Mine Development Dr. P.

Balamadeswaran

COAL MINING METHODOLOGY

Coal mining in India was introduced in the middle of the 18th century. At that time little stress
had been given on mining processes. First attempt had been made in this coalfield in 1774 but
coal was not excavated. In 1775 about 92.9 tonnes of coal was brought from Raniganj to
Calcutta to operate the steamer services. Although the production of coal commenced in early
1775, coal production got its impetus with the introduction of railways. The Indian railways
used Indian coal from 1855.
During early days of excavation the methods were unscientific. Persons engaged in mining
lacked proper skill. No proper safety for persons and property had been utilized in those days.
Usually there were no adequate mine plans and no planning to tackle the problems.
Coal producers
The largest coal producing countries are not confined to one region - the top five hard coal
producers are China, India, USA, Indonesia and Australia. Much of global coal production is
used in the country in which it was produced; only around 15% of hard coal production is
destined for the international coal market.
The quality of a coal deposit is determined by:
 Types of vegetation from which the coal originated
 Depths of burial
 Temperatures and pressures at those depths
 Length of time the coal has been forming in the deposit
Mining methods
Coal is mined by two methods: surface or ‘opencast’ mining or underground or ‘deep’ mining.
The choice of mining method largely depends on the geology of the coal deposit. Underground
mining currently accounts for a bigger share of world coal production than opencast; although
in several important coal producing countries surface mining is more common.
Surface Mining
Surface mining is only economic when the coal seam is near the surface. This method
recovers a higher proportion of the coal deposit than underground mining as all coal seams
are exploited - 90% or more of the coal can be recovered. Large opencast mines can cover an
area of many square kilometres and use very large pieces of equipment, such as draglines,
power shovels, large trucks, bucket wheel excavators and conveyors.
The overburden of soil and rock is first broken up by explosives; it is then removed by
draglines or by shovel and truck (Fig. 1). Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured
and systematically mined in strips. The coal is then loaded on to large trucks or conveyors for
transport to either the coal preparation plant or direct to where it will be used.

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Fig. 1.0 Surface Mining with sequence of different unit operations for a coal deposit

Advantages and Disadvantages of Opencast Coal Mining:

The advantages of the opencast mining are: (a) Higher productivity (b) Higher outputs (c)
Lower capital and operating cost per tonne mined (d) Greater geological certainty and easier
exploration (e) Greater safety (f) No problem of roof control and ventilation (g) Female labour
can be employed (h) Artificial lights are necessary only after darkness appears.
The disadvantages of the opencast mining are: (a) Work is affected by weather (winter nights,
summer mid days, rainy days etc.) (b) Surface right have to be acquired (c) Surface
infrastructure is destroyed (d) Quarried area and overburden heaps present an unpleasant
sight.
Mine rehabilitation
Coal mining is only a temporary use of land, so it is vital that rehabilitation of land takes place
once mining operations have stopped. In best practice a detailed rehabilitation or reclamation
plan is designed and approved for each coal mine, covering the period from the start of
operations until well after mining has finished.
UNDERGROUND COAL MINING
There are two main methods of underground mining: room-and-pillar and longwall mining.
Bord and Pillar mining
In bord-and-pillar mining, coal deposits are mined by cutting a network of 'rooms' into the coal
seam and leaving behind 'pillars' of coal to support the roof of the mine as shown in the Fig.2.
These pillars can be up to 40% of the total coal in the seam - although this coal can sometimes
be recovered at a later stage. Underground lanes (bords) are cut into the coal seam with pillars
of coal being left to support the roof. Extracting coal while leaving the pillars is known as first
workings and will result in minimal surface subsidence. Removing pillars is termed second
workings (depillaring) and will result in the collapse of the roof and surface subsidence.

