News

The 26th World Mining Congress (WMC 2023) was held in Australia, attended by 3,300 delegates from 73 countries, including representatives from ICE-CMM Poland Prof. Stanisław Prusek, Prof. Alicja Krzemień and Dr Jacek Skiba (GIG), Prof. Marek Borowski (AGH), Tomasz Cudny and Artur Badylak (JSW). WMC events form the basis for international agreements and high-level discussions that have influenced mining practices and the raw materials industry for decades.

The main organisers of the Brisbane congress were the Australian national science agency CSIRO, the Australian Government, and the Queensland State Government in which 56 coal and lignite mines are located. The very idea of the WMC Congress was initiated in 1958 by Professor Bolesław Krupiński, a prominent Polish scientist and mining engineer. By definition, the WMC is intended to foster the creation of a platform for the exchange of experience and ideas on current mineral extraction technologies, their economically viable use and the improvement of safety in the industry focused on extracting raw materials.

The congress was held under the theme ' Resourcing Tomorrow - Creating Value for Society'. Its premise was to discuss the world’s future economic and social dependence on resources, considering issues like environmental sustainability, climate change, digital transformation, disruptive technologies, and our future workforce. The programme included 15 plenary sessions, more than 300 technical discussions divided into 13 thematic panels and three symposia. The events were accompanied by an exhibition that covered more than 15,000 square metres.

ICE -CMM Poland presidium chairman Artur Badylak took part in a session discussing extensive activities undertaken with the cooperation of the members of the International Centre of Excellence for Coal Mine Methane in Poland to meet the goals set for reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere. - Reducing methane emissions is our main goal. We are implementing projects co-funded by the European Union that will help us meet global climate policy objectives. Research and implementation projects have received EU grants of: REM project EUR 11million from the European Research Fund for Coal and Steel and MASTERMINE project EUR 900,000 from the Horizon Europe research fund. These activities are also worth talking about internationally, he concluded.

As part of the dissemination of the REM project, an article on simulation of airflow and methane emissions in coal mine goafs using software was presented. The authors of the article were Marek Borowski, Andrzej Szmuk and Zbigniew Kuczera from AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland.

The article discusses the use of advanced software to model airflow and methane emissions in the goaf area, the mine workings left behind after coal mining. Simulation results are presented to understand and optimise ventilation conditions and predict methane emissions.