POST-COAL MINING VOIDS: ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS, UTILIZATION POTENTIAL, AND SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES: A REVIEW

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a multidisciplinary overview of reclamation technologies and environmental risks associated with mining voids, useful for studies on post-mining land use.

🏢実務担当者:Mining and environmental firms can identify viable technologies like floating PV for repurposing voids, aiding in corporate sustainability planning.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the need for regulatory frameworks to enforce reclamation and incentivize sustainable use of post-mining voids, relevant for mining policy reform.

Open-pit coal mining generates extensive post-mining voids in the form of large depressions that pose persistent environmental challenges, including land degradation, water pollution, ecological imbalance, and long-term safety risks. At the same time, these voids offer substantial opportunities for productive and sustainable utilization when managed through integrated environmental strategies. This review aims to critically assess the opportunities, potentials, and challenges associated with the sustainable use of post-coal mining voids within the context of environmental protection and pollution control. A narrative review methodology was employed by systematically analyzing more than 80 international peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2024, encompassing multidisciplinary case studies from various countries. The findings indicate that unmanaged mining voids significantly contribute to acid mine drainage, water quality deterioration, and landscape instability, whereas integrated reclamation approaches can restore ecological and hydrological functions. Technologies such as floating photovoltaic systems, pressure retarded osmosis, and spatially based hydrological modeling demonstrate strong potential in supporting renewable energy generation, water resource management, and land rehabilitation in former mining areas. The review further highlights the importance of regulatory enforcement, technological innovation, and community engagement in ensuring sustainable post-mining transitions. Overall, this study concludes that post-coal mining voids can be transformed from environmental liabilities into strategic assets that support environmental sustainability, pollution mitigation, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to clean water, clean energy, climate action, and ecosystem restoration.

• Zenodo https://zenodo.org/records/20459303first seen 2026-05-31 04:13:54 · last seen 2026-06-02 04:14:41