Excursion
“Safety during excursions
to extraction sites.”
The mine is in full operation during the safari, and therefore please:
Follow the guide’s instructions
Get safely on and off the safari vehicle
Wear a crash helmet
Keep with the group
Keep off the excavators and conveyer belts and don’t touch them
Respect the warning sound signals from the operating machines
Safety-trained participants accompanying minors are responsible for the minors’
behaviour in the extraction site area. Each excursion participant must sign a statement
of having been safety-trained.
Pick your preferred route
Welcome
“There are three specialised
routes to choose from.”
ROUTE 1
ČSA SURFACE MINE
ROUTE 2
Technology
Geology
Biology
In the ČSA Surface
Mine you will see
the unique RK5000
bucket ladder
excavator
Occurrence of
The country’s
largest brown coal mouflon sheep,
fox, wild boar
deposits,
750 million tonnes
Reclamation
– sylvicultural reclamation (afforestation),
agricultural reclamation,
hydrological reclamation
Rail transport
in the Vršany
Mine, ZD2100
spreader
Split coal seam
Mouflon sheep,
wild boar,
fox, pheasant
Spoil dumps
– vineyards,
park, afforestation
Vršany Mine seen
from a viewing
terrace – KU300 coal
excavators, KU800
overburden excavator
Coal seam in the
southern part of
the Most area;
clays, claystones
Mallard, common
kestrel, European
hare, common
European frog
Spoil dumps
– wetlands, herbaceous
vegetation, halophytic
plants are back
to Coal
Companies organising the Coal Safari excursions.
Environment
VRŠANY SURFACE MINE
ROUTE 3
RECLAMATION
www.czechcoal.cz / www.litvinovskauhelna.cz / www.uhelnesafari.cz
Contest
“What Do I Already Know about
Coal Mining and Reclamation?”
Excursion organisers are launching a long-term knowledge contest for the
participants in the Coal Safari project. The contest is entitled “What Do
I Already Know about Coal Mining and Reclamation?”
The test contains 20 questions. Sources of correct answers include, among others,
the www.czechcoal.cz and www.litvinovskauhelna.cz websites and our guides’
explanations during excursions on each route.
Send your answers to the questions (all at once) to [email protected] no
later than by 15 November 2013. Please indicate your name, address and which
route you took.
Winner of a valuable prize will be chosen by ballot from among those who have sent
correct answers to all questions. His or her name will appear at www.czechcoal.cz,
www.litvinovskauhelna.cz, www.uhelnesafari.cz and the Facebook on 20 November 2013.
safari
Geology
“Many Minerals
in Different Strata.”
Coal:
Coal contains organic matter consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
and small amounts of nitrogen and
sulphur, and traces of other elements. It also contains mineral matter (quartz, clay, carbonates, and
pyrite) and water. Organic matter
is the combustible portion of coal.
Mineral matter is what remains as
ash after coal is burned. The higher
the geological age of coal, the greater the content of carbon and the
smaller the amounts of the other
elements in it.
Route 1
Route 2
A new remarkable deposit of marcasite was
The split coal seam and a no-coal zone, i.e.
found at the ČSA site in 2009. Its crystals are
the area where the Vršany Mine is now lo-
associated with claystones on the tight bed-
cated, developed as a result of the changing
rock under the coal seam. Besides abundant
sedimentation environments (river bed, lake,
spear pyrite (twinned intergrowths), there
bay, coal swamp etc.). This development in-
are specimens shaped as elongated octahedral
volved frequent interruptions in coal sedi-
crystals. The large marcasite crystals are often
mentation, due to which the coal seam was
covered with small pyrite cubes. At present,
divided into a number of banks. The coal
marcasite crystals occur in the bedrock under-
sedimentation process was terminated when
lying the coal seam near the Eliška Fault and
the surface level of the basin lake rose. The
in the area of the former Quido deep mine.
upper strata of the tertiary sediments consist
of clays and claystones.
