The issues of protection and maintenance of stopes in the zone affected by stoping are considered in the context of the mines of Almazno-Maryevsky mining region of Donbass. Mine studies of manifestation of rock pressure influence on the stope contour are reviewed. Modeling has been carried out for these mining and geological conditions. The analysis characterizing the effect of unloading void on the stope stability has been carried out. Strain-stress diagrams to demonstrate the effect of rock mass unloading in case of using longwall system for inclined coal seams have been built.

The paper discusses the methodology for assessing stability of pit walls in hard rocks, taking into account geological and structural features the rock mass and spatial position of weakness zones in relation to the pit walls. It is shown that, depending on the walls mutual orientation, the problem of pit wall stability can be solved in two-dimensional or three-dimensional formulation. Examples are given for assessing pit wall stability taking into account weakness zones in two-dimensional formulation by limit equilibrium and finite element methods, and, in three-dimensional formulation, by the method of volume rock blocks. Modern strength criteria, which are recommended to be used for modeling pit wall stability to prevent rock landslides, are described. The proposed method for assessing pit wall stability in hard rocks allows reasonable selecting the calculation method depending on structural pattern of the rock mass and the pit walls spatial position.

Operations research has been applied to open pit mine planning since 1960s. This approach has proved its ability in optimising mine planning problems, including long-term and shortterm production scheduling, ultimate pit limit, mine design and mining equipment dispatching. In this paper, we review the history and methodology of applying operations research in long-term production scheduling and a case study in Sin Quyen copper deposit, Vietnam.

The paper considers development of West Caspian territory, which has significant oil-and-gas potential. The significant oil-and-gas potential of the West Caspian territory has been proven by the discovered and already being exploited oil-and-gas fields.

The paper analyzes physical and geographical issues, considers the territory geological setting, tectonic structure, terrain structure, and the features of hydrological regime. The study is based on the division of the Caspian Sea into three parts: northern, middle, and southern, and geographic borders between them are justified.

The chronology of the development of offshore oil production near the western coast of the Caspian Sea is considered. Active scientific research is required for discovering and developing oil and gas deposits in the Caspian region to ensure provision with hydrocarbon resources. In addition, diversification of the research areas, as well as stimulation of development and implementation of new innovative techniques is necessary. All this will allow detailed studying the processes of hydrocarbon formation and recommending prospecting and exploration for new and old oil-and-gas targets.

Geochemical uniqueness of the oil has been revealed and physicochemical properties of oil from the West Caspian formations (near western coast of the Caspian) are characterized. Relevancy of both continental and offshore oil and gas exploration, with priority of the offshore resources exploration in the near future, is substantiated. Issues related to exploration of both structural (anticline) and non-structural traps are considered. The choice of the exploration direction is governed by the varying degree of exploration maturity and level of preparation of the structures for exploration drilling. This issue is addressed in a differentiated manner. For example, prospecting and exploration is being carried out in the territory of the North Caspian for preparing target structures of these two types. In the Middle Caspian, due to the fact that significant part of the onshore promising structures has already been discovered and explored, offshore exploration has been intensified. In the southern part – Azerbaijan, where the structural traps have already been discovered, explored and prepared for oil production, the main trends are the exploration and preparation of non-structural traps for increasing oil reserves.

The issues of increasing oil reserves in all three Caspian basins are considered, as well as organizing prospecting and exploration both in new unexplored zones and old oil and gas producing areas (where well-developed infrastructure and labor surplus are available). These issues should be addressed using new scientifically substantiated concepts and progressive modern prospecting and exploration methods.

Development of oil and gas resources in the West Caspian (within the Caspian Sea continental shelf and adjacent territories) is currently a challenging issue, largely determining further increasing oil and gas reserves and production in the Caspian region.

The review of the current standing of the industry for production of nonmetallic building materials was performed, which showed that consumption of nonmetallic building materials steadily grows year by year. This is primarily due to increasing building volumes.

The study of activities of an enterprise for mining and processing of nonmetallic building materials was carried out. The main economic and financial problems of the enterprise under consideration are revealed. Profitability of the enterprise products is very low; the working capital turnover is insufficient.

To solve the main problems of the enterprise, long-term production development plan was proposed, consisting of measures for reducing costs and increasing its operational effectiveness.

To determine economic efficiency of the proposed projects, their NPV was calculated. To provide maximum efficiency of the proposed projects, the method of optimizing selection of an investment project using linear programming was applied. Restrictions on investment projects have been determined – availability of the enterprise's own funds by years of a project implementation.

The following results were obtained: the enterprise for nonmetallic building materials production is capable to carry out the 1st, 3rd and 4th projects within the next three years. Implementation of the 2nd project should be postponed for four years due to its high costs.

Implementing the long-term development plan will allow the enterprise to improve its financial performance, reduce costs, and increase economic efficiency of the production. Upon achieving the target goal, the enterprise will become an effective player at the market of nonmetallic building materials, a supplier of high-quality products with low production costs.

This method for preparing the long-term development plan was developed and applied using PJSC Tuchkovsky KSM as an example. 

Currently, the Vinacomin company actively mechanizes coal mining processes, developing process solutions for coal mining in complicated geological conditions. In accordance with the development plan, "Quang Khan" underground mine is to increase production to 1.5 million tons at annual average increase of 140-150 kt. To achieve this goal, the Quang Khan mine should extract coal reserves in thin seams and inclined seams of medium thickness. Results of the research for selection of the process flow sheet for mechanization of extracting pitch coal of medium thickness in mining and geological conditions of the Quang Khan mine in the Quang Ninh basin of Vietnam are presented.

The main concept on which the philosophy of a traditional university is based is as follows: state finances their work, and the people use the results obtained. The ways of gradual transition of traditional universities into modern institutions, including international and network ones, are shown. It is demonstrated that current stage of globalization actually means decline of the German model of traditional university functioning. The challenges that are specific to resource universities are considered. It was revealed that addressing the challenges should be based on forming the ideology of sustainable development of human society. The strategy of priority development of resource universities is presented.