Shevyakov - Mining of Mineral Deposits

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S H E V Y A K O V
m INING
^M IN E R A L
D E P O S IT S
A C A D E M I C I A N
L. S H E V Y A K O V
M INING
OF
MINERAL
DEPOSITS
A T E X T B O O K
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CONTENTS
BART ONE
OPENING UP OF MINERAL DEPOSITS

Cha/jtrr I. Basic Concepts iind T e rm in o lo g y .................................. lo
I. Useful Minerals and Their Occurrence......................... T3
2 Assured Economic Value of Mineral D ep o sits........................17
3 Imporlance of Exploration W o r k ...................................l ‘ J
4 Mineral Ueserves . . 30
5. Workable Heserves. Overall Losses of Ihe Mineral During Min
ing Operations............................................................-1
11. Mines .................................................................... 23
7. Terms and Definitions of Mine W orkings........................... 23
X. Mine as a 1Jrod net ion U n i t ............................................. 21
L'hii/iti r II. Opening Up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposit.-..............30

1. Coal Basin and Coal R e g io n ...........................................30
2. Shapes Characteristic of Bedded D eposits............................30
3. Mine f i e l d ................................................................ 33
4 Division of a Mine Field into Levels.................................. 33
a. Opening and Developing a Mine F i e ld .............................. 40
(i. Opening by Inclined Shafts.......... 41
7. Opening up 't hrough Vertical Shafts................................ 48
8. Opening Through Vertical Shafts and Crosscuts.....................33
9. Opening of a Horizontal B e d ............................................57
10. Division of a Mi in Field into Panels............................... 58
It. Opening of Coal Measures............................................. t>2
12. Opening of Disturbed D eposits........................................ ti9
13. Advance and Retreat Working of a Mine F i e l d .................. 71
14. Basic Principles of Estimating the Size of a Mine F i e l d ............. 77
15. Annual Output and Service-Life of Coal M in e s .................... 83
4 Contents
Hi. Sequence of Mine F i e l d s .................................................. 88

17 Preparation of Complex Plans and Layouts for Mining Mineral
D e p o s i t s ......................................................................90
18. Notion of Alternative Methods or Versions in Planning Opening and
Development of D e p o s i t s ................................................ 91
III. Some Observations on the Openingup of N'oncoal Bedded Deposits 95
Chapter 111. Opening Up of Ore D e p o s i t s ..................................... 96

1. Shapes oT Ore Occurrences............................................... 96
2. Open ini’up of (i on 11y Dipping Ore D e p o s i t s ........................ 98
2. Opening of Inclined Ore D e p o s its ..................................... 101
4. Opening of Steeply Dipping Ore D e p o s it s ........................... 102
• i. Opening of Large-Sized Ore B o d i e s ............................... 105
li. Level Interval Height in Opening Ore D e p o s i t s ....................106
7. Annual Output and Service-Life of Metalliferous Mines . . . . 106
*i y
Chapter IV. Choice of Site for S h a f t s ......................................... 109
I. Factors Influencing the Location of S h a f t s ............ 109
2 Conditions Underlying the Opening up of a Mine Field . . . .110
li. Geological and Hydrogeological C o n d it i o n s ....................... 116
4. Subsidence and Movement of B o c k s .............................118
5 Surface T o p o g r a p h y ..................................................... 120
0. Active Factors Involved in the Selection of Shaft Location . . . 121
7. Opening '111rough A d i t s ................................................ 121
Chapter I . Surface Plants and Structures of a M i n e ............... . 125

1. Surface Structures at a M i n e ........................................... 125
2. Arrangement of Mine Surface Structures ....................... 127
2. Arrangement of Shaft H o u s e s .................................... 121
Chapter VI. Shaft S t a t i o n s ....................................................... 136

1. Shaft Station S c h e m e s ................................................... 136
2. Mine Car Switching Operations at Shaft S t a t i o n s ..................139
3. Service and Engine Rooms at Shaft S t a t i o n s ....................... 141
p a r t T \v O
UNDERGROUND MINING OF MINERAL DEPOSITS

Chapter VII. Basic Concepts and T e r m in o l o g y ........................ 155
1 Definition of Concept “
Method of Mining Deposits” . . . 155
2 Choice of Mining M e t h o d ............................................ 156
Contents
3. Principles Underlying Miningof D e p o s it s .........................157

4. Drawings of Mining S y s t e m s ....................................... IfiO
Chapter I'///. F i l l i n g ......................................................... Mil

1. The Significance of F illin g............................................ Mil
2. Types of F i llin g .......................................................Itill
3. Sources and Propertiesof Mine-Fills................................ Mi:I
4. Filling by F l u s h i n g .................................................... Miti
5. Mechanisation of Filling Operations.................................Mi7
(i. Mechanical F illin g ......................................................Mi7
7. Pneumalic F i l l .......................................................... H>8
8. Hydraulic F i l l ........................................................ 17<i
SI. Comparison of Different Mine-Fill Types and the Spheres of Their
Application.............................................................. 185
C O A L I) 13 P O S I T S
Chapter IX. (Iioiee of Mining Methods and Modes of E.\(raetion . . . MS7

1. Shape of D epo sits.....................................................187
2. Thickness of S e a m s ............................................ . 188
3. Angle of D i p .............................................................. Mil
4. Structure of Seams....................................................... I!l2
0. Duality Characteristics of C o a l ..................................... Mil
(>. Ilardness of C o a l .........................................................201
7. Cleavage of C o a l ....................................................... 202
8. Size of C o a l ............................................................. 2o:t
(I Properties of Wall R o c k s ............................................ 2o4
10. Spatial Relationship of Seams in(he S e r i e s ........................2o(i
11. Mining D e p t h ........................................................... 2011
12 Cas-llearing Capacity of aD e p o s i t .................................. 207
13. Spontaneous Combustion of C o a l ..................................... 212
14. Water-Hearing Capacity ofa D e p o s i t ............................... 214
15. The Effect of Mechanisation on the Selection of Mining Methods 215
Chapter X. General Surveyor Coal Seam Mining M ethod s................ 217
1. A Note on the Classification of Mining M ethods................. 217

2. Fundamentals of Breast-Stoping Methods of Mining . . . . 217
3. Definition of Pillar Mel hods of M in in g ........................... 220
4. Definition of Combined Methods of M in in g ........................ 221
5. A Note on Methods Used in Mining of High S e a m s .............. 222
(i. Sequence ol Describing Methods of Cual Mining
R Contents
Chapter XI. Stopintf in n Continuous F a c e ................................... 223
A. SLIGHTLY INCLINED AND SLOPING SEAMS

1 Hock Pressure in a Continuous F a c e ................................. 223
2 Extraction of C o a l ......................................................... 230
3. Working Face Timberin'?....................... 240
4 Filling of Mined-Oul A r e a s ....................................... 262
5 Artificial Caving of Ilie R o o f ........................................... 264
0. Collapses of Working Faces and Relim bering....................... 268
7. Conveying Coal in Production F a c e s .................................. 269
8. Ventilation and Lighting at Working F a ces...........................272
Cyclic S lo p in g
9 Definition of a Continuous Cycle O p e r a tio n ......................... 274

do Importance of Cyclic O p e ra tio n s ................................. 276
11 Planned Work Diagrams and Labour Distribution Charts . . . 277
d2. Compilation of Planned Work Diagrams, Labour Distribution
Charts and 'fables of Expected Technical and Economic Indices 280
d3. Examples of Cyclic Work in Coal W a lls ............. . . . 283
14 Prerequisites for Successful Fulfilment of Cyclic Operations . . 290
LL STEEPLY PITCHING SEAMS
15 Peculiarities of Rock Pressure and Support of Working Faces in

Steeply Pitching S c a m s ................- ................................ 297
16. Coal Extraction in Denches.............................................. 303
17. Work in a Steep F a c e .................................................... 3tl
Chapter XII. Continuous Methods of M in in g ..........................
A. GENTLY PITCHING AND MEDIUM-STEEP SEAMS
1. Development W o r k ...................................................... 312

2. Longwall M in in g........................................................ 31<5
3 Continuous Sublevel M in in g............................................ 318
4 Continuous Mining with Raise andOblique F a c e s ................... 327
5 Continuous Systems in Mining of Slightly Inclined and Sloping
S e a m s .......................................................................327
B. STEEPLY PITCHING SEAMS
6. Development W o r k .......................................................329
7. Longwalls in Steeply Pitching B e d s .................................... 332
8. Continuous Sublevel Mining in SteepS e a m s .......................... 333
9. Stand-By Coal Face F r o n t ......................................... 335
Contents 7
Chapter XIII. Pillar Methods of A lin in g................................... 3.17

1. Main Points of Pillar Alining........................................ 337
A. GENTLY PITCHING AND MLD1UM-STEEP SLA.MS

2. Long Pillar Mining on S tr ik e..........................................338
3. Spatial Correlation of Coal and Development F a ces............... 343
4 Estimating the Size of a Working Section or Panel.................. 347
5. Long Pillar Alining in the Moscow Coal F ield s.................... 350
(j. Long Pillar Alining of Combustiblo Shale D e p o s it s ...............333
I) STEEPLY PITCHING SEAAIS

7 Long Pillar Alining on Strike in Sleep H o d s ....................335
H. Application Fields for Long Pillar Alining on S t r i k e ...............353
9. Long Pillar Alining to the Rise and Pillnr-and-Ltord Alelhod . . 337
Chapter XIV. Combined Methods of Alining................................. 339

I. basic Concept of Combined Methods of Alining..................... 359
2. Alining with Twin E n tr ie s ............................................. 359
3. Hoom-and-Pillar Alelhod of Alining................................... 301
Chapter XV. Mining of Thick S e a m s ......................................... 3(14

1. Preliminary O bservations.............................................. 304
A. NONSLICING METHODS OFAIINING THICK SEAAIS

MINING HY -STRIPS”
2. General Con cepts.......................................................... 304

3. Alining by Strips on S t r i k e ........................................... 305
4 Strip Alining to the R i s e ................................................ 30G
5. Alining with Diagonal S t r i p s ..........................................307
Pillar Alining Methods
6. Long Pillar Alining on Strike with Caving in Slightly Inclined

B e d s ......................................................................... 308
7. Long Pillar Alining on Strike with Hydraulic Filling in Gently
Inclined S e a m s ............................................................. 370
8. Long Pillar Mining on Strike with Caving in Steep Seams . . . 371
9. Long Pillar Alining on Strike with Filling in Steep Seams . . . 373
10. Shield Mining Alelhod in Highly Pitching S e a m s ............... 375
11. Hoorn M i n i n g .............................................................. 3S0
8 Contents
li. SUCK MINING OF THICK HKDS

12 Division of a Thick Bed into S l i c e s ............................... 382
Inclin ed S licin g
13. Division of a Bed into Slices and Their T h ic k n e s s ................383

14. Order of Slice K x t r a c tio n ............................................. 384
15. KITecls of the Angle of Pitch and Wall Rock Properties . . . . 387
10. The Kffect of the Time Element and Percentage of Coal Recovery . 388
17. Effects of Inlerslice Gangue Partings and Coal S t r a t a ............... 390
18. Development O r d e r .......................................................391
19. Inclined Slicing-and-C.aving in Gently Sloping B e d s ............... 392
20. Mining of Sleep Scams by Inclined Ascending Slicing-and-Filling . 396
21. Inclined Downward Slicing-and-Filling inSteeply Dipping Seams 397
22. Application Fields of Inclined S l i c i n g ........................... 399
M in in g In/ D ia g o n a l Slices
23. Diagonal S l i c i n g .......................................................... 400
H orizon tal S licin g
24. Order of S l i c i n g ........................................................... 404

25. Upward or AscendingHorizontal S l i c i n g .............................407
26. Horizontal Descending S l i c i n g .........................................412
27. Application Fields of Horizontal S l i c i n g .......................... 418
28. Fundamentals of Mining hy Transversely Inclined Slices . . .418
29. Comparative Evaluation of Inclined, Diagonal and Horizontal
S l i c i n g .......................................................................420
30. Comparison of Mining Methods with anil Without Slicing . . . 421
31. Comparison of Methods Employed for Mining Thick Beds with
Filling and C a v in g ......................................................... 422
Chapter AT/. Underground Gasification of C o a l ............................. 426
1. Historical Background and Importance of Underground Gasification

of C o a l ...................................................................... 426
2. Basic Notions on the Methods of Underground Gasification of
C o a l .......................................................................... 427
Chapter AT//. Hydraulic Mining of C o n i .................................... 430
1. Basic Notions of Underground Ily d r a u lic k in g ..................430

2. An Example of Underground Coal Ilydraulicking ................. 430
3. General Flowsheet for Underground Ily d r a u lick in g ............... 453
Contents !)
DEPOSITS OF N A T U R A L SALTS
Chapter AT///. Methods of Mining Rock and Potash S a i l s ...............43.7
1. Shapes of Rock and Potasli Salt D e p o s i l s .............................43.7
2. Methods Employed for Mining Hock S a l t ........................... 430
3. Mining of Potasli S a l t s ................................................ 443
4. Estimating the Size of Support P i l l a r s .............................. 402
5. A Few Remarks on the Production of Rock Salt hy Dissolution . 40ti
(i. Mining of Building Stones by Underground M eth od s............ 400
ORE DEPOSITS
Chapter XIX. Choice of Methods for Mining Ore D e p o s i l s ...............408

1. Preliminary R e m a r k s ................................................... 408
2. Thickness of Ore Occurrences.........................................4.j8
3. Angle of D i p ............................................................4.>'J
4 Depth of Ore Occurrences............................................... 400
0. Matter Composition of O r e s ............................................ 401
(i. Hardness and Strength of Ores andEnclosing R o c k s .............. 463
7. Size Grading of the O r e ................................................405
8. Some Other Factors Affecting the Choice of Mining Method . . . . 407
II. Effects of Mechanisation on the Choice of Mining Method . . . . 408
Id. Significance of Concomitant Exploration during the Exploitation
of Ore D e p o s i t s .........................................................401)
Chapter A A . .Mining of Thin and Medium-Thick Ore Deposils . . . . 4<U
A. FLAT AND MODERATE DIP
1 Pillar Method of Mining ManganeseO r e s ......................... 470

2. Pillar Mining of Phosphorites...................................... 474
3. Placer M i n i n g ............................................................47a
IT HIGH DIP
4 Lode M in in g ..............................................................487
,7. StulLSel Method of M in in g.............................................488
0. Mining with Reinforced S u p p o r t ................................... 4(.)u
7. Filling Methods of M in in g ................ ...........................41)1
8. Shrinkage-Sloping.........................................................404
!). Shrinkage-Sloping hy S l i c e s .............................................4U0
10. Mining with Shrinkage-Sloping of Waste F i l l ...................... ,700
11. Sublevel Back S l o p i n g ................................................. 502
12. Basic Notions of Underhand S l o p i n g ................................ 504
in Contents
Chapter XXI. Methods of Mining Thick Ore D e p o s i t s .................... 506

1 ['articular Importance of Enclosing Rock Control in Working Thick
Ore D e p o s it * ...............................................................506
2. Mining with Natural Support P illa r s................................... 506
5. Sublevel .Stuping..........................................................512
4. Itreaking of Ore by Deep Horizontal Blast-Holes and Coyote or
Tunnel B la s tin g ........................................................... 518
5. Square-Set S l o p i n g ........................................................ 520
i). Cut-and-Fill Method of Mining Thick OreD e p o s i t s ....................522
7 Shrinkage-Sloping......................................................... 525
8. Caving Methods of M in in g .............................................. 528
0. Sublevel C a v i n g ........................................................... 533
in Methods of Minin" with Induced Caving of Ore (Block Caving) . . 539
11 Methods Involving Natural (Spontaneous) Caving of Ore . . . . 552
12 Combined Methods of Controlling Enclosing Country Rocks . 555
13. Some Remarks on the Mining of Precious Stones (Gems) . . . 556
14 Mining by Glory Holes (Milling).................................... 558
15. Basic Nolions of Ore L e a c h in g ......................................... 558
Chapter XXII. Mining of Contiguous B e d s .....................................560

1. Undermining of Adjacent R e d s ......................................... 560
2. Examples Illustrating Mining of Contiguous S c a m s ............ 564
3 Combined Development of Contiguous Seam S e r i e s .................567
4 Significance of Group Openings in Mining of Self-Igniting Seams 569
5. Basic Concept of Combined Development of Seam Series by Blind
S h a f t s .......................................................................571
Chapter X X III. Effects of Underground Excavations on the Ground Surlace 572

1. Manifestations of Rock Movements on the S u r la c e ................ 572
2. Safety P i l l a r s .............................................................. 575
Chapter XXI V. Classification and Choice of Mining M e t h o d s ............ 584

1. Programme of Study and Description of Mining Methods . . . . 584
2. Classification of Mining M e t h o d s .................................... 585
3. Choice of Mining M e t h o d ...............................................588
PART TURF. F
OPEN-CUT MINING
Chapter XXV. Basic Definitions and T e r m in o l o g y ..........................593

1 Conditions Warranting Open-CutW o r k .............................593
2. Determining the Depth of Open-Cut W o r k ....................... 594
Conicn ts II
3. Advantages and Drawbacks of Open-Cut Work us Compared to

Underground M in in g ................................................... 000
4 Bench M i n i n g ...................................................... (103
5 Volume Weight (Density). Coefficients of Expansion and Angles
of Repose of Some Rocks. Angles of Rank E d g e s ............... if Hi
Cli(i/>lrr .V.VI7. Equipment and Layouts of Open f i t s ................... 00!)

1. Basic Types of Open-Work Mechanisation........................ Oof)
2. Drilling and Blasting in Open B i t s ................................. 012
3. Mining by Excavators.................................................Olti
4 Employment of Earth-Digging and Moving Machines . . . . Ii28
5 Mining of Monoliths (Ashlar or Cut-Stone Blocks).............. 030
0 Transport Facilities in Open-Cut M i n e s .......................... 002
7. Waste Dumps and Equ ipm en t..................................... 037
8. (Ocneral Open-l’ it Layout Rat t e r n s .............................. '>0
q. Driving of T ren ch es................................................ • ■
Tl*
in Ilydraulickiug in Surface M ining.................................... 00!)
j|. Dredging of I’ l a r e r s .................................................. ..
12 Dewatering Open 1*i t s ...................................................
13 . Safety Measures in Open-Cut Mining.............................. 074
Subject .................................................................................................. ...

P a r t One
OPENING UP OF MINERAL
DEPOSITS
CHAPTER I
BASIC CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY
1. Useful Minerals and Their Occurrence

Minerals and rocks extracted from the earth’ s crust for purposes
of utilisation are called useful or valuable.
Extraction is the aggregate of industrial operations required to
remove useful minerals from Ihe earth's crust.
Mine output is the amount of useful mineral recovered from the
earth’ s crust within a certain period of time.
.Accumulation of useful minerals in the earth’ s crust is termed
occurrence or deposit.
Mocks with mineral occurrences are called country rocks, while
those interlaying with valuable minerals are “ ungues.
The notion of useful mineral is a relative one.
In certain conditions a given mineral or rock may he extracted as
a valuable mineral, while in others it is considered a gangue or waste.
For example, immense quantities of limestone are mined in special
quarries and employed as flux for pig-iron smelting in blast fur
naces, whereas at coal pits and other mines workings sometimes
intersect beds of limestone, which, however, is dumped as useless
gangue, since, in this instance, in view of the small amount of rock
recovered, its use would he economically unprofitable.
Minerals may he solid, liquid or gaseous.
The solid ones include mineral coals, metal ores, mineral salts,
building materials and many other minerals; liquid ones—crude
oil, brines and mineral waters. As an example of gaseous minerals
we may cite natural gases, recovered through boreholes and subse
quently burned or processed on the spot, or transported by pipeline
over long distances (for instance, “Saratov gas” , recovered in the mid
dle reaches of the Volga, is transported to Moscow via gas mains
over a distance of about 800 km).
With the passage of time and progress in science and technology
the number of valuable minerals constantly increases. The discovery
of radioactivity at the close of the 19th century has led to the in
clusion of the ores of radioactive elements in the list of minerals. The
if, Basic Concepts and Terminology
same holds Imp for Iho ores of rare earths and now gaseous minerals,
such as helium, recovered through boreholes together with other
gases. There are many other examples we could cite.
Achievements in research sometimes lead to the reappraisal of
the importance of minerals. Thus, a very important role in modern
technology is played by aluminium which is obtained chiefly from
bauxites. Before the development of the aluminium industry bauxites
were sometimes considered poor iron ores.
Ilv their industrial importance, and following in the main the
pattern laid down by A. Fersman, minerals may now be classified
as follows:
A. Metal ores and meluls proper (iron, manganese, vanadium, chro
mium. gold, platinum, silver, lead, zinc, aluminium, tin, copper,
nickel, tungsten, molybdenum, cobalt, titanium, beryllium, niobi
um, antimony, bismuth, mercury, etc.).
It. Fuels (coal, combustible shales, crude oil, natural gases, etc.).
It is noteworthy that in modern industry the minerals of this group
are used to an ever-increasing extent not only as fuel but as raw ma
terials for the production of a huge variety of chemicals.
C. Nonmetallic minerals:
a) salts (table salt, potassium and magnesium salts, saltpeter,
natural sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, etc.);
h) abrasives—grinding and honing materials for the processing of
smfaces: emery, corundum, pumice, honing and polishing stones,
flint; others that may be included in this group are diamonds and
garnets, listed below as precious stones;
c) ceramics, glass and insulation materials (asbestos, dolomite,
acid-resistant and refractory clays, quartz and quartzite, feldspar,
mica, talc and many others);
d) building materials (asphalt, gypsum, anhydrite, slate, limestone,
clays, sand, gravel, marble, stone building materials, various ce
ment materials, etc.);
e) miscellaneous industrial materials (barite, graphite, pyrites,
mineral paints, lithographic stone, magnesite, chalk, mineral wax,
sulphur, tripoli, diatomite, etc.);
f) mineral fertilisers (apatite, phosphorite, potassium salts, etc.);
g) precious, coloured and decorative or ornamental stones (diamonds,
aquamarine, tourmaline, garnet, opal, turquoise, varieties of quartz,
amber, malachite, jaspers, etc.);
h) technical stones (Iceland spar, agate, rock crystal, piezoquartz,
etc.);
i) natural gases (oxygen, nitrogen, argon and other rare gases,
helium, methane, etc.);
l) radioactive and rare elements and their compounds — radium,
uranium, lithium, rubidium, etc.
Assured Economic Value of Mineral Deposits 17
The above classification is, to a certain measure, conventional,

for some minerals and rocks may he listed twice: for example, dia
monds may be called abrasives and gems; potassium chloride com
pounds may be included both in the salt and mineral fertiliser groups,
and so on.
Deposits of useful minerals are one of the forms of occurrence in
the earth’ s crust of minerals and rocks and are, therefore, primarily
a subject of geological study, or, to be more precise, of study by a
special department of this extensive branch of science—economic
geology or leaching on mineral deposits. Being one of the series of
natural science disciplines, its particular aim is to create a natural
classification of the subject-matter it is called upon to study. As in
the study of other natural objects, this classification is of a genetic
type, that is, based on features specific to the geological origin of
mineral deposits.
However, for mining purposes, that is, for working mineral depos
its, their form is of prime importance, regardless of the peculiari
ties incidental to their geological origin.
Below is a brief description of the forms of mineral deposits.
2. Assured Economic Value of Mineral Deposits

Mineral occurrences suitable for mining are said to have an assured
economic value, that is, they are commercial or paying as distinct
from those where this assurance is lacking and which are called non
commercial or nonpaying.
The concept of assured or commercial value is a relative one. The
true economic value of a deposit depends not only upon its geologi
cal characteristics, hut also on the importance its exploitation has
for the national economy of the country as a whole.
There is a marked and essential difference between the definition
of a deposit’ s assured or commercial value under socialism and that
in capitalist conditions.
Under capitalism a mineral deposit is said to have an assured
economic value when its exploitation brings profit.
In Soviet, socialist conditions a mineral deposit is considered
paying or commercial when its exploitation is warranted from the
viewpoint of the benefits it brings to the entire national economy and,
first and foremost, with due account of the economic factor in
volved.
The factors determining the commercial value of a mineral depos
it may be divided into two groups: 1) quantity and quality of re
serves and the geological conditions attending the occurrence, and
2) possible importance of its exploitation for the national economy.
The factors of the first group are:
2-3G25
IS Basic Concepts and Terminology
a) (he presence of workable beds or deposits, economically suitable

for mining because of their thickness, structure, physical and chemi
cal features;
1>) sufficient reserves of the valuable mineral to justify its mining;
c) relatively regular nature of occurrence (viewed geologically).
A highly disturbed nature of the deposit and its division into small
separate portions present considerable difficulties to mining. But even
highly dislocated deposits may prove suitable for exploitation if
they have sections of sufficient size to permit the adoption of a cer
tain method of mining;
d) the occurrence of a deposit in depth. With the depth increasing,
there may arise considerable difficulties in working a deposit. With
depth the rock temperature rises at a certain rate (approximately
by one degree per every 30-40 and sometimes more metres, from the
mean annual temperature for the given area). In the case of gas-bear
ing deposits, primarily in coal beds, the increase of depth may
cause a rapid expansion in the volume of liberated mine gases. More
over, with depth the nature of gas evolution may become compli
cated; for example, instead of a regular, uniform outflow of gases
(here may be instances of violent sudden outbursts, accompanied by
dislodgemcnt of coal, sometimes in sizable proportions. The deeper
the mine workings, the greater rock pressure may grow. Lastly, deep
mining enhances difficulties in hoisting the mineral and gangue and
complicates mine drainage and ventilation in underground workings.
Lor this reason it is customary to limit even the total potential
(geological) reserves of extensive mine fields, where mineral deposits
are known definitely to lie several kilometres below surface, to depths
making it possible to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties with
the aid of present-day techniques. Thus, in the Donets and Kuznetsk
coal fields the potential (geological) reserves of coal are estimated to
the depth of 1,500 metres below the sea level, that is, about 1,600-
1,700 metres below ground surface, depending on local topography.
There are mine fields where, because of the prevailing geological
structure, minerals do not lie very deep, just a few scores of metres
below surface (for example, the Chercmkhovo and Moscow coal
fields). Ore deposits may be both deep (for instance, the iron ores
of Krivoi Rog and the chalcopyrites in the Urals) and shallow (iron
ore occurrences in the central regions of the European part of the
U.S.S.R., manganese ores in the Nikopol area of the Ukraine, etc.).
In the U.S.S.R. the deepest workings now are in the Donets coal
basin. The depth of the vertical shaft at the Shcheglovka-Deep Pit
reaches 948 metres. The deepest mine workings abroad are in South
Africa, India and Brazil;
e) unfavourable natural factors—high water- andjor gas-bearing ca-
pac ily of the deposit, unstable or insecure enclosing rocks, etc. These
Imporlance of Exploration Work in
factors complicate mining operations, but should not be regarded as

a reason for abandoning the exploitation of the deposit. In certain
instances, they tend to defer the ultimate industrial exploitation
of a deposit.
The importance of the exploitation of any mineral deposit for the
national economy is determined by the factors of the second group:
a) the extent to which the state needs a particular valuable min
eral from the given deposit;
b) geographic location of the mine property;
c) availability of means of transport, or conditions favouring or
complicating their construction;
d) available or possible sources of labour, food, power, materials
and equipment.
All these factors differ diametrically under the capitalist and social
ist economic systems.
Under capitalism the above-mentioned and other similar prereq
uisites for the exploitation of any deposit, as a rule, prevail irre
spective of mining activities.
In Soviet conditions, if these prerequisites are absent at the ini
tial stage of mining, they are created in a planned way. One example
of such approach to the utilisation of (he country’ s mineral wealth
is the establishment by the Soviet Union of numerous major indus
trial districts: the Kuznetsk basin, Karaganda, Magnitogorsk (iron
ores), Balkhash (copper ores) and many others.
After geological exploration and detailed prospecting had confirmed
the presence of huge reserves of coal, particularly of coking one,
in Karaganda, a railway line was built to link this remote region with
the ultimate consumers of coal, well-appointed modern cities and
workers’settlements rose, power stations were erected, adequate
drinking, domestic and industrial water supplies were ensured,
qualified labour force secured, etc.
All this was done in accordance with a previously elaborated
state plan.
Even grander and more ambitious were the now implemented
plans regarding the Kuznetsk basin and the Urals. These two huge
industrial centres, lying far from each other, were conceived and
developed in close coordination.
3. Importance of Exploration Work

Prior to the preparation of the mine layout and of the plan for its
exploitation, the property must be thoroughly explored. The impor
tance of exploration lies in the fact that, after a mineral deposit
has been geologised and prospected, it is imperative to study its
features in detail, both with regard to the quantity and quality of
2
20 Basic Concepts and Terminology
Ihc valuable mineral and the conditions governing its working. This
is necessary in order finally to establish the assured or commercial
value of the properly and to plan its layout and mining operations.
The purpose of exploration work is to ascertain the type and shape
of the mineral occurrence, the quantity and quality (grade) of min
eral reserves, specific property of enclosing or country rocks and
Iheir water- and gas-bearing capacity. It should also furnish the data
requisite for deciding on the concentration of the mineral.
It is not necessary and not always possible to explore the property
in detail all at once. But this is absolutely indispensable, at least
lo the extent permitting substantiation of the estimates of mineral
reserves in designing and building primary shafts. The better a min
ing property is explored, the easier it is to prepare a well-grounded
complex (that is, coordinated) plan for its mining through shafts of
the first and subsequent stages of operation.
Detailed exploration work is costly but unavoidable. If, to min
imise expenditure and save time, shafts are sunk at insufficiently
explored properties, the information on the quantity and quality
of the mineral obtained through preliminary prospecting may find
no confirmation and the capital outlays prove futile. Conversely,
if exploration efforts are crowned with success, the sum spent on
them would be insignificant compared with the value of the product
extracted.
Hence, elaboration of plans for the operation of a mining enter
prise requires a definite degree of exploration of its mineral reserves.
4. Mineral Reserves
Mineral resources belong to one of the so-called categories of re
serves designated A, B and C, according to the degree of exploration.
A detailed definition of these concepts is given in textbooks on ap
plied geology and prospecting. Briefly, it may be said that Category
A includes all warranted reserves, whose availability is proved by ex
ploration and whose features have been studied in detail. Category
B covers reserves whose existence is considered probable after certain
prospecting work and geological observation. Finally, there is Cat
egory C which includes possible reserves, whose occurrence in the
earth’ s crust may be presumed on the basis of geological considera
tions, substantiated in part by geophysical investigations and in
dividual artificial or natural outcrops. Categories A and C are di
vided into subcategories A x, A z and C, and Ct, according to the de
gree of exploration.
The estimated reserves of mineral deposits are subject to approv
al by the State Commission for Mineral Reserves of the Council of
Ministers of the U.S.S.R. (S.C.R.). The approved reserves are called
Workable Reserves 21
inventory resources. They include tlie reserves in categories A, B

and C,, with those in the latter category taken account of separately
from the resources in the superior categories. The inventory re
sources comprise reserves whose grade of mineral content meets indus
trial use specifications and whose quantity and mode of occurrence
make their extraction profitable in the present-day conditions of
technical and economic development.
In deciding the question of building new mines, and also in de
signing them, reserves belonging to categories A and B are alone con
sidered as future prospects of “ transferring”Category C. reserves to
categories A and B in the course of further prospecting. For example,
elaboration of preliminary project schemes for the construction of
coal mines and open pits is permitted only on the basis of confirmed
A2~ B -j-C, reserves, provided the available reserves of categories
As-rB constitute no less than 50 per cent of total resources. For
other minerals these proportions may be different.
5. Workable Reserves. Overall Losses of the

