Aheraine sõelmete kasutamine ja selle mõjust keskkonnale Estonia kaevanduse näitel [Bakalaureusetöö. Juhendaja: E. Väli]

In 2017, the total amount of oil shale mined from Estonia Mine was 9.8 million tons. Almost one third of that amount consists of waste rock (3.5 million tons) and another one third of that waste rock was actually reused for other purposes. Increasing the usage of waste rock would decrease it’s negative effects on environment.

Oil shale waste rock is reprocessed into limestone rubble, which is sold as another product, that can be used to build roads.

The fine particle fraction (0-25mm) of oil shale waste rock could be used in two different fields. The first one, that is also used currently in Estonia Mine, is mixing it together with oil shale, to decrease it’s calorific value, when it’s needed.

The second way would be backfilling. Using fine particles and oil shale ashes from power plants as two main ingredients in concrete, that is used in backfilling. Backfilling technology would increase the efficiency of current technology, that is used in Estonia Mine, as almost 30% of all oil shale is currently left behind in the empty chambers of the mine, to ensure that the land above the mine is stabilised.