Visonta opencast mine

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Visonta opencast mine
General information about the mine
Visonta lignite open pit mine JM.jpg
Visonta opencast mine, Südfeld, seen from the viewing platform at Karácsond, looking north-northeast, September 2018
Mining technology Open pit mine on 11.5 (25.5) km²
Funding / year 4.1 million t
Information about the mining company
Operating company Mátrai Erőmű ZRt.
Start of operation 1969
Successor use Reclamation
Funded raw materials
Degradation of Brown coal
Brown coal

Seam name

0, I, II
Mightiness 10–12 m (south field)
Greatest depth 130 m (south field)
Geographical location
Coordinates 47 ° 44 '22.2 "  N , 20 ° 3' 45.1"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 44 '22.2 "  N , 20 ° 3' 45.1"  E
Visonta opencast mine (Hungary)
Visonta opencast mine
Location Visonta opencast mine
local community Detk , Halmajugra , Karácsond and Ludas
Megye ( NUTS3 ) Heves
County Heves county
Country Hungary

The open pit Visonta (debate [ viʃontɒ ]) until at least 1985 called open pit Thorez (debate [ tɔʀɛːz ]) (named after the French politician Maurice Thorez ) is a Braunkohletagebau the Mátrai Erőmű ZRt. in northern Hungary . The mining area extends over an area of ​​around 25.5 km 2 around the municipality of Detk . The nearby Mátrai Erőmű is fired with the lignite mined in the Visonta opencast mine ; around 25% of the coal mined in Hungary comes from this opencast mine.

Location and structure

Figure 1-1
Südfeld, May 2007
Fig. 1-2
View from the north edge of the Ostfeld II section to the west, May 2018
Fig. 2-1
Bucket wheel excavator in Südfeld, May 2007
Fig. 2-2 Belt
conveyor systems in Ostfeld II, which convey overburden to the settlers used in Ostfeld, May 2018
Fig. 2-3
Falling overburden in the south of the Ostfeld II section with a spreader, view from the eastern edge of Detks to the northeast, May 2019
Fig. 2-4
Bucket chain excavator, parked at Ostfeld II, July 2019

The Visonta opencast mine is located in Gyöngyösi járás in Heves County , about 12 km east-southeast of the city of Gyöngyös at the foot of the Mátra Mountains . The opencast mine is divided into five sections, in the middle of which is the municipality of Detk . The Westfeld section is located in the northwest of Visonta and is the smallest and oldest section of the open pit. Regular lignite mining began there in 1969. Today, the section has been completely recultivated. To the east is the Ostfeld I, it is located in the north of the mining area and borders directly to the north on the Mátrai Erőmű and in the east on the municipality of Halmajugra. Today (June 2019) the section is being recultivated. The Ostfeld II section adjoining it to the east is bounded in the south by the municipality of Detk and in the east by the Tarnóca river. As of June 2019, the section has been partially recultivated, but is still used for the spoil fall. Ostfeld I and II have a joint size of 14 km 2 .

In the Südfeld section, brown coal is currently (June 2019) being mined. It has an area of ​​about 11.5 km 2 and is located south of the Ostfeld I section, west of Detk and Ludas and northeast of Karácsond. To the east of sections Ostfeld I and II is the planned section Ostfeld III, which (as of June 2019) is in preparation. It extends from west to east over a length of about 6 km to the towns of Tófalu , Kápolna and Kompolt . From south to north, the section extends over a length of about 3 km in the west and 4 km in the east.

history

Construction of the Mátra lignite power station began in 1964, while the Westfeld mining area was opened up in order to prepare for Hungary's first large-scale open-cast mine. For this purpose, the deposit was examined with core drilling. Regular dismantling began in 1969. The dismantling device was delivered from the GDR . In July 1971 there was an accident on an opencast mining excavator, which the operator attributed to construction defects. A cause for the accident could not be determined. Between 1979 and 1983, the groundwater was pumped out in Ostfeld II. In 1982 the Ostfeld II went into operation. In 1985 the west field was charred, the east field I to about two thirds. It was planned that the Visonta opencast mine would achieve an annual output of 8,000,000 t by the year 2000; in fact, the annual output in 1999 was only 3,900,000 t. Ostfeld I and II were completely charred in 2005. Since then, coal has only been mined in the southern field. In December 2018, Ostfeld III was considered to be 70% developed.

operator

The Visonta opencast mine is operated by Mátrai Erőmű Zrt. operated. Since the end of 2017, this closed joint-stock company has largely belonged to a consortium made up of EP Holding and the investor Mészáros Lőrinc .

