Rock Engineering and Mining Machinery

The Rock Engineering and Mining Machinery Laboratory conducts research on technology to recover solid resources such as copper, iron, gold, silver, coal, tin, and tungsten that exist underground. These solid resources are mainly recovered using two methods: surface/open-pit mining which involves digging large holes from the surface, and underground mining which involves excavating tunnels from the surface. It is important to consider how to excavate the rock mass efficiently and to come up with a safe design that maintains the stability of the surrounding rock mass after excavation. In particular, an open-pit mining may have a negative impact on natural ecosystems such as animals and plants on the ground, so environmental restoration (rehabilitation) is required after resource recovery. It is conducted that practical research on various issues related to solid resource development, such as those mentioned above, from a variety of perspectives, including not only rock engineering, but also afforestation and drainage control. Furthermore, with the decline of the domestic resource industry, our research fields are expanding overseas based on our past research, including joint research with overseas research institutes, universities, and companies. As well as, our research topics are including controlled blasting in open-cut mines using digital transformation (DX), the development of urban lifelines and the associated environmental issues, the development of hydrogen production technology through underground coal gasification (UCG), the development of deep seabed mineral resources, and CO₂ underground storage for green transformation (GX)