ABSTRACT
The major hazards that mining personnel are confronted with, in every case on incidence of mine fire, are risk of explosion from the emission and toxicity of CO. Fires in mines both in surface or underground sectors vitiate the environment causing long-term damage. Besides environmental distress, fire begets fire. Fire spreads to adjacent areas incurring huge loss of property and of course contributing to heat stress in the mines and the environment. During recovery operations in a fire area, an apparently safe mine gas containing highly enriched flammable gas may suddenly come down within explosive range on getting diluted when air is introduced for ventilation. Toxicity from CO poses a real danger in the event of its evolution from coal fires. Effluents from mine water, coal washeries as well as rain-water leachates from huge dumps of boiler ash, middling/reject/washed coal dumps are largely responsible for water pollution from mining activities—a typical one being the pollution of river Damodar in India.
