Preventing roof fall fatalities during pillar recovery: A ground control success story

For decades, pillar recovery accounted for a quarter of all roof fall fatalities in underground coal mines.Studies showed that a miner on a pillar recovery section was at least three times more likely to be killed by a roof fall than other coal miners. Since 2007, however, there has been just one fatal roof fall on a pillar line. This paper describes the process that resulted in this historic achievement. It covers both the key research findings and the ways in which those insights, beginning in the early 2000 s, were implemented in mining practice. One key finding was that safe pillar recovery requires both global and local stability.Global stability is addressed primarily through proper pillar design, and became a major focus after the2007 Crandall Canyon mine disaster. But the most significant improvements resulted from detailed studies that showed that local stability, defined as roof control in the immediate work area, could be achieved with three interventions:(1) leaving an engineered final stump, rather than extracting the entire pillar,(2) enhancing roof bolt support, particularly in intersections, and(3) increasing the use of mobile roof supports(MRS). A final component was an emphasis on better management of pillar recovery operations.This included a focus on worker positioning, as well as on the pillar and lift sequences, MRS operations,and hazard identification. As retreat mines have incorporated these elements into their roof control plans,it has become clear that pillar recovery is not ‘‘inherently unsafe." The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges that remain, including the problems of rib falls and coal bursts.     

Subsidence over room and pillar retreat mining in a low coal seam

The objective of this paper is to study the behavior of a low thick and low depth coal seam and the overburden rock mass. The mining method is room and pillar in retreat and partial pillar recovery. The excavation method is conventional drill and blast because of the small production. The partial pillar recovery is about 30% of the previous pillar size, 7 m × 7 m. The roof displacement was monitored during retreat operation; the surface movement was also monitored. The effect of the blasting vibration on the final pillar strength had been considered. Due to blasting, the pillar reduced about 20%. The consequence is more pillar deformation and roof vertical displacement. The pillar retreat and ground movement were simulated in a three-dimensional numerical model. This model was created to predict the surface subsidence and compare to the subsidence measured. This study showed that the remaining pillar and low seam reduce the subsidence that was predicted with conventional methods.     

Design concerns of room and pillar retreat panels

Why do some room and pillar retreat panels encounter abnormal conditions? What factors deserve the most consideration during the planning and execution phases of mining and what can be done to mitigate those abnormal conditions when they are encountered? To help answer these questions, and to determine some of the relevant factors influencing the conditions of room and pillar (R &; P) retreat mining entries, four consecutive R &; P retreat panels were evaluated. This evaluation was intended to reinforce the influence of topographic changes, depth of cover, multiple-seam interactions, geological conditions, and mining geometry. This paper details observations were made in four consecutive R &; P retreat panels and the data were collected from an instrumentation site during retreat mining. The primary focus was on the differences observed among the four panels and within the panels themselves. The instrumentation study was initially planned to evaluate the interactions between primary and secondary support, but produced rather interesting results relating to the loading encountered under the current mining conditions. In addition to the observation and instrumentation, numerical modeling was performed to evaluate the stress conditions. Both the LaModel 3.0 and Rocscience Phase 2 programs were used to evaluate these four panels. The results of both models indicated a drastic reduction in the vertical stresses experienced in these panels due to the full extraction mining in overlying seams when compared to the full overburden load. Both models showed a higher level of stress associated with the outside entries of the panels. These results agree quite well with the observations and instrumentation studies performed at the mine. These efforts provided two overarching conclusions concerning R &; P retreat mine planning and execution. The first was that there are four areas that should not be overlooked during R &; P retreat mining: topographic relief, multiple-seam stress relief, stress concentrations near the gob edge, and geologic changes in the immediate roof. The second is that in order to successfully retreat an R &; P panel, a three-phased approach to the design and analysis of the panel should be conducted: the planning phase, evaluation phase, and monitoring phase.     

