PUR. Can Curing of PUR cause heat affected coal to be more likely to Spontaneously Combust

While talking about PUR, it is just not the PUR itself that has the potential to create a spontaneous combustion event.

There is also the question does the curing of PUR and any elevated temperature affect any coal it is in contact with, causing it to be more likely to spontaneously combust when in the goaf.

As mentioned earlier the first heating in the undergrounds mining the Goonyella Middle seam was at North Goonyella in 1997/98 at the North Goonyella Mine.

This was before my being elected as an ISHR.

While dealing with the 5 South Heating naturally what had happened during 3 South was the topic of a bit of discussion.

There were a few people at site who were very convinced that a PUR injected area that was now in the goaf was the source of the heating.

The area in question coincided with the best “guess” as to the location of the heating.

The reasoning being any action raising the temperature of the coal would drive off remaining inherent moisture in the coal and hence make it more susceptible to spon com.

This was a universally unpopular suggestion to Senior Site Management and Industry in General.

I am however aware that this issue was one of the drivers of the Recommendations made in 2007

• Investigation/research on the connection between the use of polyurethane and spontaneous combustion to determine connections and develop guidelines to minimise risk.