Technology
Biology
“Face to Face
“Dozens of Species
Observable by Naked Eye.”
with Present-day Dinos.”
KU800 bucket wheel excavator
Typ
Output per hour
Weight
RK5000 bucket ladder excavator
KU800 bucket
wheel excavator
KU300 bucket wheel excavator
RK5000 bucket
ladder excavator
KU300 bucket
wheel excavator
ZP6600 spreader
ZP6600 spreader
2,500 cubic metres/hour 2,000 cubic metres/hour 1,200 tonnes of coal/hour More than 2,500 cubic metres/hour
4,300 tonnes
5,500 tonnes
1,250 tonnes
1,790 tonnes
Mouflon sheep
Wild boar
Fox
Mouflon is a typical gregarious animal, living
It is native to a large part of Europe and Asia
Fox is the most widespread medium-sized
all year in flocks of different sizes, divided by
but it has also been introduced in other parts
predator in the Czech Republic and, in fact,
sex; only older rams prefer living alone. A fam-
of the world. This typical omnivore prefers
the entire northern hemisphere. It is hunted
ily flock, led by an old and experienced ewe,
living in old forests. It has always been an
for its skin and also for sport (especially in the
is the basic flock. The leading ewe is easily
important game animal, often referred to in
United Kingdom and in countries under its
Height
51.3 m
40 m
28 m
30 m
Length
160 m
160 m
66 m
156 m
distinguished by her white head. She watches
folklore. It is the ancestor of the domestic pig,
cultural influence), and is also bred for fur.
Wheel diameter:
13 m
7.3 m
25 m
over her flock with great attention. Mouflon
which is kept for meat and fat.
The awkward thing is that it spreads various
Maximum cutting height
32 m
29 m
19.5 m
have very keen senses of hearing, smell and
diseases, mainly rabies, and that some foxes
sight, and can detect the presence of man a ki-
(especially when they nurse their cubs) may
lometre or more away. They have spread all
specialise in attacking hen roosts or rabbit
over the world from Corsica and Sicily. Mou-
hutches. Don’t give them any food in the ex-
Undercarriage type
walking
walking
caterpillar
walking
Operators
5 employees
6 employees
4 employees
4 employees
Total rated electrical capacity
8,000 kW
9,000 kW
2,000 kW
4,000 kW
flon were introduced in the Most area 40 years
traction area, as they have learned to consume
6 kV
ago: they were released in the woods around
employees’ snack leftovers.
Input voltage
35 kV
35 kV
6 kV
the Jezeří Chateau.
Environment
“Extraction Is Not Destruction.
Landscape Reclamation Is Our Priority.”
Brown coal quarrying affects the natural landscape for tens of years ahead. However, there is legislation requiring
the mining company to restore the landscape. As the mine quarrying advances, the exploited areas are gradually
being visibly reclaimed.
Reclamation is…
Reclamation objectives:
…the active restoration and formation of soil in the area
Remedy the consequences of brown coal mining and other adverse impacts
devastated by industrial use. Fertile soil is created on the
spoil dumps by means of technical, water management,
biological and other measures.
of coal extraction;
Restore the area to productive social and economic use, and gradually repair the
devastation caused by surface coal mining;
Develop a new landscape as a fully-fledged environment with the requisite infra-
…an activity that cannot be done spontaneously, with-
structural, social and ecological aspects.
out forecasts and without reclamation master plans and
designs. The individual parts, including new fields, forests,
Basic types of reclamation:
meadows and water bodies, must functionally fit together.
Silvicultural
Hydrological
Agricultural
Other
…the formation of an ecologically balanced landscape
with a stable ecosystem, which must be economically ef-
Reclamation phases:
ficient, favourable for human health, and in a satisfactory
Technical phase
Cultivation phase
hygienic condition and socially acceptable.
An area of almost 7,000 hectares has been reclaimed and returned to use in the Most area since 1953.