Doctoral School of

Energy and
Geotechnology II
16.06.2010
TOPIC: MINING AND
GEOTECHNOLOGY
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Amount of water in
abandoned oil shale mines
depending on mining
technology in Estonia
VEIKO KARU
DEPARTMENT OF MINING
TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TEHNOLOGY
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 Introduction
• Estonian Oil Shale deposit is located in
Eastern part of Estonia.
• The closed oil shale mines are located
in central part of oil shale deposit and
the area is about 176 km2.
• There are nine closed mines and two
working mines.

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Study area

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 Aim of research
• To calculate water amount in the mining
area.
• How much water is in every mine?
• How much water is in overburden of
mine?

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 Methods
• Main tools for analysis
– amount of water in abandoned oil
shale mines is computational
modeling with spreadsheet
models
– designing the water flow with
ModFlow.
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Options Kukruse Kaevandus nr 2 Käva Käva 2 Kaevandus nr 4 Tammiku
(Jõhvi kaevandus)
Mine opening 1921 1949 1924 1924 1953 1951
Mine closing 1967 1973 1972 1972 1975 1999
Working time 46 24 48 48 22 48
Field area, km2 13.20 12.30 3.47 14.05 12.70 40.00
Mined field area, km2 15.33 8.57 1.84 11.87 12.73 20.46
Not mined area, km2 0.00 3.73 1.63 2.18 0.00 19.54
Height of surface, m 70.6 70.1 59.1 66.1 61.9 70
Water level in area, m 52 46.8 51.5 51.5 42.5 45

Options Sompa Kohtla Ahtme Viru Estonia

Mine opening 1948 1937 1948 1964 1972

Mine closing 1999 2001 2001
Working time 51 64 53
Field area, km2 33.60 18.30 43.30 41.70 141.10
Mined field area, km2 18.14 12.21 27.35 25.84 66.96
Not mined area, km2 15.46 6.09 15.95 15.86 74.14
Height of surface, m 62.1 51.1 63.8 70 63.4
Water level in area, m 41.8 40.7 42.2 24.6 0.6

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 Oil shale underground mining
• Room and pillar mining

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• Pool volume is volume if all geological
seams from ground surface to bottom of
oil shale layers is extracted and it would
be full of water
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• Water volume in pool is volume, which
takes into account absolute height of oil
shale layers and water level

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• Mine pool water volume is volume, which is
calculated by taking into account the water
content in Quaternary, limestone overburden
and oil shale layers (including a porosity,
subsidence due to natural fissures and
fissures). 13
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 Results
• Water amount in seams depends of factors:
• 1) porosity
• 2) thickness

Water amount, mln m3 Kukruse Kaevandus nr 2 Käva Käva 2 Kaevandus nr 4 Tammiku Sompa Kohtla Ahtme Viru Estonia Summary
(Jõhvi kaevandus)
Quaternary 4.0 3.7 1.0 4.2 3.8 12.0 10.1 5.5 13.0 12.5 42.3 11
Limestone overburden 5.3 6.2 3.1 4.9 5.7 40.0 33.6 11.0 73.6 81.3 381.0 64

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 Results
• Water amount in oil shale layer
depends of factors:
• 1) mining technology;
• 2) oil shale thickness;
• 3) volume of protective pillar;
• 4) porosity of oil shale.

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 Amount of water in oil shale
extracted layer
Mine: Kukruse Kaevandus nr 2 Käva Käva 2 Kaevandus nr 4 Tammiku
(Jõhvi kaevandus)
Amount of water, mln m3 21.3 13.2 2.5 17.0 20.7 38.9

Mine: Sompa Kohtla Ahtme Viru Estonia Summary

Amount of water, mln m3 26.8 18.4 50.6 47.8 115.4 372.5

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 Water amount

Water amount, mln m3 Kukruse Kaevandus nr 2 Käva Käva 2 Kaevandus nr 4 Tammiku
(Jõhvi kaevandus)
Pool volume 211.2 179.6 26.0 203.7 185.4 1140.0
Water volume in pool 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 140.0
Mine pool water volume 38.5 30.4 8.7 34.6 37.8 114.9

Water amount, mln m3 Sompa Kohtla Ahtme Viru Estonia Summary

Pool volume 870.2 327.6 1723.3 1872.3 8381.3 15120.8
Water volume in pool 188.2 137.3 788.1 0.0 0.0 1253.5
Mine pool water volume 90.6 45.8 163.2 166.6 623.3 1354.5

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 Design of water flow
• Design of water level in closed
mine area

• Design of pumping test

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Water level

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Pumping test

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 Conclusion
• The aim was to calculate amount of
water in closed mines
• Using technological and
hydrogeological modelling
• With spreadsheet model can calculate
different amount of water in different
seams.

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THANK YOU

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