Mineral During Mining Operations
In designing the mining enterprises one must base all estimates
and calculations on workable mineral reserves. These involve amounts
which can be readily recovered from the deposit. In other words,
workable reserves are equal to the inventory ones minus overall
losses as envisaged by the scheme of operations.
The reasons for the losses of the mineral and their percentage arc
closely linked with methods of mining and, therefore, will be dealt
with in detail in subsequent chapters of this book. It may bo said,
however, that the chief causes are: 1) abandonment of the mineral
in mined-out workings due to faulty or inadequate methods of oper
ation in the form of fines, protective pillars, “ safety”arch and floor
pillars, etc.; 2) abandonment of the valuable mineral in pillars near
mine workings; 3) abandonment of the mineral in “ safety”pillars
under surface structures and water basins whose drainage is either
unfeasible or inexpedient.
In some instances the amount of loss ranges from a few to scores
of per cent of the total inventory reserves.The magnitude of losses
is determined by the coefficient of losses, that is, by the ratio between
the amount of the mineral lost and its inventory reserves. If the figure
involves the loss for the whole of the mine field it is called coefficient
of overall losses. When it is a question of operational losses caused
by a mining method, the losses are estimated by using the coefficient
of exploitation losses. Hence, the overall losses at every mine are
always somewhat in excess of the exploitation losses. The amount
no Basic Concepts and Terminology
of mineral removed from tlro deposit is determined by the coefficient

of recovery, which is indicative of the percentage of inventory re
serves actually mined. Consequently, if we take inventory reserves
as 1, the coefficient of recovery will equal 1 minus the coefficient
of losses, and vice versa. For example, with losses amounting to
8 per cent, the coefficient of losses would come to 0.08, while that
of recovery will equal 0.92. As in the case of losses, there are also a
total coefficient of recovery for the entire mine and a coefficient of
exploitation recovery.
The losses of the mineral may be not only quantitative, but qual
itative too, the latter when the grade of the mineral is permitted to
deteriorate in the process of mining. For instance, during the exploi
tation of ore bodies barren rocks enclosing useful mineral may be
come mixed with ore broken in stopes, thus diluting it, that is,
lowering the content of its valuable components.
The losses of useful mineral in amounts exceeding permissible
limits prejudice the interests of the national economy. Once in
curred, these losses by their very nature are irretrievable. Instances of
repeated working of deposits whose initial exploitation was attended
by high losses and waste of mineral are rare exceptions to this rule.
There have been cases of deposits previously mined by the under
ground method being later worked as open pits, this making it pos
sible to recover the useful mineral formerly abandoned in pillars.
There have also been instances of ore being recovered from pillars
in old mined-out rooms where because of insufficient knowledge and
experience in the past, protective pillars of unnecessarily large size
had been abandoned. Such cases, however, are rare exceptions and,
as a rule, losses which occurred during mining operations cannot
possibly be made good again.
The adverse consequences of such losses arc not limited only to
squandering natural wealth.
Construction of new shafts requires considerable capital outlays,
whose depreciation in the form of sinking fund constitutes a sizable
part of the cost of mine production. The greater the loss, the lower
is the percentage of recoverable reserves, the larger is capital expend
iture per unit of output.
When the factual losses at an operating mine surpass the level
envisaged in its operational plan, the result may be underfulfilmcnt
of production schedule.
If a mine builds up its reserves of mineral with losses exceeding
those provided for by its production plan, it reduces its own life
and thus upsets overall plans of mineral production.
The waste of some self-ignition minerals may, in certain condi
tions, lead to underground fires. This applies to most varieties of
mineral coal, lignites, chalcopyrites and pyrites.
Terms and Definitions of Mine Workings 23
It thus becomes evident that mineral losses and waste in mimin'

are harmful in many respects and should be minimised as far as
possible.
Considerable losses may be permitted only when extracting miner
als of little value in which nature is extremely rich (certain build
ing stones, rock salt, etc.), for mining them with reduced losses
would lead to a substantial increase in production cost.
6. Mines
Mines are industrial enterprises whose designation is to exploit
or explore mineral deposits.
In the U.S.S.R. mines are in the charge of economic councils.
The operational mining unit is a mine, when minerals are obtained
by the underground method, and quarry (open pit) in the case of
open-cut mining.
The mines and open pits are managed directly by trusts, each being
in charge of several mines or open pits. The activities of several
trusts are guided by combines which are directly responsible to the
regional economic councils. In some cases Ihe managerial patterns
of mining enterprises are somewhat different.
7. Terms and Definitions of Mine Workings

Exploitation of mineral deposits involves driving of mine work
ings, that is, formation of excavations in the earth’ s crust. The
process of driving these workings is called mining.
Direct removal of useful minerals or barren rock from the earth’ s
crust is called extraction.
In the stage of drivage the advancing surface of a mine working
is called face.
The face advance of a working is the distance marking the progress
of its face per unit of time.
In shape, size and disposition mine workings present a great va
riety of patterns.
Let us first acquaint ourselves with mine workings as shown in
the figure illustrating their disposition (Fig. 1).
The deposit consists of two minable beds of useful mineral in the
shape of shift-faults. The one above is thin, while the one below is
of considerable thickness. Country bedrocks enclosing the layers
lie under relatively thin overburden.
A deposit of this type might be mined, for example, by driving
the following workings:
1) a vertical mine shaft 1 can be sunk from the ground surface,
and crosscuts 2 and 2' may be driven from it at certain depth to
Basic Concepts and Terminology
intersect the beds. From llir crosscuts one can drive vertical openings
o upwards or 4 downwards or else inclined openings 5 upwards and 6
downwards;
2) in Ihe case where the surface is mountainous, instead of extend
ing a vertical shaft and crosscuts it is possible to drive adit 7 from
the valley to mine the upper portion of the deposit;
3) the beds can also be worked through inclined shafts 8, driven

from the surface;
b) to a certain depth the thick hod can he mined by open-cut meth
od !).
In comparing the workings lisled above, one can divide them into
two basic groups: open and underground. The latter arc subdivided
i,nlo vertical, horizontal and inclined openings. In addition to these,
there are underground mine workings whose extension is insignificant
when compared to their cross-section (usually rather large); these
are called rooms.
Various productive workings are excavated at the sites where the
hulk of the mineral is actually mined, that is, in stopes.
The initial point of vertical and inclined openings is sometimes
termed mouth and the terminal—well or sump.
The lateral sides of horizontal and inclined openings are called
walls, the lower side—bottom or floor, and the upper—back or roof.
Surfaces confining vertical openings are called walls.
Let us now pass to a more detailed discussion of mining termi
nology.
Vertical Openings
Mine shaft (or briefly shaft) is a vertical opening communicating
directly with the ground surface and intended to service underground
operations. Shafts are classified as main or hoisting and auxiliary,
depending on their chief designation. The main shaft serves princi
pally for hoisting the mineral to the surface. Auxiliary shafts are
Terms and Definitions of Mine Workings 25
named after the nature of the principal functions they perform:

upcast fan shaft (for ventilating mine workings), drainage or pump
shaft (for water disposal), supply shaft (for handling mine-fill), etc.
Quite often shafts perform several functions at a time and in that
case they are called after the principal one.
Blind or dummy shaft is a vertical opening with no direct commu
nication with the surface. It is provided with mechanical equipment
to transport people and materials.
Test pit is a small vertical opening sunk from the ground surface
for the purpose of prospecting. Sometimes it is also used in exploit
ing the mine, particularly for purposes of ventilation. In some cases
pits are employed for charging explosives in bulk blasting.
Borehole is an opening made with the aid of a drill. The diameter
of a hole usually comes to a few centimetres or several scores of centi
metres. Boreholes with a diameter of around 0.5-2 metres are com
monly called large borings.
A vertical opening several metres in diameter, driven with Ihe
aid of boring rigs, is called shaft.
Horizontal Workings
Generally speaking, these workings are not strictly horizontal.
They have a slight slope (of a few millesimals) to facilitate the runoff
of water and haulage.
Adit is a horizontal underground passage directly communicating
with the surface and intended for servicing a mine. Likeshafts, adits
may he classified as: main, auxiliary, haulage, drainage, ventilating,
etc. A small adit used for exploration purposes is called prospecting
adit.
Tunnel is a horizontal underground passage open to the atmos
phere at both ends. In mining the use of tunnels is rather re
stricted.
Crosscut is a horizontal opening that has no communication with
the surface and is driven in country rocks at a certain angle to the
course or the strike of the rocks. More often than not it is driven
across the strike, that is, at a right angle to it.
Drift is a horizontal opening that has no communication with
the surface and is driven along the strike of a deposit; in horizontal
ly occurring deposits—in any direction. At coal mines drifts are
usually called entries.
Drifts or entries can be driven both in the mineral body and in
country rocks. In the latter case they are called lateral drifts. Drifts
play a major part in mining mineral deposits and serve a variety of
purposes. Accordingly, different drifts are given special names:
haulage or tramming drift, ventilation drift, etc. These, however,
are better discussed in liiechapter devoted lo the description of min

ing methods and lo lhe terms of some horizontal workings of sec
ondary imporlance.
Inclined Workings
Inclined shaft is an opening similar to an ordinary shaft, but ex
tending from its mouth downward at a certain angle.
Mine slope is an inclined excavation that has no immediate com
munication with the ground level and is used for hoisting minerals
and other materials. Braking incline is a working of a similar nature,
hut designated for lowering minerals and other loads with the aid
of mechanical devices. Gravity incline is an excavation of a like
type, but the loads slide down of their own accord, carried on by
their weight. Gravity inclines frequently have manways with special
ladders. These, however, are not used systematically by people, but
serve as access to any part of the incline in effecting repairs and also
to help move down jammed materials.
In ore mining the term raise is widely used. This is an opening driv
en to the rise (see Chapter II, Section 2) intended for ventilation,
men’ s passage and transportation of materials. When required, ca
bles and pipelines are laid in raises.
Manway is an inclined opening serving principally as a men’ s
passage.
Mining practice also knows inclined blind shafts, lest pits and
inclined boreholes, all of them openings similar to vertical workings,
but driven at a sloping angle.
Service Rooms and \Vnrkings

Service room is an underground excavation for mechanical and
other equipment, and also for supply and sanitation purposes.
The names given to the numerous service rooms do not require any
explanation. These include underground sheds for electric mine
locomotives, main sump storage or water chamber, dispatcher s room,
storage room for fire-fighting materials and underground shed for
fire-fighting trains, underground storage room for explosives, or
powder room, underground first-aid stations and some others. Engine
or machine rooms are named after the equipment installed: pump,
compressor, transformer and slusher rooms, underground electric
substation and switch room, etc.
The term shaft or bottom station requires explanation. It is an
aggregate of underground workings near the shaft designed to service
underground operations and to connect the shaft with mainline haul
age drifts and ventilation openings.
Mine as a Production Unit 27
Productive workings are of extremely varied shapes, size and spatial

disposition, depending upon the geological structure of a depos
it and the mining and stoping methods adopted. Therefore, the def
inition of their terms is listed in the second part of this book, while
those covering open-cut mining arc given in Chapter XXV.
8. Mine as a Production Unit

As indicated above (Section 6), the production unit of a mining
enterprise engaged in underground extraction of useful minerals is
called a mine. It includes all surface structures and the aggregate
of underground mine workings equipped for removing valuable min
erals and constituting part and parcel of this independent indus
trial and economic unit of the mining enterprise.
The mineral deposit or part thereof allotted to a mine for working
purposes is called mine field.
The shape of mine fields depends upon the geological structure of
a deposit and may be extremely variable. Projections of minefield
boundary lines onto the ground surface are plotted on mine maps
and plans.
The size of mine fields is determined by the amount of workable
mineral reserves (Z) contained therein and by the geological struc
ture of the occurrence. It may vary greatly in most cases from a few
hundred metres to several kilometres along the strike of the deposit.
Annual production capacity in tons (/l) and the overall life (T)
of each mine are planned in accordance with the established pro
gramme for national economic development. It will be clearly seen
that the above-mentioned three values are interlinked by the fol
lowing simple relationships:
(1)
( 2)
Z = AT. ( 3)
The above-mentioned relationships are illustrative of the organic

connection between annual output and the life of a mine, on the one
hand, and the reserves of the mine field, on the other. Proper assess
ment of these three basic values constitutes one of the major tasks
in planning the layout and production scheme of a mine.
It should be noted, however, that T means estimated life of the
mine, corresponding to the time interval necessary to exhaust mine
field reserves, during which the output of the mine A (t) remains
steady year in and year out. Actually, however, a certain length of
time is required in the inili.nl period of operation to bring mine pro

duction to its planned level, while in the ultimate years of a mine’ s
life there romes a period of gradual reduction in its output, marked
by the slowing down of operations. Hence the overall life of a mine,
from the moment it is commissioned, exceeds the estimated one by
approximately 2-4 years.
The mine’ s annual output A, its life T and mine field reserves Z
may vary very broadly, depending upon the geological features of
a deposit and the type of the mineral. The methods employed for
determining these values and the corresponding figures are given in
subsequent sections of this hook. Here wc shall dwell only on some
matters of principle.
Fig. 2. Harmful effect nf llie boundaries of a private

land property on the working of mineral deposits
In capitalist countries, factors inherent in capitalist relationships

are of decisive importance in setting annual production rates and
fixing the life of a mine. These factors are the drive for maximum
profit; private ownership of land, mineral wealth and means of pro
duction; limited amounts of capital which the mine owner is able or
willing to invest in a given mine; instability of the market demand
due to spontaneous changes in the industrial situation, sharp commer
cial competition, etc.
To mine a deposit under capitalism one has to own or lease a cor
responding land plot. The boundaries of private land properties
have nothing in common with the geological structure of a mineral
deposit, which determines the position of mine workings. For exam
ple, the thick line in Fig. 2 points to an outcrop of a mineral deposit,
while the thin ones are the boundary lines of private land properties
1, 2 and 3. These boundary lines are quite arbitrary in nature
and their position with respect to the strike and dip of the bed is
absolutely irregular, this giving rise to technical difficulties in
exploitation.
Mine os a Production Unit 20
<f
Besides, plots 2 and 5 are extremely small. It is not worth while
mining them separately; if they are mined, the shafts sunk there will he
very small. The larger the mine, the greater capital outlay is required
for its construction. It is not always that a private owner is able or
w'illing to invest considerable sums and so it may happen that the
capacity and facilities of a mine springing up on a rich deposit are
out of all proportion to the reserves contained therein. Finally, in
conditions of competition and overproduction common to capital
ism, there arc frequently overt or secret agreements concluded among
businessmen to restrict mineral production in order thus to artificial
ly maintain inflated market prices.
Under the socialist system factors that adversely affect the ration
al utilisation of natural wealth have been eliminated completely.
What we have instead is abolition of private ownership of land, min
eral wealth and means of production, and planned national econ
omy.
Therefore, in Soviet conditions the annual production capacity
of a mine, its life span and field reserves are determined exclusively
from the viewpoint of technical and economic expediency and in the
interests of the national economy as a whole. For instance, should
technical and economic estimates prove IhaL the deposit shown in
Fig. 2 is technically suitable and economically profitable for mining
if it is divided into mine fields I, //, I I I and IV, there will he no ob
stacles to the realisation of such a decision in our country.
Soviet mines are so planned and built as to make the capital in
vested in their construction and equipment yield the highest possible
reLurns. While in operation, the mine should be run most efficiently
and the safety of personnel maintained at a high level. Rational uti
lisation of capital investments and high labour efficiency make for
low production costs. This is achieved through a proper choice of
mine structures, complex mechanisation and proper organisation
of mining operations.
Mines in their capacity of production units generally arc not iso
lated; there are usually other mines in the vicinity. Therefore, it is
possible to simplify and lower the cost of surface plants and mine
equipment by erecting buildings and structures that may be common
ly used: concentration plants, mechanical and repair shops, well-ap
pointed socialist cities and workers’settlements. Transport lines —
railways, highways, tramways, aerial tramways—must be designed
so as to offer optimal service to the entire complex of adjacent mines.
The same holds true for electric power and the supply of drinking,
domestic and industrial waLer.
Hence the major importance of proper organisation in planning
the layout of a mine and its operation. It is the basis underlying Lhe
entire mine construction work.
CHAPTER II
OPENING UP OF COAI.
AND OTHER STRATIFIED DEPOSITS
I. Coal Basin and Coal Region

Any coal field representing a continuous formation of coal-bcaring
slrala extending over a specific area in which they have accumulated
as Ihe result of a general geological-historical process, may be termed
a cool basin. A region within the boundaries of a coal basin is
that portion of the latter the setting apart of which is not only dic
tated by reasons of administrative and economic nature, but is also
determined by the peculiarities of its geological structure. In de
limiting such regions, major consideration is given to tectonics and
the quality of coal.
By way of illustration we may cite:
a) The central region of the Donets coal basin in the north-west
ern part of the main anticline. Predominant here is the extraction
of coking coals.
b) Prokopyevsk-Kiselyovsk region of the Kuznetsk coal basin,
which is distinguished by a uniform structure of its coal measures
comprising many seams with a multitude of folds with steep wings
and abrupt flexures. The types of coal found here differ in property,
but some beds include the kinds used for coking.
2. Shapes Characteristic of Bedded Deposits

In general terms, the opening up of a mineral deposit means driv
ing openings that give access to it from the earth’ s surface for min
ing purposes. A more precise definition of “ opening up”will be giv
en below (see Section 5).
The external shape and spatial disposition of a mineral occurrence
is of decisive importance in the choice of the most suitable methods
of opening it.
By the nature of their sedimentary origin, beds are ordinarily of a
thickness that is insignificant when compared to the other two di
mensions. This thickness is often uniform over quite large areas.
Piemarkably even in thickness (between 0.5 and 1.5 metres), for in
stance, are many seams in the Donets basin, this thickness being the
Shapes Characteristic of Bedded Deposits •'l
same over immense distances (scores of kilometres). A similar phenom

enon is sometimes also met within thicker beds. Take, for instance,
the Thick Seam in the south-western part of the Kuznetsk basin.
Its thickness of about 15 metres remains unchanged over a distance
of tens of kilometres. Such phenomena testify to the uniform nature
of the accumulation of vegetable matter at the time of the initial
formation of coal-bearing strata over quite large areas.
Not infrequently, however, the accumulation of vegetable matter
producing carbonaceous substance proceeded unevenly. This result
ed in the formation of seams of variable thickness, with thickenitit's
(“ swells’) and thinnings occurring in some places, up to and including
the complete pinching out of individual beds. The local thinnings
of seams are called squeezes. Frequently alternating accumulations
of vegetable matter and mineral sediments (silt, sand and their mix
tures) occurring in the process of sedimentation resulted in the appear
ance of coal beds of composite or multiple structure interlaid with
bands of gangue. Strata with frequent changes of thickness and struc
ture are usually called bedlike occurrences. Bedlike deposits with
irregular horizontal outlines over areas ranging from a fraction of
one square kilometre to several square kilometres are a feature pecul
iar to the Moscow coal basin.
Strata and bedlike deposits seldom retain their quasihorizonlal
position. An exception to this general rule are the occurrences ol
Ilie Moscow and Cheremkhovo (Eastern Siberia) coal fields, the strat
ified manganese ore bodies in the Nikopol area (Ukraine) and some
others.
As a rule, however, tectonic processes cause the strata to change
their horizontal position. Usually they develop folds (plicated dislo
cations) or ruptures (disjunctive dislocations). The principal types of
folds are anticlines (strata dipping outwards, away from the fold axis)
and synclines (the form of which is downward concave). Dislocations
with ruptures are accompanied by displacements of the disturbed
rock in situ. The major types of displacements include faults and
shift faults or throws. Quite often one and the same occurrence pre
sents a picLure of a folded dislocation and shift faults involving rup-
Lures in the continuity of rocks.
As the result of geological disturbances beds have a dip, that is,
a certain inclination to the horizontal, measured by the angle of
dip. Beds are subdivided into sloping or flat-dipping (with the angle
of dip of 0-25°), inclined (a dip of 25-45°) and steep (45-90°). The line
of maximal inclination in the bed plane is called the line of dip.
The horizontal course or bearing in the plane of a bed is called
line of strike. It is customary to refer to the direction of this line
simply as strike. The horizontal position of the line of strike is de
termined by its azimuth, that is, by the angle between the plane of
32 Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
Ihe meridian and the line of strike. The lines of dip and strike are
normal to each other.
The thickness, angle of dip and the strike of a bed are referred to
as elements oj occurrence. Beds in areas where the elements of occur
rence are characterised hy constant values are called regular or
uniform; in other words, undisturbed.
Because of irregular sedimentation at the time of bed formation,
i. e., due to genetic causes, and also because of subsequent tectonic dis
rupt ions, the shapes and elements of occurrence peculiar to stratified
deposits may assume variable and ofLen very complex form.
The planning of mining operations requires graphic representation
of shapes and elements specific to the occurrence of any given min
eral deposit. The method used for this purpose is that of isolines. Its
chief features may he summarised as follows.
The relief of the earth’ s surface is usually represented by contours,
or i saltyp some trie lines, that is, lines of equal elevation. These can
be obtained by cutting the ground surface with imaginary equidis
tant horizontal planes (for example, every 10, 1, 0.5 m). Each one
of these contour lines has its own elevation (bench) mark. A contoured
topographic map or plan gives a clear-cut idea of all the features
peculiar to the ground surface relief and is indispensable for planning
and designing ways of communication, water works and other in
stallations.
Quite similarly to this, isolines (that is, lines of equal properties)
may be employed to depict features specific to the occurrence of a
mineral deposit.
The isolines of a bed bottom are similar to contours on topographic
maps, but they follow the bottom of a seam to demonstrate its geo
metric characteristics. In the same manner one can construct iso
lines of the roof of a deposit, etc.
Variations in the thickness of a bed may be illustrated quite clearly
by isolines of equal thickness, connecting points of identical thickness
in a stratum and drawn at regular intervals (for example, every 0.2 m).
Isolines may be used to represent not only geometrical but other
characteristics and features of a mineral deposit as well. They
may, for instance, depict the percentage of ash or volatile matter in
coals, etc.
While stations needed to plot contours on topographic maps are
secured by levelling, those required to construct isolines character
ising the specific properties of a mineral deposit are furnished by
boreholes in the course of prospecting and by underground workings
in the course of mining. The richer the initial data supplied in the
form of stations, the more reliable the plotting of isolines and the
more detailed is the picture they present of the mineral occurrence
as a whole.
M ine Field 33
To prepare plans for the opening up and initial development of

mineral deposits, particularly those of a more complex structure, it
is indispensable to plot isolines on special maps.
A Russian scientist, P. Sobolcvsky, gave much of his Lime and
effort to working out the theory of representing in isolines the various
important characteristics of mineral deposits. It was he loo who
propagated practical utilisation of this remarkable method.
3. Mine Field
In Chapter I mine field was defined as a whole deposit or the por
tion of it allotted to be worked by a mine. The plans below show ils
projection on the ground surface.
The form or oulline of a mine field depends in the main upon the
features characterising the occurrence of a deposit.
Section in the plane o f the b e d Side eleva tion
In bedded deposits with regular elements of occurrence, the mine

field, whenever possible, is given the shape of a rectangle extending
along the line of strike. Fig. 3 shows an outline of a single seam mine
field drawn in the plane of the seam (/); its plan, that is, projection
on the horizontal plane (II), longitudinal side elevation along the
strike (III) and vertical section or side elevation across the line of
strike (IV).
The upper ab and the lower cd boundary lines of the mine field
run along the strike of the seam, while ils lateral lines ac and bd
— down the dip.
Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
The upper mine field boundary is also called up-dip limit, th? low
er one—down-dip limit and the lateral boundaries—strike limits.
In underground mine plans and maps mine fields with their work
ings are usually shown in horizontal projections (II).
In steeply dipping deposits these are supplemented by side ele-
valions (III). In plans and side elevations the dimensions of the
lines drawn along the strike alone remain undistorted. Therefore, in
preparing layouts, the drawings of the mine field (or part thereof)
are sometimes made in the plane of the seam (I), where all the dimen
sions of the field retain their Irue values. The schemes of the mine
field given above show vertical cross-sections representing the typi
cal areas of the deposit.
On AB
An irregular occurrence of the deposit modifies the shape of Ihe

mine field. Fig. 4 shows an outline plan of a mine field extending
over a fold of the deposit. The upper boundary ah lies near the out
crop of the curved seam. The angle of dip of the seam is also subject to
changes—from 12' to 40° at the site of exposure, with the occurrence
gradually flattening at greater depth. The lower boundary cd of the
field is level, running along the strike. Dash lines show the structural
contours of the seam floor.
Fig. 5 represents a plan of a mine field whose lateral boundaries
ac and bd are determined by the position of large faults extending
obliquely (diagonally) to the strike of the seam.
Fig. 0 depicts a plan of a mine field whose boundaries are deter
mined by the contour lines of sheetlike deposit. Here too dash lines
represent the surface contours of the seam bottom.
The size of mine fields varies greatly, this depending upon the re
serves of the useful mineral they contain, the number and thickness
of coal seams, the depth of mining, as well as annual output and the
service life of the mines. The extension of a field along the line of
Division of a Mine Field into Levels :r»
strike ranges from a few hundred metres for small mines lo several
kilometres for larger ones. The basic points of the analytical method
used for determining an economically expedient size of a mine field
are discussed in Section 14 of this chapter.
The reserves of a mine field ordinarily are worked out for several
decades, most often for 10-40 years (see Section 15). The portion
of a mine field where the mineral has been extracted is called mined-
Fig. 3. Mine field with boundaries Fig. 0. Mine field in a

determined by faults sbeellike deposit
Maintenance means upkeep in proper condition of a mine working,

its limber and tracks. Discontinuation of the maintenance and em
ployment of a mine working is termed abandonment or closure.
Reliable communications between underground excavations and
the ground surface require the provision of no less than two exits
from each mine field, each suitable for the passage of people. The
availability of no less than two exit openings is also needed for ven
tilation purposes. These exit openings should be no less than 30 metres
from each other, and when shaft houses are built from fire-proof
materials—no less than 20 metres. The miners should know all the
exit openings from underground workings.
4. Division of a Mine Field into Levels

A mine field with sufficient coal reserves for 10-40 years is worked
gradually over this period, by separate sections —levels or panels.
Since, with few exceptions, deposits tend to occur at a certain
angle of pitch the mine field is worked by sections extending along
the strike and, consequently, separated from one another by hori
zontal lines (see Fig. 3). These portions of the mine field are called
level intervals. The relation between the height of the level interval
and annual mine output is discussed below. When the values of the
3f> Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
factors characterising the occurrence of a deposit are constant, that

is, when its position is in one plane, the level intervals assume the
form of rectangles (see Fig. 3). When the strike or the angle of dip
of the deposit within the limits of the mine field is subject to varia
tions, the configuration of the level intervals become curvilinear
(see Fig. 4).
To provide for the haulage of the broken mineral, men’ s passage
and ventilating air currents along the boundaries of level intervals,
level drifts or entries (ab, aj>t... in Fig. 3) are arranged. As mining
operations in any given level interval progress, these drifts are ex
tended along the entire mine field to its boundaries.
A level interval is thus a section of the mine field extending along
the strike of the deposit, hounded on the side of the rise of the scam and
its dip by drifts or entries driven along the entire length of the mine
field, and in the direction of strike—by the mine field boundaries.
Drifts confining a level interval are called level or main drifts.
Since the lower level drift in any level interval is used largely for
transporting the broken mineral, it is often referred to as main
haulage (tramming) drift or entry. The principal function of the up
per level drift is to provide passage for return air and for this reason
it is usually called ventilating entry or airway.
In Figs. 3 and 4, abbta t and a lbj>lat are level intervals; a/j, — the
main haulage drift or entry and ab—the ventilating abbtnt level drift.
Separation (delimitation) of level intervals by drifts makes trans
portation convenient, since they remain horizontal whatever the
angle of dip of the deposit may he. Hut this point is of no importance
in mining horizontally occurring deposits, for, irrespective of the
direction in which any working is driven, it always remains level.
That is why the mine fields of horizontal or low dipping deposits
are divided into so-called panels and not level intervals (see Sec
tion 10).
The inclined height of level interval h is measured along the line of
dip (see Fig. 3). With the angle of dip equal 1ing a, the corresponding
vertical or true height of the level interval is equal to h sin a.
The useful mineral obtained in the faces is transported through
level haulage drifts and other underground workings to vertical or
inclined shafts, by which it is hoisted to the surface.
W'hen the mine field is more or less regular in shape and the dis
tribution of the mineral contained therein is uniform, hoisting shafts
are sited in the centre of the mine field strike, that is, on the line xy
in Fig. 3. This, as we shall see later (Section 14), helps to economise
on underground tramming and also to reduce other expenditure. In
this case, the mine field is divided into two equal wings or flanks.
Generally speaking, the term wing denotes that portion of the mine
field which lies on either side of the main hoisting shaft. Accordingly,
Division of a Mine Field into Levels
each level, as a rule, has two

wings. The wings of a level or
of a mine field are usually
called cardinal points (for
example, eastern wing or flank,
etc.). Mine fields or levels with
flanks of equal size are gener
ally called equilateral, or con
versely—nonequilateral.
A mine field or a level is
called unilateral when themain
hoisting shaft is located near y1
one of its lateral boundaries. Fig. 7. A diagram for estimating lewd
It is desirable to have such intervals
inclined height k that the
working of only one level at a time will suffice to extract the
planned annual amount of the mineral through shaft A, since this
will maximally simplify mining operations.
Let us select interval h between levels (m) for a mine field of regu
lar shape and uniform distribution of coal reserves, knowing that,
to ensure the annual planned output of shaft A (tons), it will suffice
to work one level at a time.
Let us assume, for example, that it is the second level that is being
worked (Fig. 7) in the mine field and at a certain moment the working
slopes follow schematically lines /, /. Let us, then, suppose that in
a year's time these stopes have advanced distance L (m) to positions
//, II. That will mean mining area liL on each flank, or a total of
2hL sq m. If. taking into account the thickness and structure of the
seam, the coal yield from 1 sq m of its area averages p (I) (p is the
productivity or output of coal per 1 sq m of the seam), then are 2hL
would include the known or blocked-out reserves of coal—2l/Lp (I).
These reserves cannot possibly be removed fully, since the extraction
of coal within a level entails operational or exploitation\osscs (wast
age); in other words, coefficient of recovery c in the level is below 1.
Therefore, the annual tonnage of reserves extracted within the bounds
of each wing will come to IhLpc (t).
Thus, with only one level being worked at a time in a mine field,
the annual output of mine A will be
A = IhLpc. (1)
This simple equation establishes a relation between the annual

output of mine A and level interval h, annual advance of slopes L,
average productivity per 1 sq m of seam p and coefficient of recov
ery c. ■
,8 Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
With the aid of fonimbi (1) we may determine the slope distance
between levels as foil..us:
A
h 2Lpc' (2)
Tims, the higher the annual output of the mine, the greater the
slope distance between levels becomes; and it becomes the smaller, the
greater the annual advance of working stopes, productivity of the
seam and the coefficient of coal recovery.
Numerical values of the entities forming equations (1) and (2) need
some explanation.
The annual advance of sloping operations is closely related to the
method used in mining a seam. This will be discussed in detail lat
er on. It is imporlant, however, to stress the fact that, in making
use of the formulas (1) and (2), one should take factually attainable
average annual advance of sloping operations in a wing, that is, to
reckon with possible stoppages at some faces and the need to have
spare stopes. Consequently, in estimating the level interval, one should
already have a clear idea of what mining method to employ in working
the deposit.
In the case of the regularly occurring measures in the mines of the
Donets basin, the annual advance of sloping with a flat pitch conies
to .‘
100-400 metres; with a heavy pitch— lo 400-500 metres.
Actual fulfilment and overfulfilment of the planned annual ad
vance of a mining operation is of a paramount importance. From
formula (1) it follows that should the planned advance L be not
achieved, the extracted tonnage A will fall short of the planned fig
ures and, consequently, the annual production schedule of the mine
will be upset.
The following are the reasons which make it necessary to provide
for spare faces in determining the annual advance of mining opera
tions L.
The summary line of all mine faces (working and development)
is called total stope footage. This includes the footage of both active
and spare faces.
Consequently, the total advance of stoping operations is determined
not only by the progress of active faces, but also by the availa
bility of spare ones, and the average advance of mining operations
must be established with due consideration of this fact.
The stope footage is often referred to as breast front. Fulfilment
of a mine’ s annual production programme requires a breast front of
adequate extent. Its reduction would mean a corresponding drop in
mined tonnage, if the rate of advance of active faces remains the same.
Hence the immensely harmful effect of the total and active stope
footage reduction to a level below the plan figures.
Division of a Mine Field into Levels
On the other hand, an excessive breast front, that is, one surpass
ing the requirements of the production programme, is likewise un
profitable, for this would mean driving and maintaining unneces
sarily large footages of mine workings.
Failure to drive development openings in due time will inevitably
result in the reduction of the necessary breast front.
Theoutput per lsq m of seam p (t)depends directly upon its thickness
and structure, that is, on the availability or absence of gangue bands
or intercalations, and on the unit weight of coal. The latter is deter
mined during the exploration of the deposit. In preliminary esti
mates made in planning mine operation, the volume weight per 1 cu m
of coal in place (its density) may be assumed to be 1.5 metric tons
for anthracite, 1.3-1.4 tons for mineral coal and 1.2 tons for lignite.
For instance, if a seam is 1.2 metres thick and is devoid of gangin'
hands, the yield of coal per 1 sq m, with its unit weight equalling
1.3 tons, will be p —1.2 ■'1.3= 1.50 tons. In seams intersected by
bands of barren rock, the minahlc thickness of a seam is computed
by subtracting the height of bands from its aggregate thickness and
the resultant figure is used in calculating the out pul per 1 sq m of the
seam.
Operation or exploitation losses of coal usually range between 10
and 15 per cent, but in working regularly occurring thin seams they
drop to 3-5 percent. However, with inadequately conducted mining
operations, particularly in working thick seams by caving methods,
these losses may increase considerably.
A detailed explanation of the harmful effects caused by the un
duly high wastage of useful minerals during their winning will be
given later. Meanwhile, we shall only emphasise the following point.
The greater the losses are, the lower the coefficient of recovery of
coal reserves c. Equation (1) shows that with the same level interval
h, equal coal yields p and annual advance of mining operations L,
but with percentage losses higher than envisaged by the plan, the
annual production capacity of mine A will drop. Conversely, with all
other conditions being equal, a seam worked with losses below those
planned opens up good possibilities for the overfulfilment of the
mine's production programme.
Equation (1) reveals that the annual mine output is directly pro
portional to the level interval. With a bed occurring at a gentle or
low dip, the level interval may reach hundreds of metres; a steeper
dip, on the other hand, narrows the range of this interval.
Formulas (1) and (2) are drawn up for the desirable occasion when
the mine production programme can be assured by the exploitation
of one single level at a time. To increase mine output stoping is
sometimes effected on two and more levels. That, however, compli
cates the underground haulage layout and mine ventilation, increases
•'id Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
the footage of mine op filings io be maintained and, finally, impairs

the efficiency of mine workers. For this reason restriction of mining
to one level at a lime should be considered a normal practice. The
next, level must he developed beforehand. At the time when stoping
operations slow down in one level and work is deployed in another,
thi‘breaking of mineral is continued in two levels simultaneously
and lo the extent sufficient to implement the m ine’ s production
programme.
Below are two practical examples illustrating the use of formulas
(1) and (2).
Example 1. Determine Ilie annual output of a mine if it works a single low-
dipping coal seam with an average yield of 1.5 metric tons of coal per 1 sq in.
The level interval is duo metres, operation losses—6 per cent and the annual
advance of sloping in one wing—400 metres,
formula (1) gives us
A = 2 X 300 x 400 X 1.5 X 0.94^340,000 tons.
Example 2. Determine the distance between levels sufficient to ensure mine
output of 500,000 tons of coal a year if the mine works a single coal seam yielding
l’~2 metric tons, with the annual advance of stoping being 450 metres and opera
tion losses coming to 10 per cent.
formula (2) shows that the slope distance between the levels is
500,000
h= = 327 metres.
2 x 4 5 0 x 2 x 0 .9
5. Opening and Developing a Mine Field

