Perelyubskaya Mining Company, Saratov, Russia:

V. N. Ilyasov, Director

Gagarin Saratov State Technical University, Saratov, Russia:
A. N. Mrakin, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, anton1987.87@mail.ru
A. A. Selivanov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences
A. A. Morev, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

The article offers an analytical survey of current solid mineral mining methods and their applicability in extraction of sulfur-bearing oil shale. The key disadvantages of the in-situ methods are discussed in terms of specific occurrence of sulfurbearing shale strata while their open pit mining is suppressed both ecologically and economically. The use of drilling rigs in extraction of solid minerals by leaching of soft dissolvable rocks is studied. Inapplicability of this approach to oil shale production in the Volga Region due to limited range of uses of this equipment and its failure to extract shale from thin horizontal productive strata is demonstrated. The article presents the technology of directional (inclined and horizontal) drilling using a mobile forward/reverse drilling plant. The practicability of this technology in extraction of sulfur-bearing oil shale and other solid mineral bodies of complex geological structure and crowded with aquifers is shown. The technology can also be implemented in mineral mining under rivers, lakes and seas. The article gives the plant layout and composition, offer some original engineering solutions and describe the mode of functioning.
The study has been supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Project No. 17-08-00295 A.

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