Technicko-ekonomické posouzení náhrady kontinuální technologie při povrchovém dobývání hnědouhelných ložisek.

Abstract

This doctoral thesis examines the necessity of a primary energy source, brown coal, in the Czech Republic and the option to satisfy this demand by quarrying at the Československá armáda Surface Mine (the ČSA Surface Mine) despite the current applicability of Govern-ment Resolution No 444/1991. The National Energy Policy update, which is to specify the future energy mix, and therefore also the demand for brown coal, is the fundamental document used as input into the thesis. The update was completed by Government Resolution No 827/2015. The input materials indi-cate a quite considerably unstable forecast of the demand for brown coal; in addition, this forecast is quite different from the forecasts prepared by the District Heating Association and the ČEZ Group. Another relatively important factor is allowing for breaking through the mining limits at the ČSA Surface Mine, but only after the next update, which should come by the end of 2020 at the latest. All of this is causing a relatively difficult situation in terms of it being fea-sible to maintain continuous extraction at the ČSA Surface Mine. But it is also evident, when all aspects are taken into account, that the very substance of the mining limits plays today only a political rather than a rational role; Government Resolution No 827/2015 itself also indi-rectly admits this as it emphasises the next update, i.e. the need to evaluate the meeting of targets, with the ensuing option of reconsidering the validity of the mining limits at the ČSA Surface Mine. The purpose of this doctoral thesis is therefore to assess the technical and economic options for maintaining continuous coal extraction at the ČSA Surface Mine using discontinuous technology, or using a combination of discontinuous and continuous technology. The substance of the thesis also includes a suggested approach to increasing the quantity of recoverable coal reserves while keeping the mining limits and also an assessment of all the options that will help to accelerate progress into the second stage of the ČSA extraction plan, i.e. beyond the existing mining limits.