May 15, 2001 - EarthFax Completes EcoLinks Challenge Grant
Salt Lake City, Utah - EarthFax Engineering, Inc. (“EarthFax”) has completed work on a three-phase project awarded through the EcoLinks Challenge Grant program. The purpose of the grant was to evaluate alternatives to reduce pollution and recover coal from waste rock at an underground coal mine located in the Sakhalin Region of the Russian Far East. EcoLinks Challenge Grants are funded by the United States Agency for International Development to support environmental partnership projects between U.S. organizations and entities located in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States.
In phase one of the project, EarthFax conducted an extensive tour of the mine to evaluate current practices for reducing, controlling, and recycling wastes produced at the mine. In phase two of the project, the manager of the Sinegorskaya Mine visited several mine sites, a coal recycling facility, and an energy co-generation plant in Utah. These visits provided an opportunity for the Russian engineer to learn more about state-of-the-art technologies at work in the U.S. for improving production and reducing or recycling mine waste. Phase three of the project included a return visit to Russia on behalf of EarthFax to present results, conclusions, and recommendations to local mine management and regulatory agency personnel. These recommendations focused on improving the efficiency of production, recycling coal from mine waste, and implementing sound environmental conservation practices.
The recommendations were developed in a manner that would be applicable not only to the specific concerns of the Sinegorskaya Mine but also to other mines in Russia concerned with the control of environmental pollution and recovery of coal from waste rock piles. These recommendations included installing sediment-control devices to capture sediment that is currently being discharged off-site and into the environment; using cyclone separation technology to recover coal from existing waste rock piles, thereby recovering a valuable resource and reducing the potential for spontaneous combustion of the waste rock piles; properly disposing and compacting future waste rock material to minimize problems associated with slope stability, spontaneous combustion, leaching of contaminants from the piles, erosion of contaminants from the piles, and wind-blown dust; improving the efficiency of the town boiler, a primary consumer of coal produced at the mine; and discontinuing the practice of disposing of common garbage in the waste rock piles to reduce problems such as vector nuisance, foul odors, windblown litter, instability in the piles, and air spaces that can increase the potential for spontaneous combustion.
EarthFax assisted the mine in evaluating options for funding the capital expenses that would be required to implement the recommendations. Care was taken during preparation of the recommendations to ensure that they would be cost effective as well as technically efficient and environmentally sound.
EarthFax is an environmental and civil engineering consulting firm with offices in the Salt Lake City, Utah and Lansing, Michigan areas. The company specializes in characterization and mitigation of environmental concerns at industrial facilities.
