MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Handout 3 – MIN 454

The next stage in mine development is to actually open the mine. Typically, coal is mined by
one of two methods, room-and-pillar (or bord and pillar, in British terminology) mining and longwall
mining. The method of mining is chosen based on several factors (to be discussed in the next few
handouts). We begin with room-and-pillar mining. The first part of this handout presents the
nomenclature.
Room-and-pillar mining involves opening a series of tunnels in parallel (called entries) with
tunnels going across them (called crosscuts) at regular intervals leaving solids blocks of coal in between
(Figure 1). The crosscuts can be perpendicular to the entries or be at an angle. The tunnels themselves
(be it the entries or the crosscuts) are called rooms (locally, i.e. in a give spot) while the solid blocks of
coal are called pillars. Pillars are left to support the rooms. During mining, these entries are extended
all the way up to the end of the deposit after which, the pillars are removed in retreat. Removal of the
pillars (called pillaring) from an area concludes mining in the area (the roof collapses very quickly after
a pillar is removed, thereby reducing the stress).

entry #1 c
r
entry #2 o
s
s
entry #3
c
u Direction of
entry #4 advance
t

B entry #5 A

Figure 1. Basic geometry of room-and-pillar workings.

Entries are generally named from left to right, facing inby. Inby and outby are terms frequently
used in mining to describe location relative to the observer. Inby is towards the direction of advance,
while outby is in the opposite direction (generally towards the exit). In Figure 1, A is inby of B, while B
is outby of A.

Mine Plan Format: If you are seeing a room-and-pillar mine plan for the first time, you will notice that
in the mine plan given to you, rooms are depicted as lines, unlike in Figure 1. To help you make the
transition to mine plans, Figure 1 has been redrawn in a typical mine plan format in Figure 2 (not in the
same scale, however).

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Figure 2. Figure 1 redrawn in mine plan format.

Before opening a mine, few parameters need to be decided on. These are presented next.

Number of entries: The example mine plan that was given to you uses a 7 entry system (ask me if you
do not have the mine plan). This is evident from the 7 entries for mains, sub-mains and panels. Mains,
as the name suggests, are an important part of the mine. They form the skeleton or backbone for the
mine, allowing access to various parts of the mine. Every ton of mined coal passes through the mains.
They typically also serve as a main ventilation entries (intake and/or return) and primary escapeways.
Due to their long life and pivotal role in coal hauling, mains usually have pillars larger in size than in
other areas of the mine. Sometimes, the same is true for sub-mains also. Sub-mains are the system of
entries that branch off mains, giving access to various portions of the mine. Sub-mains may be absent in
small mines. Panels are entries that branch off the sub-mains. Mining is generally done off the panels.
However, mine geometry may sometimes necessitate driving panels off mains. Also, the distinction
between mains and sub-mains, and sub-mains and panels may not always be clear.

The decision to drive a certain number of entries in a panel should consider the following:

- The purpose of the panel. For longwall development, typically 3 or 4 entries suffice. It is
difficult driving anything lower than three entries since belts, air-return and track/human
transportation each (typically) require a separate entry. Additionally, congestion can be an
issue for fewer entries; for example, even with three entries, there is very little room for
equipment parking (for repairs or routine daily maintenance). Figure 3 shows a 4 entry
longwall development section. Note how congested it is. Interestingly, 2 entry longwall
panels are common in Australia.
- When the number of entries are small, there are only a few available working faces. This
usually results in delays. This is because mining is cyclical (including continuous mining).
Cutting is followed by bolting and servicing (clearing the floor, advancing ventilation and
rock dusting), and therefore, any delay in any of the activities affects the others. When there
are many working faces available, an activity can be shifted to another location without any
interruption. For example, if the bolter is down in entry#1, the miner could work in entry #2
rather than wait for the bolter to be repaired.

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Shuttle Cars Roof bolter (bolting #3)

(moving) Miner (cutting #4)

Run thru drops + line curtain

Line curtain
Miner (cutting #2)
Power Center
Trickle dusters D D
Welder
(left and right) Safety sled
C
Roof bolter
(parked)
Fuel Cell (diesel, hydraulic oil,
Feeder + crusher transmission oil etc)
D R D

Scoop battery charging station

D D

End of track

1 2 3 4

Return Air Intake Air C Check curtain D Door

Stopping Section Belt R Point Feed

Figure 3. Congestion in a four entry longwall development section.

