Patent ID: 8740310

Claim:
A mining method for co-producing non-combustible ore and methane from an underground formation, said underground formation comprising at least one methane-bearing layer and an ore bed to be mined comprising non-combustible ore and having a roof above which rock material is present, the method comprising: drilling a least one well from the earth's surface towards the ore bed, said well having a downhole end positioned above the ore bed roof, said downhole end of the well not being in contact with the ore bed to be mined; providing at least an initial cavity into the formation, the initial cavity giving access to an initial working face of the ore bed to be mined; mining an ore region from the initial working face and removing the mined ore, thereby creating a subsequent mined-out cavity with a new subsequent working face; advancing the mining step to another ore region from the subsequent working face; allowing the roof of the initial cavity to cave so as to create a gob containing at least rock rubbles; repeating the mining, advancing and caving steps, in a manner effective to cause fracture of the methane-bearing layer and release of mine methane into the gob, and to further establish fluid communication between the gob and the downhole end of the well; recovering a gob gas comprising between 25% and 98% methane through the well to the surface; and combusting at least a portion of said recovered gob gas comprising said methane in a flare or in a surface refinery where the mined ore is processed.