NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROURKELA

Dual degree, 4th Sem Mining Engineering, spring- 2019

Subject: Underground Coal Mining (MN-2102)
Assignment-1 HYDRAULIC MINING

NAME-SATYA PRAKASH

ROLL NO.-717MN1024

1.ABSTRACT
Hydraulic mining of coal comprises two operations: hydraulic cutting of coal from the seam
and hydraulic transportation of the resultant mixture out of the mine. At the Michel colliery of
kaiser Resources Ltd. , Sparwood, B. C. , the main emphasis is on mining coal with a high
pressure water jet; however, equally important is the movement of the slurry out of the mine,
in this case, by gravity flow through flumes or troughs. There are several mines, mostly in
Russian, where coal is mechanically cut but transported hydraulically, both with and against
gravity. These remarks are mainly devoted to Kaiser Resources' very successful operation. The
system developed at Michel consists essentially of a high pressure water jet directed onto the
coal by means of a monitor. The monitor and feeder-breaker are placed in a sublevel driven in
coal close to the footwall of the inclined seam. The sublevel is inclined at about 7 degrees
upwards so that coal and water will flow from the mining area into the sublevel and
subsequently out of the mine.with the help hysdualic many transportation system developed.
2.INTRODUCTION
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water
to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting
water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold. It is also used in
mining kaolin and coal.

Hydraulic mining originated out of ancient Roman techniques that used water to excavate soft
underground deposits. Its modern form, using pressurized water jets produced by a nozzle
called a "monitor", came about in the 1850s during the California Gold Rush in the United
States. Though successful in extracting gold-rich minerals, the widespread use of the process
resulted in extensive environmental damage, such as increased flooding and erosion, and
sediment blocking waterways and covering over farm fields.
3.UNDERGROUND HYDRAULIC MINING
High-pressure water jets have also been used in the underground mining of coal, to break up
the coal seam and wash the resulting coal slurry toward a collection point. The high-pressure
wate
3.1 CONDITIONS SUITABLE FOR HYDRAULIC MINING OF COAL
Trials for hydraulic mining of coal have been done in a variety of conditions. e.g. in seams
from 0.9 to 20 m thick with dips varying from 5 to 80 , in coals extremely hard to soft, highly
gassy to no-gassy, with uniform structure to highly distributed coal seams (Gontov, 1979).
Generally,the condition which influence the choice of this system of coal mining are
summarised below:
1. Seam Thickness : Hydraulic mining could be done in any seam thickness but in seams of
average to high thicknesses this technology offers better economics.
2. Seam Gradient : The gradient of the seams should be such that the coal-water slurry can
out easily. A practical gradient using steel flumes is about 7. With special linings of ultra
high molecular weight plastics the fluming could be done on gradients as low as 4°. According
Astakhov (1979) the seam gradient should be more than 2. he opines that the coal pulp can be
tansported by gravity if the angle of the seam slope is more than 3°.
3. Roof of the Seam : The roof of the seam should be sufficiently stable so as to allow extraction
of coal from under it before it collapses. Although below unstable roofs the application or hydro
mining is limited, cutting sequence and geometry of the workings can help.
4. Floor of the Seam : The seam floor should retain its strengths when wetted. Swellin floors
limit the application of this technique.
5. Hardness of Coal : The coal seam should be soft or ‘ploughable’, and be free of dirt bands
of any importance; if present the dirt bands should be friable which can be easily cut allowing
the harder coal to be undercut and fall out. The presence of cleavages can increase
hydrobreaking productivity 8 times (Astakhov, 1979). The hydraulic energy consumption in
cleated fissured coal may be half as much as in solid coal .r nozzle is referred to as the hydro
monitor.

GEOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME SUCCESSFUL HYDRO MINING

PROJECT

Country China China Canada

Location Kootenay coalfield

Colliery- Hsiechchiachi no.3 Yaugchunyg colliery british columbia
Seam- C13 No.3 Balmer seam

Thickness of 3.6 avg 4.5

seam ,m

Dip of the seam 23° - 25-55 °avg 35°

Depth from the 250-550m - 250-300m

surface

roof Immediate-1.3 -3.0 m Immediate 5 m silts to be Shale,sandstone,and

sandy mudstone,main fairly stable;overlying siltstones of varying
roof 6-8m medium roof mudstone medium thickness
grained sandstone grained sandstone 8m
 Gas condition Super gassy - -

