The proposed participants of the workshop will be by invitation only and will include both Australian and international experts together with a number of active Australian researchers and practitioners in this field.

This Workshop is being organised by UNSW School of Mining Engineering, in collaboration with the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP).

A considerable amount of research has been conducted into to the causes, mechanisms and control of coal burst as well as the prediction methods in the USA, South Africa, Europe, China and Canada. However, coal burst still remains one of the least understood and a significant safety and productivity risk in the mining industry.

Following recent coal burst incidents in Australian coal mines, ACARP has initiated a research program to combat the coal burst risks at coal mines.

The primary objectives of this research program is to establish the international knowledge base in coal bursts; to evaluate whether there is alignment between various postulated coal burst mechanisms and to develop a plan to address the gaps through research.

This workshop will form part of this research program to gather international experience on coal burst understanding and “best practice”, to evaluate different strategies developed and implemented in other countries and to assist directing the future research priorities.

Theoretical, methodological challenges as well as practical experiences in managing coal burst risks will be addressed.

The workshop will mainly focus on coal bursts and bumps rather than outbursts (an outburst in Australian mining terminology is also a dynamic energy release leading to some form of rock failure, however the source of energy is primarily associated with in situ gas pressure) with the aim of understanding and evaluating the international experiences, developments and how it might be best evaluated through case studies.

The Organising Committee is made up of UNSW Prof Ismet Canbulat, Prof Bruce Hebblewhite, and Emeritus Professor Jim Galvin.

It is interested in lessons that can be learned from other countries, where coal burst has been experienced over many years in different mining environments, with an emphasis on stress driven coal burst.