In Chapter I the opening of a deposit was preliminarily defined as
driving workings to give access to a mineral occurrence it is planned
to exploit.
When a mine field is worked levelwisc, the term opening may be
given a more precise definition.
The deployment of stoping in a mine field necessitates driving
openings of two types:
1) workings indispensable to start driving level entries in the mine
field. Let us call excavation of such workings opening and the work
ings themselves—early development or permanent mine openings;
2) mine workings driven within the limits of one level. Their
purpose is to “ prepare”the level for stoping operations and ensure
access to working faces. Such excavations are called development
openings and their driving—development work or, briefly, develop
ment for stoping.
It should be pointed out, however, that sometimes mine fields
are not divided into levels, but into so-called “ panels”(Section 10)
and in this instance the definition of “ opening”and “ development”
cannot possibly be associated with the concept of “ level” .
Opening by Inclined Shafts 41
Accordingly, in a wider sense, the opening of a mine field means

driving of workings that give access to the mine field from the ground
surface and ensure the driving of development mine workings, and
development is the driving of mine openings that make it possible la
conduct sloping operations.
Considering that we have defined the concepts “ opening”,“ devel
opment”and “ stoping” , it would be quite appropriate to give a more
detailed definition of the term “ mining”which we have already used
on many occasions: mining a deposit implies an aggregate of opening,
development and stoping operations conducted in set sequence.
Opening is effected largely through inclined and vertical shafts,
vertical or inclined shafts and crosscuts, adits (Chapter IV', S e c
tion 7), and by combining these methods.
Let us review all the above-cited methods of opening, first for in
dividual (single) seams and then for their series.
6. Opening by Inclined Shafts

Opening of seams through inclined shafts is one of the simplest
methods of early development (Fig. 8).
From the ground surface inclined shaft ab is sunk through the coal
seam to the lower boundary of the first level, and from this shaft
level strike entries can be driven. These allow development openings
to be made in accordance with the mine layout schedule and opening
up of stopes shown schematically in Fig. 8 by lines cd and c'd'.
The coal broken down at the faces is transported along the main
entries to the shaft station and then brought to the surface through
the inclined hoisting shaft.
When the bulk of the mine output is handled through a given shaft
station, this station is said to be at “ production level” . In other
words, production level is the haulage level in which stoping is
largely done. The levels are either numbered in regular order from
the surface or designated by their actual elevation below the top of
a shaft or sea level.
The strike levels cc' and dd' are protected from the pressure of rocks
settling over mined-out spaces either by coal pillars or packwalls
(rib fills) laid out along the entries (Fig. 8).
Since rib fills and coal pillars reduce the rock pressure without
eliminating it altogether, the entries must be maintained in good
repair.
Fig. 8 is illustrative of an instance when the first stoping faces
are started near the hoisting shaft and the general direction of slop
ing is from the shaft towards the outer boundaries of the mine field.
This order of extraction within the level (or in the whole of the mine
field) is called advance mining. There is also retreat mining, in which
Opening up nf Coat and Ollier Sira lifted Deposits
level strike entries are pushed forward over the entire length of the
mine field prior lo sto|» i 1 1 . The first sloping faces are started near
Ihe outer boundaries of the field and the general direction of stoping
is from Ihe boundaries of the field to the hoisting shaft. Advance and
retreat mining is compared in detail below (Section 13).
-J 3
On A B
To aerate underground workings in the mine field, a ventilating

shaft is sunk in addition to the main or hoisting shaft. If the hoist
ing shaft is inclined, the ventilating shaft is inclined too.
For ventilation proper it suffices to sink an air shaft only to the
upper (ventilating) entry of the given level. For instance, in mining
the first level (see Fig. 8) its length may be limited to ef.
An exhaust or suction fan is installed over the ventilating shaft
on the ground surface to rarefy (depress) the air in the underground
workings of the mine field. As the result of this depression atmospher
ic air enters the mine through the main shaft and the overall scheme
of air flow is as follows: the down-cast current of fresh air proceeds
along the main shaft, branches out to haulage entries of the both
Opening by Inclined Shafts
level flanks, rises and sweeps s l o p i n g faces, moves further on along

the airways or ventilating entries and is then cast up as a return cur
rent to the ground surface through the ventilating shaft. Since mu;
of the air currents (in Fig. 8 that of the right wing) by-passes the hoist
ing shaft, an air bridge is set up at this point.
Besides being service openings, the hoisting and ventilating shafts
also serve as exits from the underground workings to the surface.
As already said, for adequate aeration it suffices to sink I he ven
tilating shaft down to the upper boundary of the level mined al Ihe
lime. But, since this shaft also serves many other purposes as a pas
sage for men, auxiliary hoisting installation, and for laying water
and compressed-air pipes and electric cables, it is generally sunk to
the level of a hoisting shaft.
Finally, it is necessary periodically to deepen the main production
shaft to switch over to mining the next level. To facilitate this
deepening process, the air shaft is sometimes driven one level deeper
(dash line in Fig. 8). This makes it possible to excavate in advance
the necessary service rooms and workings near the shaft on the lev
el below, that is, in its main haulage entry, and to deepen the hoist
ing shaft by raising it, as outlined in Fig. 8. This method of main-
shaft sinking through a previously driven ventilating shaft allows us
to reduce to the minimum the Lime necessary for moving hoisting
operations from one level to another. Sinking by raising requires
very accurate surveying to determine the direction of mine openings
in order to secure their adequate connection.
The described ventilation scheme of the mine field involves set
ting up one main fan at a short distance from the mouth of the hoist
ing shaft (central ventilation scheme).
But in mining the level nearest to the ground surface, when the
upper boundary line of the mine field is not deep, it is possible to
use yet another method of aeration. After a certain distance (several
hundred metres), the upper airway or ventilating entry is connected
with the ground surface Lhrough pits g (dash line in Fig. 8). These pits
serve as openings for men to communicate with the underground
workings and for the delivery of Limber and other supplies, as well
as for installing small fans over them, instead of one main fan. By
reducing the extent of air currents, this method does away with the
maintenance of the ventilating entry over its entire length and lim
its it only to the sections between individual pits, thus cutting
down the expenditure on repairs of this opening. To decrease the
length of pits g it is permitted to sink them vertically.
This method has its shortcomings, for it necessitates shifting fans
from place to place. In this connection there is yet another scheme
possible: the main fan is set up at the hoisting shaft, but operates as
a blowing unit, producing compression of air in underground workings.
44 Opening tip of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
The contaminated rclurn air is cast through the pits over which no
fans need then be installed.
Thus, the opening up of a mine field through inclined shafts re
quires driving two parallel shafts—hoisting and ventilating. In
higger mines a third shaft is sometimes sunk to meet auxiliary needs.
To protect shafts from rock pressure solid blocks of coal—shaft p il
lars—arc left near them (see Chapter XXIII). To facilitate venti
lation during the shaft-sinking operations, through-cuts are driven
in the pillars, which arc subsequently equipped with a bulkhead to
separate the intake and return air currents.
In the early development of a mine field it is the uppermost level
that is the first to he mined, followed by the ones below it, in the
sequence of 1,2, this being referred to as descending order of lev
el mining. The opening and development of each subsequent level
must be started well in advance. The time-schedule for these opera
tions should he so compiled as to provide for a considerable time mar
gin over that envisaged by planned estimates.
In inclined shafts coal may be hoisted by different vehicles—mine
cars, skips and conveyers. Hoisting by mine car is done by using
endless or tail-rope systems. With a high dip mine cars can be put on
special flat carriages (Fig. 9«). One of the greatest shortcomings of
hoisting by mine car is, however, the need to employ a large staff
for servicing the hoisting plant and its low efficiency. Skip and con
veyer methods of hoisting are much more effective (Figs, % and 10).
Their operation can be automated to a very considerable extent.
Hoisting plants with belt conveyers, however, can be used only
when the inclination of a shaft does not exceed 18-20°. Fig. 10 il
lustrates a conveyer hoisting plant at the S. M. Kirov Mine
in the Cheremkhovo coal fields (Eastern Siberia). Underground, coal
is dropped from mine cars 1 into a small pocket with a feeder,
from which it is fed regularly to belt conveyer 2; on the surface,
it can be unloaded directly into charging hoppers 3 or discharged
at dump 4.
Air shafts or slope manways, driven parallel to the hoisting shaft,
usually serve as exits from the underground workings of a mine field
opened through inclined shafts. If two inclined shafts are utilised
as exit openings, one of them must bo equipped with mechanised
plant for man-hoisting. To provide for safe exit in case the mechani
cal hoisting plant breaks down, a shaft with a track gradient of
7-15° should be provided with railings; if its gradient ranges between
15 and 30°, with railings and gangboard; if the slope is between 30 and
45°, with staircases and railings; if the slope of the opening exceeds
45° there must be a special staircase with resting places.
In openings with a slope of up to 30° transportation of men is
permitted only in special mine cars provided with overhead cover.
If the track gradient exceeds 30°, the men are also carried in special
mine cars or cages.
Opening a deposit through inclined shafts has its advantages and
drawbacks.
The former include:
1) with the inclined shaft driven in the mineral, additional in

formation may be obtained on the deposit, complementing that gained
at the time of its detailed exploration. This may include data on
the structure and features of the mineral bed and the wall rocks;
in particular, il becomes possible to determine more accurately the
range of Lhe weathering zone and the depth at which the coal is
c
'■
ft
oa
£
workable; in the case of coking coal beds, it makes it possible to

ascertain the depth from which coal is suitable for coking;
2) the coal extracted during shaft sinking may be pul lo imme
diate use;
3) an inclined shaft driven in a coal seam does not intersect cap
rocks, which may include aquifiers which complicates the driving
of mine openings;
4) the cost of driving 1 metre of inclined shafts, these being open
ings excavated in a coal bed, is lower than that done in country
rocks only;
5) as pointed out before, inclined shafts with an angle of slope not
exceeding 18-20°make it possible to use highly efficient bell-conveyer
hoisting plants.
The disadvantages of inclined shafts include:
1) greater length than that of vertical shaftssunk to the same depth;
2) increased length of hoisting and greater wear of hoisting ropes,
compared to that in vertical shafts;
3) lower permissible hoisting speed than in vertical shafts, this
reducing hoisting efficiency; with inclined skip hoisting this
drawback becomes less pro
nounced;
4) greater outlays for the main
tenance of inclined shafts, since
rock pressure in comparable
conditions makes itself felt more
in inclined openings than in
vertical ones.
A number of conditions are Fig. II. Opening through an inclined
essential to justify economically shaft driven in country rock
the opening up of a deposit
through inclined shafts and even lo make it technically possible.
1. If, as is customary, inclined shafts are driven in a mineral bed, the
overburden covering the bed outcrop should be of but slight thickness.
A flat or very gentle dip with a smooth relief of the ground surface
makes sinking of inclined shafts quite impossible. In these conditions,
however, inclined shafts may be driven in coun try rocks (Fig. 11).
This method, for instance, was employed in opening an extensive
field at the Kirov Mine in Cheremkhovo coal fields (Eastern Siberia).
Coal there is hoisted by a powerful belt conveyer set at an angle of
18°. Sinking and operating inclined shafts in sLeeply dipping beds
is difficult (as regards repairs and hoisting conditions), and they
are very seldom used in mining coal deposits.
2. When the rock topping the bed outcrop is extremely aquiferous
or running, inclined shafts are ruled out, since the driving of in
clined openings in such conditions is a very difficult task.
3. One prerequisite for driving inclined shafts in a mineral bed is

its regular occurrence, that is, absence of faults and steep folds.
4. It is impermissible to sink inclined shafts in thick coal beds,
particularly in those with self-igniting coal, for a fire due to fis
sures caused by rock pressure developing in coal pillars adjacent to
the shaft, may have very serious consequences. Furthermore, shaft
sinking in thick beds entails heavy losses of coal in shaft pillars.
In favourable conditions, opening through inclined shafts is
practised quite frequently, particularly in the case of mines with
low and medium production capacity.
7. Ope ning up Through Vertical Shafts

Let us examine and compare three possible locations for a main
vertical shaft in relation to the mine field (Fig. 12): /—the shaft is
sunk to the upper boundary of the mine field, I I —to its lower bound
ary, and I I I —somewhere in the centre of the field.
In the case of location /, the depth of the vertical shaft is mini
mal, but early development of levels necessitates the arrangement of a
permanent incline, which gradually extends to the length of the mine
field along its strike. In gen
eral, this method is similar
to that of opening a deposit
through inclined shafts with
all its inherent shortcom
ings and is, moreover, com
plicated by the presence of a
Fig. 12. Three possible locations of (lie main vertical shaft.
vertical shaft with respect to the mine held The obvious disadvantage
of location I I is the max
imal depth of the vertical shaft. To pass coal from the upper
levels down to the shaft, it is necessary to drive a long permanent
slope along the entire mine field (with the exception of the upper
most level). The broken-down coal must then be passed through it
over a great distance.
If the vertical shaft is sunk at some point I I I , the upper portion
of the mine field (up-dip field) can be mined through a permanent
slope and the lower portion (down-dip field) through a permanent in
cline. In this case, the length of both the permanent slope and in
cline will be moderate compared to that of locations / and I I of the
vertical shaft. Hence location I I I is held to be the most propi
tious.
The opening up of deposits through vertical shafts requires a rather
complicated general ventilation scheme and, therefore, we shall dwell
on it in greater detail. As an example, let us take a mine field with
Opening up Through Vertical Shafts 40
Fig. 13 Ventilation scheme for a mine held with the

hoisting and ventilating shafts in the centre
five levels — two in the up-dip field and llu-ec in the down-dip one
(Fig. 13).
In its relation Lo the main hoisting shaft the vcntilal ing shaft may
he sited in a variety of ways. The most common location is
central, when the two shafts are sunk side by side (Fig. Id). In this
Cii.se. for example, during the mining of the first level (see arrows in
Fig. Id) the fresh-air current enters the mine through the hoisting
shaft, rises to the active level via an uphill opening (permanent slope
or its manway), branches out to both level flanks along the level strike
entries, then sweeps sloping faces as it ascends, passes along the ven
tilating entries or airways and, uniting into a single common cur
rent, goes down the incline and, finally, returns lo the ground surface
through the upcasl shafl.
An analogous scheme for vent ilal ing Ihe workings of one of the lev-
ids, for instance, the fourth in the down-dip field, is depicted in the
same drawing hy dash arrows.
At the sites of air-current
intersections (points A in Fig.
Id) air-bridges are arranged. The
scheme of their arrangement is
illustrated in Fig. 14. If the air
way is provided with transport
equipment (conveyer, mine
tracks), it must he straight at the
site of the air-current intersec
tion and a bent entry runs under
iL (/). In the opposite casb, the
strike entry runs straight and the
bent airway lies above it (//).
If the ventilating shaft is sunk Fig. 11. Diagram showing the arrange-
near Ike upper boundary of ment of air bridges
3—3G25
.50 Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
the mine field, Iho ventilation scheme will be as shown in

Fig. 15.
Finally, Iho air sliafls, and there must be two of them in this case,
may hold flanking positions, located near the lateral boundaries of
Iho mine field (Fig. 16). Since in this instance air currents circulate
from Iho conlral part of the field, where the downcast hoisting shaft
is sunk, and travel towards the upper corners of the field, this venti
lation scheme is called diagonal. Under it the air currents travel as
follows. The fresh air current passes down the hoisting shaft and,
during the mining of the up-dip portion of the mine field, rises along
the uphill opening, where it splils into two separate currents. These
move towards the flanking shafts, sweeping the working faces on their
way. Consequently, in this instance, there is only a uniflow or straight
way movement of the air currents, without their moving in the di
rection opposite to the initial one, as is the case when the shafts are
located in the centre or when the ventilating shaft is sited near the
upper boundary of the mine field. To make diagonal or unidirection
al ventilation of the levels in the down-dip field possible, it is nec
essary to drive and maintain extensive inclined openings for return
air currents at the lateral boundaries of the mine field (see dash
line in Fig. 16).
Let us compare the advantages and shortcomings of the three
above-cited modes of locating hoisting and ventilating shafts.
At big mines, a ventilating shaft is utilised for a score of needs
apart from mine aeration. It is used to accommodate an auxiliary
hoisting plant, is equipped with a ladder way, is utilised for laying
drainage pipelines, electric cables and compressed air pipes, etc.
Because of this, to achieve maximum concentration of the equipment,
it is best to sink the ventilating shaft alongside the hoisting one, that
Opening up Through Vertical Shafts 51
is, centrally. Another great advantage of this layout is Ihe fact

that, during the construction of the mine after the sinking of shafts,
these shafts may be rapidly connected by through-cuts ensuring two
exits to the ground surface and facilitating normal ventilation of
the underground workings. The nearby ventilating shaft may be used
to raise the hoisLing shaft if this becomes necessary. That is why,
in building big mines, preference is given as a rule to the central lo
cation of shafts, although it has its disadvantage: variable length
of the main air currents and, consequently, irregular operation of
mine fans.
Vs
P—
i /
U -
II _
Fig. 16. Diagrams explaining diagonal ventilation in

a mine iicld
Although the length of the ventilating shaft sunk near the upper
boundary of the mine field is minimal, central shaft location in this
case offers no advantages. That is why ventilating shafts are so locat
ed only in small mines.
From the standpoint of ventilation, the diagonal scheme (see
Fig 1(3) has great advantages: 1) the fans operate uniformly inasmuch
as the length of air currents passing along the strike entries is con
stant; 2) when the fan fails in one wing of the field, underground work
ings are kept aerated to a certain degree by the other.
On the other hand, adopLion of the diagonal ventilation scheme
necessitates sinking and equipping two ventilating shafLs and requires
the preliminary driving of extremely extensive through-cuts con
necting the hoisting and ventilating shafts. Therefore, this scheme is
not planned for the initial stage of mining. But if, as it will be shown
below, there are other, formerly worked-out, fields lying over the one
in question, old shafts and other mine workings may be used for the
realisation of this scheme.
As we see, to open up a deposit through vertical shafts, the mine
field is divided into an up-dip portion, in which the levels are opened
3*
through permanent mine slopes, and a down-dip one, where they are
developed through mine inclines.
The following considerations should he borne in mind when decid
ing Ihe relative size of up-dip and down-dip fields:
1. The depth of vertical shafts increases along with the expansion
of the up-dip field.
2. From the viewpoint of the cost of haulage, both variants may be
considered approximately equivalent—while the movement of coal
down the mine slopes is facilitated by gravity, its subsequent hoist
ing through the vertical shaft requires a corresponding amount of
mechanical power. Besides, in large modern mines, mechanical equip
ment is used both in transporting the coal up the inclines and in
lowering it through the mine slopes, with a substantial part of haul
age cost charged against labour, and this is almost equal in both
insl anres.
2. The mining of down-dip fields requires installing supple
mentary drainage pumps, which are not needed in an up-dip
field.
4. In a down-dip field the ventilating current enters by descending.
Its flow is counteracted by the natural draught of the heated air
which lends to ascend. Ventilation of “ downhill”openings presents
more difficulties than that of up-dip ones. In mines exposed to fire
damp hazards the down-dip field should be supplied with separate
air currents in each of its flanks. Therefore, to develop the levels,
three openings are driven alongside each other—a mine incline and
two adjoining manways.
5. There must be at least, two passages for men to the shaft level
from the down-dip field, but communication with working places in
downhill openings is more difficult. In a down-dip field, there should
be means for the mechanical transportation of men patterned along
those of inclined shafts (Section 6). There can be an exception to this
rule only when the vertical distance between the ultimate elevation
marks of the mine incline is hot in excess of 25 metres.
G. Viewed from a purely economic angle, when the up- ffnd down-
dip portions of the mine field are equal in size, the production cost
of coal in the first instance is slightly lower. This difference in cost,
however, is often disregarded, and in practice, as mining operations
progress, down-dip fields become bigger than the up-dip ones. This
is done to eliminate the costly and labour-consuming process of deep
ening vertical shafts in a working mine or of building new mines
to exploit deeper lying levels down the dip. However, the economic
expediency of long mine inclines is, generally speaking, rather du
bious. This applies particularly to “ stage”inclines, that is, to inclines
equipped with separate hoisting installations capable of trans
ferring the mineral from one installation to another.
Opening Through Vertical Shafts and Crosscuts V!
One major disadvantage of stage inclines is that Il>oy require a

large number of workers to service them, and this brings down effi
ciency per underground worker. For this reason stage inclines should
be avoided and long continuous inclines without a transfer of payload
arranged instead.
The greater the pilch of the seam, the more the above-cited disad
vantages of mine inclines are felt. Therefore, (heir use is usually
limited to an angle of dip of not more than 3U-350.
In order to obviate the necessity of arranging long mine inclines,
which are inconvenient and uneconomic, especially in the case' of
steeply dipping seams, new, lower levels may be developed by deep
ening vertical shafts and crosscutting. This method is set forth in
Section 8.
According to the Safety Rules, when two vertical shafts serve as
exits from the underground workings to the surface, they should he
provided with ladder ways in addition to mechanical hoisting plants.
If the shafts are less than 70 metres deep and both provided with lad
der ways, one of them may be without mechanical hoisting appara
tus.
8. Opening Through Vertical Shafts and Crosscuts
A slightly dipping or lilting seam (with an angle of dip ranging
between 25° and 45') may also he opened through a vertical shaft
with crosscuts (Fig. 17). To avoid driving separate crosscuts to each
level of the mine field and to reduce the number of shaft stations,
one should do as follows. The first, uppermost level is developed with
out driving any crosscut, and the coal mined is passed along per
manent mine slope cd down to crosscut be, running from shaft a
to the haulage entry at the second level. Similarly, to develop levels
in the down-dip field, it may prove advantageous to drive crosscuts
fg and eh to open up the fourth and fifth levels, hut to avoid running
a long crosscut for the development of the 6lh level, this may be
opened through permanent incline hi.
Opening up of Coni and Other Stratified Deposits
Farly development of new levels through permanent mine inclines

or through the deepening of shafts-and crosscuttings has substantial
advantages and drawbacks.
It has already been mentioned that operation of permanent inclines
requires special facilities for transporting payloads and men,
complicates ventilation and infrequently demands considerable out
lays for maintaining inclined mine openings. Most important, how
ever, is the fact that permanent inclines require additional service
personnel and this reduces overall efficiency per man at the mine.
These shortcomings may be eliminated if mine levels are developed
through crosscuts. This method, however, is extremely complex and
cosily work, for it requires deepening vertical shafts and excavating
and equipping shaft stations and crosscuts.
On the oilier hand, from Lhe standpoint of operating costs, crosscuts
offer greater advantages and conveniences than permanent inclines.
For this reason either of the above-mentioned methods of develop
ing new levels may prove move profitable economically, this depend
ing upon local conditions and, chiefly, on Lhe seam’ s angle of dip.
The proper choice requires a technical and economic comparison of
all possible alternatives in accordance with Lhe rules set forth below
(Section 18).
High-dipping seams with a pitch angle of 45-90° are opened up
almost exclusively through vertical shafts and crosscuts. Their early
development through inclined shafts is seldom practised, and only
in mines with low annual output and shallow shafts.
While in mining gently dipping seams it is possible, if necessary,
to increase the inclined height of the level interval to quite sizable
proportions, in the case of high-dipping ones it is limited to a nar
rower range. This is due to difficulties engendered by roof control,
men’ s movement and delivery of Limber and other supplies. On the
other hand, the greater the level interval, Lhe less the cost charged
against one ton of mine output for the excavation of shaft stations
and crosscuttings. That encourages increasing the level interval.
I E H IV
On account of all these contradictory
factors, the vertical height of a level
interval in thin high-dipping seams and in
those of medium thickness is usually set at
about 100-130 metres, while in thick seams,
where lhe increase in the height of the level
interval causes greater difficulties, it
generally ranges between 80 and 100 metres.
The opening of steeply dipping seams is
almost invariably effected through vertical
Fig. 18. Opening up of a shafts, from which l evel c r o s s c u t s are
high-dippiDg seam driven to each level (Fig. 18). With the
Opening Through Vertical Shafts and Crosscuts
shafl located at site III, that is,

intersecting the seam approxi
mately midway down its length,
the aggregate extent of crosscuts
is minimal compared to locations
/ (with the shaft sunk in the
rocks of the hanging wall only)
and I I (when the shaft is driven
in the rocks of the fool wall
only). Hut all these three loca
tions have substantial disadvan
tages of their own. Extraction
of the mineral in the seam
causes shills of hanging wall rocks, which may have reper
cussions on the ground surface loo. These shifts may have an
adverse effect on Ihe condition of the shafts, crosscuts and shafl.
or bottom stations excavated in the hanging wall rocks, as well
as on the surface structures of the mine. To eliminate these
untoward effects, it is necessary to leave an extremely large protec
tive coal pillar under all above-named underground workings and
surface plants and structures, and this would reduce the percentage
recovery of the mine field reserves. For this reason location / of the
shaft is regarded unacceptable. As staled before, one advantage of
location I I I is the minimal total length of crosscuts, hut the consid
erable wasLe of coal in protective pillars does not favour adoption
of this alternative either. When the shaft is sunk over its entire length
in fool wall rocks (II), the displacement of hanging wall rocks does
not affect the stability of the shaft, bottom slalions and crosscuts.
The fact should be taken into account, however, that in a steeply
dipping seam or vein extraction of the mineral may he followed by a
slide of the foot wall rocks loo. Therefore, it is better somewhat to
increase the aggregate length of crosscuts and drive the shafl at some
disLance from the outcrop of the deposit at point IV. That would
obviate the possibility of the underground workings and surface
structures of the mine being damaged by sliding foot wall rocks and
make it unnecessary to leave any safely pillars.
In opening up high-dipping scams, shafts should be sunk in their
foot wall only (Fig. 19), this in consideration of the possible extrac
tion of (he upper portion of Lhe deposit through open pit abed and
of the layoul of surface plants and buildings precluding the neces
sity of leaving any protective pillar beneath them. Because of the
considerable thickness of the seam, the abandonment of this pillar
would mean an excessively high loss of coal.
In steeply dipping deposits the levels in a mine field are invariably
worked in Lhe descending order. When the levels are mined in upward
5(i Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
sequence, it is necessary first to drive the shafts down to their ulti

mate depth. Besides, there would be excavated areas beneath pro
ductive levels, and in a steeply dipping deposit this might cause
appreciable difficulties following the shifting of rocks. For this rea
son the levels in a high-dipping deposit are mined exclusively in de
scending order, starting with the one nearest to the surface.
Let us follow the sequence of early development operations as de
picted in Fig. 20. The main hoisting shaft is first sunk down to the
point of the haulage entry of the first level (Fig. 20a). To secure ven
tilation it will suffice to sink the air shaft only to the point marking
upper or ventilating entry of the same level. Haulage and ventilat
ing crosscuts are pushed forward from the shafts to permit excavating
main level entries, that is, to start development and then stoping
work in the first level. The direction of ventilating air currents will
then be as follows.
The intake current of fresh air will enter the mine through the hoist
ing shaft and pass to the haulage entries in both wings of the mine
field via the lower crosscut of the first level. Ascending, it will circu
late along stope faces, flow to the ventilation crosscut and will then
return to the surface through the ventilating shaft. This movement
of the air is kept up by the operation of an exhaust fan set up over
the mouth of the upcast shaft. In Section 6 of this chapter it was point
ed out that the driving of the ventilating shaft and crosscut is
sometimes dispensed with altogether in mining the first level, and that
the return airways are connected every few hundred metres with the
ground surface through pits serving as communication openings for
the passage of men, lowering of supplies and ventilation. In this case
ventilation is effected either by exhaust fans set up over every consecu
tive pit or else by making the main hoisting shaft serve as the pas
sage for the downcast air current fed by a pressure fan.
Opening of a Horizontal Bed 57
While it is enough to sink the air shaft down to the upper entry of
the given level to assure adequate ventilation, to facilitate communi
cation between the haulage level and the ground surface and to make
better use of the ventilating shaft as an auxiliary opening its depth
should preferably be equal to that of the main hoisting shaft
(Fig. 20b).
For purposes of raising the hoisting shaft, it is desirable to drive
the ventilating shaft in advance by one level (Fig. 20c). When
mining high-dipping seams, the periodic deepening of shafts for the
development of new levels hampers the routine operation of shaft
stations in one way or another. On the other hand, preliminary sink
ing of the ventilating shaft to a new level and subsequent raising
of the hoisting shaft reduce to the minimum the time needed for switch
ing over the operation of the main hoisting plant to a new level.
Efforts required for opening and developing new levels in steeply
dipping deposits consume a great deal of labour and lime. By analogy
to what has been said above with reference to the development of
new levels in opening up a mine field through inclined shafts (Sec
tion 0) this work should be started well ahead of lime.
9. Opening of a Horizontal Bed