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Figure 2.0: Bord and Pillar Method of Mining for UG Coal Mining

Advantages of Bord and Pillar Method

 The area to be immediately worked is proved and hence initial planning may be modified
according to the geological disturbances exists in the area without causing serious loss of
output.
 All roadways in the seam are supported by solid coal for as long as they are required,
instead of being formed and maintained in the goaf. It results in better and less costly
supports only.
 Unproductive labour is reduced by the elimination of the goaf which results in high OMS
(output per manshift).
 The system is not dependent upon the completion of specific operations by the end of
each shift and the same operations are continued from one working shift to the next.
 Bord and pillar workings attract more labour as the mining operations are rather simpler.
Limitations of Bord and Pillar Method
 Roof Maintenance – A large portion of the roof is exposed making monitoring and
maintenance very time-consuming and costly. The roof can often require high lift
equipment for appropriate inspection.
 High Capital Costs – Initial infrastructure and equipment fleet can be expensive, although
total costs are typically cheaper in the long run with lower operating costs.
 Low Recovery – Bord and Pillar can have one of the lowest recovery rates of any
underground mining method. There must be significant reserves left behind to support the
mine. Pillars may contain high grade ore which cannot be recovered. Only 35% coal or
minerals exhaust.

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 Lack of flexibility in structural planning – It is difficult to make structural changes part way
through production because most of the previously mined out rooms must be supported
for the duration of the production life. The stress on a pillar is dependent on the location of
other pillars and stress distributions can change drastically with changes in pillar
location.Hence, strata control is not easy.
 Risk of spontaneous heating is high.
 Ventilation is generally poor because of multiple connections and presence of large
number of ventilation stoppings in the mine.
Applicability:
The Bord and Pillar method is adopted for working.
1. A seam thicker than 1.5 m,
2. A seam free from stone or dirt bands. Stone or dirt bands, if present in a seam, can be
easily disposed of for strip packing in long wall advancing method of mining.
3. Seams at moderate depth,
4. Seams which are not gassy,
5. Seams with strong roof and floor which can stand for long period after development stage
is over,
6. Coal of adequate crushing strength.
Longwall mining
Longwall mining involves the full extraction of coal from a section of the seam, or 'face' using
mechanical shearers. The coal 'face' can vary in length from 100-350m. Self-advancing,
hydraulically-powered supports temporarily hold up the roof while coal is extracted (Fig. 3).
When coal has been extracted from the area, the roof is allowed to collapse. Over 75% of the
coal in the deposit can be extracted from panels of coal that can extend 3km through the coal
seam. The coal deposit is extracted in a series of panels that may be up to 200 metres wide
and two kilometers long.

Figure 3.0 Longwall Mining in an underground coal mine

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As no coal is left to support the roof at the mining face, hydraulic roof supports must be used to
hold it up and the roof is allowed to fall once the coal has been extracted. This method of coal
mining causes surface subsidence. In underground mining, coal is transported from the
underground mining face by conveyor to the mine coal handling plant. Water, which is often
polluted, may be disposed of from underground mine workings with adverse environmental
impacts. Technological advancements have made coal mining today more productive than it
has ever been. To keep up with technology and to extract coal as efficiently as possible,
modern mining personnel must be highly skilled and well-trained in the use of complex,
state-of-the-art equipment.
Advantages:
 This method is fully productive operations with little development work.
 It provides for the maximum degree of extraction from the seam
 Subsidence is even over the working area and the rate and amount of subsidence can be
regulated within limits by the method and quality of stowing or packing.
 It enables concentration of men in one place resulting in drawing higher output from
relatively small working area.
 Ventilation is more efficient.
 Strata control is comparatively easy.
 The safety of the miners is enhanced by the fact that they are always under the hydraulic
roof supports.
 Capital outlay on the face per tonne of production is generally less than in bord and pillar
workings.
Disadvantages
 Much labour and material are required for supporting the working area both at the face
and along the roadway.
 A rigid cycle of operations needs to be followed in this system which requires higher
concentration of workforce with good psychology behaviour.
 Too much stone work is required and often large quantities of filling materials have to be
brought from the surface results in additional cost.
 Possibility of unexpected presence of geological disturbances such as fault causes a
serious loss of production.
 Overloading conveyor system causes difficulties in the operation.
 It requires higher rate of maintenance.
 The removal of methane remains one of the greatest challenges in the longwall mining.
Applicability of Longwall Mining
 Stratiform tabular bodies, little thick, horizontal (inclined upto 200)
 Uniform distribution of thickness and levels.
 High degree of continuity of the ore body
 Geological discontinuities (like faults,etc) are highly detrimental to the method.
 Applicable in hard rock (metalliferrous mines) and fragile (coal) deposits.

