Assessment and Prevention of Rockbursts Hazard in Polish Hard Coal Mines

Mining exploitation can, under certain conditions, cause the occurrence of tremors and rock bursts in rock excavations. In most of active hard coal mines in the region of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, seams that are classified as threat by rockbursts are exploited. Despite the restructuring changes in the Polish hard coal mining industry, and hence the limitation of coal extraction, there is no significant reduction in the total seismic energy of the recorded tremors. This threat belongs to the most dangerous natural hazards in Polish coal mining, in particular due to the fact that the depth of exploitation increases, and thus the mining and geological conditions deteriorate, which promotes the occurrence of increased seismic activity induced by exploitation and rockbursts. The article presents the methods of assessment of rockbursts hazard used in Polish mines as well as the scope of applied rock burst prevention. The issue was also discussed on the example of exploitation conducted in a rockburst hazard condition in one of the mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin region. The paper has undergone a peer review process. It was held at the 30th SOMP Annual Meeting and Conference which took place from 29th June to 5th July 2019 at the TH Georg Agricola University in Bochum/Germany.