Longwall mining under gateroads and gobs of abandoned small mine

Due to the use of outdated mining technology or room and pillar mining process in small coal mines, the coal recovery ratio is only 10–25%. In many regions of China, the damage area caused by the small coal mines amounted to nearly one hundred square kilometers. Therefore, special mining techniques must be taken to reclaim the wasted resource in disturbed coal areas. This paper focuses on the different mining methods by analyzing the longwall panel layout and abandoned gateroad (AG) distribution in the abandoned area of Cuijiazhai coal mine in northwestern China. On the basis of three-dimensional geological model, FLAC3D numerical simulation was employed. The abutment pressure distribution was simulated when the panel face passed through the disturbed areas. The proper angle of the inclined face was analyzed when the panel face passed through the abandoned gateroads. The results show that the head end of the face should be 13–20 m ahead of the tail end. The pillars on both sides of abandoned gateroads had not been damaged at the same time, and no large-area stress concentration occured above the main roof. Therefore, the coal reserves of disturbed areas can be successfully recovered by using underground longwall mining.