RecyCoal commence drilling operations in Poland

Aug. 31, 2011 - PRLog -- RecyCoal has signed a lease agreement for property in Walbrzych, which is occupied by a waste coal tip formed from the former coal mine, Victoria. National Forests in Walbrzych are the owner of the property.

The Victoria tip is one of the largest of its kind in Poland. The site covers an area of around 40.0 hectares, the highest point is about 80 metres and the total volume of waste is estimated at around 15 million cubic metres.

The tip is shaped like a large mountain with a number of plateaus on several different levels. Biological reclamation is in evidence, apart from the surfaces of barren and stony steep slopes and terraces; there a number of tall grasses and self-seeded trees, mostly silver birch.

RecyCoal has received approval to start an exploratory drilling programme, carrying out around 40 boreholes across the whole tip area. Each of the boreholes will go through the tip to the natural land surface. We will build up a clear picture of the topography and be able to identify any hazards such as spontaneous combustion.

Samples taken will be analysed in our UK laboratory and from them we can then determine the viability of the tip’s extraction, processing and land reclamation.

Recycoal’s waste coal recovery business provides a fast, efficient and environmentally positive process for efficiently recovering coal that other systems are unable to process. Our system recycles 90 % of the water used in a closed circuit process and eliminates tailing ponds.

The site will employ 40 local people and at the end of the project, Recycoal will return the site to the National Forest and local communities as a fully landscaped, re-planted amenity.