REVIEW PAPER
Ecological Characteristics and Occupational
Health Effects of Deep Mines in China: A Review
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1
School of Resource Engineering, Xi ‘an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an 710055, China
2
College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi’an 710055, China
Submission date: 2023-08-04
Final revision date: 2023-10-18
Acceptance date: 2023-11-08
Online publication date: 2024-02-09
Publication date: 2024-03-18
Corresponding author
Hao Sun
College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi’an 710055, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(3):2515-2525
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ABSTRACT
With the depletion of shallow mineral resources, deep shaft mining has become an inevitable trend,
but there is a lack of systematic review on the hazards of deep shaft mining ecological environment
on miners’ occupational health. The aim of this paper is to study the impact and main hazards of deep
shaft mining ecological environment on miners’ occupational health, summarize the existing research
results and reveal their limitations, and put forward the latest targeted improvement technologies.
The conclusions show that the environmental characteristics of deep mine dust, noise, and high
temperature seriously jeopardize occupational health. Pneumoconiosis has become one of the biggest
threats, with nearly 14,000 new cases per year since 2009; harmful noise exposure is widespread in
deep mines, directly jeopardizing occupational health, with a detection rate of 29.96% of hearing
impairment among China’s 480,200,000 miners; and the average ground temperatures at the current
mining depths of -1,000 m and -2,000 m are 41.84ºC and 69.62ºC, respectively, which are very likely
to trigger a variety of heat-related diseases in miners. Miners with a variety of heat-related illnesses.
The hazards of these environmental features are seriously underestimated.