There is an opportunity to reduce methane emissions from Australian, open pit, metallurgical coal (MC) mines and substantially reduce the carbon intensity of a high-value Australian export industry. MC is critical to the production of steel products and is essential to meet international urbanisation and energy system transformation goals. Initial research on this topic, outlined the application of subterranean barriers in coal mining towards the reduction of gas influx and whole-of-life coal mine methane (CMM) emissions in underground applications. Initially, the technology lacked economic viability for a majority of cases and especially after carbon pricing was eliminated in 2014. Today, with the imperative for the industry to reduce emissions, the technology becomes significant in its potential for emissions reduction for both underground and open-cut coal mines.

The basis of barriers is similar to naturally occurring barriers (i.e., igneous intrusions or dikes) that have shown effective separation of drained and undrained mine works (as observed in adjoining mines in Central Queensland). Barriers have also been applied in the environmental, civil engineering and oil and gas industries, to manage or restrict subterranean flow patterns or contain contaminants. In this case, subterranean barriers are being implemented in conjunction with mine pre-drainage to reduce methane emissions from an open pit, MC mine. In addition, barriers can be used in underground mining operations.to improve mine pre-drainage and safety as well as reduce methane emissions.

This paper describes the design, execution, and evaluation workflows and the relative importance of variables required for a barrier implementation in subterranean applications for open-cut and underground mining applications. This paper details the results of ongoing planning and modelling to implement and assess a barrier application for reducing gas migration from unmined in-seam or underground mine sections into open-cut MC mining operations. Finally, this paper builds on previous research and available technologies and is complementary to current pre-drainage for surface or underground mining operations. Barrier implementation in conjunction with the beneficial use of gas provides a working framework to reduce mine emissions toward necessary methane reductions by 2030.

有机会减少澳大利亚露天冶金煤 (MC) 矿的甲烷排放，并大幅降低澳大利亚高价值出口行业的碳强度。MC对于钢铁产品的生产至关重要，对于实现国际城市化和能源系统转型目标至关重要。关于该主题的初步研究概述了地下屏障在煤炭开采中的应用，以减少地下应用中的瓦斯涌入和整个生命周期煤矿甲烷 (CMM) 排放。最初，该技术在大多数情况下缺乏经济可行性，特别是在 2014 年取消碳定价之后。如今，随着行业减少排放的迫切需要，该技术在地下和露天减排方面的潜力变得巨大。砍伐煤矿。

屏障的基础类似于自然存在的屏障（即火成岩侵入物或堤坝），这些屏障已显示出有效分隔排水和未排水矿山工程（如在昆士兰中部相邻矿山中观察到的那样）。屏障还应用于环境、土木工程以及石油和天然气行业，以管理或限制地下流动模式或遏制污染物。在这种情况下，地下屏障与矿井预排水一起实施，以减少露天矿、MC 矿的甲烷排放。此外，屏障还可用于地下采矿作业，以改善矿井预排水和安全性并减少甲烷排放。

本文描述了露天和地下采矿应用的地下应用中屏障实施的设计、执行和评估工作流程以及所需变量的相对重要性。本文详细介绍了正在进行的规划和建模的结果，以实施和评估屏障应用，以减少瓦斯从未开采的煤层或地下矿区迁移到露天 MC 采矿作业。最后，本文以先前的研究和现有技术为基础，是对当前露天或地下采矿作业预排水的补充。屏障的实施与天然气的有益利用相结合，为减少矿山排放提供了一个工作框架，以期到 2030 年实现必要的甲烷减排。