-

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods
- Ventilation can be impacted by the number of entries. A highly productive face can require a
lot of air (see 30 CFR § 75.325 for the minimums). Ideally, high volumes of air are brought in
through multiple entries, to reduce both air velocities in the entries and the losses from
resistance to air flow. Note that high air velocities can make the entries dusty. However,
under normal guidelines (30 CFR § 75.350), the entry containing the belt (“belt entry”) can not
be used as an intake or a return air course, though one can apply for an exception for intake
air. Thus, the air velocity in the remaining (lone?) intake entries can be high, which can also
be a problem.
 With too many entries, section ventilation may be difficult and prone to leakages (too
many curtains).
- More entries mean more space. Therefore, machines can maneuver easily and quickly,
saving time. In case of shuttle car sections, more entries may mean different routes for
loaded and empty cars, thereby reducing travel times.
- One disadvantage of many entries is that it slows down development and therefore, pillaring.
Hence, cash flow may be small for a long time.
- Too many entries can also be cumbersome and uneconomical.

The number of entries in a panel is usually 3 to 7; with 3-4 entry systems being primarily for
longwall development, though in Utah and Australia, it is not uncommon to find 2 entry LW panels. In
the mine plan given to you, it was decided to use bridge sections and, therefore, the mine was planned
with 5 entries (since any less number of entries causes congestion with bridges). Many times, when the
number of entries is large, two sets of equipments (i.e. two sets of miner-bolter-car combinations) are
used. These sections are termed super-sections.

Angle between entries and crosscuts: The angle between crosscuts and entries depends on the
machinery. Bridges and ramcars, for example, require oblique angles, while shuttle cars require
perpendicular angles. The angle between the panel entries and main/sub-main entries in the mine plan
given to you is oblique to reduce spillage in conveyor transfer points. Conveyor spillage is high when
the direction of flow takes a sharp turn (Figure 4). Therefore, one must plan oblique angles wherever
the conveyor flow direction is expected to change.

Higher spillage Lower spillage

Figure 4. Spillage at transfer points.

Entry/crosscut height and width: The mining height is dependent on geology (seam heights) and panel
requirements. Typically, as long as it can be economically justified, a height comfortable for humans, is
preferred. However, many times heights are also justified based on current equipment and personnel.
For example, I have known mines to drive certain entries higher to accommodate longwall shields.
Sometimes, entry height is determined by roof control; for example, a thin layer of slate is better mined
down instead of being supported.
The width is primarily dependent on equipment needs. Most entries are 16-20 feet wide.

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods
Pillar sizes: These are determined by ground control and systems engineering. The ground control
aspects are discussed at length in the next handout. As far as the systems aspect go, as pillars become
longer, travel times from one crosscut to another becomes longer. It impacts the haulage cycle times
(shuttle or ram car) since when one car is in an entry, others have to wait until the entry is cleared. For
larger pillars, such idle waiting times can be long. While driving longwall panels, there is always a
conflict between driving longer pillars (reduces total amount of cutting) and reducing idle waiting times
by reducing pillar lengths.

Mining Progression: Figures 5 through 8 show the progression in mining activity during the life of a
mine. This discussion assumes a pure room and pillar mine (i.e. no longwall panels). The first stage
(Figure 5), development, involves driving the mains all the way to the end of the property. The second
stage may involve further development, especially in large deposits. In Figure 6, panels are being
developed on the flank, while small sections are being developed off of the mains. In the next stage
(Figure 7), the sections off of the main are extracted or pillared, while panels continue to being
developed. At this point, the production levels in the mine are very high due to the presence of pillaring
sections. Mines like to have few pillaring sections as they are very productive. Most mines remain at
this stage for a long time, i.e. most mines have both pillaring sections and development sections for a
majority of their lifetime. Mining progresses this way (Figure 8) till the deposit is completely mined.

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Figure 5. Stage 1: Development

Driving the mains to the end of the

deposit

Figure 6. Stage 2: Further Development

Panels developed on the flanks PANEL SECTION

Sections developed off of the mains

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Pillar extraction
(sections
developed earlier
being extracted)

Figure 7. Stage 3: Development and Extraction

Development around a panel
Extraction in some areas (dashed lines indicate pillaring or extraction)
Development in others

Figure 8. Stage 4: Repeat of Stage 3

Mining slowly retreats to the portal

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Caveats: Many times, however, due to financial reasons, a mine may start developing panels as soon a
possible, without waiting to drive to the end of the property. This is especially true of longwall panels,
that take about a year to develop. In Figure 9, advance of the mains is delayed, while the longwall panel
is developed. The main reason for doing this would be to start the revenue stream quicker.

