Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
3.1 GENERAL
Mining is a venture, which carries with it comparatively higher risks, because of the uncertainties of
the reserve and the mining ground. It is not rare to find, after a mine has been opened out, that the earlier
assumptions about the characteristics of a mineral deposit are very much in the error. Coal seams otherwise
considered to be of normal occurrence have been found later after mining has started to have been badly
faulted or affected by igneous intrusions, or suffered other geologic abnormalities, e.g., splitting, thinning,
washouts, etc. It is, therefore, necessary to do intensive" exploration before the opening out of a mine is
authorised so as to be sure that adequate mineable reserve exists and the coal seams are amenable to mining
by the present day technology. In the UK, for opening out deep mines which may need a capital investment
of 25-35 million pounds for pits producing 1½ - 2 million tonnes of coal per annum, generally, about 50
million tonnes of extractable coal is required to justify sinkings (Rees, 1975). In the case of surface drifts,
however, with their much lower investments, a lower proving, say 10 million tonnes could be adequate to
justify opening out of the mine. In Indian coal mining practice, the reserve should last at least about 30
years to give the planned production which may be up to one million tonnes per year for underground
mines. For larger mines, proportionately larger reserves are necessary.
In order to fully discover the area so that planning could be done on surer grounds in the United
Kingdom the cost of exploration for planning a 2-million tonnes per annum deep mine may work out to be
about 2% of the capital investment (Rees, 1977). The expenditure on exploration in Indian coal projects
averages below 1% of the capital expenditure.
Preamble
Acknowledgment
1. INTRODUCTION
General, Location, Communications, Physiography and Drainage, Previous Work, Present Work,
Geological Mapping, Surveying, Exploratory Drilling, Core Logging and Sampling, Physico-Mechanical
Properties, Hydro-geological Investigations, Gassiness, Status of Mining.
2. HYDROGEOLOGY
Drainage, Climate, Rainfall, Temperature, Wind Velocity and Direction, Humidity, Hydrogeology,
Water Sample analysis.
3. GEOLOGY AND STRUCTURE
Seneral; Geology of the Coalfield: Basement rocks; Carboniferous formations; Structure and
Tectonics; Coal Seams; Geology of the concerned Block — Isometric Panel; Geophysical investigations.
4. DESCRIPTION OF COAL SEAMS
General, Statistical Analysis, Thickness Computations, including-band, excluding-band, Quality of
Coal Seams, Grading of Coal, Roof Rock Fence Diagrams. Depth, Thickness, Quality of Roof and Floor of
the Coal Seams. Petrographic Studies.
5. PHYSICO-MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
Introduction, Results and Discussions, Borehole No. 1, 2, etc.
6. RESERVES
General, Sectors, Methodology, Categorisation of Reserves.
7. CONCLUSIONS
10. Reserves
Category (Proved)
Seam Reserves in Million tonnes
Including bands Excluding bands
Total
3.2.2 Drilling
The only direct method of exploration in undeveloped area is the cored borehole. This may be done
to evaluate the feasibility of exploitation in a region and, subsequently, by closer drillings to have a full
picture of coal seams for planning for exploitation.
Figure 3.1: Different stages of exploration (After Mukherjee, Chandra and Thpathi. 1983)
Regional Drilling
Regional Drilling is done to establish the occurrence of the deposits, their general nature, lay and
disposition of the coal seams and their broad quality and quantity. For regional exploration the boreholes are
generally placed one kilometer apart depending upon the broad structure of the coalfields. In the case of
highly faulted coal area, close spaced boring may be necessary. On the basis of regional drilling potential
areas are identified for detailed exploration and planning and exploitation depending on the (1) reserve
potential; (2) structural complexity; (3) type and quality of coal required; (4) infrastructure facilities, and (5)
market potential.
To start with boreholes are placed 4 km apart and subsequently the spacing is brought down to 1 km
apart. The data thus obtained could be utilised for creating a shelf of reports based on which preliminary
perspective feasibility studies are made for detailed drilling and mine planning.
Percussive method of boring is particularly suitable for drilling in heterogeneous glacial deposits and
other stony overburden, or where hard .quartzite pebbles are so loosely set in a matrix of soft sand that they
become like a broken ball rock and are often very destructive of any kind of rotary bit, diamond or
otherwise. This method is at its best in rocks which fragment well under blows. It requires less quantity of
water, just sufficient to make the debris into a slurry which can be removed by a sludger. But with this
method of boring samples are often contaminated by a portion of higher strata dislodged during the drilling
process.
