Abstract
<jats:p>Surface mining is accompanied by a disruption of the natural balance established in the Earth's crust where new landforms are created, areas of the Earth's surface subside, the water regime of the area changes, etc. In addition, spoil heaps and abandoned open-pit mines become significant and permanent terrain features, limiting growth of the cities and requiring withdrawal of lands for their allocation. In this regard, it is important to improve the surface mining technology in order to preserve the land resources, form new terrains, and design spoil heaps for biological reclamation. This paper identifies a number of priority tasks for improving the efficiency and environmental safety of the surface mining systems when developing flat and gently dipping coal seams: (1) Development of mining operation plans involving fan spreading over the surface of the internal spoil heaps; (2) Assessment of economic efficiency of the fan spreading method to cover the surface of the internal spoil heaps; (3) Technical and economic assessment of the mining plans for specific mining areas without forming individual ridges on the highwall with the aim of conserving the land resources.</jats:p>