Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi - Mineral Resources Management

This article discusses regulations on the management of rock mass resources more broadly than previous literature in this area. Significant changes in the directions of globalization development as well as the transformations and disruptions of existing raw-material supply chains and changes in their structure call for verification of and changes in regulations on raw-material management in individual countries, not only in the UE. The article examines the current EU regulations and their amendments in Poland. The article presents problems that have arisen during works on the necessary regulatory reform of the following policies: development, spatial (land-use), raw material, geology and mining, environmental protection, and waste and water management. The article shows that strategies, policies, and regulations prepared simultaneously, which were to be correlated with the horizontally integrated National Development Concept, are not. This should effectively enhance the country’s raw-material security. Deficiencies have been highlighted both in assumptions and procedures adopted in developing said documents. The author also emphasizes the need to balance competing values and make necessary choices when specific solutions affect at least two competitive areas, e.g. mineral deposits vs. water, farmlands or woodlands, critical infrastructure, housing, investment in the defense sector. The need is highlighted to rationally and sustainably manage resources and country space, to protect and explore them, and plan their management. The author justifies the need for a new Act of the Code status –that comprehensively and consistently regulates both the management of rock mass resources and land and water resources, and the country space management.

The domestic (Polish) lignite deposits, including the Bełchatów deposit, are classified as multi- mineral and multi-raw materials. Ensuring the possibility of using a significant part of all minerals present in this type of deposits should be a matter of priority for mines. Over several dozen years of operation, the Bełchatów Lignite Mine, based on its own experience in documenting and exploiting both the main mineral and accompanying minerals, as well as rock mass components that are not solid minerals, this mine has developed a new approach to the problem of the comprehensive use of deposit resources. The content of the article is an attempt to answer the question: do the applicable laws guarantee a comprehensive and rational use of mineral deposits whose resources are non-renewable? On the example of the area of the Bełchatów lignite deposit, the comprehensive and rational use of mineral resources was analysed. It was indicated that the reasons for their use result from the lack of appropriate organizational, economic and financial solutions. Particular attention was paid to the need to modify the licensing procedures for prospecting, documenting and extracting minerals. It seems reasonable to introduce multi-resource concessions, which are an important element of the circular economy. Therefore, proposals were formulated regarding the introduction of additional legal regulations and instruments of an economic and financial nature. These would be able to guarantee the comprehensive and rational use of most mineral resources.

Municipal waste is a global issue and they are generated in all countries around the world. Both in the European Union and the United States, a common method of non-recyclable waste utilization is thermal incineration with energy recovery. As a result of this treatment, residual waste like bottom ash, air pollution control residues and fly ashes are generated. This research shows that residues from waste incineration can be a potential source of critical raw materials. The analysis of the available literature prove that the residues of municipal waste incinerators contain most of the elements important for the US and EU economies. Material flow analysis has shown that each year, the content of elemental copper in residues may be 29,000 Mg (USA) and 51,000 Mg (EU), and the amount of rare earth elements in residues exceeds their mining in the EU. In the case of other elements, their content may exceed their extraction by even over 300%. The recovery of elements is difficult due to their encapsulation in the aggregate matrix. The heterogeneous nature of residues and the many interactions between different components and incineration techniques can make the process of recovery complicated. Recovery plants should process as much of the residues as possible to make their recovery profitable. However, policy makers from the EU and the US are introducing new legal regulations to increase the availability of critical raw materials. In the EU, new regulations are planned that will require at least 15% of the annual consumption of critical raw materials to come from recycling. Therefore, innovative technologies for recovering critical raw materials from waste have a chance to receive subsidies for research and development.

There is a sulfide mineralization vein type in the Cindakko area, Maros Regency, South Sulawesi. The results of mineralogical studies on the Cindakko prospects for sulfide ore mineralization are explained in this paper. Petrographic, mineragraphic, and XRD methods analyzed the mineralization and alteration samples from the research area. The results showed that the host rock mineralization is basalt, a member of the Baturappe-Cindakko Volcano from the Late Miocene age. The identified hydrothermal alteration mineral associations include quartz, chlorite, epidote, biotite, actinolite, and pyrite, generally formed in propyllitic alteration zones mainly characterized by chlorite. The analysis provides the occurrence of mineralization types: crustiform-banding quartz veins, vuggy quartz, and disseminated, contain hypogenic pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, bornite, and tennantite ores, and supergene ore minerals in the form of covellite. Ore textures recognized under a microscope are intergrowth, replacement, open-space filling, and exsolution. Based on the interpretation of temperature stability of hydrothermal alteration minerals, it is concluded that it was formed at approximately 200 to 320°C with the hydrothermal fluid pH almost neutral. The fundamental characteristics of hydrothermal alteration, ore mineral assemblage and texture, mineralization type, temperature range form, and hydrothermal fluid pH indicate that the mineralization in the Cindakko Prospect is an epithermal type.

