The role, importance and impact of the methane hazard on the safety and efficiency of mining production

Underground mining production is an extremely important process for the economy and carried out in very difficult and complex environmental conditions. The disturbance of the balance of this environment makes it also a very dangerous process. Due to the importance of coal, mainly as an energy raw material, the process of its exploitation is carried out all over the world. The specificity of its production is mainly determined by mining and geological conditions, which determine the method of operation and the selection of machines and devices for this process. One of the most dangerous natural hazards associated with this process are ventilation hazards, including methane hazard. The reason for this threat is methane, an odorless and colorless gas, which becomes a flammable and explosive gas under certain criteria. These features make this gas a huge threat to mining operations. Its huge amounts, contained in coal seams, are released into the mine atmosphere during the exploitation process, causing a very high threat to work safety. Events related to the occurrence of methane are most often the cause of mining disasters, in which people die and the technical and mining infrastructure is destroyed. The reason for the growing methane hazard is the increasingly difficult mining conditions, and mainly the increasing depth of mining, and thus also the increase in methane-bearing capacity of the seams. Taking into account the huge impact of methane hazard on the mining process, the article discusses its impact on the safety and efficiency of this process. The results of the literature review with regard to this risk are presented and the accident statistics are presented. On the basis of actual data, an analysis of interruptions in the exploitation process related to exceeding the permissible methane concentrations was carried out in one of the mines. The problem of limiting the production process due to these exceedances is an important factor reducing the efficiency of this process. The obtained results clearly indicate that the losses resulting from these breaks deteriorate the profitability of the entire process and affect the economic efficiency of the industry. In order to effectively counteract the dangerous phenomena related to the methane hazard and to improve the efficiency of the mining production process, solutions were proposed to improve this state and the directions for further research were proposed.