Aims and Objectives

GI-mine: Green and Intelligent Mine, Sustainable and Intelligent Mine Waste Management Towards a Green Deal Economy is a Pilot and Demonstration project, co-funded by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel and Polish Ministry of Science.

Its main goal is to develop solutions, technologies and guidelines to optimise waste management in a mining company, oriented according to the circular economy principles to maximise the use of waste materials. The project leader is the Central Mining Institute - National Research Institute (GIG-PIB), and the industrial partner is the Polish Mining Group (PGG). Sustainable management of basic mine waste is a key element in the economic efficiency of mining plants. The management of ‘rock’ from processing plants and the capture and management of coal mine methane are, next to underground water disposal, the most capital-intensive areas of waste management in European mines.

The GI-mine project is partly of a research nature, and the results obtained will form the basis for the development of technological solutions, implementations and business models that can be applied in all branches of PGG. Research will be conducted into the use of new soil substrate in post-mining areas for the cultivation of various types of plants. The project will also look into the efficiency of constructing greenhouses, as part of so-called urban agriculture, which will consider use surplus heat energy from coal mine methane. The aim is to turn the cost of disposing of basic mine waste into a profit. The tests and research carried out will contribute to the development of innovative technologies and support coal regions in transition, contributing to the objectives of the European Green Deal.

The project is carried out by a consortium which includes GIG-PIB, PGG , TUBAF University of Freiberg (Germany), UniOvi University of Oviedo (Spain), and Poznań University of Life Sciences. An important part of the GI-mine project will be the dissemination of information not only in Central Europe, but also in the mining countries of the Southern Balkans (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and North Macedonia) by the associated partner DCN: Digital Communications Network Global, and in Mongolia by the Mongolian Coal Association.