Reservoir reconstruction technologies for coalbed methane recovery in deep and multiple seams

Multiple coal seams widely develop in the deep Chinese coal-bearing strata. Ground in situ stress and coal seam gas pressure increase continuously with the increase of the mining depth, and coal and gas outburst disasters become increasingly severe. When the coal is very deep, the gas content and pressure will elevate and thus coal seams tends to outburst-prone seams. The safety and economics of exploited firstmined coal seams are tremendously restricted. Meanwhile, the multiple seams occurrence conditions resulted in different methane pressure systems in the coal-bearing strata, which made the reservoir reconstruction of coal difficult. Given the characteristics of low saturation, low permeability, strong anisotropy and soft coal of Chinese coal seams, a single hydraulic fracturing surface well for reservoir reconstruction to pre-drain the coalbed methane(CBM) of multiple seams concurrently under the different gas pressure systems has not yet gained any breakthroughs. Based on analyses of the main features of deep CBM reservoirs in China, current gas control methods and the existing challenges in deep and multiple seams, we proposed a new technology for deep CBM reservoir reconstruction to realize simultaneous high-efficiency coal mining and gas extraction. In particular, we determined the first-mined seam according to the principles of effectiveness and economics, and used hydraulic fracturing surface well to reconstruct the first-mined seam which enlarges the selection range of the first-mined seam. During the process of mining first-mined seam, adjacent coal seams could be reconstructed under the mining effect which promoted high-efficiency pressure relief gas extraction by using spatial and comprehensive gas drainage methods(combination of underground and ground CBM extraction methods). A typical integrated reservoir reconstruction technology, ‘‘One well for triple use", was detailed introduced and successfully applied in the Luling coal mine. The application showed that the proposed technology could effectively promote coal mining safety and simultaneously high-efficiency gas extraction.     

An influence function method based subsidence prediction program for longwall mining operations in inclined coal seams

The distribution of the final surface subsidence basin induced by longwall operations in inclined coal seam could be significantly different from that in flat coal seam and demands special prediction methods. Though many empirical prediction methods have been developed, these methods are inflexible for varying geological and mining conditions. An influence function method has been developed to take the advantage of its fundamentally sound nature and flexibility. In developing this method, significant modifications have been made to the original Knothe function to produce an asymmetrical influence function. The empirical equations for final subsidence parameters derived from US subsidence data and Chinese empirical values have been incorporated into the mathematical models to improve the prediction accuracy. A corresponding computer program is developed. A number of subsidence cases for longwall mining operations in coal seams with varying inclination angles have been used to demonstrate the applicability of the developed subsidence prediction model.     

Comparative study of mining methods for reserves beneath end slope in flat surface mines with ultra-thick coal seams

The paper aims to identify a reasonable method for mining ultra-thick coal seams in an end-slope in surface mine, With a case study of Heidaigou surface coal mine(HSCM), the paper conducted a comparative research on three mining methods, namely Underground Mining Method(UMM), Highwall Mining System(HMS) and Local Steep Slope Mining Method(LSSMM). A model was firstly established to simulate the impact that UMM and HMS exert on monitoring points and surface deformation. The way that stripping and excavation amount varies with different slope angle, and the corresponding end slope stability were analyzed in the mode of LSSMM. Then a TOPSIS model was established by taking into account six indicators such as recovery ratio, technical complexity and adaptability, the impact on surface mining production, production safety and economic benefits. Finally, LSSMM was determined as the best mining method for mining ultra-thick coal seams in end slope in HSCM.     

Strategic sill pillar design for reduced hanging wall overbreak in longhole mining

Steeply dipping, vein and tabular orebodies are traditionally extracted with longitudinal retreat mining methods such as Eureka and Avoca in a bottom-up sequence with delayed backfill. To increase productivity, sill pillars in the orebody are used to separate mining zones thus allowing production to take place simultaneously in two or more zones. While such mining methods are productive, they may be accompanied with high volumes of hanging wall overbreak causing significant unplanned ore dilution. In this work, it is shown through a mine design case study of a narrow vein deposit that a sill pillar could also play a significant role in limiting hanging wall overbreak. To demonstrate the role of sill pillar, a novel numerical modelling scheme is proposed to account for progressive stope wall overbreak. A numerical modelling approach of element death and rebirth is developed to allow for the detected stope overbreak to be immediately removed and replaced with backfill material before upper-level stope extraction. It is further shown that the average overbreak volume could be reduced by as much as 33% when the sill pillar is strategically placed in the lower half of a mine plan.