Natural stones are used as coating material on the exteriors and terraces of buildings in architecture, and in places such as entrances, halls, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and stairs in interior spaces. Limra limestone and travertine are used as natural building materials in many structures depending on their colors. However, the water absorption values of these two natural stones are high due to their porosity, resulting in negative effects from atmospheric conditions. In this study, two different carbonate-based natural stones, limra limestone and travertine, were treated with two different water-repellent chemicals, one solvent-based and one water-based. After application, thermal shock tests were performed with a sodium chloride solution consisting of twenty cycles. The changes in the weights of samples dried to constant mass, ultrasonic permeability, Leeb hardness, and color change values in the samples were determined after the thermal shock tests. In addition, the effects of water-repellent chemicals on the formation of NaCl crystals accumulated in the pores of the rocks were examined by SEM and EDX analysis. Changes in non-destructively measured values were compared with the values of reference samples without surface protection. The solvent- based water-repellent chemical made the sample surface more hydrophobic than the water-based repellent. In both types of natural stones, the solvent-based water repellent chemical showed more protective properties against salt crystallization under thermal shock conditions compared to the water-based repellent.

Nowadays, hydrogen is considered a potential successor to the current fossil-fuel-based energy. Within a few years, it will be an essential energy carrier, and an economy based on hydrogen will require appropriate hydrogen storage systems. Due to their large capacity, underground geological structures (deep aquifers, depleted hydrocarbon fields, salt caverns) are being considered for hydrogen storage. Their use for this purpose requires an understanding of geological and reservoir conditions, including an analysis of the preparation and operation of underground hydrogen storage. The results of hydrogen injection and withdrawal modeling in relation to the deep Lower Jurassic, saline aquifer of the Konary geological structure (trap) are presented in this paper. A geological model of the considered structure was built, allowable pressures were estimated, the time period of the initial hydrogen filling of the underground storage was determined and thirty cycles of underground storage operations (gas injection and withdrawal) were simulated. The simulations made it possible to determine the essential parameters affecting underground hydrogen storage operation: maximum flow rate of injected hydrogen, total capacity, working gas and cushion gas capacity. The best option for hydrogen storage is a two-year period of initial filling, using the least amount of cushion gas. Extracted water will pose a problem in relation to its disposal. The obtained results are essential for the analysis of underground hydrogen storage operations and affect the economic aspects of UHS in deep aquifers.

Energy transition is a process that affects entire regions, not only reducing the prevailing socio- -economic conditions but most importantly, creating a new framework of functioning for their inhabitants. The changes that are taking place can be described as territorial stresses, which are factors that affect not only the psychological well-being of residents but also the economic, demographic, technological and ecological conditions of the regions. The article presents the partial results of research work conducted within the EN TRAN CES project. The authors compare two carbon-intensive regions: Kraków Metropolitan Area (high air pollution area) and Silesia (coal mining area). Comparing the results of the two components and thus the research methods: - the identification and systematization of the socio-cultural stress situation (a component describing events relevant to the transformation of the regions from 1945–2022 and the sparing of its significance on the development conditions in the regions; - the assessment of the adaptive capacity of the residents based on their attachment to the place, individual adaptation strategies for resolving tensions and the level of life satisfaction (socio-psychological component).