Entries or drifts made along the strike of a bed occurring at a cer
tain dip run horisonlally. In a flat dipping deposit, where the notion
of strike loses its significance and mine workings driven in the plane
of the bed in all diieclions are level, this factor falls away altogether.
Therefore, when flat dipping beds or seams are worked, the mine
field sometimes is not subdivided into sections analogous in outline
to levels, but are cut into panels which may be oriented to each other
at different angles depending upon the features specific to the run
of the bed bottom, or have nonreclangular contours (Fig. 21).
Nature knows no beds whose occurrence is geometrically horizon
tal. Each has an “ undulating”bottom with local “ sink holes’
.’and
“ upheavings” . This irregularity of occurrence is of great importance
for the choice of workings to be provided with mine tracks and drain
dilches.
Hence the different orientation of panels, in accordance with the
relief (hypsome try) of the bottom.
In the U.S S.R. flat occurrences of variable thickness are common to
many bedlike deposits of the Moscow coal basin. Coal measures there
usually have but one payable scam. Coal occurs in the shape of lens
like bodies (deposits) of irregular outline, lying close to the surface,
usually a few scores of metres. The lenses are usually about 1-2 km
long and 0.G-1.5 km wide, although some deposits cover larger areas
with continuously occurring coal seams. More often than not, seams
or beds are 1-3 metres thick, but quite frequently their thickness
tends to vary over short distances, sometimes reaching 4-6 metres.
Jn the outline and nature of their occurrence, the mine field
areas of coal deposits in the Moscow basin are usually irregular. Or
dinarily they are opened by centrally located twin shafts which, be
cause of the “ undulating”bed bottom, are whenever possible sunk
in low-lying ground to ensure an adequate runoff of mine water
to the main water collectors or sumps in the vicinity of the shaft
station. Quite often, however, auxiliary pump stations have to be
set up. Because of the shallowness of coal beds, proper servicing of
individual sections of the mine field not infrequently requires the
arrangement of air pits with ladder ways for the passage of men, in
addition to the main shafts.
Because of the irregular contours of the mine fields and nonuniform
run of the bed bottom the main entries are driven in different direc
tions, breaking the mine field into separate portions which are mined
individually by systems described below (Chapter XIII, Section 5),
or else are preliminarily divided into panels.
Flat bedding of coal seams is also common to Cheremkhovo coal
fields and some other areas. Combustible shale deposits in the Baltic
area and the Middle Volga are characterised by their nearly flat pitch.
Nearly all the coal deposits in theU.S.A.are practically flat. Quite
apart in this respect is the Pennsylvanian anthracite district, whose
geological structure roughly resembles that of the Prokopycvsk-Ivi-
selvovsk district of Ihe Kuznetsk coal fields, though the properties
of their coals are different.
10. Division of a Mine Field into Panels

In the foregoing text it was assumed that in the instance of nonhor
izontal seams the mine field had to be divided into levels permit
ting proper sequence of mining.
But, as already mentioned, there also exists a method of dividing
a mine field into panels applicable to the development of seams
with a certain angle of pitch.
One of the variants of this method provides for the following
operations (Fig. 22). The mine field is divided into an up-dip and
down-dip portions, each cut inLo panels 1, 2, 3.... The entry driven
on the level of the shaft station, that is, the one delimiting the up-
dip and down-dip fields, is called main entry. Up and down the dip
each panel is bounded by the main entry and the mine field boundary,
while in the direction of the strike it borders on the adjacent panels
or on the nearby panel and the mine field boundary. Each panel
in the up-dip field is provided with an independent permanent
panel slope, and in the down-dip field with an individual panel incline.
^ ,^msTmat*-*1**
Bui7 RjupunoQ pjajJ SUH4
k
c;
4i
t*
a>
C5
Q
5*
§
-§
Fig. 22. Division of a mine liold inlo panels. Variant I
GO Opening up of Coni and Other Stratified Deposits
To increase the breast, front of stoping each panel, as a rule, is worked

bilaterally. The widl h of the panel (that is, its extent along the strike)
is set at several hundred metres. Thus, the concept panel may be de
fined in Ihe following manner: it is the part of a mine field bounded
by the main haulage entry of the basic production level and serviced
by the independent tramming face entry directly abutting on this
main entry. A schematic position of the stoping breast front is shown
in Fig. 22. The portion of the panel worked at the same time is called
stage. In Fig. 23 each panel has three stages.
Panels may be worked in sequence 1, 2, 3, 4... alternately now in
one and now in another flank (assuming that the breast front of slopes
in one panel is sufficient to secure planned output from the seam
in production). This method allows extraction of the mineral from
panels nearest to the shaft. On the other hand, however, it makes it
imperative simultaneously to drive and maintain main entries in
both wings of themine field. Panels may also be mined in sequence
1, 3, 5, 7, 2....
One major disadvantage of this variant of the panel method illus
trated in Fig. 22 is the direction of the main ventilating currents:
the intake current of fresh air and the return current move side by side
along the openings of the main production level. This leads to leak
ages and short circuits of air currents, and such panel development in
mines with high firedamp evolution should, therefore, be avoided.
To do away with this very serious handicap, it is suggested that the
main airway be driven as a lateral entry, the more so since its service
life is long.
This disadvantage of the panel development of the mine field
may also be eliminated by using the alternative shown in Fig. 23,
that is, by making return air currents move towards the ventilating
entry driven near the upper boundary of the mine field. A very sub
stantial disadvantage of this method, however, is that extremely long
slopes (or inclines in the down-dip portion of the mine field) have to
be maintained in mined-out areas. Generally speaking, the negative
feature of the panel layout is the necessity inherent in this method
of driving a series of long oblique openings—permanent mine slopes
and inclines.
As the upper boundary of the mine field does not lie too deep from
the ground surface, each panel can be ventilated through an independ
ent upcast pit, and in this case no common upper enlry is needed.
One advantage of the panel layout is the mine field’ s single main
level with electric haulage, while panel' entries are equipped with
conveyers only.
Another substantial advantage of the panel layout is that, when
needed, it is possible to develop a large footage of working stopes
in one seam.
euyj fijopunoq p p ij ampf
C3
-o >A
Qj
^ c/i
*
.c: 1
rt
e a*
Qj o
<
■vj a
-a
Qj G
-5 ©
5 s
C3*
'Cl -H
c: O
Ci
<5
Qj >
*
ca 3
-sj
<N
sui) fijDpunoq p-jaiJ aui^

f>2 Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
Strike
It was Prof. B. Bokiy who
first compared the opening
and development of a mine
field by using levels and
panels (in a work named
Mining by Fields of Big
Height). His conclusions fa
voured the level method of
mining. At present, how
ever, this problem should be
investigated again since,
though it has not yet been
foot1 proved by calculation, the
F ig . 24. O p e n i n g u p o f a m in e field d o w n new mechanised transport
the d i p through several permanent facilities may broaden the
in c l i n e s scope of the panel develop
ment application.
To form a proper judgement on comparative advantages and disad
vantages of the level and panel methods of opening and developing
a mine field it is essential that this comparison be complex, that is,
it should include both the technical and economical aspects of the
driving of mine workings, their maintenance, transportation of coal,
barren rocks and supplies, passage of men, ventilation, power supply,
and for down-dip fields—mine water disposal as well. The answer to
this question to a first approximation may be found through esti
mating the number of men required and their work in both these meth
ods.
It should be noted that the level method of development is simpler
and may be employed within a wider range of geological conditions.
There have been instances of down-dip fields being worked through
individual inclines. This occurs when it is impossible to drive the
lower entry across the entire mine field on account of the oblique out
line of the lower mine field boundary caused by the geological distur
bances of bedding (Fig. 24).
11. Opening of Coal Measures

In most cases, coal seams in deposits do not occur singly, but in
measures. If seams />,, p t, p ,... (Fig. 25) in the measure lie far from
each other, it may be technically advisable and economical (this
being decided by calculation in planning the mining of a particular
deposit) to open them through separate shafts Nos. 1, 2, 3....
When the seams of the measure occur closer to each other, they can
be developed and worked jointly through one shaft. In combined de
velopment, the seams are interconnected by mine workings, which.
Opening of Coal Measures 63
depending largely upon the angle'of pitch of the seams, may be locat
ed in many different ways (Fig. 26).
When two seams p, and p t (Fig. 26a) are flat or nearly so, the
length of the vertical connecting opening is minimal. This may be a
blind shaft intended for hoisting (continuous arrow in the drawing)
or lowering loads (dash arrow). To simplify transportation and facili
tate the movement of men, the connecting opening (dash line in
No J No2Not
P3 P2 Pt
F ig . 25. O p e n i n g u p o f c o a l - m e a s u r e s tr a ta t h r o u g h s e p a r a t e
s h a f ts
Fig. 26a) may be driven as an incline in the country rock (for hoisting
loads), or as a slope or winze in the country rock (for lowering loads).
When the seams occur vertically (Fig. 2Gb) they are connected by
a crosscut.
Seams with an angle of dip a other than 0°and 90° (Fig. 26c) may
be connected by horizontal crosscuts, vertical blind shafts, slopes
or, finally, by inclines and slopes excavated in the country rock.
The smaller the pilch of the seams, the greater the relative length
of the crosscut and the more it costs to drive a crosscut than to exca
vate shorter vertical or inclined openings. But being horizontal
workings, crosscuts, in terms of operational convenience, possess
such vast advantages that in combined mining it is generally pre-
ferrable to use them to connect individual seams. Although the excava
tion of crosscuts requires greater outlays, they help to reduce opera
tional expenses. Transportation—electric haulage, for example—in
entries and crosscuts proceeds
in this instance uninterrupted a) a-0° b) a-90°
ly, whereas connection of zzzz P2
seams by a vertical or inclined l
opening disrupts the continui \x'V \ \
ty of this process and requires f s s s s s j j s i m s s M s s s , Pf
additional transport facilities
in'these workings, and that
entails an increase in opera
tional costs.
Bearing all that in mind, let
us examine the characteristic
layouts used in the develop F ig . 26. P o s s i b l e m e t h o d s o f c o n n e c t i n g
ment of coal-measure strata. s e a m s by m i n e o p e n i n g s
In conditions favouring
the sinking of inclined
shafts (Section 6 ), two or
several seamsp,, p 2... may
be developed by this meth
od (Fig. 27). To reduce
coal wastage in protective
( '.ombilled opening up seam s
through inclined shafts pillars, the inclined shafts
are driven in the lowest
scam of Ihe measure. The scams are connected with each other by
level crossculs. Underground workings may be aerated with the aid
of the draught produced by one main or two individual fans.
Opening of two flat or gently pitching beds located at a consider
able distance from each other through one common main vertical
shaft (Fig. 28) may involve driving separate bottom stations a and b
at the intersection of these beds by the shaft, with the further open
ing, developing and stoping of the beds carried out quite independ
ently. In this case hoisting plant in vertical shafts should be ar
ranged so as to allow simultaneous operation on two levels. However,
since it is extremely inconvenient (though not impossible) permanent
ly to operate the hoisting plant now on one and now on another
level, it is preferable to use two independent hoisting plants in such
condit ions.
When the distance between flat beds p, and p 2 is smaller, they may
be connected by a vertical blind shaft. The hoisting then is done from
one level only. If the coal extracted from bed p, is h o i s t e d up the
blind shaft (continuous arrow in Fig. 29), the coal coming from
both beds is brought up to the ground surface from shaft station a
by the main hoisting plant. This obviates the necessity of sinking
the main shaft down to bed p,. But if coal from bed p 2 is passed down,
the coal mined in both beds is to be hoisted mainly from shaft sta
tion b, driven in bed p,. The vertical opening connecting these beds
V /7 7 7 7 7 7 //"'""'
a
#C2 p _______ n a
2 i
n
b
v p,^±
rf j uf b
n --------
F ig . 28. Openin'; up o f tw o flat s e a m s F ig . 29. O p e n i n ? u p o f t w o flat

th r o u gh a verti cal s h a ft s c a m s th r o u gh a v er tic a l m ain s h a ft
an d a b l in d sh a ft o r win/.e
Opening of Coal Measures 65
may be replaced by an inclined one (dash line in Fig. 29), if Ihis is

deemed advisable on technical and economical grounds which is
determined by preliminary estimates.
To secure adequate ventilation for underground workings and lo
provide for no less than two escape openings to the surface, supple
mentary mine workings are excavated (they are not shown in Figs.
28 and 29).
A widely practised method for opening up coal measures is illus

trated in Fig. 30. The strata of gently pitching seams p v p 2, p, ...
are opened by a vertical main shaft, from which permanent crosscut
ab is driven. The levels (or panels) within the range of each seam are
opened and developed in the fashion described in Sections 7 and 10,
that is, as though the mine field of any particular seam were opened
through a vertical shaft running along the line of intersection of the
seam and the permanent crosscut. The coal broken in the up-dip
fiold is passed down the mine slopes to the level of the crosscut, while
that coming from the down-dip field is brought up along the perma
nent mine inclines. Ventilation is effected by individual fans set
up for each seam, or else ventilation crosscut albi is driven in the
upper portion of the mine field Lo collect return air currents which
are then discharged lo the ground surface with the aid of a single
exhaust fan.
To avoid excavating long mine slopes and inclines, one may drive,
as illustrated in Fig. 17, not one, but two and even more crosscuts
I, II, I I I (Fig. 31) in combination with permanent mine slopes (in
Fig. 31, sloping of the first level) and inclines (sloping of the fifth
level).
When space between individual seams in the measure differs wide
ly, the above-mentioned mclhods of mine opening may be employed
in various combinations. For example, Fig. 32 is illustrative of
an instance when one of the scams p 3 lies at a very considerable
distance from two other seams p, and p z, which are contiguous. It
may prove economical to approach the outlying seam through a
r///7/;
F ig . 31. O p e n i n g u p o f a s e a m s e r ie s t h r o u g h a v er tic a l
shaft and crosscu ts
F ig . 32. C o m b i n e d m e t h o d o f d e v e l o p i n g a s e r ie s o f c o a l s e a m s
long crosscut and to develop the levels in this seam through a perma
nent mine slope or incline.
Fig. 33 depicts a typical layout for opening up a steeply dipping
coal measure. Here continuous lines show the sections of shafts and
crossculs which must be excavated within the area of the first level
to secure the progress of stoping (it is assumed that the hoisting and
air shafts are sunk to the same depth). The position of shafts and
crosscuts for the development of subsequent levels is shown by dash
lines. The circulation of ventilation currents is marked by arrows.
If only the first level is aerated, no ventilation crosscut is needed
when pressure fans are used. In this case, the return air from the work-
tt.s. .v.s.
P5 Pk P3 pe Pl
F i g . 33. O p e n i n g u p of a steep ly d ipp in g coal

m ea su re
Opening of Coal Measures G7
P i g . 34. O p e n i n g u p o f a s e r i e s o f lliin, h i g h - d i p p i n g seam s in (he D o n e l s c o a l

fie ld s
ings of each seam is discharged to the surface via auxiliary pits,

which at the same Lime serve for lowering men, limber and other sup
plies into the mine.When there is a considerable number of productive
seams and rugged surface topography, this method is inconvenient,
since it necessitates sinking many auxiliary pits, through which it
may prove difficult to deliver supplies. That is why ventilation cross
cuts of the first level are considered indispensable at bigger mines.
In the mining of each subsequent level, every former haulage cross
cut of the preceding level serves as an airway.
Fig. 34 illustrates a typical layout for opening a series compris
ing numerous thin, high-dipping coal seams occurring in con
ditions specific to the main anticline of the Donets coal fields.
If all the seams of the series were mined simultaneously and over
equal areas then, following the procedure similar to that set forth in
Section 4, we would arrive al the following relation between annual
mine production A, on the one hand, and level interval h, average
annual advance of sloping operations in one wing L, total coal output
per 1 square metre of seam area Up and the mean coefficient of coal
recovery c, on the other:
A = 2LhXpc.
As before, this formula is set forlh on the assumption that only
one productive level is mined at a lime and that the mine field has
r.s Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
Uvo equally large flanks. Bui, in developing coal measures it is not

possible lo work all Iho seams simultaneously and uniformly. This
is primarily due lo Ihe fact that, as a rule, the seams in a series must
he worked in definite order. After the extraction of coal from seams
Ihere occur rock displacements over the mined-out areas, in the form
of collapses, fissures, subsidence and sagging. Therefore, if there is
an unsloped scam lying over the one mined at any given moment,
Ihe former may be “ undermined”from below during extraction of
the lalter. This would mean disturbance of the continuity of coal and
enclosing rocks of the upper seam, caused by rock shifting due to the
extraction of Ihe lower seam and that would complicate further min
ing operations. The degree of damage caused by “ undermining”
may be of widely differing proportions, ranging from complete im
possibility of proceeding with the mining of the upper, undermined
seam lo almost no injurious effect at all, this depending on existing
conditions (thickness of the seams, distance separating them, angle
of dip and properties of rocks occurring between the seams).
When the damaging effect of undermining from below has to be
reckoned with, the principal measure that can forestall this dangerous
condition is mining of upper seams before the lower ones. In other
words, if the seam worked at any given moment has another produc
tive seam over it, and the conditions favour its undermining from
below, the upper seam should be mined first.
Thus, to eliminate undermining from below, the upper seams
should be worked before the lower ones; in other words, all the seams
in the mine field cannot be mined simultaneously and uniformly.
Hence, concurrently mined are scams whose aggregate output is less
than the value Zp, and this is set at k~Lp, where k is the variation
factor of coal extraction from the seams, that is, the number showing
what portion of the aggregate output capacity of the seams in a series
is utilised on the average at a lime. In planning mining operations
the aclual value of the variation factor must be determined after
a detailed consideration of the sequence in which seams are lo be
mined in the series and estimation of the rate of advance or the lead
to be adopted in working the overlying seams.
If a deposit is very rich, it may happen that, in order to ensure an
adequate stope footage in an active mine, or the planned tonnage
fora newly projected one, it will suffice lo work only a portion of the
seams in the mine Geld at a time. This is the second reason prompting
the inclusion of the variation factor in all the estimates of this kind.
Thus, in mining coal measures, the formula above should read
A = 2Lhkllpc, (3)
where k is the variation factor.

Opening of Disturbed Deposits R9
Correspondingly, the formula for estimating the level interval

will be
A
h (4)
2Lk2,pc
Explanations made in Section 4 about the values included in these

formulas as applied to the mining of one seam are also relevant to
working coal measures.
12. Opening of Disturbed Deposits

It was assumed above that beds in a mine field occurred more or
less regularly.
When the deposit is disturbed by folds, faults and other disloca
tions, the methods applied for its opening must be adjusted to each
individual case and in this instance it is difficult to set forth any gen
eral guiding principles or rules. More often than not, however, badly
disturbed or disrupted coal deposits are opened through vertical
shafts and level crosscuts.
F ig . 35. OpcninLMip o f fa u lted d e p o s i t s in the I’

rokopycvsk-
K i s c l y o v s k d is tr ic t o f the K u zn et sk c o a l fields
One characteristic example is the development pattern of the coal

deposits occurring in the Prokopyevsk-Kiselyovsk district of the
Kuznetsk basin, where sheets of coal of varying thickness occur in
the shape of sharply pronounced folds with steep sides or limbs and
are, moreover, dislocated by faults (Fig. 35).
Another example of opening is shown in Fig. 36, where the series
of gently pitching seams with a disrupted mode of occurrence is in
tersected by level crosscuts—haulage ab and ventilation cd—pushed
forward from vertical shafts. Some sections of the seams lying be
tween geological faults may be worked out, depending on their posi
tion in relation to crosscuts, in a variety of ways—by mine slopes 1,
mine inclines 2 and blind shafts 3 and 4.
The layout of haulage crosscut ab shown in Fig. 36, however, has

a big drawback: with the progress of mining operations it becomes
surrounded by mined-out areas. This entails leaving large protective
pillars and consequently wastage of coal. Therefore, the following
method for opening up a series of gently pitching, disturbed coal
beds may be employed at big mines: the haulage crosscut is driven
in the foot wall of the measures (dash line a'b' in Fig. 36), while from
this lateral entries are pushed forward and connected with individ
ual sections of the seams by means of blind shafts of different exten
sion, the latter depending on the relative disposition of the seams.
tf.jS / V.S.
F ig . 36. An e x a m p l e s h o w i n g the o p e n i n g u p o f a b a d l y d is t u r b e d d e p o s it w ith

a p r e d o m i n a n t l y g e n t l e d ip
With this alternative mode of development, the haulage crosscut

and entries as well as blind shafts 5 are not exposed to hazards aris
ing from the displacement of mine rocks. Another advantage of this
method is the possibility of driving lateral entries in country rocks
in a straight line, quite irrespective of geological disturbances in the
occurrence of the beds. However, this mode of opening is rather costly
and is profitable only in mining measures containing large quantities
of coal.
In preparing detailed plans for opening and developing individual
sections of faulted deposits, the task of the engineer charged with
planning is to find away of working them by the simplest and cheap
est method, by exercising sound judgement and taking into account
the peculiarities distinguishing the occurrence of beds within the
range of each section of the mine field. At the same time care should
be taken that the aggregate of such sections mined in the course of
the year should ensure the planned annual production capacity of
the mine.
Advance and Retreat Working of a Mine Field 71
13. Advance and Retreat Working of a Mine Field
As staled above, individual levels and the mine field as a whole

may be worked by advance mining, that is, in the direction from the
shafts to the boundaries of the mine field, or by retreat mining—from
the field boundaries towards the shafts. Let us discuss the advantages
and shortcomings, as well as the scope of each of these two methods,
first in mining individual seams and then their series.
To facilitate comparison, advance mining in working a level is
shown in Fig. 37 on the left side and retreat mining on the light.
In this instance, the ventilating shaft is located in the centre of the
mine field.
— - Direction o f mining
- Direction o f ventilating
a ir currents
F ig . 37. M in i n g o f a l e v e l b y the a d v a n c e an d retreat
m e t h o d s w i th a r e t r o g r a d e v e n t i l a t i o n s c h e m e
The principal advantage of advance mining is that it allows stop-

ing operations without preliminary driving of level entries over the
entire mine field, as is the case with retreat mining.
But there are also substantial disadvantages in advance mining.
With this method the haulage entry runs immediately beneath the
mined-out area. To protect the strike entry from the direct impact
of subsiding rocks, coal pillars must be left alongside it. If the size
of these pillars up the dip is large, for instance 20-30 metres, the
vicinity of the worked-out areas does not much affect the stability
of the entry timbering, though it tends to complicate blocking out,
that is, driving entries in coal delimiting these pillars, increases the
amount of coal lost in pillars and impedes communications between
the slrike entries and working faces. Should, on the other hand, the
sill pillars adopted be smaller in size, say 5-10 metres, this results
in high rock pressure on Lhe entry timbering, particularly along the
sections closest to the working faces, and necessitates frequent re
pairs of the timbering and mine tracks. In such circumstances, the
ventilating entry, which is flanked on both sides by worked-out areas,
72 Opening up of Cual and Other Stratified Deposits
is especially vulnerable. If Ihe dip is high, the maintenance of ven-

lilaling entry driven in Ihe minable seam proper, except in working
very Ihin seams, is altogether impossible. This is due to the fact that
real pillars, which may be left under the ventilating entry to safe
guard it, are actually liable, in conditions prevailing in heavy
pitched deposits, to become fractured and gradually sheet and slide
down. Another factor contributing to the instability of these pillars
is dislocation of rocks forming hanging and even foot walls of the
seam mined. All this makes the maintenance of the ventilating entry
over the mined-oul area impossible. To this one might add that when
Ihe entry is supported by rock ribs instead of coal pillars and
Ihe rocks enclosing the coal seam are not steady and its pitch is steep,
the rock ribs may also slide and that can be attended not only by the
development of extremely high rock pressure, but also by a sudden
breakdown of Ihe entry. Such cases necessitate the use of a strike entry
made in another seam of the series (see below) or of a lateral one driv
en in country rocks. Cap pillars over the entry are left temporarily,
but their subsequent extraction on the ventilating level entails coal
losses. And the robbing of floor pillars beneath the ventilating entry
in seams with moderate and high dips is not practised at all.
The current of fresh air reaches working faces via the lower haulage
entry of the level concerned. Since there is a difference of air pressure
between Ihe haulage and ventilating entries, air may leak through
holes and cracks in the stoppings arranged in “ cross entries" between
the pillars, through fissures and crevices in the crushed coal of these
pillars and through the mined areas. Such leakage of air worsens ven
tilation conditions at Ihe slopes. Air leakage through fissures in the
pillars may cause oxidation, healing and spontaneous combustion
of coal, that is, lead to an underground fire. It is by far not always
possible to extinguish an underground fire at its source by remov
ing burning and heated coal or with water and fighting underground
fires generally boils down to erecting airtight seals, sometimes fol
lowed by hydraulic silting ol the sealed-off section, that is, by filling
its workings with pulp—a mixture of water and clay particles. The
selling of air seals in the main entries makes access to stopes in ad
vance mining of the level impossible and production in this Hank
of Ihe field has to be stopped altogether until the fire is brought com
pletely under control. On the other hand, it is difficult to isolate a
fire by arranging airtight seals in mine workings of secondary im
portance because it requires a large number of seals. The advance
method of mining thus creates very unfavourable conditions for
fighting mine fires caused by spontaneous combustion of coal.
The above-cited disadvantages—difficulty of maintaining entries,
air leakage and possible outbreak of underground fires—are to a great
extent obviated in retreat mining of levels.
The section of the haulage entry which has to be maintained to

ensure proper operation of the mine transport is flanked on both
sides by coal “ in situ (right side in Fig. 37). Therefore, it is not
exposed to massive rock pressure observed in the advance method of
mining.
The position of the ventilating entry is somewhat inferior, but
from the down-dip side it too is adjoined by an intact solid block
of coal. Hence, in retreat mining it can be maintained during the
extraction of both the thicker and heavy-pitching seams. The aggre
gate area of entry chain pillars in retreat mining is thus much small
er and their service life shorter, inasmuch as no pillars at all need
be left under the ventilating entry.
As air leakages via worked-out areas are practically ruled out in
retreat mining they do not occur at all. This and also reduced coal
losses in pillars minimise fire hazards due to spontaneous combustion
of coal. Even if a fire should break out, it is simpler and easier to
bring it under control. To isolate the focus of Lhe fire, it suffices to set
up seals in the main strike entries, to prepare working faces and re
sume stoping operations, isolating the fire-stricken section from the
rest of the area by a pillar until Lhe fire is brought under complete
control.
It is to be noted, however, that when the mining method used re
quires a large number of development workings, there should also
be seals arranged in some of these workings so as to reduce Lhe amount
of coal left inside the isolated fire-stricken area.
The availability of main level entries driven in retreat mining
along the entire length of one of the flanks of the mine field
prior to opening production slopes is one of the main advantages of
this method. Driving level entries beforehand makes it possible to
explore additionally and in detail the features specific to the occur
rence of the seam and accurately establish Lhe relative positions of
minor geological disturbances, which is of paramount importance
for planning sLoping operations.
In retreat mining the stopes are always adjoined by a ready tram
ming entry, this ensuring adequate performance of switching opera
tions in electric haulage. True, this can also be achieved in advance
mining, providing the breast of the haulage entry is driven no less
than 70-100 metres ahead of the slope face. In practice, unfortunately,
this condition is not always abided by and that complicates transport
operations.
The above-cited employment of switching operations in electric
haulage raises the efficiency of the mine transportation system and,
what is particularly important, speeds up the handling and removal
of broken coal from the slope areas.
The working of levels by Lhe retreat method has its shortcomings Loo.
To start sloping in a level by the retreat method, it is necessary

first to push forward a haulage entry over the entire length of the
mine field and simultaneously drive and maintain an upper (venti
lating) entry of the same length. Prior drivage of these openings
requires much lime and involves certain technical difficulties, large
ly in connection with the ventilation of their advance headings as
well as their supply with electric power and compressed air. To fa
cilitate air circulation, haulage and ventilating entries may, when
being driven, be connected by inclined openings, which later may
be used as chutes, mine slopes or manways.
The above applies to the ventilation of the level along the central
(retrograde) aeration pattern (Fig. 37).
Direction of mining
Direction of ventilating Q
currenti
F ig . 38. M in i n g o f a l e v e l b y th e a d v a n c e a n d r etrea t m e t h
o d s w ith a boun dary ven tila tio n schem e
The sinking of discharge air shafts on the flanks of the mine field
(Fig. 38) nullifies many advantages of retreat mining. Comparison
of the left (advance mining) and right (retreat mining) sides in Fig. 38
reveals that in the case of boundary (diagonal) ventilation, the advan
tages of retreat mining described above apply to the haulage entry.
But the ventilating entry would remain in the same unfavourable
position as it is in the case of advance mining using a retrograde
system of ventilation.
If it proves difficult or even impossible to maintain a ventilating
entry driven in the minable seam, it may, as said before, be replaced
by a lateral entry. To this end, lateral entries a, and may be made
in the country rocks of the foot wall parallel to the main entries a
and b (Fig. 39). The entries driven in the seam and country rocks are
connected with each other (ordinarily every few hundred metres)
by intermediate crosscuts aat and bbx. The lateral entries are largely
used for handling coal, for the

passage of men to and from
the stopes and for ventilating
air currents, while the entries
made in the seam proper need
not be maintained at all.
Hence, the use of lateral entries
makes it fully possible to mine
the level by the advance meth
od.
When coal measures are
mined (Fig. 40), damage to
ventilating entries may be
caused not only by the disloca
tion of rocks following the ex
traction of the given seam, but also by dislocations occurring
in the ones below it. Therefore, the main entries in the series of close
ly superimposed seams p t, p t, p 3 may be connected wiLh each other
by intermediate crosscuts with a view to concentrating the passage
of men, haulage and the How of the main air currents in entries a.
F ig . 40. D i s p o s i t i o n o f g r o u p a n d l a te r a l (fringe) entr ies
and b of the lower seam of the series. Such an entry is, therefore,
called group or gathering entry. Should it prove difficult to maintain
the entries made in the lower seam (especially the ventilating one),
the group entry may be driven in the country rock too (a,, /;,). In all
these instances the level may also be worked out by the advance meth
od. The question of combined development and stoping in a series
of seams is discussed in detail in Chapter XXII.
7Ci Opening up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
Lot us sum ii]) oil wo have said before about the relative advantages
and drawbacks of advance and retreat mining of levels.
Advance mining allows a quick progress of stoping operations,
1ml il lias its shortcomings: 1 ) difficulties in maintaining level entries,
which in Iht' case of a ventilating entry driven in the working seam

of medium thickness and heavy pitch may even prove quite impos
sible; 2) higher coal losses in pillars; 3) air leakages; 4) fire hazards
due to spontaneous combustion of coal and difficulty of controlling
such fires. The aforementioned disadvantages incident to the mining
of levels towards their boundaries are eliminated with the aid of
group or lateral entries, and arc of lesser significance in the case of
ventilation effected according to the diagonal scheme than in that of
the retrograde scheme.
The retreat method of mining has the following advantages over
(hi' advance one: 1 ) working conditions in the entries are much bet
ter; 2) coal losses arc smaller; 3) air leakages are eliminated; 4) fire
hazards arc reduced and fire-fighting is much easier; 5) preliminary
driving of level entries allows a detailed complementary exploration
of the structure and the mode of occurrence of the seam; C) loading
of coal brought to the haulage entry from slopes is simplified; 7) since
the level is already developed by the driving of entries over its entire
length, supplementary active slopes may be quickly made ready, if
necessary.
It may thus be seen that retreat mining lias important advantages
over the advance one, in technical and, particularly, organisational
terms. These advantages, however, are valid only for the retrograde
scheme of ventilation and in the absence of group or lateral entries.
The use of the latter lends to nullify the principal merits of retreat
mining.
Hence, the question of relative advantages and disadvantages of
these two methods employed in working mine fields appears to be
extremely complex.
The chief drawback of the retreat method is that it requires prelimi
nary driving of main entries along the entire length of the mine
field flanks. This disadvantage, however, diminishes in direct pro
portion to the speed with which strike entries can be made. The
smaller the length of the mine field flank and the greater the monthly
rale of the face advance in the entry, the less time is required to pre
pare the level for retreat mining. In this connection of special im
portance are high-speed methods of driving development openings,
based on rational use of a set of efficient machines and adequate
organisation of work with a multicycle operation. The adoption of
high-speed methods for driving mine workings has now been made
possible by the serial manufacture of mining equipment, particularly
of drifting machines and mine combines.
Basic Principles of Estimating the Size of a Mine Field 77
The more difficult the maintenance of level entries near the worked-
out areas, the more advantageous the employment of retreat mining.
Since unstable wall rocks and the growing thickness and pitch of the
seams tend to increase these difficulties, if is preferable to use the re
treat method in mining thin seams with moderate and high dip, with
readily breakable coal and unstable wall rocks.
We have earlier mentioned the merits incident to the retreat min
ing of seams containing spontaneously combustible coal.
When there are apparent geological disturbances in the deposit,
the information collected about them in driving development openings
in the retreat mining of a level adds to the advantages of the
method.
Because of the reasons cited above retreat mining was hitherto
rarely practised, only in cases of real necessity.
But now, with the introduction of the method of high-speed driv
ing of mine workings, this attitude should be revised. In many in
stances the reduction of the period of level development through high
speed driving may allow the use of the advantages inherent in the re
treat working of mine fields.
The issue discussed above should not be confused with the question
of mining coal blocks. It will be seen later, in Chapter XXII, that
the extraction of blocks by the retreat method is practised quite
frequently.
In mining the first level of a mine field, the nearest to the ground
surface, it is the advance method Lhat is always used, since there is
no need to maintain the ventilating entry connected with the surface
through air-pits over its entire length. If retreat mining is the domi
nant method in the mine, the operations may be organised in the fol
lowing manner: to work the first level towards the boundaries of the
mine field so as to start sloping as early as possible, and meanwhile
develop the next level for its working by the retreat method.
14. Basic Principles of Estimating the Size of a Mine Field