Figure 9. Driving panels early on

(not to scale)

A possible problem with the above is that in the future when panels are developed farther from the
mouth of the mine, travel to these panels require that one pass by the older sealed off panels (Figure 10).
While sealed off panels are generally safe, they can prove hazardous as seen in the Sago mine accident
in 2006.

SEALED PANELS

SEALED PANELS

Figure 10. Traveling by sealed

panels.

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods

Production Cycle: There are two types of production methods in room-and-pillar mining, continuous
mining and cyclical mining. Cyclical mining consists of drilling, blasting, mucking or loading and
supporting. As these actions occur in sequence or cycles, this type of production is called cyclical. As
drilling and blasting is becoming rare in coal mines, and due to time constraints, only continuous mining
will be discussed in this course.
Continuous mining assumes non-cyclical production. This is attained by the use of a continuous
miner that cuts the coal while simultaneously loading it into a conveyor or a shuttle car, thereby,
eliminating the need for drilling, blasting and mucking cycles. However, in reality the term continuous
mining is a misnomer. Given the continuous miner, and assuming a good haulage system, one can
theoretically mine continuously. However, mining is not continuous. This is because mining laws
require ground control and ventilation measures to be undertaken after each cut. For example, no
opening can be unsupported for more than 40 feet. This means that any time the depth of the cut reaches
40 feet, one must stop cutting and allow roof supports to be installed. Therefore, cutting is only one
aspect of a cycle of activities. The cycle usual consists of:

- cutting coal
- install roof supports, usually roof bolts
- extend ventilation using ventilation devices such as brattices or tubes
- service the face (scoop it) including rock dusting
- pump water, if necessary
- survey, to ensure advance in the proper direction
- periodically one must re-locate the power center so that the machines can advance
- also periodically, one must advance the static conveyor.

The last two need not interfere with the production cycle when a mine only has two shifts of
production per day and one shift of maintenance. These can then be accomplished during the
maintenance shift. Any backlog in roof support is generally also accomplished in the maintenance shift.
Surveying is not necessary after each cut though foremen measure the advance from each cut using a
tape.
Note that miner-bolters are equipment that allow bolting, while cutting coal, thereby not
requiring that mining be stopped for roof bolting. Additionally, these machines also have a built-in rock
duster. Therefore, when using miner-bolters, coal mining can be very close to continuous mining.
Miner-bolters are usually wide on account of the bolting features and can, therefore, have
maneuverability issues/delays. They can knock down or tangle with ventilation controls such as vent
tubes or curtains. Miner bolters are very useful in high mining situations where a rib bolt becomes
necessary.

Equipment: The typical equipment requirements for room-and-pillar mining are (per section):

- continuous miner
- roof bolter
- haulage machinery such as shuttle cars and bridges
- utility equipment – a scoop and a lo-trac
- conveyors

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods
The various types of continuous miners, roof bolters, haulage machinery such as shuttle cars and
bridges, and conveyors are described in the textbook. The capacities of the machines, however, are a
little outdated.

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods
Some recent numbers (these change constantly) on machine output are:

Miner loading rate : 9-18 tons/min

Shuttle car payload for 6ft seam: 8.2 tons
Shuttle car speed : 91-114 m/min
Discharge capacity : 810 tons/hr
Panel belt size : 1.07
Bolting capabilities : 1-1.5 mins/bolt
Bolting per row : 5-6 mins

Using these numbers, let us compute the average time to make a cut. Let us assume a 12 m long
cut, 6 m wide and 2 m high. The density of r.o.m. coal is: 1.342 tons/m3 i.e. 1.342/0.91 short tons per
cubic meter.

