INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANUFACTURING SCIENCE AND EDUCATION- MSE 2013- SIBIU-ROMANIA 1 CONSIDERATIONS ON SOME PRIMAL PROBLEMS INDUCED BY LIGNITE OPEN-PIT MINING Tudor Goldan 1 and Roland Moraru 2 1 Romania, University of Petroşani, Department of Mining Engineering, Surveying and Construction, goldan_t@yahoo.com, 2 Romania, University of Petroşani, Department of Mining Engineering, Surveying and Construction, roland_moraru@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: A picturesque area of Romania, where the environment has been affected by coal mining activity was the Oltenia area where the main activity was and continues to be related to mining operations. Open-pit coal mining developed in accordance with Romania's energy requirements at the expense of underground operation is based on the following advantages: complex and full mechanization of technological processes, easy planning and organizing the production activity, the development of production and high productivity with low cost in a relatively reduced time. One of the major environmental problems caused by coal mining in quarries consists in dumps resulting from coal extraction. Since their design phase are taken into account the aspects related to physical and mechanical properties of the material they are made of. This comes both from stripping layers above the lignite deposits, and the sterile intercalations of coal seams. This paper presents some of the problems encountered in managing these mine constructions and their solution. KEY WORDS: lignite, open-pit mining, waste dump, stability, environment. 1. INTRODUCTION Engineers design plans for safe and cost effective mining of the coal, but the expansions of open-pit coal mining operations in Oltenia’s region poses a major threat to the environment (Dragolea & Cotîrlea, 2012). Planning must account for both environmental protection, beginning as early as the initial exploration, and for reclamation. It is critical that planning alleviate or mitigate potential impacts of mining for two key reasons: (1) the cost of environmental protection is minimized by incorporating it into the initial design, rather than performing remedial measures to compensate for design deficiencies, and (2) negative publicity or poor public relations may have severe economic consequences. The total process of creating (design, layout and excavation) actually consists of the interaction of there groups: planning, geo-mechanics and production. All three of the responsibility areas have been drawn to the same size, suggesting that there is an equal weighting of their inputs and their influence in reaching the final action path (Figure 1) (Hustrulid & McCarter, 2001). From the start of the planning process, adequate consideration must be given to regulatory affairs. The cost of compliance may be significantly reduced when taken into account in the design or planning process, in a proactive manner, rather than being addressed on an ad hoc basis as problems develop or enforcement actions occur. Fig.1. Idealized interactions between the geomechanics, planning and production groups in open-pit: a – overall interactions, b – pair-wise interactions, c – three-way interaction (Hustrulid, W., McCarter, M., Van Zyl, D., 2001).