Opportunities of re-establishing underground mining in the borsod coal basin in north-eastern Hungary

Numerous underground coal mines were in operation in the Borsod coal basin in north-eastern part of Hungary until the beginning of this century. The main area of utilization of the mined out coal beside power and heat generation was supplying households with fuel mostly for heating. In the beginning of the 1990ies the power plants in question were shut down for economic, environmental and technical reasons. Consequently all the mines were closed no later than 2004 and thousands of miners lost their jobs. A new perspective of coal mining can be enabled by other ways of utilization of coal, e.g. coal chemistry, etc. Safe and modern equipment and technology enabling high output, clean coal, furthermore high rate of yield are targeted. Opportunity of sustainable underground coal mining in the north-eastern part of Hungary is discussed in the paper. Analysis of the properties of coal deposits using three-dimensional (3D) modelling are used for considering opportunities of new mining operations. Models are being developed.