If the size of a mine field does not depend on geological and certain
other factors (see Section 15), it must be decided when the mine lay
out is planned. Let us briefly touch upon the analytical method used
in estimating the size of the mine field at a mine with a given annual
tonnage.
The gist of the analytical method is illustrated by a very simple
example involving opening up a single gently pitching seam through
inclined shafts (see Fig. 8 ). The object is to establish the size of the
mine field that would ensure the minimal mining cost per one ton of
coal excavated in the mine and charged against factors depending
upon the size of the mine field.
78 Opening up of Coal and Oilier Stratified Deposits
To begin with, lot us note that expenditure per ton of coal tends
to diminish in one case, go up in another, remain unchanged in yet
another—all that depending on the size of the mine field. One example
of expenses in the first group is depreciation of capital outlays for
the const ruction of surface structures of the mine: the larger the
reserves of the mine, the smaller the part of the cost per one ton of
coal extracted. The expenses in the second group are exemplified
by (he cost of haulage along the tramming entries, their maintenance,
ventilation, hoisting of coal up the shafts. The bigger the mine
field, the greater these expenses per one ton of the coal output. One
example of expenses in the third group is the cost of stoping: the na
ture of operations performed at the active working faces remains
essentially the same regardless of their location in the mine field.
To estimate the size of a mine field entailing minimal expenses per
ton of coal charged against the variable costs of the first and second
groups, let us first put down these expenses one by one for the entire
mine field, add them up and divide the result by the total reserve
tonnage of the mine field. This will give us the per-ton cost of coal
output. In mathematical sense, this expression represents a function
of the mine field size. Let us now find the size of a mine field which
would correspond to the minimal per-ton cost of coal output, and
that will furnish the answer to the problem.
Before proceeding with actual calculations, we should note that
in this instance the inclined height of the level interval is determined
according to formula (2 )
Let us denote the size of the mine field on the strike by S and the
number of levels sought by n.
Workable coal reserves in one level are denoted by z and then the
total reserves of the mine field will amount to
Z = nz.
If by I we denote the number of years required to mine one level,
the estimated service-life of the mine will be
T =nt.
Conformably to the above-mentioned designations, we will now
put down the costs for the entire mine field according to items stand
ing in direct relation to the size of the mine field.
1. Shaft sinking. Let us divide the overall length of the shafts into
two separate sections: the upper portion, from the ground surface
down to the upper boundary of the mine field, and the remaining,
principal one, the extent of which is equal to the size of the mine field
down its dip, that is, nh. If the cost of the upper section (which, ob
viously, also includes the expenses incurred by special melhods of
timbering the shaft mouths) is designated by the sum total Ks and
the aggregate cost of one metre of inclined shafts and their manways
by ks, the overall cost of the shafts will be
Ks = nhks. (5)
2. Maintenance of shafts. We shall disregard the cost of maintain
ing the upper portion of the shafts, since its length is insignificant,
while actual maintenance in view of concrete or metal lining and
support of shaft mouths requires but little attention. Denoting by rs
the total maintenance cost per one metre of shafts and their manways,
we find that the overall cost of maintaining the shafts for a period
covering the mining of the first level, that is, during t years and for
the length of h, comes to r jil (rubles). Similarly, we can estimate the
cost of maintaining the shafts over the length 2 h for the lime inter
val t required to work out the reserves of the second level. This
cost may be put down at 2 r j i l .
For the last, n-lh level, we arrive, accordingly, at the outlay nrJit.
The overall cost of maintaining shafts in the mine field will be
r jit + 2r j i t + •■•+« r jit = rs>>t 1 . 6

( )
3. The total outlay for the construction of surface mine structures,

charged against the mine in question (excluding dwelling houses,
which may be used not only by the mine concerned) we denote by
B. (7)
4. By denoting the cost of one shaft station by D, we find that the
aggregate cost of all shaft stations within the mine field will bo
nD. (8 )
5. The cost of driving strike entries w ill a m ou n L to
keS n + l) , (9)
where ke is the cost of driving one metre of a level strike entry.
(i. The cost of maintaining level strike entries. If any mine working
has a permanent length of I and must be maintained over t years,
the overall cost of its maintenance, with r representing maintenance
cost per one metre of its length, will equal
rlt.
But the level strike entries must be maintained in varying condi
tions, since their length either gradually increases (with the advance
mining of the level) or decreases (in retreat mining).
Hence, if the length of the strike entry varies from 0 to / in the

space of t years, its mean length kept up during this period will be
— and, therefore, the cost of maintaining such an opening in these
conditions will be
rlt
2'
Taking this expression to represent the cost of maintaining strike
levels and bearing in mind that the mine field has two flanks, each
s
Y metres long, that over the period of t years two level entries have
to be maintained in each level (haulage and ventilating) and that the
loLal number of levels amounts to n, we find that the total main
tenance cost of all strike entries in the entire mine field is
£
- - x 2 x 2 n = n r eSt (10)
where re is the cost of maintaining one metre of strike entry per

year.
7. The cost of hoisting coal up the shafts. If any load Q is to be con
veyed over distance I, the “ performance”of transport facilities is
expressed by Ql (ton metres, ton kilometres). Denoting the cost of
one Lon metre by q, we find the overall haulage cost in this particular
instance is Qlq.
Overall transport cost q, however, depends upon distance /. It
may be shown that
0 = 7 + ?..
where 7 , and q1 represent certain parameters, whose significance and

numerical values depend on the type of haulage used in the mine.
Consequently, the cost charged against one ton metre is composed
of two addends, one related to distance, the other not.
With the foregoing in mind, we now proceed to estimate the cost
of hoisting coal up the shafts for the entire mine field (ignoring the
insignificant hoisting cost along the upper section of the shaft, from
the top boundary of the mine field to the shaft mouth):
zh ( r + *• )+ z2h ( 2
t + ?.) + ■••+ znh { h +■*») = z ?> +
(ii)
8 . The cost of coal haulage along level entries. It is not difficult to
prove that this cost is

nz (12)
9. To calculate the cost of hoisting men in inclined shafts, let us

introduce a denotation qn, which is the cost of transporting men in re
lation to 1 ton metre of work performed in hoisting the load. The to
tal cost of man-hoisting in an inclined shaft will then be found to bo
Zg, + zliqt 2 -. (M
10. The cost of the man-riding mechanised haulage along level

entries may be arrived at in similar manner:
ZqTe+ ' ^ P (H)
The cost of ventilation and mine drainage by means of pumping may

be estimated for the entire mine field, but we shall refrain from doing
so, since inclusion of these factors into our estimates will exert a
certain influence on the size of the mine field (towards its reduction)
only in instances of highly gaseous and watery mines.
If we now add up all these individual expenses and divide the total
by the workable reserve tonnage in the shaft field, determined by one
of the following expressions
Z —nz = Atn — , (15)
th e fo r m u la r e p r e se n tin g th e lev el of e x p e n d it u r e d e p e n d in g on the

s i z e o f th e m i n e field a n d f a l l i n g on to 1 to n o f th e c o a l p r o d u c e d w ill,
f o llo w in g p e r tin e n t a lg e b r a ic tr a n sfo rm a tio n s, a ssu m e th e form of a
f u n c t i o n o f t w o u n k n o w n s , v i z . , Lhe s i z e o f t h e m i n e f i e l d a l o n g t h e
strik e and th e n u m b e r o f l e v e l s h in th e m i n e field:
C l‘
5’+ J + C », i + ^ + l ^ + c «' (I)
(10)
A + 4
c ^ ^ i k j i + oy. (17)
h ( rs i s , sm \
(18)
2Lke
(19)
C* ~ A ’
(2 0 )
The value of the addend c 6 is not indicated, since, as it will present

ly be seen, it has no bearing on the solution of the problem.
82 Opening up oj Coal and Other Stratified Deposits
Let us find the values of the mine field size on the strike and the
number of levels favouring minimal expenditure per ton of output.
This means establishing values S and n under which function (1)
reaches its minimum.
N o t e s : 1. I3y its p h y s ic a l n a tu r e th e v a r i a b l e n is integra l, b u t c o n t e n t
will) (he a p p r o x i m a t e s o l u t i o n o f th e p r o b l e m w e face, w i th the a c c u r a c y
k n ow n in a d v a n c e to b e s u f f i c i e n t to a l l o w p r o p e r p l a n n in g , w e s h a l l r ega rd v a l u e
n as c o n s t a n t l y v a ria b le .
2. T h e s i n g l e - v a l u e d (un am big uous) e x i s t e n c e o f th e / {S, n) m i n i m u m is m a d e
c l e a r b y the p h y s ic a l n a tu r e o f the p r o b l e m , a n d th ere is n o need to r es o r t to
m a t h e m a t i c a l i n v e s t ig a t i o n to p r o v e it fo r m a l ly .
To determine values S and n which reduce f(S, n) to its minimum,

it suffices jointly to solve the equations:
851 *
S I*
0
0
II
II
or represented in detail:
tfISs
01)
II
1
(III)
On
II
1
The graphic method appears to be the simplest way of achieving

joint solution of these equations.
Having found the optimal size of the mine field, we can calculate
the tonnage of workable coal reserves contained therein. By dividing
these reserves by the annual output of the mine, we find its planned
service-life.
N u m e r ic a l e x a m p le . T h e o b j e c t is to d e t e r m i n e the s i z e o f a m in e field w o r k ed
b y an i n c l i n e d shaft. T h e e x t r a c t a b l e d e p o s i t c o m p r i s e s a s i n g l e g e n t l y p i t c h in g
s e a m 1.5 m etres thick, th e a n n ua l o u t p u t o f th e m in e A =300,000 tons.
H a v i n g found p = 1.8 ton/sq m; c = 0 . 9 ; £ = 4 0 0 metres, w e d e t e r m in e by fo r
m u l a (2 ) that h = 230 metres.
Let us then a c c e p t the f o l l o w i n g v a l u e s for th e p a r a m e te r s i n c l u d e d in the
s o l u t i o n o f the p r o b l e m : K 5=350,000 r u b le s ; ^ = 2 , 9 0 0 r u b le s; rs = 70 rubles;
73=3,500,000 ru b le s; Z)=400,000 r u b le s; ke = 1 5 0 r u b le s; re = B 0 ru b le s; <7* =
=0.0003 r u b l e per ton metre; 9^ = 0.0001 rub le pe r to n metre; 9*'n = 0 . 00015
r u b le ; q ™ = 0.0001 ruble.
W ith these v a l u e s for the pa r a m eter s a bove, the c a l c u l a t i o n s a c c o r d i n g to
f o r m u l a s (16)-(20) w i ll r e s u lt in: c , = 0 . 00032; c4=2,850; c,=0.0782; Cj=0.4;
ty=9,650.
In o rder to s o l v e eq u a t io n s (II) an d (III) g r a p h i c a l l y , l e t us d e t e r m in e the
S v a lu e s for each:
(V)
Annual Output and Service-Life of Coal Mines 83
a n d then, b y a s s u m i n g c o n s e c u t i v e v a l u e s n = t ; n = 2; n = 3 l e t us p l o t c o r
r e s p o n d i n g curves. T h e i r i n t e r s e c t io n p o i n t w i l l g i v e the o p t i m a l v a l u e s for tho
s i z e o f th e m in e f ield a n d th e n u m b e r o f l e v e l s w e seek. I n a s m u c h as the n u m b e r
o f l e v e l s f o u n d b y th is p r o c e d u r e w i ll , g e n e r a l l y spea k in g, rep resen t a fraction,
w e w i l l u l t i m a t e l y h a v e to a c c e p t the c l o s e s t integral n u m b e r fo r o u r m in e
l a y o u t.
In th e p resent case, w e find 5 = 6 ,3 0 0 metres; n = 3.7. U l t i m a t e l y , in ro u n d
n um bers, w e a d o p t S o=6,000 metres; «0= 4.
Hence, th e w o r k a b l e reserves o f th e m in e field w i ll be Z = S n h p c = 8 . d m i l l i o n
to n s a n d the s e r v i c e - li f e o f the m in e
T = — = 3 0 years.
A J
A few observations ought to be made with reference to the above-

discussed method of estimating the size of the mine field.
In order to arrive at a.proper solution, particular attention should
be paid to very accurate and substantiated selection of numerical
values of the parameters included in the problem.
The final values for the size of the mine field thus obtained should
be regarded as approximate, since, firstly, the accuracy of calcula
tion itself is lather limited and, secondly, even theoretically, the
values of arguments S and n within the range of the function f(S, n)
minimum may be made to change rather significantly without
markedly affecting the value of the function f(S, n) proper, that is,
altering the level of expenditure dependent on the mine field size per
ton of output.
The solution of the problem does not depend on absolute cost val
ues, but on relation between them, since each value of C,- includes
the cost only once, while the solutions of the problem, in Lhe final
analysis, are determined by equations (IV) and (V), which include
only ratios of Lhe C, value. In other words, general price changes
do not influence the solution of the problem.
15. Annual Output and Service-Life of Coal Mines

Information given above makes it possible to discuss Lhe major
problem of establishing the annual output and service-life of mines
in greater detail.
In Chapter I (Section 8 ) it was stressed that mine layouts and oper
ations in conditions prevailing in the Soviet socialist economy
should be so planned as to make mining enterprises meet to the full
est the requirements of the national economy. The types of mines,
their annual production capacity, service-life, equipment and sur
face structures must, in particular, ensure high labour efficiency
and low production costs.
In establishing the annual output of mines, their service-life and
the corresponding size and reserves of mine fields, we are bound to
encounter two characteristic types of coal deposits:
4
1) deposits broken by geological disturbances—folds (Fig. 41),

faults (see Fig. 5), pinching outs (see Fig. 6 ) and others—into isolat
ed sections, each known in advance to be worked by no more than one
mine. Consequently, the reserves, size and boundaries of the mine
field are in this instance quite definite;
2 ) deposits spreading continuously over large areas and known
in advance to be worked by several mines, this making it essential
for the planners themselves to decide the size, boundaries and reserves
of the mine field of each of these mines, since these magnitudes
are not limited by natural factors.
F i g . 41. F o l d e d d e p o s i t w i t h s e c t i o n s a l l o t t e d fo r i n d i v i d u a l m in es
Let us call the sections of the first group of deposits limited in

reserves and those of the second—illimited.
For limited sections the workable reserves of the mine field are
fixed, that is, Z=const.
Since there is an obvious correlation A T = Z between the annual
output of mine A, its estimated service-life T and workable reserves
of its field, and, since for sections with limited reserves Z = const,
there exists an inverse relation between the annual output and ser
vice-life of the mine in this instance. For example, with Z =5 million
tons, the above-mentioned values will vary as follows:
A T
(thousand tons) (years)
100 50
200 25
500 10
1,000 5
It may be said that there exist numerical values of annual output

A and the service-life of a mine under which the per-ton cost of out
put charged against items dependent on A and T will be minimal.
As a matter of fact, the higher the annual production of a mine, the
greater is the capital invested in its construction. It is true that
these outlays do not rise proportionately to the increase of the annual
production capacity of a mine, but at a slower rate. In order to arrive
at the depreciation rate of these capital investments per ton of out
put, it is necessary to divide them by the amount of workable reserves
Annual Output and Service-Life of Coal Mines 85
of mine Geld Z, which in

this case is constant. The
nature of relation be
tween the depreciation
rale per ton of output
and other factors will be
determined by curve a,
shown in Fig. 42.
Operational expenses
per ton of output may
be broken into two sep
arate groups. A portion
of them (for instance, for
sloping operations) will
not depend upon the an
nual production of the
mine and in Fig. 42 it is
represented by curve et, F ig . 42. R e l a t i o n s h i p betw een the c o s t of coal
running parallel to the m in i n g a n d the annual o u t p u t o f a m in e in
s e c t i o n s w ith l i m i t e d res erves
horizontal axis. The
other portion of the expenses will decrease with the rise of A.
The costs included in this group are largely associated with the
service-life of mines with different production capacity required
for the extraction of the same mineral reserves. For example, with
A = 100,000 tons, labour costs charged against hoisting loads up the
shaft would continue for 50 years, while with A =500,000 Lons—for
only 1 0 years, although in both these periods the amount of coal taken
out of the mine would be the same, viz., 5 million tons. In Fig. 42
the expenses are depicted as curve el . In order to plot summary curve
s for the above-cited costs, it is necessary to add up the ordinates
of all the three curves. The shape of curve s may furnish grounds for
important inferences:
1. Since curve s has a minimum, it means that, in building mines
on sections with limited reserves, it is possible to find annual mine
ouLput A0 under which we can achieve the minimal cost of coal
production.
2. There is an optimal period of service-life for any mine with a
given production capacity:
T = -.
Consequently, the service-life of a mine is not determined, as it

is somelimes claimed, by the “ normal”depreciation of inilial perma
nent installations and equipment (at the mines these include a wide
variety of objects with different depreciation rales), but is dependent
8(i Opening up of Coni and Other Stratified Deposits
on ihc optimal combination of depreciation costs and running expenses

per ton of output. If. because of the mine’ s short service-life, some
transportable object (say a machine) is not fully depreciated, it can
be dismantled after completing the extraction of a particular mine
field, and used at another mine. The design of some structures allows
them to be made sectional (headframes, for instance).
3. The smaller the workable reserves of a mine section, the shorter
its service-life and the lower its production capacity.
4. If is of utmost importance to note that curve s changes very
smoothly. This means that, though the point of its minimal value
is in fact indicative of a definite optimal annual capacity of mine Ac,
certain deviations from this figure almost do not affect the per-ton
cost of output. In other words, if some lower capacity A, or a higher
one—A2, is accepted instead of A0, this will fail appreciably to alter
the prime cost of the mineral extracted.
Hence, the inference that the optimal annual output of a mine
should be expressed not by a strictly definite figure but by an approxi
mate range of figures: “ from-to”
. This important observation refers
also to the service-life of mines. In the planning of the layout and
operation of mines, the above-mentioned features make it possible
appreciably to vary the estimated values, this depending on other
considerations.
In the determination of the annual production capacity and
service-life of mines working deposits with “ illiinited”reserves present
a problem of far greater complexity. It is possible, however, to prove
that in this instance too there exist optimal figures for these values
and a region adjacent to them in which these values can vary without
noticeably influencing the per-ton cost of output. Generally speak
ing, estimates show that the construction of big mines on rich dep s-
ils is economically advantageous. The annual capacity of such
mines, however, should not exceed certain limits. Megalomania in this
respect would result in many harmful effects, such as increased produc
tion cost, unjustifiably long construction period and organisation
al difficulties in the management of an unduly big mine.
Since in steeply pitching deposits the height of level intervals is
limited to a rather narrow range (see Section 8 ), the annual output
of a mine may, in such conditions, be determined in accordance with
formulas (1) and (3). For instance, in conditions prevailing in the
Donets coal fields, fairly characteristic are the following figures for
the values in formula (3): L = 400 metres; /«=150 metres; /c=0.8;
2p = 12 tons persq m; c=0.9. Hence, A = 1,040,000 tons, or roundly —
1 ,0 0 0 , 0 0 0 tons per annum.
In the mining of steeply dipping deposits, extending to a great
depth, the mines may exist for many decades, going deeper with each
consecutive level. The reconstruction of surface structures and plant
Annual Output and Service-Life of Coat Mines 87
is carried out steadily during this period. Inasmuch as with the pro
gress of mining operations to deeper levels the abundance of gas in
the mine, as a rule, Lends to increase, it becomes necessary to sink
addilional air shafts and make other mine openings. One ex
ample is the deep mines of the main anticline in the Donets coal
fields.
It thus follows that the annual output and service-life of coal
mines vary substantially.
At present the principal types of coal mines are those with daily
output of 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 tons. Since the
number of workdays in planning mine operations issetat300 per an
num, the foregoing daily production figures correspond to annual
output of 0.3,0.45, 0.6, 0.9,1.2 and 1.5 million tons. Still bigger mines
can be planned for working deposits with greater geological reserves
and beLLcr conditions of occurrence. On the other hand, for sections
with limited geological reserves and faulted seams, it is better to
design mines with a daily estimated output of less than 1 , 0 0 0 tons.
The service-life of mines is directly related to their production
capacity. When the daily output comes to 1,000 or 1,500 tons, the
service-life of a mine should not be lees than 30 years; when output is
2.000 Ions —not less than 40 years; when production comes to 3,000
or 4.000 tons—not less than 50 years. In the case of mines with
a daily capacity exceeding 4,000 tons the service-life should not be
less than 60 years.
It is the author’ s opinion that rich deposits with “ illimiLed"
reserves, dipping at low angles, should be worked by big mines with
an approximate annual capacity of up to 1.5 million tons and service-
life of about 30-40 years. Longer service-life is possible in the case of
mines working heavy pitched deposits, provided they are rebuilt
during the period of their service. The duration of service-life for
mines with an annual capacity ranging from 300,000 to 600,000 tons
is from 20 to 30 years.
For mines operating in sections with “ limited”reserves the periods
of service-life are still shorter; at mines with annual output of 400,000-
500.000 tons, it may be set at 10-15 years. For sections with “ limit
ed”reserves the annual production capacity of mine A , its estimated
service-life T and the workable reserves of the mine field Z should
be coordinated so as to comply with correlation
Z = AT.
Productive-exploration mines, set up with the view to a detailed
study of conditions attending the working of a deposit and properties
specific to the mineral, exist only a few years and their annual ca
pacity is insignificant.
16. Sequence of Mine Fields

Generally, depending on the nature of the geological structure of
coal deposits, it is not one but several and sometimes scores of mines
that are built simultaneously or one next to another in any particu
lar region. Their location and the boundaries of the adjoining mine
fields must be well coordinated.
F ig . 43. L o c a t i o n o f m in e fi e l d s d o w n th e d ip
When mining individual gently pitching beds, the shafts are sunk
along the line running down the dip in the order of Nos. 1, 2, 3
(Fig. 43), that is, with the shallower shafts coming first.
Firstly, this sequence allows quicker stoping in the deposit. Sec
ondly, operation of the shallower shafts of the first round makes it
possible to investigate the deposit in all its details, particularly
with respect to the location of geological irregularities, this creating
a basis for confidently deciding on problems of early development
and for making a proper choice of mining methods in planning and
building subsequent, deeper shafts.
Shallower shafts may have mine fields of smaller size, both on the
line down the dip (Fig. 43) and along the strike (Fig. 44).
The latter drawing is schematic in that it illustrates only the ex
rn,777i>ff>>>>>>>>> >>>*>>>>>'>>>>>■tension of mine field areas
downward, without defining
their relative size.
Note should be taken of
the fact that in thoroughly
prospected and well-explored
deposits it is a frequent prac
tice at once to put down big
shafts to work beds right from
their show beneath the over
burden.
In the mining of coal meas
ures, mine fields should be well
F ig . 44. A diagram showing the position connected not only on their
of adjacent mine fields dip and strike, but across the
Sequence of Mine Fields 89
strike too. For example, to Na.4 No.3 Na2 No./

work coal measures at shal
low depth individual shafts
may be sunk, while at deeper
levels these same seams can
be opened up jointly (Fig. 45).
Mines constituting the first
part of the project may include F ig . 45. A d i a g r a m s h o w i n g the a r r a n ge
inclined shafts, while those of ment o f m in e fie ld s in w o r k i n g a coa l
subsequent rounds can be m easu re
worked by vertical ones (see
Figs 43 and 45).
Sometimes in exploiting a mine it is possible to utilise the aban
doned workings of neighbouring mines. Thus, for mine No. 2 (see
Fig. 44) the deepest haulage entry of mine No. 1 can be made to serve
as the uppermost airway, while the workings in the field of mine
No. 3 can be ventilated through the old shafts of mine No. 2. It is
precisely in such instances that boundary ventilation is used for a
mine field (see Section 7), inasmuch as by the lime the development
of a new field is started through a deeper mine, there are shafts and
other openings available in the old mine field, allowing this scheme
of air circulation.
It should be borne in mind that newly developed mine fields may
he overlaid up their dip by abandoned mined-out areas of other
mines that are liable to be flooded. Therefore, when the workings of,
say, mine No. 2 approach the abandoned areas measures must be taken
to prevent inrushes of mine water. The most effective is the prelim
inary pumping out of water through the shafts of mine No. i, this
making the advance operations of mine No. 2 absolutely secure.
Should the pumping operation be rendered impossible, for example,
by the uncontrollable caving-in of the roof rocks in old workings,
the water may be drained down to the collector and pumping plant
of mine No. 2. The water is discharged through specially equipped
boreholes drilled upward from the faces of the deeper mine workings
to the flooded areas. Water inrush hazards also exist when there are
flooded areas in the field of the adjacent mine extending on the
strike, or when the workings of the overlying bed running immediately
above the productive seam are flooded (see Fig. 45). In such
cases, it is also common preliminarily to pump out the water or dis
charge it through special boreholes.
90 Opening up of Cnal and Other Stratified Deposits
17. Preparation of Complex Plans and Layouts

lor Mining Mineral Deposits
The interrelation of neighbouring mines with regard to the loca

tion of mine openings and some of the surface structures is so close
that, before getting down to planning the layout and exploitation
of a deposit, it is essential to have at least a rough preliminary idea
about the location of mines and mine fields over the entire explored
area of the deposit. Since the fields of adjacent mines are contiguous,
some workings may be utilised to serve two of them. One illustrative
example is ihe use of old shafts and permanent inclines for boundary
venlilalion in an underlying mine field, as said above. Transport
faeililies of all kinds and types—railways, highways and cableways—
should be situated so as to be of maximal convenience and accessibility
for the whole group of mines. The same holds true with respect to
the location of water supply lines, power lines and, in some cases,
of compressed-air lines. Industrial plants, such as dressing mills, coke
ovens, machine shops, power substations, etc., as well as dwellings,
cultural and communal institutions, clubs, hospitals,’etc., may be
built to serve two or more mines at a time. To speed up the construc
tion of mines, minimise their cost and simplify their operation, no
effort should be spared to make their equipment and plant as stand
ard and uniform as possible.
In planning the working of a deposit, it is not only in space
that issues relative to the location and construction of mines are to
be considered, but also in time, thaL is, with respect to Ihe sequence
in which mines and surface installations should be built over the
years.
From the above it follows that mines must be designed as a com
plex set. All basic issues should be considered in their relation not
only to a single industrial unit but, as a rule, to their aggregate set,
which includes all the industrial, administrative, supply, dwelling
and cultural and communal buildings and structures.
This idea acquires special importance in the case of new areas,
where mining enterprises are built virtually from scratch.
The possibility and advisability of complex planning of mining
and other industrial enterprises in the U.S.S.R. are inherent in the
very nature of the Soviet national economy, an economy based on
principles of socialist planning.
Before plans and layout blueprints for individual mines and
open-cuts have been prepared, a long-term project for the indus
trial exploitation of the whole new deposit should be elaborated and
approved in each individual case. The purpose of such a project is
to assure the most expedient opening of the entire deposit and its
division into individual mine fields, as well as to take a rational de-
Alternative Methods in Planning Opening and Development of Deposits 91
cision on problems of coal dressing, out-of-mine transportation, elec

tric power and water supply, location of dwellings for mine workers
and organisation of construction work in conjunction with the gener
al plan for the opening and exploitation of the deposit.
18. Notion of Alternative Methods or Versions in Planning

Opening and Development of Deposits
II was repeatedly said above that the advisability of adopting
any method of opening as a whole or in part may be verified by com
parative technical and economic calculation proving the expedien
cy of all possible alternatives.The procedure of elaborating and com
paring alternative versions plays a major role in planning the opera
tion of mining and industrial enterprises in general.
F ig . 40. A l t e r n a t i v e m e t h o d s o f o p e n i n g a m ine
The substance of this procedure may be illustrated by the follow

ing simple example. A vertical shaft has been sunk to mine an
inclined bed (Fig. 46) and two upper levels have already been worked
out. To proceed with the development of the third level, there are
two alternative ways possible:
1 ) to drive from shaft station a permanent incline ab and through
this extract the available coal reserves of the third level (Fig. 46, /).
To the surface coal will be hoisted up from shaft station a;
2 ) to deepen the shaft vertically down to the third level over dis
tance ab (Fig. 46, II), to drive and equip shaft staLion b and then
make crosscut be. Coal will be brought to the surface from shaft
bottom b.
To form a judgment of the economic expediency of the 1 and II
alternatives, it is obviously necessary to determine the technical
differences distinguishing them, and then to compare the costs, which
will be unequal in the two versions.
Alternative I provides for:
a) driving and equipping a permanent incline with a parallel
manway with hoisting plants for men and loads;
b) maintaining this opening for the period necessary to extract

the reserves of the third level;
c) bearing running costs incident to the hoisting of loads up the
permanent incline;
cl) installing an auxiliary pumping plant on level b to drain mine
waters from this level to shaft level a and continue operation of the
pumping unit formerly set up at the last level.
Alternative II entails:
a) deepening the shaft over distance ab\
b) making arrangements for shaft station, b;
c) driving crosscut be;
d) maintaining this crosscut for the duration of mining operations
on the third level;
e) bearing the haulage costs charged against transporting the re
serves of the third level along the crosscut. However, it should be
noted that, as distinct from alternative I, alternative II does not
provide for any transfer of loads from one type of transport to anoth
er, since the trains running along the entries reach shaft station b
directly via the crosscut;
f) setting up a pumping station at shaft station b;
g) bearing additional expenses incident to the hoisting of loads
up the shaft over distance ba.
After the preparation of schematic projects for both alternatives,
all the expenditure incurred within a definite period of Lime, say,
a year, is added up. The result is included in a comparative table
for the alternatives (Table 1).
In the instance under review, Table 1 envisages the following:
annual output of the mine—2 0 0 , 0 0 0 metric tons; time limit set for
mining the level—5 years, inclined height of the level interval-
200 metres; workable reserves of coal in the level — 1 million
tons.
Each item of expenditure is calculated separately; the table car
ries only the result. In compiling Table 1, it was deemed convenient
(though not essential) to Lake for purposes of calculation five years
as the duration of the service-life of the level. The cost items included
in this table cannot be used for reference purposes, since they are
intended merely to illustrate the mode and procedure to be followed
in such estimates.
The ultimate figures in the table show that the difference in fa
vour of alternative II equals 562,000 — 454,300 = 107,700 rubles, or
100 = 23.8 per cent

4d4.o
of the smaller of two totals.