3.3.2 Rotary Drilling
Rotary drilling has two classes:
(i) Depending on a scraping or tearing action, as exemplified by drag bits and roller bits and (ii) The
pipe, armoured or otherwise which cuts its way downwards.
Fast drilling is possible with roller bits but samples produced are small fragments and do not give
satisfactory information. They are suitable for oil well drilling. In coal measures the barren rocks may be
drilled with the roller bits and coring bits may be provided for proving the coal seam.
Other variants of roller bits are cruciform four roller types and some wheels that have wobbling
motion. The bits are provided with orifices for passing jets of water to dislodge ground ahead of the bit, to
wash fragments out of the way of the bit and to keep them clean.
(iii) Diamond bits: For the purpose of obtaining core a bit or crown armoured with diamonds, bort or
carborundum is employed. The cutting may be done by a few fairly large stones of which about half will be
set squarely in the middle thickness of the pipe metal while the others are set on the inner and outer edges in
order to obtain clearance of both hole and core or by a large number of small but similarly disposed stones.
Large stones are usually set in a series of holes drilled into the crown and lined with copper or bronze,
though some are set by powder metallurgical methods.
Figure. 3.6: Different types of drill bits used in figure 3.7: Voldrill 300 {Courtesy: Voltas Ltd.) 80
rotary drilling (After Weiss and Eastwood, 1954)
Large stones are considered suitable for drilling in soft rocks and for hard rocks such as quartzite
numerous small stones say 7-50 per carat are preferred. In this connection inserts of metal carrying
numerous very small diamonds are sometimes used in place of large stones.
Diamond powder is also a suitable cutting medium employed in drill crowns and when set in a
suitable matrix is often used in hard and broken formations.
Tungsten carbide is an artificial product and is used as a substitute for diamond. Its price is low but
in use diamond has always proved superior. Norbide, a boron carbide, made from coke and borax is the
hardest artificial abrasive.
3.3.3 Core Drills
The basic design of the core drill has not changed very much during the last 50 years, although there
have been modifications and improvements. Modern machines are more versatile, less heavy and more
easily transported and have much greater capacity. For example, drills of 5,000 m depth capacity have been
developed and with wireline drilling much faster drilling rates have been achieved. In one case with
wireline drilling core drilling down to a depth of 4,030 m could be done in 152 days as compared to the
average drilling time of 3-4 years for reaching such depths (Hodge and Oldham, 1983). In coal drilling,
however, rarely drilling to depths in excess of 1,800 m is done.
Drilling holes and taking cores in waterless areas has been facilitated by the technique of air flush
core drilling. Besides, some special purpose core drills have been developed to meet specialised demands.
Figure 3.7 shows Voldrill 300 diamond core drill manufactured by Voltas Limited for deep drilling.
This drill has a rated capacity of 914.4 m with N.W. rods with sufficient reserve capacity to drill deeper. The
drill has a swivel head with either HW 98 mm I.D. or the larger HX 116 mm I.D. swivel head permitting
drilling by larger rods or casings. The drill is powered by water cooled diesel engine. The engine power is
transmitted to the drill through a propeller shaft power take off arrangement and a six speed gear box. The
hoist has extra heavy duty clutch and brake which are capable of handling, the complete weight of the drill
string to the full rated capacity with single line pull. The hydraulic pump drive is through PTO and clutch
mounted on the main transmission. A built-in heavy duty wire-line hoist rated for rope capacity of 1524 m
of 4.76 mm wire rope may be provided on Voldrill 300. The drill has extra heavy duly rigid skid base with
built in hydraulic retreat arrangement. It can be fitted with HW-HY swivel head with a hydraulic chuck and
with a hydraulic system to suit it. The chuck jaws are operated by 4 double acting hydraulic cylinders
operating at 35.15 kg/cm2 and providing a slip proof grip on the rods.
