The present disclosure includes a mining system which comprises ore, waste, and a reservoir which comprises a portion of said waste through which air can flow with low resistance for storing thermal energy from a tempered air source and supplying it to a tempered air consumer, and connections for tempered air flow between said tempered air source and said reservoir and between said tempered air consumer and said reservoir. Note: As used herein, tempered air means air of a temperature sufficiently high to heat, or low to cool, an object to a desired temperature. For example, in a house, the furnace is a source of tempered air for heating in winter, the air conditioner a source of tempered air for cooling in summer, and the house is a consumer of tempered air.

A new method for storing CO.sub.2 in the form of naturally bound carbon over a long period of time. More specifically, a method for storing organic material in bogs to reduce CO.sub.2 in the atmosphere. The method, includes the steps of providing organic material, mixing the organic material with water to form a pumpable slurry, pumping the slurry into a bog through one or more pipes, monitoring the bog and taking measures if required to maintain its conservation capabilities.

Mining provides our society with many of minerals, metals, and gemstones for a wide variety of applications from mundane items through to expensive jewelry. But the mining operations generate waste and large empty shafts and stopes within the ground. It would beneficial to provide a lightweight material for backfill which can provide safer working conditions for miners as well as advantages in respect of weight reduction, reducing water consumption, rheology improvement and cost minimization. Equally, it would be beneficial for the lightweight backfill material to include mining tailings to reduce the impact external to the mine. However, the inclusion of mine tailings into a foam is counter-intuitive as mine tailings are generally characterized by a high proportion of small particles with sharp edges. However, embodiments of the invention provide just such a foam based mine backfill material.

An aggregate slinger for an underground void stabilization system, the aggregate slinger comprising a vertically extending shaft and a number of dispersing members. The vertically extending shaft is inserted through a ground hole into an underground void and rotated about a vertical axis in the ground hole. The dispersing members are configured to extend radially from a lower end of the vertically extending shaft in the underground void so that the dispersing members radially spread aggregate descending into the underground void from the ground hole to form a radially enlarged support column of aggregate in the underground void.

A method of extracting mineral ore with a tunnel boring machine can include positioning the TBM in an initial chamber adjacent to a mineral field; boring a first tunnel into the mineral field aligned with the initial chamber, while transporting muck containing the ore away from the first tunnel; and retracting the TBM out of the first tunnel and back into the initial chamber. The method can further include pouring a grout plug at a proximal end of the first tunnel, and boring a second tunnel with the TBM through the grout plug and into the mineral field laterally offset from the initial chamber. The second tunnel can be bored by advancing the TBM from the initial chamber along an S-curve path having a first curve away from the first tunnel and a second curve toward the first tunnel, after which the second tunnel is parallel with the first tunnel.

The present invention provides a coal-based solid waste transport and filling integrated machine mining system, comprising a filling hydraulic support (6) and a coal winning machine (7), said filling hydraulic support (6) comprises a hydraulic top plate and a base (601), said hydraulic top plate comprises a hinged front top beam (602) and a rear top beam (603), with a front probe beam (604) attached to front end of said front top beam (602) and a telescopic slide rod (1) connected to rear end of said rear top beam (603), a double transport and single filling non-stop equipment is fixed on the telescopic slide rod (1). The apparatus and method of the present invention weaken the impact of groundwater pollution on mine production and mine ecology, bring good economic and environmental benefits to the mine and promoting safe and green coal mining.

Disclosed is a combined process of integrating stopping-backfilling and carbon storage. The combined process includes the following steps of: determining a cyclic interval of a working face through measured data of a mine pressure of a fully-mechanized coal winning working face; when the stopping distance of the fully-mechanized coal winning working face reaches a backfilling isolation interval, providing a backfilling tarpaulin behind a hydraulic support, and pumping, through a backfilling pipeline, backfilling slurry to a backfilling area along a support beam; when the area is backfilled with the backfilling slurry, injecting supercritical carbon dioxide into the backfilling slurry; and allowing the supercritical carbon dioxide to fully react with the backfilling slurry to solidify the backfilling slurry.