The paper analyzes losses during the development of low-value water-soluble ore deposits. The importance of development systems with backfill is shown. The use of industrial wastes of water-soluble ores to replace specially produced inert components in the preparation of backfill seems to be a good way to utilize them. The aim of the work was to create a fill mass with improved strength properties based on industrial wastes of water-soluble ores activated with a nanomodifying material. The characteristics (chemical and granulometric compositions) of an aggregate of the backfill based on the waste from enrichment of water-soluble ores are given. The validation of the hardening mixture compositions for various mining systems was carried out considering: the specified strength, the time of the artificial mass erection, the time to achieve the required strength properties of the material, which determine the possible intensity of the mining operations; method of transporting the backfill. The expediency of using a multilayer fulleroid nanomodifier astralene as a nanomodifying additive has been proved. The effect of the backfill activation with a nanomodifying additive, astralene, on the structural changes of halite wastes from the halurgic enrichment of water-soluble ores (potash) was investigated. To study the strength properties of the fill mass, the comparative analytical method was used. The strength properties of the backfill were measured in standard test periods, taking into account the intensity of hardening of the backfill material (after 7, 14, 28, 60, 90 days). To obtain reliable results, 10 backfill samples were tested at each of the scheduled dates. The shape and chemical composition of crystalline new forms were studied. Studies were performed using X-ray phase analysis and scanning electron microscopy. As a result of uniaxial compression of hardening backfill samples, the dependence of the ultimate strength on the astralene content and the hardening time were established. It has been experimentally proved that the use of a nanomodifying additive, astralene, in the backfill allows an increase in the strength properties of the created artificial mass by 1.76–2.36 times while reducing binder consumption.

Human civilization brings the need for energy sources and construction materials. A large amount of materials are extracted from deep and open pit mines. Mining activities are inevitably related to the large direct impact on the local environment (dewatering, landscape). A lot of spoil material is produced in the course of mining production and further processing of extracted products. Various issues of the use of waste material from empty rocks, enrichment tailings and demolition works in civil engineering as a backfilling material should be analyzed. All factors must be considered depending on the amount of the material to be used for the construction of embankments or fillings, the cost of its processing before reuse and environmental cost of the transport. The implementation of sustainable technologies may reduce the costs for the mining waste disposal in dumps, as well as minimize the negative impact of mining enterprises on the region ecology and comfort of inhabitants. The same benefits can be observed on a smaller scale when construction waste material (debris) is considered. The work presents overall conditions for abandoned working in the deposits underground development in selected regions of Russia and some experiences gathered at numerous construction sites in Poland where the working of machines (rollers, impulse compactors) imposed vibrations on neighboring areas. In order to take into account the totality of all forms of the impact of geotechnology on the natural environment and neighboring human activities in the course of extraction of the minerals and to improve measures for the rational use of natural resources, a complete change in the concept of environmental protection is necessary. It is necessary to move from purely protective measures to the planned management of natural resources and to develop a mathematical model of the impact of geotechnology on the environment. It is also crucial to increase the role of environmental issues in mining and civil engineering education at universities and specialized institutions to form a new generation of mining engineers and civil engineers who will take into account all the aspects of sustainable and responsible work.

This article is devoted to the issues of processing and analysis of heterogeneous information related to the functioning of mining transport equipment, which becomes available for analysis within the framework of modern technological operations control systems in open-pit mines. These issues are very relevant to robotized technological operations. The paper gives a brief overview of the modern landscape of the autonomous haulage systems management problems, the features of the platform approach to solving the problem of managing unmanned transport and technological processes in open pits are considered. The concept of an agent-based approach to the modeling of an open-pit mining is described in detail on the basis of the interaction of three systems: technical, infrastructural–technological, and geostructural. Some features of the developed platform architecture integration of heterogeneous information are discussed. The principles of information integration are considered in detail when constructing a dynamic 3D model (digital twin) of infrastructure and technological system elements using large arrays of telemetric data. The results of building digital models of open-pit technological roads are presented. The resulting models are comparatively analyzed in the process of optimizing of the interaction of technical autonomous mobile agents and elements of technological infrastructure.

Deep excavation and tunnelling works in city centres always bring some risks to surrounding structures, especially in the case of old town centres, where the technical condition and structural stiffness of historical buildings is rather doubtful. When the new desired excavation depth goes deeper than the foundation of the surrounding buildings or when tunnelling works are conducted directly under them, the existing objects are subject to stress, vibrations and displacements imposed at almost every stage of building the new construction. The presented paper outlines, on the basis of the authors’ experience, the typical damages appearing during the supporting wall construction (sheet pile driving, piling and formation of diaphragm walls) and tunnelling works. Other damages appear due to soil mass unloading (caused by excavation stages) and horizontal loading during pre-stressing of struts or ground anchors. The selected case studies of steel sheet pile wall installation is given with regard to typical failures caused by an unplanned excavation and its impact on neighbouring structures.

The energy sector is in the spotlight today for its contribution to global warming and its dependence on global geopolitics. Even though many countries have reduced their use of coal, the COVID-19 crisis, the drop in temperatures in Central Asia, and the war between Russia and Ukraine have shown that coal continues to play an important role in this sector today. As long as we continue to depend energetically on coal, it is necessary to create the basis for the successful extraction and industrial use of coal mine methane (CMM), for example, as an unconventional energy resource. Early degassing technology is a technique that allows for the extraction of the methane contained within the coal seams. The application of this technology would reduce emissions, improve mine safety, and even increase their profitability. However, this technology has been understudied and is still not implemented on a large scale today. Moreover, mines with this technology generally burn the extracted methane in flares, losing a potential unconventional fuel. This study, therefore, presents different scenarios of the use of coalbed methane (CBM), with the aim of generating an impact on pollutant emissions from coal mines. To this end, a model has been designed to evaluate the economic efficiency of degasification. In addition, an emissions analysis was carried out. The results showed that the use of this technology has a negative impact on the economy of mines, which can be completely reversed with the use of CBM as fuel. Furthermore, it is observed that degasification, in addition to reducing the number of accidents in coal mining, reduces emissions by 30–40%.

The study of geodynamic processes observed in the Earth’s crust at densely populated and commercially developed areas in the east of Russia and China is of great importance for their sustainable development. The research results available show that not only natural, but also man-made geodynamic events associated with mining operations reflect the global geodynamic processes. Geodynamic events that occurred while mining in impact-hazardous areas allowed to identify some common features in the manifestation of natural and man-made geodynamic events in the eastern regions of Russia and China. Thus, both natural and disastrous technogenic geodynamic events (tectonic rock bursts, induced earthquakes, cracking on the earth’s surface) have positional connection with the linear zones of earth’s crust modern destruction (block boundaries and faults). Existing tectonic faults get re-activated during major geodynamic events, i.e. they get displaced in response to the mining operations. Areas hazardous for manifestation of geodynamic phenomena can be defined by geodynamic zoning method which can be used to draft the development programs for the eastern regions of Russia and China