Figure 3,11: Triple tube wireline core barrel (After Rees, 1975)
Figure 3.14 shows a modern layout of an exploratory drilling site in Manuguru area of Godavari
Valley coalfield. The equipment comprise a boring machine and water pump; both run by diesel engines of
about 49 BMP each and have the capacity to drill up to 500 m depth. It is so arranged that the overflow
water runs back to a water tank so that the loss of water is kept to the minimum.
The arrangement provides for the stacking of drill rods over a trestle close to the boring machine and
for the stacking of cores in core boxes kept in a shed. On the other half side of shed tool boxes and drill bits,
etc., are stored and a small working bench is provided to carry out odd repairs.
Figure 3.14: Layout of a modern exploratory drilling site
The drilling crew, if single shift operation is done, comprises six men as follows: driller 1, rigman 1
and mazdoors 4. If the operations are done in two shifts the crew comprises six men in the first shift and
five men in the second shift as follows: first shift: driller-1, rigman-1, and mazdoors-4 and second shift;
senior rigman-1, and mazdoors-5. The driller is expected to attend to problems if any, in the second shift
also. With the above crew the target for boring is kept as follows: 120 m per month with single shift
working and 180 m per month with double shift working. The average cost of boring in 1980s worked out to
be Rs. 550 per m for drilling up to 500 m depth.
In order to reduce the amount of coring required in boreholes, while still obtaining the required
geological information, various logging devices for use in boreholes are now available. Besides providing
information in those parts of the borehole which are not cored, these devices can record features such as
water content of the strata and caving of the borehole sides which are not evident from the cores themselves;
also they provide check on the nature and amount of core lost during drilling.
The key, in all geophysical methods, is that the logging sondes do not record coal or sandstone or
faults as such, they record differences in the electrical conductivity of the strata in the walls of the hole, the
natural radioactivity of the strata and the extent to which it reflects back unnatural or introduced
radioactivity (which depends on its density), etc. Caving for instance, can look the same as coal on a density
log, but not when it is considered in conjunction with the conductivity, or considered the other way round as
resistivity. Thus, only coal has both low density, low natural (gamma) radioactivity and high resistivity. The
same strata can have one or two physical properties in common and each method measures only one of
them. Thus to read coal or sandstone or faulting in a hole, a combination of tools has to be run.
A brief description of the common borehole logs is given below:
1. The Resistivity Log
This log is always run first to test conditions in the borehole. In the absence of caliper log, the
resistivity log is used to investigate caving in the low-density parts of the borehole, i.e, it is used to
distinguish between coal and cavings. It is also used to investigate water conditions in the hole. The scam
definition is poor and this tool cannot be used through casing or in boreholes without fluid. The caliper log
(for borehole diameter) is superseding the resistivity log in surface boreholes.
2. The Caliper Log
The caliper log indicates variation in borehole diameter, thus locating zones of caving. The primary
use of this leg is to assist in the accurate interpretation of some other logs, e.g., density log, gamma-ray log,
neutron log, in some of which the record is distorted by caving. It also has secondary uses as it helps the
drilling engineer to know which particular strata are likely to give rise to caving problems and it seems
likely to infer that seams whose roof and floor cave badly during drilling are those most likely to give
support problems during mining operations.
3. The Gamma-ray Log
This log shows coal, mudstone and sandstone throughout the boreholes. It records the natural
gamma-ray emission from the strata; high counts in mudstone and shale, low counts in clean coal, medium
counts in sandstone. The detailed log is used for interpretation; the points of evaluation are one-third from
the root of the curve and two-thirds from the peak, the rate of change of radiation is at a maximum at the
coal/mudstone boundary, and therefore, a point of inflexion or flat at about two-thirds from the peak (from
left of chart) is selected. This log is used for accurate definition of coal seams and can be used through
casing or in boreholes without fluid. Care in interpretation should be taken, however, where a seam has a
sandstone roof.
4. The Density Log
These logs require the use of radioactive source (Caesium 137), screwed on to the bottom end of a
gamma-ray sonde. Bodi logs Long Spacing Density (LSD) and High Resolution Density (HRD) are used for
surface holes; only the HRD log is used for underground holes.
The LSD Log
The source and detector are 0.4 - 0.5 m apart. This log is a measure of the back scatter radiation from
the walls of the boreholes, high count rates being obtained over a coal section. The LSD log is not greatly
affected by small caves, but lacks sharp boundaries between coal and other rocks.