Geology of the deposit

Geologically, the open pit is located in the western part of the eastern Hungarian lignite mining area, the Bükkalja or Mátraalja, a part of the Pannonian lowlands . It was probably formed in the Pliocene or possibly partly in the Miocene on a low plain traversed by a river delta. The rock layers consist of gray to gray-blue claystone with sandstone insertions, which are criss-crossed with lenticular coal seams, the total thickness of which is between 5 and 14 m (other sources also speak of up to 15 m).

There are six seams in the Visonta opencast mine, starting from the lowest seam III to the uppermost seam II. For economic reasons, only seams 0, I and II are currently (June 2019) being mined. In 2006 there were still around 308,000,000 t of lignite in the entire mining area, of which around 152,000,000 t were considered economically minable. It is stated that statistically the supply should be sufficient for more than 100 years (as of 2008). More recent studies from 2011, taking into account eastern field III, put the total supply of lignite at almost 400,000,000 t.

Geology of the southern field

Above the uppermost seam layers there is an approximately 20 to 30 m thick layer of sand, below which lies an approximately 5 to 15 m, sometimes up to 30 m thick layer of clay. The layers containing the seams -II and -I are approximately 15 to 25 m thick. The seams -II and -I have an average thickness of less than 1 m and are only distributed in traces. Underneath there is a layer of sand around 15 to 25 m thick, some of which contains layers solidified into sandstone by the precipitation of calcium carbonate from the seepage water from the overlying layers. The sandstone occurs irregularly and is usually between 0.2 and 0.3 m thick. About a fifth of the sandstone layers are 0.3 to 0.5 m thick, and in some places they are 0.5 to 1.6 m thick. Seam 0, which lies under the layers of sandstone, has a thickness of 4.5–6.0 m, with an average thickness of 5.0 m. It is widespread everywhere with the exception of the western part in the southern field. Clayey layers lie below seam 0. Seam I is located about 10 to 15 m below seam 0, which, unlike seam 0 above, is widespread throughout the mining area. Its thickness is between 1.5 and 2.5 m, with an average thickness of 1.9 m. It is extracted with a smaller extraction device. Below seam I lies seam Ia at a distance of about 3.0 to 7.0 m, whose thickness of less than 1 m actually makes mining seem uneconomical, but in places where the calorific value of the coal is high enough and which If the seam thickness is at least 0.5 m, it will be mined with small equipment. The deepest mining seam, seam II, is common in the entire mining area, its thickness fluctuates between 3.0 and 6.0 m with an average thickness of 4.0 m.

Overall, the thickness of all minable coal layers is on average around 10–12 m, that of the sandy layers together up to 60 m. Along the south or south-east axis, the layers slope downwards at an angle of 0.5 to 2.5 °, there are no faults in the layers. The total depth of the open pit is between 80 m in the north and 130 m in the middle of the mining area. In the southern mining field, the stock of lignite was still 37,000,000 t in 2011, the ratio of overburden to coal is 7.7: 1.

Geology of the Eastern Field III

As in the southern field, seams 0, I and II make up the majority of the deposit. Unlike in the southern field, the seam-II is considered to be degradable, it makes up about a quarter of the coal present in the deposit. Over the coal seams there is a 20 to 50 m thick layer of sand and claystone, which contains the main component of the sandstone occurring in the deposit.

Seam-II is split into an upper and a lower bank, which unite in the eastern part of the mining area, where the total thickness can be a little more than 9.0 m. In the area in which the seam-II is split, the thickness is on average 2.5-3.0 m in the upper bank and 2.7 m in the lower bank. The upper bank is mainly found in the southeast of the mining area, while the lower bank can be found in the entire mining area. Layers of sand and clay lie under the seam-II. The layers below the package of seams -II and -I, which demarcate it from the seam complex 0 / I / II, are 15 to 40 m thick. In the lower part of this intermediate layer the sand predominates, whereby sandstone layers are not expected. Seam 0 is split in places into two partial seams, between which non-carboniferous layers lie. The thicknesses of the individual layers of Fözes 0 fluctuate very strongly, so that the partial seams are partially united, although due to the large spacing of the test drilling it cannot be ruled out that the combined partial seams will split up again. The unified seam 0 occurs mainly in the south and east of east field III. The thickness of the seam 0 banks is about 1.0 to 2.0 m, that of the combined seam about 3.0 to 7.0 m. There is a 10 m thick layer of clay under seam 0. The seam bank I is also split into an upper and lower bank. The upper bank of seam I is approximately 1.0 and 3.0 m thick and is considered to be minable. Underneath is a 0.5 to 2.7 m thick non-carbonaceous layer, under which the 1.0 to 1.85 m thick lower bench lies. Seam Ia is located under seam I, the thickness of which is usually less than 1.0 m and is therefore not suitable for mining. In places it is 1.5 m thick and at the strongest point 2.8 m. About 5 to 15 m below seam Ia is seam II, which is also split into upper and lower banks. The upper bench is only widespread in places and is nowhere near as powerful as the lower bench, which is about 1.0 to 4.5 m thick. The distance between the upper and lower banks of seam II is 0.5 to 9.7 m.

