Project SIRIMA

Sinkhole hazard and risk management in post-mining areas

Project realized within the framework of Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS-2023)

Project 101157400 – RFCS-2023

Project Name

Sinkhole hazard and risk management in post-mining area

Project Goals

Proper management of the coal mine liquidation process is essential for ensuring the safety of land use. This safety includes both the health and life of residents and the conduct of business activities and the use of areas degraded by mining activities. The SIRIMA project focuses on increasing knowledge and experience related to the threats of post-mining areas in EU Member States especially related to uncontrolled movements of the earth’s surface.

These movements, apart from subsidence related to the conducted mining or movements resulting from the impact of mining tremors, can also take the form of uplifts caused by the lifting of the groundwater table in the rock mass and sudden, discontinuous deformations of the ground surface, i.e. sinkholes.

When sinkholes appear in urbanized areas of coal regions, they pose a real threat to buildings, technical infrastructure, roads and other utility facilities (Article 6). They can also pose a threat to human health and life, but most often, they cause strong anxiety, stress (Article 5) and indicate a lack of control by local government bodies over the managed areas.

Funding

Project realized within the framework of Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS-2023)
Project 101157400 – RFCS-2023

Project Partners

Disseminations & News

Deliverable D4.2

29/10/2026

Deliverable D4.2 – Operational Tool for Predicting of Sinkhole Hazard. This document represents the deliverable for Task 4.1 denoted as D.4.2. It focuses on the development of an operational methodology for predicting sinkhole hazards in European abandoned shallow coal mining areas. The task relies primarily on the database compiled during WP2, with particular attention to […]

Milestone M6

26/06/2026

Milestone M6 – Numerical Model. Machine learning modellingThis document presents the achievement of Milestone No 6 (Machine Learning model for sinkholes) within Work Package 5 (WP5) of the SIRIMA project. The main focus of this achievement was the development of a functional forecasting model for sinkhole formation in post-mining areas. This milestone played an important […]

Milestone M5

26/06/2026

Milestone M5 – Numerical Model. Mine flooding impact on surface instabilityThis report presents the achievement of the milestone related to the development of a numerical model for assessing mining-induced ground response within the SIRIMA project. The objective was to establish a fully coupled hydro-mechanical framework capable of simulating the interaction between mining activities, groundwater conditions […]