Challenges in the Development of the Iranian Galandrud Coal Field

The Galandrud coalfield is located approximately 20 km south from the coast of the Caspian Sea, Ruyan town, on the north slopes of the Alborz mountain range, in the elevation between 500 m (the Galand River valley) and 1350 m. For the time being, 32 coal seams (generally of small thickness û 0.8 m on average) have been recognised within the. On the other hand 72 coal banks of balanced properties have been included in reserve calculation, which means that some of the seams consist of several banks. The general dip of strata belonging to the south limb is about 30¦ to the South (with drags close to the south overthrust, where the dip reaches 85¦), while the dip of beds at the north limb is rather steep and usually between 45 to 75¦ to the North. The coal quality is in a rank of high volatile bituminous coal. The steep dip, unstable lithological development, complicated tectonics and comparatively lower coal seam thickness are the characteristic features of the Galandrud deposit. Environmental protection of this area makes exploration and exploitation more complicated. During mine exploration several adits were driven at three levels with 50 m vertical distances. About 4000 m of gates and crosscuts were up to now driven. During mining test the down-cut mining method (with one cut), the strike cut mining method and the down-cut mining method with two cuts were tested. The paper describes outlines for the selection of mining methods on the base of classification of the effective hangingwalls and footwalls, hazards of mining operations, and possibilities of the mechanised mining.