The suitability of several low-labor geostatistical procedures in the interpolation of highly positively skewed seismic data distributions was tested in the Baltic Basin. These procedures were a combination of various estimators of the model of spatial variation (theoretical variogram) and kriging techniques, together with the initial data transformation to normal distribution or lack thereof. This transformation consisted of logarithmization or normalization using the anamorphosis technique. Two variations of the theoretical variogram estimator were used: the commonly used classical Matheron estimator and the inverse covariance estimator (InvCov), which is robust with regard to non-ergodic data. It was expected that the latter would also be resistant to strongly skewed data distributions. The kriging techniques used included the commonly used ordinary kriging, simple kriging useful for standardized data and the non-linear median indicator kriging technique. It was confirmed that normalization (anamorphosis) is the most useful and less laborious geostatistical procedure of those suitable for such data, which results in a standardized normal distribution. The second, not obvious statement for highly skewed data distributions suggests that the non-ergodic inverted covariance (InvCov) estimator of variogram has an advantage over the Matheron’s estimator. It gives a better assessment of the C ₀ (nugget effect) and C (sill) parameters of the spatial variability model. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the fact that the higher the estimation of the relative nugget effect L = C ₀/(C ₀ + C) using the InvCov estimator, the weaker the correlation between the kriging estimates and the observed values. The values of the coefficient L estimates obtained by using the Matheron’s estimator do not meet this expectation.

Sorting coal and gangue is important in raw coal production; accurately identifying coal and gangue is a prerequisite for effectively separating coal and gangue. The method of extracting coal and gangue using image grayscale information can effectively identify coal and gangue, but the recognition rate of the sorting process based on image grayscale information needs to substantially higher than that which is needed to meet production requirements. A sorting method of coal and gangue using object surface grayscale-gloss characteristics is proposed to improve the recognition rate of coal and gangue. Using different comparative experiments, bituminous coal from the Huainan area was used as the experimental object. It was found that the number of pixel points corresponding to the highest level grey value of the grayscale moment and illumination component of the coal and gangue images were combined into a total discriminant value and used as input for the best classification of coal and gangue using the GWO-SVM classification model. The recognition rate could reach up to 98.14%. This method sorts coal and gangue by combining surface greyness and glossiness features, optimizes the traditional greyness-based recognition method, improves the recognition rate, makes the model generalizable, enriches the research on coal and gangue recognition, and has theoretical and practical significance in enterprise production operations.

Turkey has 19.3 billion tons of lignite reserves and the vast majority of these Neogene lignite deposits are preferred for use in thermal power plants due to their low calorific value. The calorific value of lignite used in thermal power plants for electricity generation must be kept under constant control. In the control of calorific value, the estimation of the lower and higher heating values (LHV and HHV) of lignite is of great importance. In the literature, there are many studies that establish a relationship between the heating values of coal and proximate and ultimate analysis variables. In the studies dealing with proximate analysis data, it is observed that although the coefficients of the obtained multiple linear regression models (MRM) are statistically insignificant, these models are used to predict heating values because of the meaningful correlation coefficient. In this study, it is investigated whether moderator variables are effective on LHV estimation with proximate analysis data collected from forty-one lignite basins in different regions of Turkey, and a moderator variable analysis (MVA) model is developed to be used for the prediction of LHV. As a result of the study, it is found that the proposed MVA model is in accordance with observation values (coefficient of determination R ² = 0.951), and absolute and standard errors are also small. Therefore, it is concluded that the use of MVA to estimate the LHV of Turkey’s lignite is found to be more statistically meaningful.

Human-induced climate change is caused by the emission of pollutants into the environment. One of the sources of the formation of harmful compounds is the combustion of solid fuels in heating boilers. These contribute to the occurrence of respiratory and circulatory system diseases, allergies, cancer and developmental disorders in children. In this research, the concentrations of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and hydrocarbons in samples obtained from the combustion of hard coal intended for fuel in household furnaces were measured using an exhaust-gas analyzer equipped with electrochemical sensors. The combustion of test samples was performed using an up-draft research furnace. The results show that the average total concentration of the tested pollutants emitted from the combustion of type 32 and type 33 coal is over 20% lower compared to the emission from the combustion of type 31 coal. Moreover, the concentration of carbon monoxide, the permissible levels of which are regulated by the chimney emission standards, is significantly lower during the combustion of type 32 and type 33 coal compared to the combustion of type 31 coal. Therefore, one of the ways to locally reduce pollutant emission from the combustion of solid fuels in home heating boilers might be the accurate choice of the type of hard coal used for heating. Before the use of coal stoves in households is completely dismissed, local regulations can be introduced to limit emissions in places where air quality indicators are exceeded and improve the health of the population.