Research on mining cost of coalbed methane based on activity management—Field study of mining with pressure-releasing in Yangquan minefield

Recently, on the background of energy-saving and emission reduction, coalbed methane (CBM) as an important new type of clean energy is paid more and more attention to. However, the current research mainly focuses on the technology level of CBM mining, and the research on mining cost and other economic evaluation has been absent, which is a disadvantage for industrialization of the CBM resources. In this paper, the cost of CBM mining with pressure-releasing in Yangquan minefield was investigated and analyzed through spot investigation firstly, and the advanced activity-based cost management (ABM) was implanted. The results show that the mining cost of CBM structure is closely related with the activity-based cost driver, and the correct division of the activity-based cost driver is the key to accurate cost measurement. Through comparing the mining cost of No. 3 Mine with that of No.5 Mine, it is found that there is a significant effect of mining method, mining technology, and the exploitation time on the mining cost of CBM. The research not only has laid a foundation for the analysis about mining cost level, composition and influencing factors, but also provided the basis for the government to make the relevant economic policy of CBM mining project.