4. Hydraulic Breaking Down of Coal

The coal is brokea down by a high-pressure water jet directed against the face, the pressure
being
increased or decreased according to the hardness of the seam. The hardness of the seam is of
primary importance. The minimum pressure, Pef necessary, for effective breaking down of
coal can be determined by the following expression:
The water pressure of the monitor jet at the nozzle ranges from 10 to 20 MN/metre
square.(101.9-203.8 kg/cm2) and the water discharge from 200 to 500 m2/hour depending on
the coal conditions and the coal hardness Jeremic, 1962)
The indices which have been used for assessing the applicability of hydraulic mining are: (i)
Uniaxial compressive strength in Kg/cm2 (ii) Specific water absorption of the coal seam,
cm/Am-sec, and (iii) Conventional resistance strength by where = Rc. Rp/3 ; Rc = compressive
strength of 5 cm cube and Rp = tensile strength of 7 cm x 5 cmx 2 cm block of coal. It is
believed that the specific water consumption of the coal seam is the best generalised index for
asessing the suitability of a coal seam for breaking by hydromonitor jets as it takes into account
the coal strength, petro-graphic peculiarities, plasticity, jointing and the state of stress in the
seam.
In,the fifties for coal of strength up to f= 1.2 to 1.3 hydraulic pressure between 317-387 kg/cm2
were used. These pressures were however, found to be inadequate. for tough coals and
preliminary shoft or water infusion was required , aim being to loosen the coal mass by creating
fissures without any appreciable breaking up of the seam. In recent years monitors of much
higher pressures have been developed.
At Michel mine of Kaiser Resources, Sparwood, B.C., Canada pressures up to 140.61 kg/cm2
have been used and in China at Yangun kg/cm2 to work no. 3 seam a monitor pressure of
200kg/cm2 was used. (Lin and Yan, 1977) in the 1950s in the former USSR monitor nozzels
employed were 11/16 – 17/16 in 17.5 to 27 mm in diameter (N.C.B. Tech. Mission Report
1958). The water capacity was between
In 1,591-2,046 litres/min although higher capacities up to 3,410-3,637 litre/min were required
to work thicker seams. The capacity of the monitor was considered to be adequate if the total
water ratio was 1:5 but it was preferable to obtain a ratio of 1:3.Experience has shown that with
proper initial preparation a monitor can produce coal at the rate of some 50 tonnes per hour
which corresponds to a solid;liquid ratio of between 1:2 and 1:2.5.
At present in the CIS, there are remote control hydraulic monitors GMDZ-3 ,GMDC-4 rated
for pressures of 12 and 16 MPa (122.28-163.04 kg/cm2 and water discharge upto 450 cubic
meter per hours . There is also a self propelled hydraulic monitor with pressure boster SGU-
2M; power is supplied to it from the low pressure water pipe line and the pressure is located
at the required level directly at the face. Chinese have used monitors with nozzles of 30-32mm.
The effectiveness of the nozzle depends on the type of material of the nozzle and the
stand-off distance. the characteristics of two types of nozles: i) brass nozel ii) tungsten carbide
nozzle .

5.Hydraulic Transport
The high pressure water consumption of 4 to 6 m2/ton of run off mine coal is reponted in
German trails and outputs of 65 tons/man-shift. In Canada, the high pressure water
consumption is only 1 cubic metre per ton of run of mine coal and output of 240 tons/man-shift
in extraction areas has been achieved (hsrzer and geller ,1978).
HYDAULIC TRANSPORT
Hydraulic transport of broken coal is done in the following three ways
1. Along the floor
2. In flumes
3. In pipe ranges
5.1 Hydraulic transportation along the floor
At the face, hydraulic transportation can be carried out along the floor of the working and
can, if the face is short, proceed even though there is no gradient in the roadway. The quantity
of
water required for floor flushing depends on the size of the material. For example, in the floor
gradient range of up to 10°, the quantity of water required would be 70 m2hour if the size of
the
material is 0-70 mm; 200 mhour if the size of the material 0-150 mm and 250 m2/hour if the
size of the material is 0-250 mm (Mills, 1978).
5.2 Hydraulic transport in flumes
In the road ways ,it is customary to employ flumes of trapezoidal section for this purpose.
These must be laid at a gradient of at least 7° in the direction of flow. The throughput of
coal/water miture along 40.65 cm channels is 5.000 litres/min and along 50.8 cm channels 8410
litres/min.
5.3 Pipeline hydraulic transportation system
For pipe line transportation high pressure pumps are used. It has been established that the
resistance to be overeome in the transportation of slurry through piping is governed by the
consistency of coal slurry. The friction losses in the transport of slury are composed of the
friction losses of pure water at an input equal to the input of the slurry and of a constant gradient
depending on the expected slurry consistency, which is as follows (Report of the Tech Mission
of NCB, 1958): For solid/liquid 1 : 2.5 the additional gradient will be 0.012; for solid/liquid
1:4 the additional gradient will be 0.01; and for solid/liquid 1: 8 the additional gradient will be
0.007.
6. Hydrohoist
The Hydrohoist is a high pressure pumping system that uses a system of three-feed which are
filled with slurry in sequence and by turns have their slurry content forced into the transport
pipe and to the surface by high pressure clear water. The result is that the surry is pumped to
the surface by high pressure pumps but the high pressure pumps themselves are never subjected
to the damaging abrasiveness of slurry because the slurry never passes through the pumps.
Hydrohoist makes it possible to carry raw coal out of the mine by means of a single pipeline
after having mixed coal with water. Hydrohoist equipment is used in combination with
hydraulic coal mining .