Alternative Methods in Planning Opening and Development of Deposits 93
Table 1
T a b u l a t e d C o m p a r i s o n o f the A l te r n a ti v e s
Cost, in tho jsand rubles

Items of expenditure
Alternative I Alternative II
Excavation of workings and openings

S h a f t s ................................................... _ 200
Sh aft s t a t i o n s ....................................... 150 200
C r o s s c u t s ................................................ — 50
P e r m a n e n t i n c l i n e s ................................. GO —
P e r m a n en t i n c l i n e c h a m b e r s .................. 12 —
Maintenance of workings
P e r m a n en t i n c l i n e s ................................. 20 _
C r o s s c u t s ................................................ — 4.3
Mine hoisting
L a b o u r c o s t at the s h a l l s t a t i o n ............ same
L a bo ur c o s t at the p e r m a n e n t i n c l i n e . . . 210 —
M ec h a n ic a l e q u i p m e n t and plant of the

i n c l i n e s ............................................. 25 •
—
E l e c t r i c p o w e r ....................................... sai ne
Mine drainage
L a b o u r c o s t .......................................... 35 —
E l e c t r i c p o w e r ....................................... same
T r a n s p o r t of m e n .................................... 50 -
V e n t i l a t i o n ............................................. d is r e g a r d e d
T o t a l .................. 5G2 454.3
Hence, the alternative of deepening the vertical shaft and driving

a crosscut is more economical and, besides, more convenient for the
conduct of mining operations.
If the mine field were divided into four, instead of three, levels
(dash line in Fig. 46), it would be necessary, while discussing the prob
lem of the best alternative for the development of the third level,
to Lake account of its possible effect in the future on the opening
of the fourth level. In other words, in compiling a summary table of
costs, it would be indispensable to consider methods for combined
development of both the third and fourth levels.
Although extremely simple, the application of the method of
alternatives in planning work requires adherence to the following
definite rules to avoid errors in estimates:
1. Before proceeding with an economic comparison of the costs

involved in the alternatives, it is necessary to consider them careful
ly from the technical standpoint in order not to omit any costs
incident to any one of them. This rule is of paramount importance
inasmuch as economic comparison of the alternatives, made without
first exhaustively clarifying all their technical aspects, usually leads
only to erroneous conclusions.
2. Only important costs should be taken into account. In Table 1,
for example, ventilation costs were dropped, since the only difference
in this respect is that in one alternative the air current flows down
the permanent incline, while in the other along the shaft and cross
cut.
3. The gauge of the importance of the costs is not their absolute
value, but rather the relative one. When the total comparable sums
run into tens of millions of rubles, expenses of tens of thousands of
rubles may be disregarded; on the other hand, in a total amounting
to a few hundred thousand rubles they are quite significant.
4. Only different costs are compared; numerically identical ex
penses are left out.
5. Slightly different costs are considered identical and excluded
from the comparison.
6 . Comparison of operation and depreciation costs requires that
all outlays refer to some definite time interval—day, year, etc.

7. If essential, separate subalternatives should preliminarily be
prepared for individual sections of the alternatives and compared
with each other. Thus, in the example referred to above (see Fig.
46) the following subalternalives could be considered for mine drain
age: 1 ) near the permanent incline water from level b is delivered
by an auxiliary pumping unit to level a, and thence to the ground
surface by earlier installed pumps; 2 ) near the permanent incline a
sufficiently powerful pumping plant, capable of delivering mine
water to the surface at once, is set up on level b, while the pumping
unit formerly operating on level a is closed down; 3 ) similarly, in
the case of alternative II an auxiliary pumping station is set up at
shaft station b to deliver water to level a, while the pumps available
on this level continue their operation, or 4) a powerful pumping
plant is set up at shaft station b to deliver mine water directly
to the surface. Such subalternatives are compared individually and
the best is taken into account when comparing the basic alterna
tives.
8 . The difference in the cost of the alternatives is expressed in
per cent of the lower of the totals under comparison.
9. Estimates made for comparing alternative projects for the
opening up of mine deposits are commonly taken to be accurate with
in 1 0 per cent.
Some Observations on the Opening up of Noncoal Bedded Deposits 95
10. Therefore, if the expenditure entailed by one alternative does

not exceed the other by more than 1 0 per cent, the alternatives are
considered economically equivalent and preference is given to the
one which is technically superior. For example, alternative II with
the crosscut is more suitable for operation than alternative I with
its permanent incline.
The degree of accuracy of the estimates used in comparing the
alternatives may, however, be raised by enhancing the thorough
ness of calculation and by a more detailed consideration of individ
ual cost items. To find proper solution for basic problems relating
to the opening up and development of mineral deposits, it suffices to
have gross cost figures.
11. In preparing and comparing alternative methods of develop
ing and mining mineral deposits, special attention is paid to dis
tribution of jobs and to workers’pay since this item of cost is decisive
in mining, which is a labour-consuming industry.
The ultimate choice of alternative should be made with due
consideration of the lime needed for Lhe realisation of each alterna
tive under comparison.
19. Some Observations on the Opening up of

Noncoal Bedded Deposits
Because of their sedimentary geological origin, some occurrences
of nonmetal minerals, other than coal, may be bedded or sheetlike in
shape. This category includes deposits of combustible shisls, rock
salt, potassium, phosphorites, gypsum and some other useful minerals.
Since it is the shape of Lhe deposit that primarily influences the choice
of the method of opening and developing the beds or shectlike
occurrences of the minerals listed above, they are opened up in the
absolutely same manner as that employed in Lhe instance of coal
beds; hence, all that has been saidiuthis chapter applies Lo Lhem loo.
C H A P T E R III
OPENING OP OF ORE DEPOSITS
1. Shapes of Ore Occurrences

Because of Ihc variable nature of the geological origin of metalli
ferous deposits, the shape and size of ore bodies may differ very
widely.
On account of their sedimentary origin, some ore deposits occur
in the shape of regular beds or blanket formations.
Typical of bedded ore deposits are the occurrences of manganese
ore in the Nikopol (Ukraine) and Chiaturi (Georgian Republic)
areas. Ore beds in these areas are approximately flat.
Some iron ore deposits in Krivoi Rog are similar to beds in shape.
Many ore bodies in the same Krivoi Rog basin occur in the form
of typical sheetlike deposits. Most of them are distinguished by
their high dip.
One example of small flat-lying bedded deposits is the iron ore
occurrences in the Central regions of the U.S.S.R. In the horizon
tal projection they have the form of ovals with irregular contours
several hundred metres long. Their thickness ranges from 0.25 to
3.5 metres, with ore reserves in some bodies amounting to hundreds
of thousands of tons, and, though rarely, to 1 million tons. Steep
dips are, as a rule, characteristic of the occurrences of chalcopyrite
and pyrite lenses in the Urals (lenticular ore bodies of irregular
shape).
An important type of placer deposits are alluvial or river placers.
They are formed by particles of heavy metals or their ores washed
by water streams. These particles accumulate in the lower layer of
mineral sediments—silt, sand, coarse gravel, etc. In its horizontal
projection, therefore, the alluvial placer follows the outline of sedi
ments deposed by the water stream which engenders it. Residual
placers, that is, those formed in the weathering zone of a primary
(usually lode) deposit and not subjected to any appreciable migra
tion from the site of their origin, are, as a rule, of secondary indus
trial importance, although they serve as an important factor in the
discovery of primary deposits. The placers contain gold, platinum,
Shapes of Ore Occurrences 07
platinoids (for example, osmiridium), as well as tin and tungsten

ores.
The ores of many metals, especially nonferrous and rare, occur
in the shape of lodes. Because of their geological origin (an ore vein
is a mineral formation of ore or ore-containing minerals filling a
fissure in the earth’ s crust), such veins often dip at high angles.
Their thickness varies from a few millimetres to many metres. Dis
turbed occurrence in the form of “ bulges", attenuations, pinches,
etc., is common more to lodes than beds. The ore stuff is either local
ised in the vein proper or dispersed in the rocks enclosing the vein
in the form of disseminated ore. The outlines and size of a vein in
the plane of a fissure are quite variable, but in most instances the
contours of the pinching out veins assume the shape of irregular,
intricately curved lines. When the long axis of a vein extending
down does not coincide with the dip of the deposit but forms an angle
with it, this is designated as pitch of vein (or, for that matter, of any
ore body). Veins formed by the ore stuff filling a scries of closely
lying fissures are said to be composite or multiple. Very often veins
occur in systems or series, and not singly. In the U.S.S.K. many gold,
silver, lead, tin, mercury, tungsten, molybdenum and other deposits
occur in the shape of lodes or veins. Sometimes a vein contains more
than one useful component as in the instance of silver-lead lodes.
At times ore occurrences are shaped like bodies in which all
the three dimensions are more or less the same, although the general
shape may be utterly irregular. Such ore bodies, when they are of
large size and occur close to the surface, are usually mined by the
open-cut method. One example is iron-ore deposits of Lhe Magnitnaya
Mountain (Southern Urals), BlagodaL Mountain (Central Urals),
the so-called porphyrilic copper ores of the Kounrad deposiL (Kazakh
stan, in the vicinity of Lake Balkhash) and others.
Ore bodies of singular shapes form when karst cavities in lime
stones fill with ore substance (some bauxite deposits).
Ore beds, deposits, veins, and ore bodies in general, may outcrop
with only the most recent drift beds covering them, or else, peter
out and fail to reach the ground surface altogether. In the latter
case, they are said to be blind. When preparing a project for opening
up a deposit, one should take these blind ore bodies into considera
tion. Their presence is established by prospecting and exploratory
work.
Early development of ore deposits is conducted by diverse meth
ods, this depending on their shape, size and angle of dip, depth
of occurrence and surface topography. Sections 2-5 below are devoted
to the discussion of typical examples illustrating the opening up of
ore deposits. Opening by adits employed in mountainous regions is
described in brief in Chapter IV, Section 7.
08 Opening up of Ore Deposits
2. Opining tip of Gently Dipping Ore Deposits

Gonlly sloping or flat ore beds are developed by methods analo
go u s lo (lio.se enumerated above in describing the opening of coal
seams.
The flat, shallow-occurring manganese ores in the Nikopol area
are thus opened through vertical shafts. The ore beds there are 1-3.5
metres thick. The enclosing country rocks are soft and for that rea
son the mine fields, which are rectangular with sides hundreds of
metres long, are worked by retreating methods.
The accepted standard pattern for opening up and developing
mine fields is shown in Fig. 47. To avoid ore losses in safety pillars,
hoisting and ventilating shafts are sunk outside the mine field bound
aries.
Main drifts are pushed forward from the shafts, bisecting the
mine field lengthwise. From these main drifts, starting in the centre
and near the lower boundary of the field, twin panel drifts arc driven,
from which extraction drifts are made from the field boundaries.
On account of the marked montain relief of the land in the Chiatu-
ri area flat manganese ore beds there are opened up through adits.
The method adopted for opening up small shceLlike iron ore de
posits in the Lipetsk area (Voronezh Region), occurring at a depth
of 20-25 metres, is illustrated in Fig. 48. Vertical shafts are sunk
down to the ore body and arc then connected by a breakthrough,
this securing two escape-openings lo the surface, ensuring adequate
ventilation of underground workings and enabling lo proceed with
the making of development and, subsequently, production openings.
------------------- 550------------------------ -
t
0
i
* £^ Xi
j Panel drifts
" .>
Ni
Xi * s 1^ S top es^ l i
C3
5: ft I ■\l
—1
1
rttnstlnq 1—T 40c 15
shaft 15
> T Ventilating
___j shaft
Fig. 47. Opening up of a manganese ore bed

Opening up of Gently Dipping Ore Deposits 99
A nonuniform foot wall of the deposit can be developed through

workings driven in country rocks (Fig. 49).
Slightly dipping copper ore deposits in Dzhezkazgan (Kazakh
stan) have a rather, irregular outline in the horizontal plane. They
0/i t-B are opened through vertical
i!>>>//>>77 shafts (Fig. 50), from which cross
cuts are driven to the ore bo-
F ig . 48. O p e n i n g up o f a sheetJ ike F ig . 49. O p e n i n g up o f a d e p o s i t th rough

iron o r e d e p o s i t m in e w o r k i n g s d riv en in c o u n t r y rock
dies. The mined-out areas look singularly peculiar, since support

pillars of ore are left to ensure the stability of the roof rocks of the
deposit (for details see Chapter XXI, Section 2).
Placer deposits ordinarily occur quite close to the surface and,
therefore, are often mined by open method. However, should under
ground mining prove more economical, the placer is divided into
F ig 50. O p e n i n g up o f a g e n t l y d i p p i n g copper o r e d e p o s i t in
D zhezkazgan
rocks and shallow occurrence. The layout of these fields is

shown in Fig. 51.
The size of mine fields, lengthwise the placer, depends on the
depth at which mining is done and the type of underground haulage
facilities and varies from 1 0 0 - 2 0 0 metres (when the placer is 1 0 - 2 0
metres from the ground surface) to 400-600 metres (when the depth
is 30-40 and more metres). This size may also be
estimated theoretically. The crosswise extent of
the field is equal to the width of the placer. In
very wide placers, two or three rows of mine
fields can be arranged instead of one.
As a rule, mine fields are opened by vertical
shafLs. But it can also be done through inclined
shafts and adits, this depending on the depth of
the placer occurrence, surface topography and
properties of rocks capping the metalliferous bed.
The inclined shafts are particularly convenient
when equipped with belt-conveyer and skip
hoisting facilities (Fig. 52). Adits are sometimes
used to open bench placers lying above the level
F ig. 51. O p e n i n g of existing rivers. If the valley with the placer
up o f a p l a c e r slopes slightly and the metalliferous bed does
not lie deep, the adit opening up the placer may
be made to run along the thalweg of the valley, near the lower
boundary of the placer. This opening is then excavated by a trencher
as an open ditch for some distance from its mouth and is later tim
bered. Further on, the ditch runs into the main haulage drift extend-
F ig . 52. O p e n i n g u p o f a p l a c e r th r o u g h i n c l i n e d sh a f ts w i th s k i p h o is ts
ing along the valley thalweg. The trench is reinforced with timber
ing which is covered with moss and loose earth to protect the
trench from precipitation.
Of especial importance in opening placer deposits is proper
drainage of mine fields (see Chapter XX).
Opening of Inclined Ore Deposits 101
3. Opening of Inclined Ore Deposits

Tabular deposits, veins and other ore bodies dipping at angles
between 30 and 45°can be opened through inclined shafts when (hey
reach the surface (Fig. 53). There are a number of objections to driv
ing shafts in the ore body proper: the occurrence of the ore body may
be geologically impaired; its bottom may be very irregular; the meth
od may involve large losses of mineral in shaft pillars. That is why
the driving of inclined shafts “ in ore”(dash lines in Fig. 53) is often
rejected in favour of openings in the country rocks of the hanging
wall, which are connected with the ore body by short crosscuts (con
tinuous lines in Fig. 53). Such inclined shafts can be driven straight
along the dip of the ore body as a whole, irrespective of the details
of iLs structure or minor geological disturbances.
F ig . 53. O p e n i n g up o f a d i p p i n g ore b o d y th rough an

i n c lin ed shaft
As mentioned above, many of the bauxite deposits occurring on

the karsted limestone surface are distinguished by their very irregu
lar bottom. That is why the inclined shafts opening mine fields of
dipping bauxite deposits in the area of Krasnaya Shapochka (North
ern Urals) have been driven partly in the country rocks of the foot
wall and partly in the “swallow hole", or protrusive sections of the
bauxite deposit.
In the foregoing text (Chapter II, Section 6 ) stress was laid on
the important role played by conveyer sets in hoisting loads along
the inclined shafts of coal mines. Below are some examples of the
conveyer hoisting plants used in foreign metalliferous mines.
A hoisting plant of Lhis type with a capacity of 7,000 tons of ore
a day is employed at the French Homecourt iron mine.
At the American Pend Oreille lead-zink mine ore is hoisted from
underground by two belt conveyers operating in series. Their length
is 360 and 450 metres, angle of slope 10 and 17°respectively, and to
tal hoisting capacity 350 tons per hour.
Opening up of Ore Deposits
4. Opening' of Steeply Dipping Ore Deposits

Since mineral veins and ore bodies of other shapes occur mostly
at high angles of dip, this should be regarded as a major factor in
opening ore deposits.
In discussing methods of opening ore deposits, one should also
reckon with the fact that rocks enclosing useful minerals are often
rather hard and even very hard, and that makes it necessary to pay
particular attention to reducing the amount of work done in country
rocks during the construction of mines and development of new lev
els and to lake appropriate measures to speed up the driving of
permanent mine workings. This is of special significance in opening
steeply dipping deposits with the attendant large volume of devel
opment work in country rocks, and then new levels have to be devel
oped rather frequently.
a) b) c)
54. O p e n i n g u p o f i n d iv id u a l o re b o d ie s
a—through an Inclined shaft In ore; l—through an Inclined shaft In the country
rock of the foot wall; c—through a vertical shaft with crosscuts
Low-pitching ore-hearing veins can be opened through inclined

shafts driven in ore (Fig. 54 a), in the country rocks of a foot wall
(Fig. 54b) and via vertical shafts with crosscuts (Fig. 54 c).
The first method is applicable only when the position of the depos
it is highly persistent and there are no geological distortions. It
entails large losses of ore in shaft pillars. Hence, although the driv
ing of an inclined shaft in ore means further exploration of the de
posit and reduces outlays for its development, the method is not
recommended.
The adoption of a vertical main shaft (see Fig. 54 c) has a number
of substantial advantages (it facilitates sinking operations, hoist
ing of loads and men, etc.), but this method requires driving level
crosscuts whose length increases with the decrease of the angle of
Opening of Steeply Dipping Ore Deposits 103
dip of the vein, and it may prove unsuitable for the early development
of a small lode deposit. Opening such deposits through an inclined
shaft driven in country rocks and with high angles of dip (see Fig.
546) may prove economically justifiable and technically feasible,
provided the shaft is equipped with a skip hoist.
When necessary in the early development of an ore body Lhrough
inclined or vertical shafts, fringe drifts can be made, starting from
crosscuts (2 in Fig. 54 c).
This method, however,
may prove economically
expedient only if the min
eral reserves available
in the level are not
too small.
For reasons given
above (Chapter II, Sec
tion 8 ), in mining se
ries of ore bodies verti
cal and inclined shafts
should be sunk on their
foot walls.
In the opening of ore
deposits, particularly
those of small size, ven
tilating shafts are often
located on Lhe flanks of
the mine field (and not
next to the main hoisting
shaft). This flanking lo-
' . ,-i .• F i g o5. D i a g r a m illustrati n'; ea r l y development
cation of ventilating 0f j ron orc deposits at Krivoi R o g
shafts is convenient be
cause it allows Lhe use of the boundary ventilation scheme with
unidirectional flow of the main air currents. This is a much desir
able feature facilitating the removal of noxious gases following
blasting operations, which are widely conducted in ore mining
because of the strong ores and hard enclosing rocks usually en
countered there.
Series of pitching lodes and other orc bodies are opened via verti
cal shafts and crosscuts. This pattern, for instance, is followed in
the Krivoi Rog iron ore deposits (Fig. 55). The upper portions ol
thick deposits can be mined by the open-pit method.
When several ore bodies lie close to each other their combined
development may be effected through fringe-level drifts (Fig. 56).
Blind ore bodies, which sometimes become apparent during the
exploitation of a mine, are opened by various methods, depending
F ig . SO. C o m b i n e d o p e n i n g u p o f s ev er a l o r e b o d i e s (plan)
on Iheir position. Thus, Fig. 57 depicts a case when a vertical shaft

and crosscuts were driven to open ore body A. Later blind ore body
B was discovered at a greater depth and somewhat away from main
ore body A and explored. In order to obviate deepening the main
shaft and making extensive crosscuts, the blind ore body was
opened through a separate blind shaft and crosscuts (dash lines in
Fig. 57).
Subsequent development of blind ore bodies may entail additional
outlays and operational expenses which can be avoided if the pres
ence of a blind ore body in the deposit is known when the layout of
the mine and its operations are planned. Therefore, construction of
|l
F ig . 57. An e x a m p l e o f o p e n i n g u p a b l i n d o re b o d y
mines, particularly big ones, should be preceded by detailed prospect

ing and thorough exploration enabling timely discovery of such
blind ore bodies.
Opening of a deposit by two methods— through a vertical shaft
sunk from the surface and via a blind shaft—as shown in Fig. 57, is
typical of a combined mode of opening.
Opening of Large-Sized Ore Bodies 105
Another example of this nature is the method of early develop

ment employed at one of the deepest South-African gold mines (Vil
lage mine, over 2,700 metres deep). Here the sheetlike deposit dip
ping at an angle of around 33°to the depth of 1,480 metres is opened
through vertical shafts, and further down by two double-slage
permanent rope inclines, driven in the rock formations of the foot
wall.
There are many possible variants of combined opening, depending
on the geological structure of a deposit and surface topography. Tho
best is chosen by the procedure described in Section 18 of Chapter II.
5. Opening of Large-Sized Ore Bodies

This section is intended to help the student to get an idea of open
ing extensive ore bodies, whose thickness, length and width are of
the same magnitude. Fig. 58 illustrates the development of such
a deposit. Vertical and inclined shafts are driven in the enclosing
OnA-B
F ig . 58. O p e n i n g up o f an e x t e n s i v e o re b o d y
country rocks, outside the ore body, in order to avoid their being
damaged by lateral shifts of the ground. Level crosscuts are extended
from the shafts. On each level fringe drifts are made around the ore
body. From these drifts development workings are driven within the
levels themselves and the nature of these workings depends on
mining methods (see Chapter XXI),
1or, Opening up of Ore Deposits
6 . Level Interval Height in Opening Ore Deposits

In the development and mining of ore deposits, the vertical inter
val between levels is a factor of considerable importance, since in
most instances ore bodies are opened with the aid of level crosscuts.
Tim selection of the interval between levels is influenced by many
factors: thickness of ore bodies, their structure, angle of dip, proper
ties of the enclosing country rocks, method of mining actually adopt
ed, cost of the development of new levels, etc. In many ore deposits
these factors are by no means constant.
In selecting a level interval, one must take into account
the combined elTects produced by various factors, some of them
ol opposing nature. Because of advanced mechanisation there is a
growing tendency towards increasing the formerly accepted level
intervals.
In most cases, the vertical interval between levels of thick and
relatively uniform ore bodies is set at about 60 metres and rarely at
80-100 and more metres. In the latter case, blind shafts equipped
with lifts are excavated to facilitate the movement of men within the
level and the transportation of machinery and timber. Low lodes and
other ore bodies are usually developed by levels with intervals of
about 40 metres, or around 60-70 metres if the level is divided into
sublevels.
7. Annual Output and Service-Life of Metalliferous Mines

It is only in individual instances that ores extracted from mines
can be shipped directly to smelting plants. Thus, for example, rich
iron ores are used crude for blast-furnace smelting. Generally speak
ing, crude ores undergo dressing or concentration, sorting, wash
ing, mixing with two or several other grades, and, finally, average
grading, and, only thus prepared for smelting, are shipped to process
ing plants. Of particular importance for the metallurgical industry
are the concentrates obtained through the benefication of crude ore.
The quality of final concentrates depends largely on the useful com
ponents contained in the ore, the composition of its mineral fracture
and the methods employed to enrich ore.
Iron ores require no concentration if their pure metallic iron con
tent is not below 50 per cent and silica prevails in their mineral frac
ture, and not below 30-35 per cent with fusible mineral admixtures.
The metal content in manganese ores depends on their grade and
ranges from 30 to 50 per cent. The copper content in copper ores
usually amounts to 1 per cent, though sometimes it is considerably
higher. The tungsten and molybdenum content in ores ranges from
0.1 to 0.01 and less than 1 per cent.The content of gold in ores extracted
Annual Output and Service-Life of Metalliferous Mines
by underground methods is calculated in grammes or scores of

grammes per ton of ore, etc.
Because of all this, the annual output of metalliferous mines
is not expressed by the weight of the metal but by that of the ore,
provided, naturally, it meets the quality specifications (conditions).
The great variety of ore tonnage contained in deposits and the differ
ence in the depth of their occurrence widely affect the capacity of
metalliferous mines.
The biggest mines are those extracting iron and copper ores from
rich deposits. Their annual output runs from a few hundred thousand
to several million tons of ore a year and their service-life extends
over decades. In some cases, mines engaged in winning silver-lead
and certain types of rare-metal ores may also be considerable in size.
The Canadian Froude-Scoby copper-nickel mine, for example, is
equipped with a hoisting plant capable of delivering 14,000 tons
of ore to the surface every day. The weight capacity of each of its
skips is 13.5 tons and the plant is fully automated.
Mines excavating gold, silver, lead, zink, tungsten, molybdenum
and some other ores produce from several scores of thousands of tons
to several hundred thousand tons a year. In the same category are
the capacities of mines engaged in working bauxite deposits. The
service-life of metalliferous mines of small annual output may be
reduced to 5-10 years.
In areas which have accumulated sufficient experience in working
ore deposits, the annual output of a mine may he estimated by the
simple though very imperfect method of using the so-called coefficient
or factor of utilisation or exploitation. That usually means the av
erage amount of ore obtained annually from one square metre of the
ore bodies worked by the mine. This is a statistical value based oil
production figures recorded over a number of years. But with bel
ter managed operations in the mine or, what is more important,
with new mechanical facilities or new mining methods, the working
of deposits can perhaps be organised more effectively. Bearing this
in mind, rough estimates of annual output by the coefficient of ex
ploitation method should be made with great discretion and reser
vation. It is advisable to select the most suitable mining methods
and accordingly set down the expected coefficient of exploita
tion.
Sometimes an analogous value, the average annual advance in
depth of mining operations, is used instead of the coefficient of
exploitation. When the total area of the ore bodies, the unit weight
of the ore and the coefficient of recovery are known, this value helps
easily to arrive at the ultimately annual output sought. For example,
in the Krivoi Rog iron ore basin the average annual coefficient of
advance in depth for mining operations in the next few years should
lie around 15-17 metres, while in the case of very thick ore bodies
it reaches 10-12 metres and in that of thin deposits 25-30 metres.
At all events, the annual production capacity of a mine engaged
in working ore deposits should be computed on the basis of time re
quired for the extraction of the ore in one level and the reserves
available in all the levels on the one hand, and of the time interval
needed for the development of a new level, including time margin
factor, on the other.
In the instance of ore deposits with strong wall rocks, the question
of developing new levels is a crucial one, since the duration of devel
opment work should not exceed the time limit set for the extraction
of ore reserves in the level, which, in turn, is closely bound with the
amount of these reserves and the annual production capacity of.
the mine.
C H A P T E R IV
CHOICE OF SITE FOR SHAFTS
1. Factors Influencing the Location of Shafts

The location of shafts in a mine field is primarily determined by
the method of its opening and development. The ultimate selection
of the shaft location, however, implies additional consideration of
the combined effects produced by many other factors.
The position of shafts in a mine field determines the aggregate
extent of main mine workings, the cost of their maintenance,
expenses on haulage of useful mineral, filling, waste, as well as
transportation of men and ventilation costs.
The site of shafts should be chosen with a view to minimising the
total outlays per ton of workable reserves in the mine field. On the
other hand, the location of shafts meeting this requirement should
be checked carefully against other factors capable of influencing
its choice.
These factors may be classified as underground and surface.
The first include: a) geological and hydrogeological conditions
governing the driving of shafts and other openings; b) conditions
incident to the shifting and subsidence of rocks over mined-out
areas; c) losses of valuable mineral in safety pillars; d) adequate mine
drainage; e) suitable location of shaft stations.
The group of surface factors influencing the location of shafts
comprises: a) ground surface topography—viewed from the standpoint
of the advantages it offers to the construction of a railway line and
other transportation facilities to the mine, and of the layout of its
surface structures; b) building properties of the ground; c) location
of permanent and temporary water basins; d) possible flooding of the
mouths of the mine openings with consequent sporadic water flows;
e) buildings available on the territory; f) possible snow and rock ava
lanches.
It is only but natural that, due to local conditions, these factors
do not all apply to every individual case and that not all of them
are of equal importance.
110 Choice of Site for Shafts
2. Conditions Underlying the Opening up of a Mine Field

The economic factors of opening up a mine field are easy to deter
mine if it is nearly rectangular in shape and its mineral reserves
are distributed more or less uniformly. As stated above (Chapter
II), early development of such a field provides, wherever possible,
for the location of the main (hoisting) shaft on the line dividing the
mine field into two equally large wings or flanks (see Fig. 3).
We have already shown the advantage of this location as regards
the underground haulage costs, transportation of men, maintenance
of level entries and ventilation expenses. This conclusion concerning
the site of the main shaft in relation to the mine field strike refers,
naturally, both to the opening of individual seams and to that of
coal measures, irrespective of the angle of dip of the country rock
formal ions.
As for the position of the main shaft in the direction across the
strike, there are many variants. Let us discuss some typical examples.
To open up a mine field through inclined shafts driven in a min
eral bed (see Fig. 8 ), the position of the shaft mouths should be
determined by the outcrop of the bed.
In the opening of an individual flat-lying or inclined seam via
vertical shafts (see Fig. 12), the location of the main shaft depends
a on the adopted relative
size of the mine field
sections up and down
the dip.
Chapter II discussed
the location of the
shaft designed for de
F ig . 59. S e l e c t i o n o f the s i t e o f the m ain s h a ft in veloping a high-dip
o p e n i n g a s e r ie s o f s e a m s th rough a s i n g l e c r o s s c u t
ping seam (see Figs
18 and 19).
The problem is complicated by the opening of a series of seams.
If, for example, a series of four seams p x, p t, p t and p 4 is developed
through a permanent crosscut (Fig. 59), the depth of shaits in a
flat country remains the same, irrespective of whether the main
shaft is sunk at one of the ends of the future crosscut, in position I or
II, or somewhere at point I I I between them. In such instances there
may arise a question of placing the shaft at a point where the sum to
tal of work done by the transport facilities along the crosscut,
expressed in ton metres, would be at its lowest. This problem can
be solved either graphically or analytically.
The following is the simplest way of solving it graphically. Let
us assume that the mineral reserves in seams p ltp,,p, and pt are equal
to <7 ,, qt, q, and qt respectively and the distance between them to
Conditions Underlying the Opening up of a Mine Field 111
lt and Let us mark off

on straight line AB (Fig. 60)
the length of the crosscut of a
certain scale and then plot on
it the points indicating the
position of loads to be trammed
along the crosscut (that is,
the intersection points of
the seams and the crosscut
where, presumably, entries are
to be driven). Let us then as
sume that load qx is hauled in
the crosscut to point 4. The
transport performance needed
to accomplish this task will
bo
*,=*,(*. -f /, + /,)ton metres.
Let us mark off this value
of a certain scale on a vertical
line traced through point 4,
and connect the upper end of
this ordinate with point 1 by
a straight line. The ordinates
of this straight line will ob F ig . GO. G r a p h ic s o l u t i o n o f the p r o b l e m
viously represent on the same o f d c l e r n i i n i n ec o th e optim al point of lo a d
ncentration
scale the performance needed
to bring load </, to the point accepted as the starting point of this
particular ordinate. Analogous lines should be plotted for other
loads, assuming that they are hauled to point 4. After that
we plot a summarising broken line (line l-2'-3'-4' in Fig. GO).
Ordinate xx' of this broken line drawn through any point x will
represent the haulage performance in ton metres in the tramming
to point x of all the loads located to the left of this point.
For instance, the length of ordinate xx' represents on the scale
accepted for plotting in Fig. GO the number of ton metres for trans
porting loads 7 , and q2 to point x. By the same method broken line
4-3"-2"-l" is then plotted, its ordinates serving to measure the
haulage performance in transporting loads from right to left. Finally,
let us plot a general summarising broken line l"-4'. Its ordinates
represent the number of ton metres needed to haul all the loads
to a given point. For example, ordinate xx" shows the ton metres
required to transport all the loads to point x.
In Fig. 60 the plotting is done to comply with the following con
ditions.
Workable reserves, Distance between

in million tuns seams, In metres
7i =2 /,= 120
7s = lt=200
72= l,= 80
74=
On accomplishing the graphic plottings given above we find

that the minimal haulage performance (1,040 thousand ton kilome
tres) can be achieved when the shaft is located at the point of inter
section of seam pa and the crosscut.
The above-described diagrammatic method of establishing the
optimal point for the concentration of loads by following a certain
trajectory, which involves minimum transport work (in terms of
ton kilometres), is distinctly graphic, but requires much time for
preliminary calculation and plotting. Therefore, it would be useful
to discuss an analytical solution of the same problem, which helps
to arrive at extremely simple criteria for establishing the optimal
point of load concentration.
I L, 2 L, 3 .... ... n .... lm-t m

