A scramble for billions of tons of coal in the Gobi Desert... | ABSTRACT The overall purpose of the study is to assist the reader to gain a better understanding of Mongolia’s Coal Rush and to draw attention to lessons that can be learned from China’s coal industry.
To achieve this, we searched for coal activities in northern China to serve as models – good and bad – to help guide Mongolia in managing its new coal mines.
Google Earth highlighted environmental issues such as coal seams on fire, acid mine waters contaminating streams, and coal dust affecting the nomadic pastures of the Gobi Desert.
A surprise was the ease of tracking spills from coal trucks on dirt roads in the Gobi Desert, often many kilometres from the mine source.
The study presents evidence on the merit in insisting on rail transport of coal on grounds environmental, health and safety, rather than trucking by road, and for adopting rail in transporting waste to mine dumps.
An unexpected outcome was the detection of a system of open fractures along a 5.5.km wall of a large coal mine in Xinjiang, indicating serious collapse. DOWNLOAD ARTICLE
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