Underground mine atmosphere plays an important role in the health and safety of miners. Fresh air flow is the main parameter to be controlled, due to its influence on the remaining ones, such as air temperature, gas concentration and particulate dispersement (dust). The Brazilian occupational safety and health agency recently established rigid limits for these parameters, forcing companies to adapt to new rules. These studies present an analysis on the main mine atmosphere parameters in an underground coal mine. The atmosphere monitoring included measurements in air flow, temperature and humidity, gases and dust. Entries and rooms with insufficient air flow have high temperature and high gas concentrations. Also, the equipment suggested by the norm for taking temperature readings is inadequate (a tree of thermometers) as it interferes with the mining cycle. Additionally, the reading time interval recommended by the norm is insufficient. It should be monitored simultaneously, as there is a clear interference between their results. An improvement in mining atmosphere impacts positively the health, safety and productivity at the mine face.
ventilation; gas; temperature and underground mining
