"According to the resolution of the XIth Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia it is necessary to concentrate on the application of underground gasification of coal (UGC) wherever conventional methods cannot be used. The article describes the results of experiments conducted in the North Bohemian brown coal basin and assesses the prospects for developing underground gasification on an industrial scale. The experiments so far have been conducted without underground work, by using the filtration method , and have produced gas with a calorific value of 750- 850 kcal/Nm3 with atmospheric air as the gasification agent."