Fibres in Lower Silesia hard coal mines respirable dusts

The paper describes the presence of fibres in respirable coal dust in high rank coal mines in Lower Silesia. The amount of fibres in dust particles is about 1.5% (by count). Testing by the incineration test, the lack of atomic number contrast in electron back-scattering imaging in SEM and X-ray microanalysis allow the fibres to be identified as coal. The authors suggest the possible role of coal fibres in the increased fibrogenic activity of the dusts in coal mines in Lower Silesia.