SDS-Ugol has confirmed the effectiveness of the new land reclamation technology. This is stated in the company's message following the results of a four-year environmental experiment conducted on the territory of the Perspektivny license area (Mayskoye Mine Management LLC).
The geological basis and a viable soil and vegetation layer were successfully reconstructed on the rock dumps.
Usually, when preparing a site for mining operations, the fertile soil layer is removed and stacked in bulk. After the completion of coal mining, it should be returned to the same place from where it was extracted. But it may take several decades from the start of development to reclamation. During this time, the soil loses almost all of its fertile properties. And those microorganisms that were there are dying.
Ecologists of JSC HC "SDS-Ugol" together with specialists of the Kuzbass Botanical Garden developed a technology by which the recently removed layer of earth was immediately transferred to the recultivated site. The advantage lies in the fact that with this method, viable seeds, roots and rhizomes of plants, soil invertebrates and microbial complexes remain in the soil.
For the experiment in 2018, an experimental landfill with an area of 2.25 hectares was allocated at the Pervomaisky section. As a control species, the small daylily (yellow) was chosen – one of the main plant species growing on the license area "Perspektivny".
The fertile soil layer was removed in autumn, after the end of the vegetative period. It was transferred to prepared areas with a depth of 20, 40 and 60 cm. Observations over four years have shown that this technology allows you to create a nature-like plant society with a high species diversity (the depth of the plots did not significantly affect the result). When self-healing dumps, this effect is not observed. Moreover, in this case, the number of reproducible plant species is several times less.
JSC HC "SDS-Ugol" was founded in 2006 to solve the problems of efficient extraction and processing of coal, taking into account the requirements of industrial safety.