The seam complex seam 0 / I / II including the non-coal bearing intermediate layers has a thickness of 15 to 20 m in the south-east and 30 to 40 m in the west of the mining field. Along the south or south-east axis, the layers slope downwards at an angle of 1.5 to 3.0 °, and there are probably no faults. The depth of the open pit will be around 100 to 110 m on the northern edge and 130 to 180 m on the southern edge of the eastern part. In the south of east field III, depths of 160 m in the west to 225 m in the east are expected.

Properties of coal

Chemical properties of the lignite from the Visonta opencast mine
According to Kosma (2011) According to Stoll, Niemann-Delius,
Drebenstedt, Müllensiefen (2008) 		According to Dovrtel (2003)
Ostfeld II Südfeld Total opencast mine (excluding Ostfeld III)
Water content 49.5% 46-50% 50.4%
Ash content 20.0% 16.0% 13-17% 16-20%
Sulfur content 1.6% ~ 1.3% 0.8%
calorific value 6.2 MJ kg −1 7.2 MJ kg −1 6.9–7.2 MJ kg −1 7.1–7.2 MJ kg −1
source

The lignite mined in Visonta is predominantly woody, earthy-woody and earthy-clayey soft brown coal of poor quality. Their calorific value is only around 7 MJ · kg −1 . In comparison, the lignite in western Hungary in the Tatabánya deposit with a calorific value of around 20 MJ kg −1 is significantly higher quality.

Mining technology

In the southern field, since 2006, dismantling has been carried out in pivoting mode with direct combinations of conveying paths in a clockwise direction. The large devices used come mainly from GDR production. The coal layers are excavated with a total of five bucket wheel excavators (see Figure 2-1), each of which can excavate between 30,000 and 42,000 m 3 of overburden per day. The bucket wheel excavators are connected to the approximately 44 km long network of conveyor belts (see Fig. 2-2) via belt trucks. The conveyor belts have a belt width of 1600 mm, a speed of 5.5–5.8 m · s −1 and can move around 50,000–60,000 m 3 of spoil per day. A total of six spreaders (see Fig. 2-3) are used, whereby the bucket wheel excavator, which dredges the overburden between seams 0 and I, is connected to a spreader for the direct fall spreader combination SRsh . This direct fall skip combination went into operation in 1972 in Ostfeld I and was developed by the TAKRAF combine specifically for the Visonta opencast mine. The centerpiece is the ARsh 5200.165 direct fall dropper . This machine has a leveling system so that it can travel on inclines of 1:10 in the direction of travel. Your boom has a length of 165 m.

The irregular sandstone layers above seam 0 are extracted by external contractors with small equipment (single-vessel excavator and truck) in "shovel and truck" operation ( shovel and truck ). In addition, to a small extent external contractors use the same technology to mine coal outside the work area of ​​the large equipment. For the most part (90%) the coal is extracted with a total of three bucket chain excavators (see Fig. 2-4). They each have a conveying capacity of 14,000 m 3 per day and are each equipped with their own bench conveyor system. The bucket chain excavator mining seam I is also used to excavate seam Ia; With small equipment (single-vessel excavator and truck) the seam Ia is dumped on seam II and picked up there by the bucket chain excavator that excavates seam II.

A three-shift operation is used in the opencast mine and work is also carried out on Sundays. In 2009, 917 people worked in the opencast mine. Every year, 35,500,000 m 3 of overburden with large equipment and 3,400,000 m 3 of overburden with small equipment are moved and 3,600,000 t of coal are extracted with bucket chain excavators and 500,000 t of coal with single-vessel excavators.