A. Feeding Devices
(1) Feed pipes are horizontal pipes of 50 m in length and have exactly the same diameter as the
discharge pipes of the sand pump.
(2) Operating valves are plate valves specially designed for the hydrohoist. They are opened
and closed by means of hydraulically operated cylinders.
(3) Sand pump (bladeless sand pump): The passage for the impeller of the pump is a singled
passage of exactly the same dimension as the inlet port.
(4) High Pressure water pump: This is ordinarily multi-stage centrifugal pump.
B.Control device
Each of the operating valves operates in the proper sequence according to the commands
dispatched from the control device .there are two sets of oils pumps ; one on the inlet side and
one on the outlet side.
C. protective devices
protective devices consist of emergency exhaust valve and the emergency stop device .they
brings the euipment to the emergency stop in the event of sudden power failures.

6.1 Advantages of hydrohoist

(1) Installation costs are low because topography is not an important factor and there are no
reloading points along the pipeline.
(2) Reduction of labour cost is possible since all the equipment is concentrated at the end of
the pipeline. Maintenance is extremely simple and equipment can be operated no need to pay
attention about safety. No danger of coal dust explosion ;no danger of fatal accident as may
occur if rope breaks in winders.
(3)Coal can be transported in big pieces; however. it should be less than one-third the pipe
diameter.
(4)High head and long distance transportation of ordinary raw coal is possible i.e. up to 1000m
vertically, or 10 km horizontally. Consequently, coal can be transported outside the mine in a
single, unbroken stream, no matter how deep the mine shaft may be.
(5) No-high precision adjustments are required.
7. HYDRAULIC MINING OPERATIONS
Hydaulic mining like the conventional mining comprises two operations, i.e., (i) development
(ii) estraction and the system of mining may be bord and pillar with long piliars on the strike
Or short wall or sublevel caving depending on the thickness and gradient of the seam and other
physical factor.
7.2 Development
The development roadways are driven by hydromonitors or by continuous miners and in both
cases the coal is transported hydraulically in flumes installed in the roadways.
the cross-section of a roadway driven by hydromonitors. But if the coal is hard, the roadway is
diven by continuous miners.
7.3 Extraction
Euraction of Pillars or blocks is done by hydromonitors commencing from the boundary of the
panel and from rise to dip in increments of 12-13 m.
To cut the coal, the water is directed at an angle of 90° to the coal rib and moved slowly up and
down slicing deeply in areas of fissures or soft bands of coal. After a reasonably deep slot has
been made, the water is directed a few degrees further towards the goaf and the slit widened.
This procedure of widening and deepening continues until all the coal is removed. However.
as the coal builds up on the floor during each cutting operation, a few minutes sweeping the
water jet around on the floor helps to load out the cut coal on to the feeder-breaker where it is
sized and loaded into the flume line for transportation out of the mine. How the coal was cut
into the flume at Michel Colliery, Canada in the balmer seam 15.2m thick with a dip 25-55°.

Advantages
1. It is continuous in character.
2.there are small number of inherent operations and the process is simple.
3.the elements of various mining processes as common with traditional mining are reduced and
hence there is reduction in labour
4. The system lends well to automation and remote control.
5. As the presence of workers and the equipment is not needed at the working face, the space
need not be supported.
6. Coal pulp can be transported if the slope is more than 7°: with special type of lining the angle
may be as low as 4°
7. Hydro transport reduces the volume of roadways in shafts needed for transport purposes
8. The process of coal breaking is flexible and can be easily adapted to techtonic change.
9, There is reduced health hazard.
o. The frequency of occupational injuries is 2-3 times lower than with traditional methods
because of the absence of workers at the face and of rolling stock and mobile equipment
in the mine workings.
11. Air pollution by coal dust is insignificant not exceeding 0.25 to 0.5 mg/m3.
12. Because of the lower number of main and auxiliary operations and reduced labour
consumption, the productivity in hydraulic mines could be 1.3 to 2 times higher than in
traditionally worked mines.
14. The cost of hydro transport within a mine is 10 time less than conventional transport.
15. The cost of fixed assests per ton of coal mined is 25% lower than in the conventional
system.
13 The cost of production in hydraulic mines is 10 to 15% lower than in conventional
mines in the same coalfield with identical conditions.
14. There is less chance of explosion due to simplified ventilation system and due to reduction
in the use of electricity and cutter bits.
Disadvantage
1. Fuel and electric power expenses are 1.5 to 2 times higher than those of traditional mines
2. Humidity in the underground mine environment may be high.
3. The strength of weak roof and floors can be further reduced when soaked with water.

CONCLUSION:
From the assignment ,we get to know about hydraulic mining,operation ,extraction
process,transportion in hyraulic mining methods,advantage and
disadvantage,hydrohoist,applicability of hydraulic mining methods.
Refrencences;
https://www.wikipedia.com
https://www.miningtech.com
https://www.miningworld.com
https://www.reasearchgate.com
Principles and Practices of Modern coal Mining , by RD singh,New Age International Limited