Article

The case of the French Nord/Pas-de-Calais coalfield

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author.

Abstract

Conclusion It seems too early to draw definite conclusions because of the existence of some uncertain factors. However we may stress some facts that could lead us to thinking the matter over the proper way:1The future of coal extraction in the Nord/Pas-de-Calais coalfields differs significantly from that of British and West German coalfields.2However, even though the environmental problems are not on the same scale, the prospects for developing the economy along new lines depend very much on resolving old mining problems inherited from the past.3These problems ought not to be obstacles to a possible rebirth of coal extraction in the coalfield. This is the aim of the authority who would like this rebirth being better suited to the present and future extraction conditions.4We have seen there are divergences between the views of local, regional and national authorities as regards the conditions of some specific political schemes having to be undertaken:

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.

... can also account for an increase in temperature (Limacher, 1963). It has been estimated in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais basin that one heap out of three ignited, which, in the early eighties, meant 74 burning heaps (Ghouzi, 1982). In any case, ignition of coal heap fires is a complex phenomenon, described and discussed by Misz-Kennan & Fabiańska (2011). ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Burnt colliery spoil is a typical waste material from former coal mining regions (e.g. North of France, Tchelyabinsk coal basin in Russia, Silesia in Poland…) where mining residues are stored in heaps. When such coal tips are caught on fire, the materials undergo burning of organic residues, baking and sometimes melting and recrystallization. The resulting product, which is generally red but also yellowish, orange or violet, finds various uses as a building material: roadmaking, backfill, decorative aggregate for private domestic roads, sand for tennis court; it has also been used in the past to design synthetic aggregates (Gutt and Nixon, 1979). Based on a set of samples from various localities in France (Guy et al., 2001; Masalehdani et al., 2009; Masalehdani and Paquette, 2013), we discuss the petrography and mineralogy of burnt colliery spoil. The highly heterogeneous initial leftover material from the coal mining (sandstones, coal dust, pelites, limestone…) as well as the occasional use of tips as garbage repositories is at the origin of a high diversity of textures within the materials. The high temperatures (800-1000°C, sometimes more) reached during the burning of the heaps leaves no remains of organic matter and are associated with a mineralogical evolution (clay dehydration, oxidation of sulfides…) and most often with the preservation of the initial rock texture. The local melting of those rocks lead to the formation of glassy products characterized by a high amount of amorphous content. All those mineralogical evolutions, presenting some similarities with the manufacture of bricks, contribute to the hardness of the material and to its characteristics because of its sintering. Finally, secondary minerals (gypsum, zeolites) fill fractures (Masalehdani et al., 2009).
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.