Use of brown coal

Fig. 3-1
Mátrai Erőmű , May 2018

The lignite is burned in the Mátrai Erőmű, about 5 km north of the southern field (Fig. 3-1). This power plant is a combined coal-gas-biomass power plant with an installed capacity of 0.95 GW, it generates 13% of the electricity consumed in Hungary. This makes it the largest coal-fired power plant in Hungary. On June 19, 1969, the network synchronization went into regular operation. It was planned with an installed capacity of 0.8 GW, divided into two 100 MW and three 200 MW blocks, which were built between 1969 and 1972 and synchronized with the power grid. Between 1986 and 1992 the power plant was comprehensively renovated, including the replacement of the 200 MW units. From 1998 to 2000 a flue gas desulphurisation system was installed for the 200 MW units and their output increased by 10% and 16% respectively. The flue gas desulphurisation system for the 100 MW units was completed in 2003. By 2007 the power plant was equipped with two 33 MW gas turbines that are fired with natural gas. Around 10% of the solid fuel burned in the power plant is biomass (as of 2019). Between 2015 and 2017, the 200 MW units were renewed for the second time and their output increased; the gas turbine renewal followed in 2019. By 2020, primarily coal is to be burned in the power plant, later the proportion of biomass, gas and other secondary fuels is to be gradually increased. The operation of the power plant is planned until at least 2030. The raw materials obtained from the exhaust gases are processed into plasterboard and cement.

The power plant is economically important for the region, with sales of HUF 86.9 billion (around € 362 million) in the 2008 financial year. There is also a large industrial park around the power station, in which a total of 1,871 people were employed in 2008. With 37.7 billion HUF (about 157 million €), it also generated a significant part of the economic output of Heves County.

Effects of open pit mining on groundwater

By pumping out the drinking water in the Visonta open pit mine, the groundwater level in the municipalities of Visonta, Halmajugra, Detk, Karácsond, Nagyfüged, Nagyút, Tarnazsadány, Tarnabod, Kompolt, Kápolna, Tófalu and Aldebrí will be lowered further by 2027. The mine operator pays compensation for the resulting mining damage to buildings.

