Authors : Nchimunya Chaamwe, Wenyu Liu and Hongbo Jiang
Abstract: Zambian underground mines are becoming more mechanized and extensive with the coming in of foreign investors resulting in the deterioration of the research place environment for the miners. In order to improve the underground mine working environment, more stringent monitoring and assessment standards need to be formulated and applied to the mining industry. It has been the main goal of the professionals in academia, government and the private sector to bring improvement in the mine atmosphere and mitigate its hazards. Due to their efforts there has been impressive professional progress in the area of mine ventilation and safety. However, mine disasters continue to occur throughout the world and Zambia in particular. Therefore, a need has been felt for further advances in planning, designing and managing of mines in Zambia particularly with reference to health and safety of miners. Keeping this in view, the research involved assessing the current methods used for monitoring underground mine environments in Zambia. A research involving 6 mining companies are carried out on the Copperbelt province in Zambia. The main objective of the survey research was to find out the current monitoring methods that are being used in Zambian underground mines and how effective they are.
Nchimunya Chaamwe, Wenyu Liu and Hongbo Jiang, 2010. An Assesment of Underground Mine Enviromental Monitoring Methods at Zambia’s Copper Mines. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 5: 345-351.