Coal mining in Kuzbass and new technologies for revegetation of dumps

Abstract

During the period of coal mining in Kuzbass, about 9 billion tons of coal were mined, which is 16% of all in-place reserves of coal in Kuzbass. In 2020, coal production amounted to 220.7 million tons, including 164.4 million tons of open pit mining, which is 74% of the total. The negative side of an increase in the share of open pit coal mining is an increase in the area of disturbed lands, which currently reaches 150 thousand hectares. To restore the biological diversity of dumps, a nature-like technology has been developed for revegetation of dumps, which consists in applying a 15 cm thick loam layer to the dump and introducing a grass seed mixture containing seeds of steppe plants. For six years, a stable, self-perpetuating permanent nature-like community is formed, numbering 30-40 species of steppe plants.