F ig . 61. A d ia g r a m for the d e t e r m in a t i o n o f the o p t i m a l p o i n t o f l o a d
concentration
Let us assume that loads </,, qt, q,...qm are concentrated along a
certain route (Fig. 61), at points 7, 2, 3...m, situated at distances
/j, and that they should be hauled to one central point
located on the same route. Let us find the optimal position 0 for
this central point of load concentration to minimise the summary
performance of the transport facilities (in terms of ton kilometres) in
hauling all the loads to point 0. The sum total of all the loads is
denoted as Q.
Generally speaking, optimal point 0 may, depending on the ab
solute values and relative distribution of loads, be located:
1 ) at one of the terminals, that is, at points 1 or m\
2 ) at one of the intermediate points of load concentration (that is,
points 2, 3...m—1);
3) somewhere in the sections between points 7, 2, 3,..m. Let us
examine these three possible cases.
1. If the load concentration point lies at one of the terminals,
for example m, loads can be hauled to it only from one side or direc
tion (continuous arrows in Fig. 61). This point 0 may prove optimal
for the concentration of loads only if the sum total of all loads deliv
ered to it (that is, all the loads except the terminal one) is smaller
Conditions Underlying the Opening up of a Mine Field 113
than the terminal load. In other words, Q —qm< q m, hencethe condi

tion for the coincidence of point 0 and m: qm> 2 -
2. If point 0 coincides with any of the intermediary ones, for
instance, n, loads are hauled to it from two directions (dash lines
in Fig. 61). Optimal point 0 may coincide with the point n only if
the sum total of loads delivered to it from both directions is smaller
than those which it would be necessary to transport from spot n in a
direction opposite to that indicated by dash arrows. If the sum total
of the loads lying to the left of load qn is denoted by Zqlejl and those
situated to the right by 2,qrj?ht, the condition cited above may bo
written down in the form of inequations
7h "I”—9rlghl\
( 1)
Z<fr Kr„ <(f» + Zqult f
Bui since qnJr'^qrigM= Q —'^qien, the first inequation gives us
Zqlcn< Q - ^ q lell,
hence
1(l u n < \
Similarly, from the second inequation vve arrive al Iho condition

y nr i g h t 2 '
3. Should the load concentration point lie somewhere between

points 1, 2, 3..., the loads will have to be hauled to it from two di
rections, and it can obviously become optimal only if the sum totals
of the loads delivered are equal. Otherwise, by shifting somewhat the
load concentration point it would be possible to reduce the level of
haulage operations, The condition providing for the balanced opera
tion of transport facilities applies to the entire section of any given
route.
The above-mentioned may be expressed by a simple rule: optimal
load concentration point 0 lies at a spot where the sum total of loads
hauled to it from each direction is less than half of the aggregate loads',
if in any section of the route the loads to be trammed come to half
the sum of all the loads carried, point 0 may lie anywhere in this
section of the route.
This rule enables quickly to determine the position of the optimal
load concentration point.
Thus, in the instance of the problem solved graphically in Fig.
60 we have found point 3 to be optimal. And indeed, since in this
5-J625
11-I Choice of Site [or Shafts
case <? = 2+1 +3-1-4=^ 10, ^ = 5 , the sum total of loads delivered to
point 3 from left equals 2-pl = 3<5, and from right the load is 4<5,
that is, the position of point 3 complies in every respect with the
previously established analytical characteristics.
Worthy of note is the following: the position of optimal points
is not affected by haulage distances, but depends only on relative
tonnage and its distribution along the route.
If the opening is effected not by one but by several crosscuts, the
selection of shaft location ensuring minimal haulage operations in
F i g . 02. Selection of shaft sites with minimal haulage along crosscuts

in opening of a scries of seams
all the crosscuts is done in the following manner (Fig. 62). In the
detailed drawing of the opening up of the deposit we trace line AB
parallel to the crosscuts, and plot on it the load concentration spots
along the crosscuts. The actual values of tonnages to be hauled are
marked at these points and after that the optimal point for the con
centration of all tonnages is found on line AB by following the gener
al rule.
The selection of the site for shafts offering the greatest advantages
in opening is complicated by the irregular shape of the mine
field or nonuniform distribution of its mineral reserves.
As an example let us consider a mine field in which the dip of the
seam ranges from 15 to 58°, the field itself being limited by a fault
lying at an oblique angle to the strike (Fig. 63). In a mine field like
this, the reserves of the mineral per unit of length of the strike
obviously will be greater in the flank with flat dip than in that with
high dip. The sinking in this instance of the main shaft on line xy
which divides into equal parts the average area of the mine field
Conditions Underlying the Opening up of a Mine Field \ 15
along its strike would makeit possible I o reduce transport operations

in the entries to the minimum. With such division of the shaft
field into wings, the greater reserves of the flat flank and the smaller
ones of the steep flank could be transported to the shaft over more
or less equal distances. The shifting of the shaft location somewhat
towards the side of the flat dip would reduce the total transport oper
ations in the entries.
This problem can be solved correctly in the following way. As
stated above, in the case now under discussion aggregate reserves
F i g . (13. A diagram for I lit* selection of shaft location with

nonuniform distribution of mineral reserves in the mine held
Q of the useful mineral are distributed over the mine fi< lb continuous
ly but not uniformly. Let us break these tonnages into elemental
portions A7 , which we will regard as concentrated loads to be hauled
in the entries. The smaller each element A7 is. the closer the summary
transport operations required to bring them loathe shaft will be to
the haulage performance of tramming the factual continuously dis
tributed reserves of the field towards the shaft. By applying criterion
(1 ) to the aggregate of such elemental loads, we find that within
the limit inequations (1 ) become equation (2 ):
£ < //,/,= bright- (2 )
In other words, with mineral reserves continuously distributed

in the mine field, the optimal point of their concentration by haulage
facilities lies on line ab, which divides the field reserves into two equal
parts (and not its length along the strike). In a mine field of regular
shape with uniform distribution of reserves line xy dividing the
length of the field and line ab dividing its tonnage are coinci
dental.
It is not only the useful mineral that is hauled along crosscuts
and entries in the mine field, but waste, and fillings too. These work
ings are also used for the movement of men and ventilating air
currents. A problem analogous to the one of finding the best possible
location of a shaft for transporting the mineral (a problem discussed
above), may also be raised by each one of the cited factors taken
5*
individually. Moreover, if the amounts of filling materials or waste

of the volume of ventilating air supplied to the sloping areas are
proportional to the amount of the mineral mined, the optimal site
of the shaft determined by each one of these factors usually coincides
with that found in solving the problem of the most advantageous
haulage of the valuable mineral. Quite often an analogous answer to
this question is obtained in considering this issue from the viewpoint
of the cost of maintaining entries.
It may generally be stated that the location of the main shaft, de
termined during the planning of the mine layout and envisaging min
imum distances for hauling the mineral in underground workings,
usually (but not always) also turns out to be optimal with regard
to a series of other active factors, such as: waste tramming, mainte
nance and ventilation of mine workings, movement of men.
The configuration of shaft stations may also exert a certain influence
on the final selection of the shaft site.
It is not infrequent that other considerations too prompt the in
troduction of certain changes in the position of the shaft, otherwise
quite rational for the development of the mine (Sections 3-5).
3. Geological and Hydrogeological Conditions

The location of mine shafts must be chosen with due considera
tion of local geological and hydrogeological conditions in order thus
to minimise the difficulties created during their sinking by the high
water-bearing capacity and low stability of the rocks traversed. It
is particularly essential to avoid intersection by shafts of quicksands,
since this greatly complicates sinking operations. It often happens
that the existing geological structure of the region and, particular
ly, the relief of bedrocks are such that the quicksands do not occur
continuously but in “ spots”or, at least, their thickness, the chief
factor complicating sinking operations, is not the same over the en
tire mine field. Detailed borehole exploration of the section occupied
by the running ground, its thickness and physical properties, helps
to select the most suitable site for the shaft, one minimising the dif
ficulties of sinking.
Although rigid rocks are a desirable factor in shaft sinking, it
is nevertheless important to avoid traversing extremely hard rock
formations, for example, quartzites. Driving in highly disturbed,
faulted zones should also be avoided, for rock formations there may
be not only badly crushed but also aquiferous.
A singular example of the influence exerted by the geological
and hydrogeological structure of the deposit on the shaft location
may be cited from the practice of the Kizel basin in the Urals. Here
a coal-bearing formation of the carboniferous age has enormous se-
Geological and Hydrogeological Conditions 117
ries of limestone overlying and underlying it (Fig. 64). In many places

these limestones are karsted.To a certain depth ab from the ground
surface the karst cavities do not contain much water (“ dry karsts”),
but after that they are filled with it (“ aquiferous”karsts). Driving
shafts in aquiferous karsts is attended by considerable difficulties,
as the experience of Kizel mines No. 1 and No. 6 shows. If sunk in
position /, the shaft cuts across aquiferous karsts within section cd,
and this is undesirable. Placed at point II the shaft docs not trav
erse the limestones at all, but further down its location will require
I HI B
F ig. 64. Selection of the silo of shafts in deposits

containing aquiferous karsts
driving long crosscuts. Therefore, the most acceptable is position

///, since in this case there is no need of traversing aquiferous karsts,
and driving in dry karsts does not present any too great difficul
ties.
The Kizel coal fields are on the western slopes of the Urals. In
the same latitude, but on the eastern slopes, lie extensive bauxite
deposits, the mining of which is also complicated by the proximity
of karsted aquiferous limestones to the ore bodies.
When country rocks enclosing any particular mineral deposit
include limestone (or gypsum) series, mine planners should always
reckon with the possibility of encountering aquiferous karsts, and this
must be verified by preliminary hydrogeological exploration.
Not infrequently it so happens that the geological and hydrogeo
logical structure of the deposits prevents finding the kind of site for
shafts that would obviate the need of driving them in soft, running
or highly aquiferous grounds. In such instances, depending on what

the local conditions are, one resorts to some special method of shaft
sinking (drilling by the drop-shaft method, cementation, freezing,
pneumatic caisson, etc).
When deposits are nearly flat and enclosing rocks are highly wa
tered (as is the case in most of the coal fields in the Moscow basin),
the choice of shaft location is also influenced by the runoff and mine
drainage conditions. When the main shaft is sunk to the lowest point
of the bottom of the deposit, mine water can be made to run towards
it by gravity. If the bottom is highly undulating, the runoff can be
facilitated by auxiliary pumping stations. Because of that, when se
lecting shaft location in flat-dipping deposits, it is especially impor
tant to make use of mine plans with the floor structure contours plot
ted on them.
If the selectors of the site for the shaft should have any doubts
about the adequacy and accuracy of information regarding the prop
erties of the ground to be encountered in shaft sinking, they should
make a test borehole at the place of the future shaft. This borehole
should not be driven within the shaft outline, but at some distance
away from it, so as to avoid the inrush of pressure water that might
be in the rock series to the leading stopes of the shaft when it is
sunk later on.
4. S u b s i d e n c e a n d M o v e m e n t o f R o c k s
The extraction of mineral deposits generally entails movement

or shifting of ground over the worked-out areas. The possibility and
expected nature of these phenomena must be reckoned with in each
concrete instance (seeChapter XXIII) when selecting the site for the
shaft.
When the shaft is to be sunk in an already partially exploited
deposit, due notice should be taken of the relative position of the
mined-out areas. Fig. 65 shows that seam p a has been worked out
F ig . 65. S h i f t i n g s h a ft l o c a t i o n t o a v o i d t r a v er s in g a b a n
don ed , m in ed - o u t areas
Subsidence and Movement of Rocks 119
through shaft No. 1 over an area depicted by a dash line. Had per
manent working shaft No. 2, sunk to mine seam p, at a lower level,
been placed at point I, it would have crossed the old mined-out
areas of seam Pj.There then might have been many difficulties creat
ed by possible accumulations of water, carbon dioxide or disturbed
continuity of rock formations. What is more important, however,
is that with the subsidence of the ground overlying mined-out areas
still incomplete, the pieces of shaft lining would sustain considerable
damage on account of the continued sinking of overhead rock forma
tions. This could even lead to the deformation of the shaft axis,
especially in steeply dipping deposits. Therefore, it is belter to sink
the shaft at point //, where
it will traverse the intact por I ff
tion of seam pt.
However, if the ground over
the excavated area of seam p 2
has already subsided, the
shaft may be sunk at point I.
There have been cases of yield F i g . 06. Select inn of shall silos in I he
shaft limbering being used at opening up of bed series occurring in a
the intersection of mined-out syncline
areas. Even the concrete lin
ing of a round shaft may be made to yield, if it is done, for ins
tance, on the same principle which underlies the design of the expan
sion pieces in mine-drainage pipelines.
To protect the shafts and surface structures of the mine from the
damaging effects of ground movements (see Chapter XXIII) safety
pillars with useful mineral are left near the former and under the
la I ter. The choice of a suitable shaft location may either fully obvi
ate the need of safely pillars or at least reduce their size Lo the
minimum, and thus appreciably decrease the unwarranted losses of
the mineral. Fig. 19, for example, illustrates that protective pillars
in a thick bed may be avoided completely by shifting the location
of the main shaft lo the fool wall. Another typical example is given
in Fig. GO, demonstrating the development of a deposit occurring in
the shape of a syncline. Position / of the permanent working shaft
reduces the cost of underground haulage, ventilation and aggregate
crosscut driving to the minimum. But in these conditions, such a
position of the shaft would necessitate leaving large mineral reserves
in the safety pillars (shaded part in Fig. 6 6 ), a thing that could be
dispensed with if the shaft were sunk at point II outside the bed
series.
5. Surface Topography
In Ihe case of minerals extracted in large amounts (mineral coal,
rock and potassium salts, iron ore, some ores of nonferrous metals,
etc.) it is highly desirable to have a full-gauge railway siding leading
directly to the mine. This is not only important for facilitating large
shipments of coal or ores to the consumer, but also for the delivery
of various kinds of supplies—timber, metal, machinery and other
equipment—to the mine. It is of no less importance during the con
struction of the mine. Therefore, no effort should be spared to choose
the site for the shaft and its surface plants which will make them
accessible to a full-gauge railway side line.
The surface structures of a big modern mine are very large (see
Chapter V). The site on which they are built should be sufficiently
extensive. The location of the site in relation to the topography of
the surrounding country should be such as to reduce to the minimum
the volume of grading and earthwork. Inasmuch as the buildings and
structures (headframes, trestles) of big mines are of considerable
dimensions and weight, the selection of the construction site should
be preceded by the study of the ground to decide the size and design
of substructures.
There are instances when, because of the local topographic condi
tions, it is impossible to build a full-gauge railway side line to the
mine. In that case, narrow-gauge railway tracks, aerial tramways
or conveyer lines must be arranged. At small mines, highways
should he built for trucks. In this instance, of course, the loca
tion of the shaft with the adopted type of surface transportation
should he so selected as to minimise both the first and the opera
tional costs.
In mining deposits by filling the worked-out areas, one should
take into account the convenience of delivering filling materials
to the mine.
To forestall the flooding of underground workings by surface wa
ter, the mouths of the shafts should be so placed in relation to bodies
of running water (streams, creeks, rivers), or stagnant water (lakes,
ponds, swamps) as to preclude their inundation when the water rises
and overflows the banks. In this connection, due account should
be taken of possible inrushes of water not only from permanent
water bodies, but also from temporary streams caused periodically
by thaw or by downpours in usually dry gulches, ravines and
lowlands.
In wooded areas the construction site should be cleared of trees to
prevent fire hazards.
In mountainous country the surface structures of a mine should be
built where there is no danger of rock bursts, landslides and snowdrifts.
Opening Through Adits 121
6. A c liv e F actors In v olv ed in the S electio n o f Sh aft L o c a tio n
And so shaft location is influenced by manifold factors. In each

individual case they must be thoroughly scrutinised, one after anoth
er, and their combined effect should be taken into account when
finally deciding the proper site for the shaft. Some of these factors
may be contradictory.
For example, in shifting the shaft from the position best suitable
for underground haulage operations, we may at the same time gain
by reducing shaft-sinking costs, if by doing so we avoid traversing
running ground, etc. Therefore, the main thing to consider in solving
the complex problem of selecting the location for shafts is the maxi
mum economy and the influence of all available factors. Whenever
several variants are possible, they are discussed and compared both
from the technical and the economical angles before the final deci
sion is taken.
The foregoing text dealt with the selection of the site for the main
shaft used for hoisting minerals. As for the auxiliary shafts (venti
lating, supply and filling materials, etc.), their position is determined
fully by the local conditions after the establishment of the main
shaft location. For example, upcast shafts at big mines are usually
equipped with ancillary hoisting plants and, therefore, are sunk in
the vicinity of the permanent working shaft, naturally, with due
consideration of the layout of the mine’ s surface structures and the
shaft station workings.
7. O p e n i n g T h r o u g h Adits
The method of opening through adits can be used in mountainous

country.
An adit can be driven across the strike (Fig. 07), on the strike and
in a diagonal direction, this depending on the position of the deposit
in relation to the mountain slope surface.
Fig. 67. O p e n i n g u p o f a d e p o s it th ro u gh an a d i t
Local topography and the position of the deposit permitting

it, the adit may he arranged on a level that would allow us to
work the greater part of the deposit above the level of the adit,
that is, without having to hoist the mineral and pump mine water
upward.
On the other hand, the mouth of the adit should lie above the level
of lhe maximally possible rise of water in nearby basins. Spring
high water or precipitation is not the same every year and, there
fore, information on the maximal water table should be collected
over as many years as possible. This is especially important in moun
tainous country, where small rivers in deep canyons or narrow val
leys may, after abundant precipitation and intense thaw on high
mountain peaks, swell very much and fast.
It is desirable to connect the mouths of adits designed for handling
considerable tonnages with full- or narrow-gauge railway lines.
In mountainous regions such lines are most conveniently built in
the valleys (Fig. 67). A site of sufficient size should be made avail
able at the mouth of the adit to accommodate technical plants and
auxiliary buildings. If the nature of the deposit occurrence precludes
immediate access of a railway siding to the mouth of the adit,
highways for truck transport, aerial tramways or conveyer lines are
built to link the adit with the mineral loading point at the trunk rail
way line or with the concentration plant. If the down-grade of a con
veyer line exceeds 18-20°(Fig. 6 8 ), a retarding conveyer plant capable
F ig. 68. T r a n s p o r t i n g
the mineral from the m ou th of
an a d i t to the l o a d i n g p o i n t by a c o n v e y e r l i n e
of checking the sliding down of the material and handling it at a

uniform speed is used. When the excavated mineral requires dress
ing, one must take into account the location of the concentration
plant, dumps and loading points. To enable the mineral to pass
through dressing units down the grade, without any intermediate
Opening Through Adits 123
lifts, the buildings of the concentration plant should be arranged

on the slope of the mounlain in the sequence required by the dress
ing operations (Fig. 69).
In selecting the site for an adit, it is also necessary to lake into

account the location of future dumps for the waste from underground
workings or for mill tailings.
Being an opening with the mouth on the ground surface and hav
ing a certain gradient towards it to facilitate transportation of the
mineral, every adit may he used as a runoff for mine water and for
this purpose has drain ditches arranged in it. But (here are also
instances when special drainage adits are driven. They were of
particular importance for mining operations in the old days before
the invention of pumping
engines. But even in our
day, when mine workings
are arranged in a suitable
way, such adits can be used
to a great advantage in the
disposal of water by gravi
ty. The mouth of special F ig . 70. S k e tc h i l l u s t r a t i n g the r e l a t i v e p o
drainage adit b may be lo s i t i o n o f h a u l a g e a n d d r a i n a g e a d its
cated considerably below
the elevation of main, haulage adita (Fig. 70). One of the major advan
tages of drainage by gravity is its dependability in the event of sud
denly increasing inflows of water in the mine, since the capacity of
12'. Choice of Site for Shafts
drain ditches can be raised substantially. In rigorous climate, the wa

ter passing down the mine ditches may freeze, this diminishing their
useful seel ion and causing water to overflow the floor of the adit and
congeal. To avoid this, the ditch is dug deep over a distance of 100-
200 metres from the adit mouth and is, moreover, heat-sealed in
winter.
It is better, though much costlier, to drive a drainage adit over
the same distance (see b in Fig. 70). To prevent the entry of too
strong a current of cold air in winter months, ventilation doors are
arranged at the adit mouth. The gradient of 0.004-0.008 towards
the mouth of haulage adits is more than sufficient for the mine
water runoff. Special drainage adits may have a slope of 0.001-
0.002 and even as little as 0.0005, provided they have a large useful
section for the flow and the water is clean.
Inasmuch as adits are arranged in mountainous regions, it is
imperative to pay particular attention to possible sloping land
slides, rock falls, mudflows, snow slides and avalanches. One should
bear in mind that in areas exposed to the hazards of earthquakes,
the cited phenomena may occur when the ground surface slopes
less than usual.
In favourable natural conditions, opening through adits is a tech
nically feasible and economically profitable method. Adits are
particularly suitable for the combination of mountainous relief of
the surface and flat-dipping deposits. One of the factors making for
high labour efficiency in the U.S. coal industry is the availability
of these conditions, which permit the use of adits in developing the
greater part of the mine fields (about GO per cent) in the country.
CHA PTER V
SURFACE PLANTS AND STRU CTU R ES OF A M IN E
1. S u r f a c e S t r u c t u r e s a t a M i n e
The technical, administrative and auxiliary plants and buildings

oh the surface of modern big mines are designed to serve manifold
purposes and, with the mechanisation of mining operations, are
distinguished by the complexity of their arrangement and equipment.
Directly over shafts are the headframes of the hoisting plant and
shaft or head houses, equipped for man hoisting, delivery of mineral
and waste from underground workings, lowering of limber and other
supplies, as well as pieces of machinery, etc. A portion of the shaft
house or a separate building is used to accommodate hoist engines.
The arrangement of shaft houses and landing of the mineral
and waste taken out of the mine is greatly simplified by the use of
skips and tilling cages for load hoisting, and of conveyer lines in
inclined shafts. Rapid and mechanised loading and unloading of
mine cars is ensured by the employment of electric or air-operated
pushers in cage hoisting.
As a rule, the mineral hoisted from the mine is hauled by mine
cars or conveyers to the receiving bins set up alongside the railway
tracks. In order to ensure continuous operation of the mine, which
may be disrupted by delays in the shipment of mine output directly
from the bins, mechanised dumps for the mineral are arranged at tho
mines. At coal mines they are provided with slushers.
If and when necessary, prior to its shipment to the consumer, the
useful mineral undergoes sizing at sorting plants, or is sent to con
centration mills to have the gangue and impurities removed.
Waste hoisted from the mine is transported to waste piles
by narrow-gauge mine car, big dump-truck, conveyer or aerial
tramway. In a flat country these piles are usually conical in shape
(stocking by truss trimmers). These same dumps receive tailings
from concentration mills and ashes and slags from boiler plants.
But if the mine area is crossed by ravines and valleys, the waste
taken out of the mine should be used for filling them. When this
is done, they should be levelled out and planted up. The gangue from
I 2r. Surface Plants and Structures of a Mine
waste piles may also be employed as a mine-fill or building material.

If the waste contains carbonaceous substances, they should be given
time to “ burn out’’before it is used as a mine-fill.
In any case, waste dumps should be far away from the mine yard
and residential quarters because the carbonaceous matter emits
noxious gases when it is burned out.
A mine is aired with the aid of big, powerful fans\ in winter it is
kept warm by steam air heaters. By special permission from the com
petent authorities, fire healers may be employed in exceptional
cases.
Power substations are built on the surface to supply power for the
underground plants and machinery and other purposes.
Mines employing pneumatic equipment require compressor plants
with water-cooling lowers and spraying ponds for cooling circulating
water.
In order to supply hot water to air heaters, mine change- and
bath-houses and to heat the buildings in winter, boiler plants are
built, in which fuelling and removal of ashes and slag are fully mech
anised.
Machines and other items of mine equipment are overhauled at
the mine's repair shops. Spare parts and other supplies are kept in
special storehouses.
Timber is stored and treated in timber yards. Mechanised framing
of limber end-points is done by timber-framing machines.
The materials and supplies delivered to mines are loaded and ,
unloaded with the aid of cranes, single-rail devices and travelling
loaders.
Cranes have latterly been introduced at big mines to ensure rapid
unloading of timber from railway cars in “ packages", their load-
lifting capacity being as high as 30 tons.
Adequate communications and transportation of loads at the mines
are ensured by narrow-gauge railways, well-paved roads and pave
ments built between individual buildings and storehouses.
For administrative and sanitary-hygienic needs of the miners
and office workers there are special combined office-change-and-
auxiliary-service houses. These are architecturally well-designed
buildings with all the necessary amenities: cloak-rooms for ordinary
and working clothes, shower baths, lamp room, that is, the room
where miners’storage-battery and oil lamps are issued, turned in,
charged and repaired; first-aid station; water filters; offices, etc.
No effort should be spared in planning the layout of mines and
building them to reduce to the minimum the labour force required
to service the surface plants. This may be achieved by making their
layout pattern as simple, purposeful and compact as possible, by the
mechanisation and automation of industrial operations.
Arrangement of Mine Surface Structures 127
These aims, Ihe achievement of which ensures high efficiency for

the surface labour force, are all Ihe more attainable because (lie
operations at the surface plants of big mines are limited to handling
large volumes of the mineral, waste, timber and other materials
that always move in the same directions: in the instance of the min
eral—from the shaft to the receiving bins; in that of waste —to the
dumps. It is Ihis concentrated and constantly unidirectional flow of
loads that offers the greatest possibilities for effectively utilising
mechanisation, automation, telemechanics and remote control.
For one thing, this enables automatic control of load hoistings
and of skip loading and unloading. Complete mechanisation and auto
mation should be introduced in controlling the operation of landing
chairs and handling mine cars in cage hoisting. It is quite feasible
to record automatically mineral tonnages and volumes of waste
hoisted from the mine. Centralised, or automatic, control may also
be introduced for conveyer lines, feeders, loading and charging
devices.
In timber yards mechanisation should be introduced in unloading
limber from railway cars, its transportation over the territory of
the yard, stacking and loading onto mine cars and trucks.
All this may contribute substantially to minimising the number
of workers engaged on the surface and thus reducing their duties to
controlling machines and industrial processes.
In planning and constructing new mines, the tendency should
be towards making the surface structures and installations into a
single architectural ensemble. All the roads and squares on the mine
territory should be paved with asphalt and well-lighted, the whole
area planted with trees and shrubs.
2. A r r a n g e m e n t o f M i n e S u r f a c e S t r u c t u r e s
The arrangement of all mine plants, buildings and communica

tions is determined primarily by their technological interdependence
and topography of the surface. All these structures should be located
in such a fashion as Lo minimise the volume of earth work. The orien
tation of the hoisting plant axes, the position of hoisting equipment
in the shaft and the direction of the main shaft staLion workings
should be well coordinated.
Let us discuss some typical examples of the layout of the basic
surface plants and structures at the existing coal mines.
Fig. 71 illustrates a mine engaged in working a lignite deposit
through an inclined main shaft equipped with a conveyer line and
through an auxiliary vertical shaft with cage hoisting. It shows the
following buildings and structures: inclined shaft 1 provided with a
belt conveyer; covered conveyer gallery 2 ; coal picking and sorting
Fig. 71. Layout of surface structures in a lignite mine worked through an inclined main shaft
Arrangement of Mine Surface Structures 129
site with receiving bin 3; loading conveyer 4; railway wagon balance

<5; gallery for a reversible conveyer 6 for the removal and delivery
of coal to the storage site; clamshell 7 for coal-loading operations
at the storage site; coal pile 8 on the territory of the storage site;
railway tracks 9; trip-spotting hoist to move round railway cars 10\
shaft house of the auxiliary vertical shaft equipped with cage hoist
ing 11; hoist house 12; power substation 13; compressor house 14;
water-cooling tower 15; repair shops and storage house 16; timber
yard 17; boiler house 18; combined office-change-and-auxiliary-
services house 19; dump for the disposal of mine waste 20; aerial
tramway 21 to transport waste to the dump in special cars; protective
wire net 22 under the aerial tramway and over the railway lines;
narrow-gauge railway tracks 23; highway 24; traffic tunnel 25 for
the passage of workers from the change house to the shaft house;
fence 26 confining the mine yard.
Fig. 72 is illustrative of a surface structure layout at a coal
mine with vertical shafts shipping run-of-minc coal. The scheme
shows: shaft house 1 of the main shaft equipped with a lilting-deck
cage hoist plant; hoist house 2; receiving or shaft coal bin 3; railway
wagon balance 4; conveyer gallery 5 for the delivery of coal to the
storage place and boiler house; conveyer 6 to lake coal from the stor
age site; emergency scraper coal storage site 7; scraper hoist 8; tail
bogie of scraper hoisL 9; railway tracks 10; trip-spotting hoist to
move round railway cars 11; air-heater unit to heat the intake air
in winter 12; power plant 13; compressor house 14; water-cooling
lower 15; repair shops and their storage-rooms 16; limber yard 17;
boiler house 18; combined of fice-change-and-auxiliary-services
house 19; waste dumps 20; tunnel 21 for skip transportation of the
waste taken o.ut of the mine to the dumps; skip hoist plant for the
disposal of waste to the dumps 22; truss structure 23 for unloading
waste-carrying skips; traffic tunnel 24 for the passage of workers;
narrow-gauge tracks 25; highway 26; fence 27.
Figs 71 and 72 depict the layout of surface plants and structures
common to big mines now in operation. One essential disad
vantage of these layout patterns is the high number of individ
ual buildings and structures and their dispersal all over the
territory.
That is why of late there has emerged a tendency towards inte
grating the plants and structures on the mine’ s surface into a very
limited number of building blocks. Fig. 73, for instance, represents
the layout of a standard mine with an annual capacity of 900,000
tons, designed by Lhe Dnepropetrovsk Institute of Mine Designing,
with only three such blocks. The first includes all the buildings and
structures situated near the main shaft; the second those in the
vicinity of the auxiliary shaft; the third the combined office-change-
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Arrangement of Shaft Houses 131
and-auxiliary*-services house. The purposes the individual pails of

the buildings serve are given in the caption to Fig. 73.
Such integration of buildings in separate blocks reduces the
extent of tracks and roads on the surface of a mine and the water
and heating, cable and sewerage networks, and at the same time
makes it possible to decrease the total area of construction, which
in the case of mines, apart from other advantages, also in most
instances diminishes the size of safety pillars containing useful
mineral.
Moreover, the small number of building blocks allows an effec
tive employment of industrial methods of construction, that is, to
use standard prefabricated details and structures, power cranes,
etc.
Local conditions permitting, mine surface arrangement is sim
plified by designing centralised concentration mills, timber yards,
storehouses and repair shops for two or sevcal mines at a time.
This creates favourable conditions for adequate mechanisation and
automation of pertinent industrial processes.
When coal from the mine is transported to a nearby central dress
ing mill, the mine may dispense with a storage site, thus greatly
simplifying its surface layout. In this case, coal may be shipped to
the dressing mill not only in return-bound railway cars, but also
by conveyer lines and aerial tramways.
Figs 71-73 give merely a schematic layout of mine structures.
This arrangement should he defined more precisely in conformity
with the features peculiar to the construction site and, above all,
to local topography.
The drawings show only industrial and certain auxiliary and
administrative buildings and plants of the mine. The general mine
plan also has miners’towns with all their community and recrea
tional establishments. It also depicts communications, electric power
transmission lines and water mains, powder houses situated in the
area surrounding the mine and ancillary industrial enterprises, that
is, building-material quarries, brick works, etc.
3. A r r a n g e m e n t o f S h a f t H o u s e s
The most typical of mine surface installations is the shaft house.