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Continuous Miner systems: In this system an electrically operated machine is designed to

cut and load coal simultaneously. As may be gathered from its name, it is designed to cut coal
continuously and is independently driven on tracks (Fig.4.0). The only limitation on its being
able to cut and load continuously is efficiency by which the cut coal can be transported away
and the need for newly exposed roof to be systematically supported.

Fig.4.0 Underground coal mining with longwall and continuous miner

Process of Coal Extraction in Underground Mine:
The exposed coal is broken by blasting explosives after drilling holes. The coal is hoisted to
the surface in Coal tub. As soon as the coal reaches the surface, it is conveyed to the loading
point. From there, with the help of Coal Handling Plant, coal is discharged in to the truck for
being carried to the consuming centres.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Underground Mining
The advantages of the Underground mining are-
(a) Surface features like railways, buildings, rivers etc. are not disturbed by underground
method of mining and are well supported during development stage by the solid pillars of coal.
(b) The development stages reveal the geological disturbances enabling the management
authority to plan accordingly.
(c) Road and railways are constructed on the solid coal and their maintenance cost is low
throughout the life of the mine.
(d) Coal output is obtained while roadways are being made during the development stage and
naturally during the depillaring stage thus providing a continuous flow of coal after the seam is
touched.
The disadvantages of the Underground mining are-
(a) The extraction losses are generally higher than opencast mining.
(b) Work is carried on at a number of working places, creating problems of supervision.
(c) At great depth, working by these methods becomes difficult as effects of roof pressures are
not easily controllable.
(d) The effects of subsidence on other seams are not even and not easily controllable.

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IMPACTS OF COAL MINING

Like any other mineral resource deposit, coal is also localized in its occurrence and needs to
be mined, processed and then transported before it is put to use. These processes affect the
physical and socio-cultural environment in a number of ways like mining leads to migration of
people in a particular locality; increase in the demand of public facilities; damage of property
and agricultural land; disturbance of existing landscape; falling of trees; pollution of both
ground water and surface water; air pollution; noise and vibration; and many more similar
effects.Mining results in severe damage to land, air, water, vegetation as well as social and
cultural landscape of the area. The impacts of mining on the environment largely depend on
method of mining adopted, the geo-mining condition of the locale and the size and duration of
the mining operations. In contrast to underground mining, opencast mining results in extensive
damage to the environment.
Impact of Opencast Mining
Opencast mining dominate the coal production scenario due to a number of favourable factors
like economic viability, better safety, large scale mechanization , ease in mass production,
higher productivity etc. But this method of mining causes severe damage to the surrounding
environment.
 Impact on Air:
Coal mining operations contribute towards the air pollution in two ways- one is addition of
gaseous pollutants to the atmosphere, the other being the emission of dust particulates. The
sources of gaseous pollutants, which include sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and carbon
monoxide, are mainly the waste dumps. The dust particulates on the other hand are produced
during coal handling, blasting and transportation. Opencast coal mining creates more severe
air pollution problem in comparison to Underground coal mining. In underground coal mining
men suffer from coal dust inside underground mine working. But opencast mining creates
much more air quality deterioration in respect of dust and gaseous pollutants. It creates air
pollution problem not only within the mining premises but also in surrounding residential area
affecting abundant air quality.
 Impact on Water:
Coal mining by opencast method affects the water quality of the surrounding environment.
During mining huge amount of water is discharged on the surface which ultimately
contaminates surface as well as ground water. Mine water contains high level of suspended
solid particles and this water on discharge to agricultural land, affects productivity. Runoff
water from overburden dump and mine runoff water also affect the water quality of the
receiving bodies.
 Impact on Land:
Among all environmental components, significant impact signature can be observed on land
environment due to coal mining activities through direct and indirect means. Land degradation
impact of opencast mining activities is visually impressive owing to land system transformation
which includes land use change and terrain alteration. Large scale excavations in surface