Images on Wikimedia Commons

Commons : Visontai lignitbánya  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Béla Nagy: A THOREZ BÁNYAÜZEM K-II. KÜLFEJTÉSÉNEK HIDROGEOLÓGIAI VISZONYAI ÉS VIZTEIJSNITÉS TAPASZTALATAI. (Pp. 103–117) In: Gyula Greschick, Tibor Horváth (eds.): MÉRNÖK GEOLÓGIAI SZEMLEA MAGYARHONI FÖLDTANI TÁRSULAT . 34th vol., Budapest 1985, ISSN  0139-0341 , p. 103 (in Magyar language)
  2. ↑ a b c d US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey (eds.), ER Landis, TJ Rohrbacher, HJ Gluskoter, Bela Fodor, and Gizella Gombar (authors): Quality of Selected Hungarian Coals . Reston (Virginia) 2007, p. 16 (in English)
  3. ↑ a b c Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 8.
  4. ↑ Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 29.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 16.
  6. ↑ Edgar Freistedt: Sharp twists: a professional life in socialism and capitalism. 2012, ISBN 978-3-940281-36-4 , p. 52.
  7. ↑ Béla Nagy: A THOREZ BÁNYAÜZEM K-II. KÜLFEJTÉSÉNEK HIDROGEOLÓGIAI VISZONYAI ÉS VIZTEIJSNITÉS TAPASZTALATAI. (Pp. 103–117) In: Gyula Greschick, Tibor Horváth (eds.): MÉRNÖK GEOLÓGIAI SZEMLEA MAGYARHONI FÖLDTANI TÁRSULAT . 34th vol., Budapest 1985, ISSN  0139-0341 , p. 107 (in Magyar language)
  8. ↑ Béla Nagy: A THOREZ BÁNYAÜZEM K-II. KÜLFEJTÉSÉNEK HIDROGEOLÓGIAI VISZONYAI ÉS VIZTEIJSNITÉS TAPASZTALATAI. (Pp. 103–117) In: Gyula Greschick, Tibor Horváth (eds.): MÉRNÖK GEOLÓGIAI SZEMLEA MAGYARHONI FÖLDTANI TÁRSULAT . 34th vol., Budapest 1985, ISSN  0139-0341 , p. 111 (in Magyar language)
  9. ↑ a b Jochen Bethkenhagen, Josef H. Käsmeier: The energy industry in the smaller member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid. Duncker & Humblot, 1990, ISBN 3-428-46869-4 , p. 116.
  10. ↑ a b Balázs Tóth: Változások az erőműnél, a harmincas évektől le kell mondaniuk a szénről . in heol.hu, 6 December 2018, accessed on 8 June 2019 (in Magyar)
  11. ↑ RWE Power and EnBW sell stake in Hungarian company Mátra. RWE press release. December 14, 2017, accessed June 4, 2019
  12. ↑ Béla Nagy: A THOREZ BÁNYAÜZEM K-II. KÜLFEJTÉSÉNEK HIDROGEOLÓGIAI VISZONYAI ÉS VIZTEIJSNITÉS TAPASZTALATAI. (Pp. 103–117) In: Gyula Greschick, Tibor Horváth (eds.): MÉRNÖK GEOLÓGIAI SZEMLEA MAGYARHONI FÖLDTANI TÁRSULAT , 34th year, Budapest 1985, ISSN  0139-0341 , p. 104 (in Magyar)
  13. ↑ Béla Nagy: A THOREZ BÁNYAÜZEM K-II. KÜLFEJTÉSÉNEK HIDROGEOLÓGIAI VISZONYAI ÉS VIZTEIJSNITÉS TAPASZTALATAI. (Pp. 103–117) In: Gyula Greschick, Tibor Horváth (eds.): MÉRNÖK GEOLÓGIAI SZEMLEA MAGYARHONI FÖLDTANI TÁRSULAT . 34th vol., Budapest 1985, ISSN  0139-0341 , p. 105 (in Magyar language)
  14. ^ Rolf Dieter Stoll, Christian Niemann-Delius, Carsten Drebenstedt, Klaus Müllensiefen (eds.): The lignite opencast mining: meaning, planning, operation, technology, environment. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-78400-5 , p. 33.
  15. ↑ a b Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 7.
  16. ↑ Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 9.
  17. ↑ a b c d e Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 10.
  18. ↑ a b c Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 11.
  19. ↑ Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 12.
  20. ^ A b Rolf Dieter Stoll, Christian Niemann-Delius, Carsten Drebenstedt, Klaus Müllensiefen (eds.): The lignite opencast mining: meaning, planning, operation, technology, environment. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-78400-5 , p. 32.
  21. ↑ Gusztáv Dovrtel: Észak-magyarországi lignitek elégetéséből származó salakpernyék további felhasználását, deponálását megalapozó . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, Visonta 2003, p. 12 (in Magyar language)
  22. ↑ Zoltán Némedi-Varga: AN OVERVIEW OF HUNGARY'S COAL DEPOSIT . In: Communications from the University of Miskolc. Row A. Mining. Volume 58, 2001, p. 54.
  23. ^ US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey (eds.), ER Landis, TJ Rohrbacher, HJ Gluskoter, Bela Fodor, and Gizella Gombar (authors): Quality of Selected Hungarian Coals . Reston (Virginia) 2007, p. 18 (in English)
  24. ↑ a b c Mihály Ökrös, Gábor Koós: Greetings from Hungary . In: Constance Bornkampf: Boshi Worldwide. TU Freiberg, January 26, 2015, accessed on June 4, 2019
  25. ↑ a b c d Markus Kosma: Requirements for the exploration and evaluation of deposits for the optimized operational control of coal quality-oriented power plant coaling at Mátra Kraftwerke GAG . Dissertation. University of Miskolc, 2011, p. 17.
  26. ↑ Mihály Ökrös, Gábor Koós: The direct fall combination in the technological system of the Thorez opencast mine. In: New mining technology. (Leipzig). Volume 9, No. 3, 1979, pp. 397-339.
  27. ↑ a b Günter Kunze, Helmut Göhring, Klaus Jacob: Construction machines - earthworks and opencast mining machines. In: Martin Scheffler (Hrsg.): Fördertechnik und Baumaschinen. Springer-Vieweg, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-528-06628-8 , p. 289.
  28. ↑ Éva Koskovics, Judit Rákosi, Gábor Ungvári, REKK: A Mátrai Erımő Zrt. bányászati ​​tevékenysége és a választott enyhébb célkitőzés gazdasági-társadalmi indoklása . Budapest 2010, p. 5 (in Magyar language)
  29. ↑ a b Mátrai Erőmű - Cégtörténet , accessed on June 4, 2019 (in Magyar)
  30. ↑ Éva Koskovics, Judit Rákosi, Gábor Ungvári, REKK: A Mátrai Erımő Zrt. bányászati ​​tevékenysége és a választott enyhébb célkitőzés gazdasági-társadalmi indoklása . Budapest 2010, p. 4 (in Magyar language)
  31. ↑ Éva Koskovics, Judit Rákosi, Gábor Ungvári, REKK: A Mátrai Erımő Zrt. bányászati ​​tevékenysége és a választott enyhébb célkitőzés gazdasági-társadalmi indoklása . Budapest 2010, p. 6 (in Magyar language)