Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (strip mining). It is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. Often associated with ...
Underground Mining for Meeting Environmental Concerns – A Strategic Approach for Sustainable Mining in Future ... There are essentially two methods for mining, viz. surface and underground mining. Surface mining methods are by and large regarded to be advantageous over underground methods, because of recovery, production capacity, mechanize ...
Coal mining, extraction of coal deposits from the surface of Earth and from underground. Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on Earth. Its predominant use has always been for producing heat energy. It was the basic energy source that fueled the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th
In any discussion of Methods of Underground Mining Comparison, one is repeatedly confronted with the difficulty of dealing with so many variable conditions. It is not an exact science and in the choice of a method each varying factor has a certain weight, which, in many cases, experience alone can determine.
Coal mining is a term that encompasses the various methods used to extract the carbon-containing rock called coal from the ground. Coal tends to exist in seams, which are lateral layers under the earth that may vary in depth from one or two feet to dozens of feet.. Coal mining methods. Mining of coal seams is achieved in several different ways. "Strip" mines scrape coal from the earth's ...
Jul 14, 2009· Loosened coal falls on the pan line which takes the coal to the conveyor belt. Accounts for about 50% of coal production. o Blast: An older mining method that uses dynamite and explosives to break away the coal seam. Accounts for less than 5% of coal production. o Retreat Mining: One of the most dangerous coal mining methods. Pillars are used ...
"Strip mining" is the practice of mining a seam of mineral, by first removing a long strip of overlying soil and rock (the overburden).It is most commonly used to mine coal and lignite (brown coal).Strip mining is only practical when the ore body to be excavated is relatively near the surface.
FIGURE F-1 Schematic of a room-and-pillar coal mine section. SOURCE: Arch Coal, Inc., 2012. FIGURE F-2 Details of the longwall face. SOURCE: EIA, 1995. There are several variations of each method. However, ever since the introduction of continuous miners in the late 1940s, room-and-pillar continuous mining has been gaining ground over conventional room-and-pillar mining.
Methods of underground soft rock mining. Longwall mining – A set of longwall mining equipment consists of a coal shearer mounted on conveyor operating underneath a series of self-advancing hydraulic roof supports. Almost the entire process can be automated. Longwall mining machines are typically 150–250 metres in width and 1.5 to 3 metres high.
The methods of mining of coal varies from deposit to deposit. This report highlights the coal mining methods, their significances, issues of concern and the stages of using coal after mining.
Although the United States has the vast coal resource described in the previous chapter, perhaps as much as 4 trillion tons, the key issue for policy makers is the amount of coal that is economically recoverable.This is not a fixed quantity, but depends on the geological resource, the market price, and the cost of mining. The particular characteristics of the coal mining industry create unique ...
Underground hard rock mining refers to various underground mining techniques used to excavate hard minerals, usually those containing metals such as ore containing gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, tin and lead, but also involves using the same techniques for excavating ores of gems such as diamonds or rubies. Soft rock mining refers to excavation of softer minerals such as salt, coal ...
coal mining - Shortwall mining - In the shortwall mining method, the layout is similar to the longwall method except that the block of coal is not more than 100 metres wide. Furthermore, the slices are as much as three metres thick and are taken by a continuous miner. The mined coal is dumped onto a face conveyor or other face haulage equipment.
Coal mining - Coal mining - Choosing a mining method: The various methods of mining a coal seam can be classified under two headings, surface mining and underground mining. Surface and underground coal mining are broad activities that incorporate numerous variations in equipment and methods, and the choice of which method to use in extracting a coal seam depends on many .
Coal Mining Methods Underground Mining Longwall & Room and Pillar Mining Longwall mining and room-and-pillar mining are the two basic methods of mining coal underground, with room-and-pillar being the traditional method in the United States. Both methods are well suited to extracting the relatively flat coalbeds (or coal seams) typical of
The most commonly used underground coal mining methods in Australia are longwall, and room and pillar. ... About one quarter of the coal produced in Australia is by underground mining methods. The most commonly used underground coal mining methods in Australia are longwall, and room and pillar. ... Geological and geotechnical aspects of ...
outside the mining area for placement and storage. In the Midwest, where the surface topography and coal seams are generally flat, it is common to employ area strip mining in which the fragmented overburden is placed directly by large draglines in the space created where coal has been mined ().In some situations in the eastern United States, a coal seam occurring near the top of mountains is ...
coal mining - Coal removal - Coal is usually loaded by front-end loaders, loading shovels, or wheel excavators into off-highway, bottom-dump trucks for transport to the stockpile. In small operations, it can be loaded into on-highway trucks for direct shipment to customers. In some open-pit operations with BWEs, rail haulage is practiced in the benches themselves, coal and overburden being ...
Nov 30, 2012· One of the crucial decisions affecting productivity of the mine is the mining method selection. Longwall mining is quite common in underground coal mining, and it allows the use of mechanization. As application of mechanization increases, production also increases and the number of workers decreases.
§22-3. "Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act." All changes, except as noted, are pending OSM decision. 3 (a) "Adequate treatment" means treatment of water by physical, chemical or other approved methods in a manner so that the treated water does not violate the effluent limitations or .
Development of Sustainability Assessment Method of Coal Mines. ... Salii (2011) presented methods of economic assessment of a coal mine which are used in Ukraine. The aforementioned methods employ such indicators as: economic attractiveness and economic credibility, which are an aspect of the technical conditions, geological and mining ...
The underground mining methods we use include room and pillar, narrow vein stoping and large-scale mechanised mining. Room and pillar mining is a style of mining where tunnels are driven in a chess board pattern with massive square pillars between them which are gradually cut away as the work proceeds. We use this for mining coal.
Mar 08, 2018· A Brief Introduction to the Types of Surface Mining Methods. ... It is the newest method of surface mining, and is mostly used to extract coal. Since this process involves the bulldozing of forests, and a risk of the waste entering water bodies, it has drawn a lot of criticism from many quarters.
In coal mining: Origins of longwall mining. The other principal method of modern mining, longwall mining, had been introduced as early as the 17th century and had found general use by the 19th century, but it had long been less productive than room-and-pillar mining.