, professor Jim Galvin will develop a reference guide, including case studies, to help those responsible for instituting mine-wide strata management plans.

CSIRO is developing a database of mine ventilation air characteristics and a roadmap of gas cleaning technologies as an important step towards identifying the impediments to lean-burning gas turbines. This technology will enable coal producers to effectively utilise methane in mine ventilation air.

Although intrinsic safety and associated legislation have existed since the early part of the last century, they are not well understood globally. In project C14022, Simtars will establish a database of intrinsic safety knowledge, such as a listing of books, papers, seminars and courses.

Research into sustainable development continues to play a pivotal role. As well as advancing technology that reduces the cost of production and limits and effectively manages the environmental consequences of mining and burning coal, ACARP is now funding projects that measure the social impacts of starting, operating and closing of coal mines.

Through ACARP, coal producers are also joining forces with major research centres to fund projects that address issues affecting the long-term future of the coal industry, such as greenhouse gas and other emissions. Research is being conducting into technology that maximises the efficiency of power generation; cleans and conditions gaseous combustion products to extract a stream of high-pressure, high-purity carbon dioxide; and safely and securely stores carbon dioxide in deep geological formations.

Research is also continuing into a range of safety and health projects. Reducing employees’ exposure to dust remains a high priority and, with two projects focused on improving dust control.

Project C14010 is investigating the suitability of a new wearable dust monitor that accurately measures real-time dust exposure, providing OH&S managers with the data they need to devise better dust management strategies. Project C14036 is in the second stage of improving the flow of dust generated from longwall shearers away from operators.

A list of underground projects that have won funding will be made available Wednesday, December 15.