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mining are the basic causes of land despoliation in course of the mining activities. Opencast
mining affects the topography twice. First the sight from where coal has to be extracted and
secondly at the place where it has to be dumped. The overburden removal process also
affects the morphology of the terrain.
 Impact on Noise and Vibration:
Coal mining involves a complex process of activities that causes high level of noise generation.
In opencast mining, the availability of high diameter, high capacity pneumatic drills, blasting of
hundreds of tonnes of explosives etc. are identified as noise prone activities. With the increase
in the scale of mining operations heavy blasting has to be resorted to in the mines which
results in ground vibration and which ultimately may cause damage to the structures in the
vicinity besides causing irritation to the people living nearby.
 Socio-Economic Impacts:
The socio-economic impact due to opencast mining includes problems of the people living in
the close vicinity of the mine area. A great ongoing social challenge for the coal industry is
Mining Induced Displacement and Resettlement. As opencast mining is associated with the
removal of overburden for the extraction of coal, it needs removal of the surface features like
railways, buildings, rivers etc. Due to displacement, the occupation as well as housing
amenities etc. changes in the area. Operation of coal mining projects and allied activities has
direct and indirect impact on the socio- economic condition of the existing inhabitants. Like
environmental impact, the social impact of mining is often difficult to quantify. Incidentally,
there is very little discussion on the negative impacts of coal mining in relation to society.
Mining is most likely to affect the five aspects of a society, viz. (1) Population (2) Quality of
living (3) Social and cultural system (4) Economy and (5) Technological system.
 Socio-Cultural Impacts:
The life style and culture of inhabitants of surrounding areas of an opencast mine is widely
affected by the mining activity. Even religious and cultural festivals and methods of their
celebration are also affected. Method and style of agriculture and development of small scale
industries is directly affected which in turn influences the socio-cultural life.
Impacts of Underground Coal Mining
Though Subsidence and mine safety are important factors affecting the surrounding
environment due to underground mining, it does not have any severe adverse effects on
environment.
 Impact on Air:
Coal mining activities like drilling, blasting, crushing, loading, hauling, handling and
transporting of coal constitutes the sources of air pollution in underground mine. In
underground coal mining workers suffer from coal dust inside underground mine working. In
comparison to opencast mining, Underground mining creates less air pollution problems.
 Impact on Water:
The ponds, tanks , well etc of the study area become dry due to percolation of water resulting
in scarcity of drinking water. During mining huge amount of water is discharged on the surface

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which ultimately contaminates surface as well as ground water. Mine water contains high level
of suspended solid particles and this water on discharge to agricultural land, affects
productivity.
 Impact on Land:
Sometimes the voids created due to extraction of coal are not stowed with sand properly. Thus,
the surface above the voids is prone to subsidence which damages the surfaces structure like
building, road etc. Generally, there is no effect on topography 60 when mining activity takes
place at great depth.
 Impact on Noise and Vibration:
In Underground mining, blasting is done at a depth. Generally, it do not produce noise problem
on the surface but the mine workers are exposed to a high level of noise. The vibration caused
due to blasting may cause damage to the structures in the vicinity besides causing irritation to
the people living nearby.
 Socio-economic Impacts:
The socio-economic impact due to underground mining includes problems of the people living
in the close vicinity of the mine area. Due to coal mining, population of the area would increase.
So, the new settlements would come up in the area. Water infiltrates from the surface to
underground mines, leaving the soil of agricultural land dry which makes it unproductive. As
underground mining is associated with the extraction of coal from great depth, generally it
does not require removal of the surface features like railways, buildings, rivers etc. Coal Mining
is indispensable for the individual, for the society and for the overall development of the
nations. Unfortunately, mining procedures and operations are often strongly associated with
health hazards and environmental deterioration.
Accidents in under Accidents in underground coal mines:
 Roof and rib falls
 Outbursts of coal rock and gas
 Spontaneous combustion
 Coal dust explosion: frictional sparks from machine cutting from from machine machine
cutting cutting
 Gas explosion: frictional sparks from machine machine cutting machine cutting cutting
 Mine fire
 Water inrush and flooding

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