Advancing Coal Mine Ventilation into the Twenty First Century with High Productivity Mining Systems

The Australian mining industry can expect to be working internationally competitive high quality coal mines during the twenty-first century. Cost efficient mining methods such as high productivity longwall units with heavy reliance on remote control will be standard and worked by well paid and intensively trained operators. Major changes in mine ventilation engineering can be expected in the use of computers and mine telemetry, the understanding of the mine environment and the frequency of mine disasters, the utilization of mine air contaminants for profitable purposes and the provision of a pleasant and comfortable work environment. New approaches to mine ventilation such as air recirculation will have been considered. There will be an increased need for highly trained ventilation engineers. With the present pace of technological change, quite revolutionary new approaches to mining and ventilation can be expected by the end of the twenty-first century.