Tons/cut = 12x6x2x(1.342/0.91) = 212.4 tons

Time for the miner to cut = 212.4/9 = 24 mins (from miner loading rate)
Car loads/cut = 212.4/8.2 = 26

Assuming 2 cars, trips/car = 13

Travel time for car = 1.5 mins (assume given)
Loading time for the car = 1 min (from miner loading rate)
Cycle time for the car = 2.5 mins
Total time required by each car = 2.5 x 13 = 32.5

From the above, it becomes clear that the miner will have a wait of about 8.5 minutes (32.5 –
24). If another car is added:

Trips per car = 26/3 =9

Cycle Time = 2.5 mins
Total time =2.5x9 = 22.5 mins

If the above time estimates were accurate, we have a good miner-car match. No miner wait time
(due to cars) is expected. However, addition of another car will probably add to the car cycle time due
to congestion and higher utilization of resources such as feeder (discharge hopper) or miner.
The miner-bolter match should also be examined. If the bolting requirements are 4 bolts per row
and rows 1.5 m apart:

# of rows/cut = cut length/dist. betw. rows = 12/1.5 =8

Time per row† = = 2x1.25 = 2.5 mins
Tram time from row to row = 0.5 mins
Total time for row = 2.5+0.5 = 3 mins
Time to bolt a cut = 24 mins

Therefore, the miner and the bolter are perfectly matched. In real life, however, one would design it so
that the bolter had a cycle time much less than the miner. This would insure there were no delays due to
bolter.

†
Twin boom ATRS has two drilling booms. Therefore, each operator drills half the required number of holes in parallel to the other
operator. Therefore, in the example, time is accounted for only 2 holes.
Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks
 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods
Note: In the above example, we did not take into account the tram time between cuts or the time to
service the face. We are assuming that the miner and the bolter have the same tram time and that there
is an additional face that the miner can cut so that the freshly bolted face can be serviced. Servicing can
take up 20-45 minutes. In a four entry system, typically only one free face is available and, therefore,
bolting and servicing have to be completed, while the miner is cutting the face. The ventilation also
determines cycle time. A four entry longwall development section is presented next, where it becomes
clear that miner-shuttle car-bolter times are not the only factors that determine cycle time.
Figure 11 presents a 4 entry longwall development section. As in most modern mines, the
section has two miners (one for each side, left and right) and two bolters (one for each side, left and
right) in addition to four shuttle/ram cars. Note the section ventilation. In the left side, the intake air
travels from #2 entry to #1 entry before returning, while in the right side, it travels from #3 entry to #4
entry before returning. Since miners cannot work downstream of a continuous miner (due to high dust
levels), it precludes #4 entry being bolted or serviced, while #3 entry is being mined. Similarly, when
#2 is being mined, #1 entry has to be idled (as shown in Figure 11, where the bolter is simply parked).
When the miner is in #1 entry, #2 can be bolted and serviced (except, when #2 is being rock dusted, the
miner in #1 would have to be briefly stopped). Same applies to #3 and 4 entries.

Miner cutting #4
Miner (cutting #2)

Roof bolter pinning

D D #3
Roof bolter
(parked)
C

D R D Figure 11. Factors affecting

cycle time.

D D

1 2 3 4
Return Air Intake Air C Check curtain D Door

Stopping Section Belt R Point Feed

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Figure 3. Congestion in a four entry longwall development section.
 MIN 454: Underground Mining Methods
Therefore, as far as equipment utilization goes, only the miner is being utilized on one side when the
inside entries (#2 or 3) are being mined. The bolter is effectively idled since space limitations require it
to be parked in the outside entries (#1 or #4 entry), which gets dusted out. The scoop can hopefully be
kept active doing other work. Lets look at a longer cycle to see how the actual run might be.
Considering only the right side (the analysis applies to right side since it’s a mirror image), when
the miner is done cutting #3, it moves to #4. While it is cutting #4, #3 gets bolted and serviced. If
everything works perfectly, #3 will be ready when the miner gets done with #4. But so what? Can the
miner go to #3? No, because #4 now needs to be bolted and serviced, which means, you cannot dust out
#4. Therefore, the miner will have to wait, so that #4 can be bolter and serviced. Hopefully, during this
idle time, some maintenance is done on the miner (oil and bits changed, general cleaning done besides
other routine maintenance).
In any case, these issues are not taken into account in computations done previously. Therefore,
one must take into account the entire cycle when estimating section productivity. In my experience, I
have seen management very often over-estimate section advance rates since idle times such as from
moving the return up, or those due to belt and power moves, or inbuilt cycle delay time (like the one
presented earlier) are not incorporated into time studies.

References and Recommended Reading

Special on Appalachian Coal, 1995, Mining Engineering, SME Publication, December.

Ganguli, R, 1997, Multiseam Mine Design for Buffalo Creek and Winifrede Seams, Report submitted to
Arch of Kentucky, July.

Stefanko, R., 1983, Coal Mining Technology, Theory and Practice, SME Publication.

Instructor: Dr. Rajive Ganguli, University of Alaska Fairbanks