The HRD Log
The source and detector are close together and scattering is scanned over a very short vertical
distance, This log shows very good bed definition but is affected by caving (coal and caving deflection can
be very similar). Caves should be identified by other logs. Casing and lack of fluid can give rise to problems
in interpretation. The HRD log is interpreted from points half-way from the root of the curve; the LSD logs
use points at one-third from the root; two-third from the crest. In both cases the points of inflexion (flattest
point on the curve) is used, The logs also give information about the condition of the borehole walls. The
conditions reflect the effect upon the wall materials of intense washing and destressing, i.e., of influences
similar to some of those to which these materials might be subjected during coal extraction or coal
preparation. If the roof and floor of a seam in the borehole collapse or cave, they are weak, and the depth of
caving and the thickness of the affected section can be determined from the logs.
5. The Neutron Log
The Neutron Log has been used for some time as part of the wireline logging package. It measures
hydrogen density and gives comparative readings on water content, hence, in theory on porosity. Coal seams
give a good response on this log due to their low porosity. Recently very interesting correlation between
neutron logs and rock strength properties have been established.
A Fracture Spacing log has been developed which plots on a logarithmic scale the incidence of all
fractures, natural and induced, seen in the core on its removal from the core barrel. The amount of fracturing
is used as the index of the strength of the rock and its reaction to the coring process.
Figure 3.15 (Hoare, 1979) shows the correlation between the fracture spacing log and the BPB
neutron log. It indicates that the neutron log gives a comparative reading of the strength of the borehole
wall, by measuring the water content of the micro-fractures resulting from the change of stress induced by
the action of drilling the borehole. By extending and confirming these studies there are good prospects that
the neutron log will become a useful tool to predict and assess in situ rock strength and maintenance
conditions for roadways and shafts, and for seam roofs and floors
Figure 3.15: Correlation between fracture tog and BPB neutron log (After Whitworth, 1979)
A knowledge of the relative geologic structure is frequently helpful in their diagnosis. For example,
in the case of faults it can be demonstrated that if a given fault displaces particular feature, that fault is
obviously 'younger' than those features which it has dislocated. Each subsequent fault develops
displacement of previously formed structures. If the relative ages of the major fractures can be determined
in this manner, the complex structure may be solved progressively by "unfaulting", the area or in other
words, by replacing the fault blocks in their original and undisturbed positions. In some cases a graphical or
block method may be applicable, wherein the rocks are free to move into any position along the fault
surface or plane.
Boreholes put down in virgin coal measures may penetrate faults at depth which are unmapped and
which give no surface indications of their presence. In such areas, portions of the normal stratigraphic
sections may be repeated or on the other hand may be missing in certain boreholes. A rational understanding
of the strata repetitions or ommissions is essential for structural portrayal and this rests almost wholly on an
accurate correlation of the cores and borehole samples. For example, Figure 3.17 is a vertical section of
inclined coal measure strata which have been displaced by a reverse fault 'XY' at deeper depths; the fault
'XY' dies out upward. The normal succession of the strata is shown in borehole 'D' with coal seam I, II and
III in descending order. Bore 'A has missed seam I and bore 'B1 has passed through seam III twice.
In this case the structure may be wrongly protrayed as indicated by the dotted lines if the seams are
not correctly identified and correlated. Borehole 'B' is critical. A correct correlation of the lower seams
proved in bore 'A' with the third and fourth seams in bore 'B1 would elucidate the fault line and repetion of
seam III. Similarly, the establishment of the fact that the third and fourth seam in bore 'B' were identical will
disclose the presence of a reverse fault.
Figure 3.18: Procedure for establishing production reserves (After Nithack, 1984)
The following measures may be built in the exploration programmes to prevent or reduce the
potential difficulties:
1. Drilling boreholes to locate significant geological features.
2. Development preparatory to retreat working including blocking-out by headings to locate
significant geological features.
3. Drilling
(a) to locate horizons beyond unpredkted faulting or other incompletely known features;
(b) to check approach of cross-measure drift to new seam;
(c) to check cover below water bearing strata, superficial deposit, etc., and
(d) to check width of unpredicted barren ground.
The above exploration if systematically done, will enable arriving at appropriate layout, selection of
coal getting machines and equipment, support system and rate of advance, etc., and a successful risk
reduction can be established.