Applying the circular economy to recycle coal mining waste rock and soil in Quang Ninh province

Mining is one of the key industries, accounting for a high proportion of the entire economic structure of Quang Ninh province. Quang Ninh province and the coal industry are seeking solutions to both ensure national energy security and shift from a brown to a green economy. The biggest challenge of this strategy is that waste dumps containing hundreds of millions of cubic meters of post-mined rock are taking up large areas of land, conflicting with the environment and landscape in the long term. In that context, the circular economy is considered the coal industry's solution to managing and regenerating resources in a closed loop, avoiding waste generation. The circular economy brings economic, environmental, and community benefits. This paper analyzed the application of a circular economy model to exploit the potential for reuse of waste rock from coal mines in Quang Ninh province, and technically evaluates the characteristics of coal mining waste rock and soil. Based on the paper’s findings, some solutions were proposed to recycle coal mining waste rock and soil for other economic activities.