When the mineral is hoisted in skips or lilt-deck cages, their ar
rangement is simple and compact (Fig. 74). Cage 1 is unloaded over
receiving chute 2. Through deflecting gate 3, which is moved by com
pressed air cylinder 4, the mineral from the cage is fed to transfer
bin 5 and the gangue to waste bin 6. The latter also receives waste
coming from the dressing mill by conveyer line 7. From bin 6 waste
is transported to a dump in cars 8 of the aerial tramway. Feeder 9
Arrangement of Shaft Houses i:t3
is set up under bin 5 that feeds the mineral to the loading shaft hiu
by conveyer 10. All these devices are so arranged that the mineral
and waste can be fed and transferred automatically.
When the mineral or waste is hoisted in ordinary cages, the ar
rangement of the shaft house becomes more complex. In this instance
there arc three basic patterns used for the transportation or move
ment of loads in the shaft house: closed-circuit, stub or spur, and
the one with the so-called cross, or
transverse bogies.
In the case of the circular scheme
(Fig. 75), the cars containing the min
eral or waste hoisted from the mine
move by the force of their own grav
ity along the sloping track towards
coal tipper 3 or waste Upper 4, where
they are dumped. Before the tip
pers are catches 2. Then, also
by their own gravity, the
mine cars move back to the
shaft, thus completing their
circular trip.Tocompensale for
Towards waste dump
Fig. 74. Shaft house with lilting deck cage hoisting

).V, Surface Plants and Structures of a Mine
Fig. 75. Shaft house with closed circular mine car traffic
the elevation lost during their movement by gravity, the cars are lifted
by incline hoist 5, provided with an endless rope with catch cams
gripping the car (elevation compensator). The cars with timber and
other supplies are lifted to the shaft house by hoist 6. A storage track
for spare mine cars is depicted by 1. The numbers in the drawing
show the position of railway track switches.
To change the direction of haulage traffic stub gravity yards may
be used instead of curves (Fig. 76). Cars are switched from gravity
track 1 to gravity track 2 by connecting automatic switch 3, behind
which the tail track 4 is somewhat raised. The sequence of movement
of cars is indicated by figures I, II, III. It is but natural that even
when there are stub gravity yards the lost elevation has to be re
gained by means of incline chain hoists.
Arrangement oj Shaft Houses 135
Shaft houses with circular or spur schemes of mine car traffic are
rather cumbersome. Moreover, because of varying track resistance
to the movement of individual cars, the latter, running along ex
tensive gravity tracks, are either unduly accelerated or slowed down.
In view of this, the circular or spur traffic schemes are of laj.e
being replaced by cross or transverse bogies (platforms) (Fig. 77).
Fig. 77. Shaft house with transverse bogies
When the cage lands upon the chairs, its catches become automati
cally disengaged and the loaded car runs by gravity until it reaches
catch 1, which holds it as long as is necessary for bogie A to arrive.
After that the catch automatically disengages, the car rolls along
track 2 directly onto bogie A, and the latter is pulled up by hoist 4
along sloping track 5. Thanks to this, the elevation lost during the
movement by gravity is regained. Further on, the car rolls down
into the tipper for unloading, whence, following track 7, it mounts
bogie D and then, by the uphill track moves up again to reach the
cage via track 10 and go down into the mine. Car movements are
controlled by catches <3, 6, 8, 9 and 11 regulated by a topman with
the aid of lever 12.
Bringing mine waste to the surface in skips greatly simplifies
the arrangement of the shaft house, while the flow of waste to the
dumps is very easy to automatise. In view of this the plans for new big
mines contain provisions for separate skip hoist plants for mine waste.
CH A PT E R VI
SHAFT ST A T IO N S
1. S h a f t S ta tio n Schem es
Tl lias already been said above that a shaft station is an aggregate

of underground mine workings located in the vicinity of the shaft
and designed lo serve the underground arrangements of the mine,
as well as to connect the shaft with the main haulage and air open
ings.
The size and layout of shaft station workings differ very much,
depending on mine output, the types of underground transport and
shaft arrangements.
There are two types of shaft station intersections—single and
double, this depending on whether the shaft has one or two outlets
into the shaft station (Fig. 78).
The first type is, naturally, simpler and less costly, but its prin
cipal disadvantage lies in the fact that before a loaded car can be
pushed into the hoisting cage the empty one has to be pulled out
of it in the direction opposite to the first, and this requires consid
erable lime and labour, since mechanisation of the process is rather
difficult. With a double station mine cars are loaded and unloaded
from the cage in one direction. This takes less time, the more so as
this operation can easily be mechanised by the use of car pushers.
Hence, single shaft stations arc permitted, as an exception, only
for prospecting or exploring shafts with low output and short serv
ice-life, or else for those with no hoisting plants, or with auxiliary
plants operating irregularly.
To secure direct communication between the two sides of the
station, a passageway for men is usually provided near the shaft
under the ladder compartment of shaft a or by-pass b is driven, separ
ated from the shaft by rock pillar c (Fig. 78).
The station is highest at the line of its intersection with the shaft—
at least 4.5 metres with an arched ceiling and not less than 3.5 metres
with a flat one, this being sufficient for long pieces, such as rails,
pipes and timber, received from the shaft opening.
Hand-tramming of mine cars at the shaft station is permissible
only in the instance of exploring shafts. Generally speaking, the
Shaft Station Schemes 137
transportation of the mineral and gangue at the shaft station should

be mechanised. To accomplish this two principal methods are em
ployed:
1) station workings are made either level or nearly so, while the
loaded and empty trains are hauled by electric locomotives, some-
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F ig 78. Single (/) and double (II) intersection of a botlom station

and tbe shaft
times aided by trip-spotting rope hoists. If the mine field lias two
flanks or a bilateral (in relation to the station) crosscuL, the general
pattern of train movements at the shaft station is as shown in Fig. 79;
2) station workings are made with a slope sufficient to enable
automatic movement of mine cars by gravity, controlled by braking
devices. The height loss is
compensated for by inclined
chain hoists, set up on the
empties side of the station
(1-2 in Fig. 79) or by stump
gravity yards.
In view of the predomi
nance of electric haulage
in the underground handl
ing of minerals, preference
is now given to the first
scheme of car movements at >——empty
the station, that is, to the Fig. 79. Mine car traffic at a shaft station
use of electric locomotives
and trip-spotting hoists and mechanical pushers in loading and
unloading cages.
Standard layouts of shaft stations are shown in Fig. 80. These
shaft stations are serviced by electric haulage with verLical shafts.
In Fig 80 the shaft is designated by a circle and the site for unloading
mine cars with a skip hoist by a rectangle. The arrows indicate the
1.18 Shaft Stations
main direction of movement. Layouts 1, 2 and 3 refer to shaft sta

tions where main hoisting is effected in cages. In the case of a looping
layout, the station may lie perpendicularly (1) to the main haul
ageway or parallel to it (2). Fig. 80, 3 depicts a shaft station layout
with a spur gravity yard.
Layouts 4, 5 and 6 are designed for combined main skip and aux
iliary hoisting in one shaft. Layouts 7 and 8 refer to skip and cage
hoisting done through separate shafts.
Shaft stations with

cage hoisting
-A____ ^ A
1 2 J
Single shaft stations with

'^combined ship and cage hoisting
oi
Double shaft stations with combined

ship and cage hoisting
7 8
Fig. 80. Standard layouts of shaft stations
The extent of the loaded and empties track branches of the stations
with main cage hoisting may be designed to accommodate one com
plete train each, while when main hoisting is done in skips the estimat
ed length of tracks on either side of the shaft can hold 1-1.5 trains.
The layouts given in Fig. 80, although of standard type, do not
cover all the possible cases that may arise in mining practice.
Of particularly simple arrangement are the stations of inclined
shafts in which main hoisting is done by belt conveyers.
If some particular shaft is used for supplying Tilling material to
the mine, the layout of its station should be designed so as to pro
vide for the haulage of this material, etc.
Mine Car Switching Operations at Shaft Stations 139
All points considered, the layout of a shaft station should ensure

the necessary traffic capacity, simplicity of switching operations,
employment of minimum labour force, mechanisation of transport
and its safety, and minimal volume of excavation work. To secure
traffic safety and reduce the number of men working at shaft sta
tions, wide use should be made of signalling and automatic devices.
2. M i n e C a r S w i t c h i n g O p e r a t i o n s a t S h a f t S t a t i o n s
Fig. 80 illustrates only the principal travel schemes accepted at

shaft stations but subject lo further elaboration. In Fig. 81, for
example, we see diagram 7 of the Fig. 80 in more detail and on a
larger scale, this enabling us to
follow more closely the succes
sive movement of mine cars.
Loaded trains brought lo the
shaft station by electric locomo
tives pass by the curvature of
the loaded track section and are
then pushed backward into this
section of the station. If there
are only coal-laden cars in the
train, the whole of it is pushed
onto the skip tracks of the loaded
section of the station, beyond
the entrance switch and the
switch at the branching out to
cage track 1. After that the elec Fig. 81. Graphic estimation of the size
of a shaft station
tric locomotive is uncoupled and
moves via a by-pass for locomo
tives {1-2) to the empties section of the station. If the train includes
rock-laden cars, the electric locomotive will carry out the following
switching operations: if the rock-laden cars are at the head of the
train, it pushes the coal-laden cars onto the skip track branch (1-3)
first and the rock-laden ones onto the cage track after that. If the
rock-laden cars are at the tail-end of the train, the locomotive must
first lake them to the cage branch of the station and then the cars
with coal to the skip tracks. This last operation is less convenient
and, therefore, the cars with rock should be placed at the head of the
train. Having delivered the cars with coal and rock to the loaded
section of the shaft station, the locomotive proceeds via the by-pass
lo the empties track section. Here it is coupled to the empties train
and moves to its point of destination. When the mine cars intended
to make up the train are spotted on the skip and cage track sections
S/ia// Slations
1 lO
Fig $2 Layonl of workings at a shaft

station:
/ — m a in s h a fl; 2 — a u x i l ia r y s h a f t ; r c s t - a n d -
w a l l i n g r o o m ; 4— t i p p c r - a n d - p u s h c r s ta tio n ;
.5— m a n w a y f o r c l e a n i n g s h a f t w a l l s ; 6 — p u m p
room : r — sum ps; s — pow er s u b s ta tio n ; 9 — co n
v e r t e r a n d s w i t c h r o o m ; t o — l o c o m o t i v e sh ed
and b a tte ry c h a rg in g ro o m ; / / — re p a ir ro o m ;
12 — f i r s l - a I d r o o m : / J — r o o m a c c o m m o d a tin g
t h e h o i -,1 f o r c l e a n i n g s u m p s ; 14— f i r e p r o o f d o o r s
of Ihe station, the locomotive gathers them first on one and then
the other track.
The unloading of trains in tipper 3 is done without uncoupling
the cars. Unloaded trains proceed along the empties way, where
they are coupled to electric locomotives, and return to their sections.
The length of a shaft station (h in Fig. 81) with a 900-millimetre
track gauge is about 150 metres.
A shaft station of this type, with one train arriving on the average
every six minutes, is capable of handling 360 tons an hour.
A more detailed layout of a shaft station at a big modern mine
is given in Fig. 82, which shows not only mine tracks but also the
location of service stations and the rooms with underground machin
ery and equipment.
An analogous layout of a station in an inclined shaft equipped
with a skip hoist plant is shown in Fig. 83.
Service and Engine Rooms al Shalt Stations
<— pu m p
/— sto rage room; 2 — l o c o m o t i v e shed; 3 — first-aid room; 4— rest-and-waiting ro om ; >— a u x il i a r y shaft; 0— air shaft; r — rontra!
3. S e rv ice an d E n g in e R o om s
a t Sh aft S ta tio n s
Upper; la— car pusher; 11 — e le ctr ic sub sta ti on . /:’

1. Shaft and skip measuring
pockets. In the case of skip hoist
ing, special capacities (pockets)
have to be provided for the
mineral loaded into the skips.
These pockets have a capacity
either equal to the payload of
one skip (low-capacity pockets),
Fig. 84, or to that of many skips
(ihigh-capacity pockets), Fig. 85.
Fig. 85 illustrates a loading
device with sloping pockets,
widely used in the iron ore min
ing industry. When unloaded,
ore drops onto inclined bar griz
zlies, where big chunks break
up, while the fines pass freely
room; 13— s u m p
through the bars. Under the griz
zly, in the lower part of the fun
underground control ro om ; a— s to r e ro o m for fire-fighting mate rials:

nel-shaped receiving chute is
metal deflecting gate 1. The
pocket is divided by reinforced
concrete partition wall 2 into two
branches or compartments, each
of which is designed to hold a
certain grade of ore, or else one
is used for ore storage and the
other for barren rock. The inside
dimension of the compartment
is 1.7x3 metres. The gate is
thrown over from one position to
another by air motOF 3. A spe
cial manway is provided to ser
vice the deflecting gate. The
pocket isconcrete-lined.The lower
inclined plane of the pocket,
along which the ore slides down,
is made either of concrete or rein
forced concrete, but with a metal
lining of railway rails, while the
cheeks are faced with thick sheet
steel. The angle of bottom slope
l —tipper; 2—coal pocket; 3—safety shutter; 4— feed
spout; J— skip; 6—lining; 7—safety platform; 8—sump
drainage pump room; 9—protective cover (stage) against
penetration of coal into the 9ump; 10— car pusher; 11 —
skip; 12—cage; 13—loading arms
144 Shaft Stations
in the pocket depends on the size of the rock and its hardness and
humidity. With small-sized moist ore this angle comes to 76-75°
and with large-sized dry ore to 55-60°.
The lower section of each compartment in the pocket tapers down
somewhat and is furnished with an arc gate operated through air
, cylinder 4 hinged to a
TITIT beam.
The inclined pocket direct
ly abuts a measuring bin
with a measuring device of
rigid construction. The lat
ter comprises measuring
boxes or funnels that accu
rately measure out the vol
ume of the mineral neces
sary to fill a skip. Hence
the capacity of the measur
ing device is equal to that
of the skip. The device is
made" of sheet steel 8 - 1 2 mm
thick. On the inside it is fa
ced with easily interchange
able metal. Thanks to the measuring
device, ore from any pocket com
partment can be loaded into different
skips, this being accomplished by de
flecting gate 5. At the bottom of the
measuring device is a cut-off or flat
gate which opens in either direction
for loading skips. To facilitate pas
sage of men from the main station level
to the measuring bin there is a special
working with a ladder way. All the
operations involving the opening
and closing of pocket and measuring
gales and throwing over of the deflect
ing gate are accomplished by com
pressed air cylinders.
The layout of main shaft stations
is particularly extensive and com
Fig. 86. B ottom station in a rock plicated in cases when, apart from
sa lt mine with sk ip h oisting large pockets, there is crushing equip
and underground coarse breaking
/—Dat grizzly; z—pocket; a—crush
ment underground to break the mineral,
er; 4— feeder; a—secondary breaker; say, potassium or rock salts (Fig. 8 6 ).
bottom pocket gate; 7— measur
ing blD; a—gate; 9—skip A vast shaft station with powerful
Service and Engine Rooms at Shaft Stations 145
breakers for underground crushing has been built in the U.S.S.R.

at the potassium mine at Solikamsk.
In the U.S.A., thanks to elective mining machinery and high-
capacity mine cars, underground crushing is practised very widely.
Out of the 69 iron ore mines in Lorraine, France, 20 were equipped
with underground crushing plants as far back as 1952.
2. Pump rooms and storage sumps. Depending on local conditions,
the layouts of storage sumps and pump rooms may be so different
that it is practically impossible to reduce them to a few character
istic types. We shall, therefore, dwell on one such layout (Fig.
87) in order to elucidate the requirements which the underground
pumping plants have to meet and which should be considered when
planning the layout of shaft stations.
Fig. 87. Pump room and sump layout
The installations of the principal mine drainage plant are put

up in the area of the main shaft station, since it is towards this
point that mine workings normally slope and it is, therefore, there
that mine water runs off from the whole or part of the mine field.
Besides, since in most instances mine drainage pipes are laid in
hoisting shafts, or in other mine openings located in their vicinity,
the installation of pumping plants around the shaft station reduces
the length of delivery pipelines to the minimum.
Underground drainage workings are made up of two principal
parts: sumps and pump rooms or stations.
Sumps are the reservoirs whence mine water is disposed of by
water-lifting machines installed in the pump room. At the same lime
sumps serve as settling tanks, where mine water loses some of the
mineral particles it carries and enters the pumps cleaner. The sedi
menting mineral particles gradually fill up the sumps, impairing
their capacity and making it necessary to clean them periodically.
To secure continuous operation of the pumping plant, the sump
6—3625
l-w Shaft Stations
ordinarily consists of two separate compartments 5, and Bt (Fig.

87). Optimal sell !o,i.-.,nt requires that water enter the sumps at
points farthest away from the suction end. Thus, in Fig. 87, water
from the (Tos-riil <-liters sump fi, at point a,, and sump Bt through
n2. In normal conditions both sumps operate simultaneously, but
w hen one has i o be cleaned it is shut off by a method described below.
If it soils the location of mine workings, the separate compartments
of the sumps may be of different capacity. In Fig. 87, for example,
sump //, is smaller than Bt.
The overall size of sumps is determined not only by their live
capacity, but also by the number of hours it takes normal inflow to
(ill them with the pumping plant shut down. The greater this time
interval the longer the pumps can remain inactive. In certain respects
ibis presents many advantages both when the pumping plants func
tion normally and when one is forced to shut them down. According
to standards, a pumping station is supposed to operate twenty hours
a day even when the water inflow is normal. On the other hand, con
struction of extensive sumps requires appreciable initial outlays.
By way of a compromise between these opposing factors the summary
standard capacity of main sumps is now set at a figure equalling
normal inflow of mine water for eight consecutive hours. In the Mos
cow coal basin this standard value has been reduced to four hours.
To avoid difficulties in driving and, especially, timbering of sumps,
their cross-section is made to approximate that of ordinary haulage
workings, that is, the larger their capacity the more considerable
their length is. In order to cheapen them, they are driven in relative
ly soft rock but in the kind, of course, that would not require
expensive timbering and frequent repairs. It is expedient, for in
stance, to make use of coal seams. There are many varieties of timber
ing one may use, this depending on the stability of rocks and the
service-life of sumps. Most often it is the usual wood timbering.
The floor elevation of the sump in relation to the neighbouring
workings is determined by the following considerations (Fig. 87).
The suction head is not to exceed 6.5 metres. The pump axis
should be approximately 0.5-1 metre above the floor of the pump
room. In turn, the floor of the pump room must lie 0.5 metre above
the level marking the intersection of haulageways and the shaft
station. Moreover, the inlet suction pipe of the pump is lowered
somewhat below the bottom of the sump. By comparing these figures,
we find that the floor level of the sump is around 5.5 metres below the
floor of the pump room and 5 metres below the adjacent haulageways.
As we have already said, sumps also serve as settling tanks for
mine water.
There is no set schedule for cleaning sumps—it all depends on the
purity of the water entering them, but in favourable conditions it
Vertical, section hi
Fig. 88. I'unip room
is done once or twice a year. To facilitate their cleaning, the sumps

are made of two sections separately connected with drain or receiv
ing pit K located near the pump room. From the sump the water
gels into the receiving pit only through a pipe furnished with a slide
valve. Sump /?,, for example (see Fig. 87), is linked with pit K by a
pipe with slide valve 1, while sump Bt is connected with the same
pit by a pipe with slide valve 2.
The disposal of the dirt and mud accumulated in sumps, that is,
their cleaning, is effected by a variety of methods. The work can be
mechanised by employing mud pumps and pneumatic instruments.
In the main mine drainage system only electric centrifugal pumps
are used. Normally, a pump station has three units—one in opera-
lion, the second in reserve and the third under repair. These three
pumps arc of equal rated capacity and designed to handle the daily
6
148 Shaft Stations
inflow in twenty hours. To even up the wear of the pumps, each is

operated ten hours daily.
During the spring floods and generally more intensive inflows two
pump units may he operated simultaneously. If there are grounds
to fear that, the water flow may more than double, place should
he loll in the room for a fourth unit of the same size as the other
three.
Normally, there should be three pump-discharge lines laid in the
shaft. The diameter of each should conform to the output of one pump
ing unit and the water flow rate in the line should lie within the
range of 1.5-2. 2 m sec.
The size of the pump room is determined by the overall dimen
sions of mechanical equipment (Fig. 8 8 ).
Fig. H9. Underground shed for trolley locomotives
To provide additional safeguards against flooding, the pump

room can be sealed off in the following manner. Normally, the pump
station is connected with other underground workings at three
points: 1 ) with the sumps through the receiving pit; 2 ) with the shaft
station through the manway; 3) with the shaft through the inclined
passageway for the outlet of discharge pipes (see Fig. 87). The access
of water into the receiving pit may be barred by appropriate check
valves. The inclined pipeline way pierces the wall of the shaft at
the height of 10 metres above the floor of the station. Consequently,
the pump room can be isolated from water even when all the sur
rounding workings are flooded by a watertight bulkhead with a her
metically sealed door set up across the passage to the shaft station.
Men’ s access to the pumps is through the pipeline way from the shaft.
3. Underground locomotive shed. Its arrangement depends on wheth
er it is intended for trolley or storage-battery locomotives (Figs
89 and 90). In the latter case the shed has special stands for battery
charging (charging room).
4. Both storage-battery and trolley locomotives require direct
current and since mines are now supplied with three-phase alter
nating current it becomes necessary to provide converter-station
rooms for machines converting alternating current into direct (mer

cury arc rectifiers, synchronous converters). Fig. 90 illustrates gen
eral arrangement in converter room 1 near locomotive shed 2,
while a more detailed layout of equipment in one of such rooms is
shown in Fig. 91.
Fig. 00 Underground shed for storage-battery locomotives
It should be added that condenser electric locomotives operating

direct from a. c. mains are being put into operation.
5. Three-phase current is supplied underground by high-tension
cables (3,000-6,000 v). Inasmuch as most of the underground loads
operate at a lower voltage (usually 250 or 380 v), this necessitates
building special rooms for underground electric substations with
step-down transformers and switching equipment. Very often these
substations are set up in the immediate vicinity of pump rooms in
S ection A-B S ection C~D
"BT -EKTj
: B]
U -ns oo bB
I
0
Fig. 91. Underground converter room
1— high-voltage distribution box; 2—transformer; 3— d.c. boards; l ~ motor-generator
set; S —starting rheostat
ir.o Shaft Stations
order to give them (lie same protection from flooding as in the case
of pumping equipment.
0. Storage room for fire-fighting materials and equipment (Fig. 92)
contains t he necessary tools (shovels,picks, crowbars, sledgehammers,
.axes), lire-lighting equipment (fire extinguishers, water sprayers,
pumps, hoses, barrels for water, pails), tarpauline, ventilation tubes
and materials for rapid construction of bulkheads and seals (clay,
bricks, hoards, cement, sand). Some of these materials are kept
in mine cars.
7. Central control room (Fig. 93) is the underground office of the
dispatcher whose duty is to regulate underground haulage and the
work at the stopes. In this he is assisted by a telephone operator.
8 . At mines employing more than 700 men underground there is a
waiting or rest room for miners waiting for cages to take them up or
electric trains to bring them to the working faces. This room has
wooden benches with backs and is connected with the workings of
the shaft station by two passageways.
9. Underground medical station extends first aid to miners sustain
ing injuries while at work and provides ambulatory treatment of
minor injuries or ailments for which miners are not granted sick
leave. It has two rooms— one is the reception and also waiting room,
the other a dressing room with appropriate equipment. In the cold
season the temperature is kept up by electric heaters. A first-aid
station is a must for all mines with no fewer than 1 , 0 0 0 underground
workers on the payroll.
10. When a shaft is to be deepened to a new working level and
there is no adequate space around the shaft station for setting up a
stage hoist, a special room for it must be excavated.
11. Of particular importance are the underground powder rooms.
They may be of alveolar (Fig. 94n) or chamber (Fig. 946) type. In the
former, explosives and blasting supplies are stored in small individ
ual niches (cells) arranged in staggered rows on both sides of the
room. In the latter case, explosive and blasting supplies are stored
in separate chambers. The purpose of individual premises and ar
rangement of the rooms is explained by the caption to Fig. 94.
The unshaded space in the rooms in Fig. 94 should be provided
with fireproof timbering. The arrangement of underground powder
magazines and their location in relation to other underground work
ings must conform to the Safety Rules.
There are a great many ways of arranging the above-cited rooms
within the area of the shaft station. In general, the decisive role in
the planning of shaft stations is played by the conditions determin
ing the operation of haulage and hoisting facilities, and the prin
cipal layout patterns should be elaborated to suit them. There are
no essential difficulties in planning the location of other under-
Fig. 92. Underground storeroom for fire-fiirlilin" materials and equipment

a — storage space for materials anti instruments; Ij— storage space (or clay anti
oaml, c —storage s pa ce (or bricks; tl—mine-car; c— door
Fig. 93. Underground central control room

A - dispatcher's office; U —telephone operator's room; C—control desk; D — telephone;
£—desk; F —chair; G—commutator
152 Shaft Stations
Manway to the airpassage

through breahthraugh
"Protective state shields
---- »- B la ste r s' p a th

— ------ * - Direction of air flow
F ig . 94. U n d e r g r o u n d p o w d e r m a g a z i n e
o — of alveolar type: l — cells; 2— electric detonator checking room; 3— protective shell
fitting out room; 4— Igniting fuse storage room; s — distribution room; 6—storage space for
blasters' bags; 7—heating and signalling room; S—watchman's bay; 9—crosspieces; re—slate
seals
b—of chamber type: 1—working adjacent to powder rooms; 2—blasting supplies storage room]
3—explosives storeroom; 4—blasting supplies distribution; i —storage space for blasters*
bags; 6—room where capsule detonators are connected with the igniting fuse and electric de
tonators checked; 7—space for electric heater
ground rooms, which can be arranged in a variety of ways. To facilitate

the use of underground service rooms and reduce to the minimum
the amount of excavation work, the electric substation should be
together with the pump room; the underground locomotive shed
with the battery charging station and the repair room; the central
underground control room with the first-aid station. Figs 82 and 83
depict the layout of various service rooms in the shaft station area.
Since the underground service rooms with machines and equipment
also contain lubricants and are extensively wired, they are class
ified as premises exposed to fire hazards and their protection, aera
tion and lighting are regulated strictly by Safety Rules and Rules
for the Exploitation of Mines.
Pari Two
UNDERGROUND MINING
OF MINERAL DEPOSITS
CHAPTER VI I
BASIC CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY
1. Definition of Concept “
Method of Mining Deposits”
As shown above, the work done in connection with direct extrac
tion of the bulk of the mineral from a deposit is called stoping oper
ation. Mine workings where sloping operations are conducted are
called rooms or stoping workings, while the faces at which they are
performed are called stopes or working faces. Excavating the valuable
mineral at the stopes is usually referred to as stoping.
But before stoping operations can he begun in any part of the mine
field, a more or less complex network of mine openings has to be creat
ed in order to open access to the stoping areas from the permanent
mine workings made earlier in opening up a deposit. Subsequently,
these openings will serve as communication ways for men, haulage,
ventilation, etc. Mine openings of this type are called development
workings, their faces—development faces, and the operations connect
ed with the making of development openings or excavations—
development work.
The latter has to follow a definite sequence in time and space and
should, moreover, definitely precede the stoping operations and be
properly coordinated with them.
This definite sequence or order of driving development and stoping
workings, coordinated in space and time, is termed method or system
of mining a mineral deposit (or part thereof).
A proper or adequate mining method is the one that maximally
and simultaneously ensures three basic requirements: safety of oper
ations, economic efficiency and minimal losses of the useful mineral.
In conditions prevailing in the Soviet socialist economy require
ments calling for industrial safety and occupational hygiene are
self-evident.
Economic efficiency of a mining method is evaluated by the mini
mal consumption of labour, mechanical energy and materials re
quired for the extraction of the mineral from a deposit. As a whole,
mining is a labour-consuming process and, therefore, in planning
and applying any mining method particular emphasis should be laid
upon the highest possible efficiency of labour. This major prerequisite
ir,i; Basic Concepts and Terminology
is ensured mainly by mechanisation of mining operations, their

proper organisation, introduction of advanced methods of work and
adoption of a mining method that is most expedient and constructive
in any given set of conditions. High labour capacity is a decisive
prerequisite for the economic efficiency of any given mining method,
since in the overall cost of mineral production the cost of labour by
far exceeds the expenditure on other items. This, however, does not
mean that efforts should not be made maximally to reduce expenses
under other headings, such as materials (timber, explosives, etc.),
power (electricity and compressed air).
It has been stressed above (Chapter I, Section 5) that every deposit
should be worked in such a manner as to minimise mineral losses.
2. Choice of Mining Method

There are many different factors that have to be considered and
carefully weighed in choosing a mining method.
Of fundamental importance are the shape, size and spatial position
of a deposit—its depth of occurrence from the ground surface, angles
of dip, mutual disposition in the deposit of seams, veins and ore
bodies in general.
Also of high significance are features common to any given miner
al—its composition, the nature of distribution of useful components,
gangue inclusions, hardness, jointing, cleavage. The same applies
to the enclosing country rocks.
In the case of many deposits one should take due account of their
water-bearing capacity. Some deposits are liable to spontaneous
combustion, while others contain explosive (chiefly methane) or
asphyxiant (mainly carbon dioxide) gases or inflammable dust, or
rocks which, when drilled, produce fine quartz dust engendering
silicosis.
Of paramount importance for mining is all-round mechanisation
of operations. Hence, methods of mechanisation should be regarded,
as we shall see in greater detail below (Chapter IX, Section 15),
as one of the major factors influencing the choice of a mining method
in each individual case.
Another important factor is the economic value of a given mineral:
its abundance or, conversely, scantiness in nature and the possibility
of utilising it in the national economy.
The effect produced by the factors above, taken separately or
jointly, is to be established in the case of the basic types of mineral
occurrences—coal, ore and others, and it is this order of presentation
that we have adopted in the book.
Principles Underlying Mining of Deposits 157
3. Principles Underlying Mining of Deposits

The extraction of a mineral and the driving of mine workings in
the earth’ s crust in general create excavated areas. From the stand
point of the eflect of such excavations on the stability of overlying
rocks there are three basic principles for mining deposits: 1 ) the
first provides for permanent abandonment of support mineral pil
lars; 2) the second calls for stowing mined-out areas; and 3) the
third envisages caving of the capping.
1. Mining with permanent abandonment of support pillars with
useful mineral consists in the following (Fig. 95): during excavation,
intact portions of the mineral are left systematically within mined-
out areas aa, and these are called support pillars bb. The designation
was chosen because they serve as supports for the overlying
rocks.
In the case of sufficiently large areas of excavations, support
pillars may be subjected to the pressure of the weight of the entire
rock mass extending to the ground surface, and this fact must be
taken into account when their size is estimated. When the size of
rooms aa and support pillars bb is selected properly, there is practi
cally no perceptible movement of overlying rocks and the ground
surface above the deposit under exploitation actually remains com
pletely unaffected.
Accurate measurements and theoretical calculations demon
strate that the support pillars which fully meet the requirements set
before them and which reveal no signs of destruction in the form of
fissures or visible changes in size are nevertheless subject to insig
nificant deformations of no essential importance for mining operations
as such. One typical example of mining based on this principle is the
production of rock salt in the Artyomovsk district (Donets basin) and
potassium salt in Solikamsk (Northern Urals) (See Chapter XVIII).
2. With mining that involves stowing the mined-out areas are
filled with packing mate
rials—barren or waste >/////S7////7777777777777777>
rocks, sometimes smelter
slags, concentration plant
tailings, etc. (Fig. 96).
Since the mine-fill is apt to
shrinlc somewhat (that is,
since its initial volume is
apt to decrease), there is a
possibility of certain shifts
of rocks overlying the
mined-out and filled areas.
Fig. 95. Diagram showing mining with
These displacements assume natural su p p o r t p illa r s
15S Basic Concepts and Terminology
~v77777777777T777777/.?77. 777777777? the form of small fissures or

crevices and subsidence of rock
masses that end at a certain
level.If,because of the relative
ly small depth of the occur
1
/
/
r J i-A —
1 ^ZZJ
\ rence, the displacement zone
reaches the ground surface,
the latter may, to a certain
l / .n r i ^ extent, sink or sag. On the
W /
other hand, when the ground
movement comes almost to a
Fig. 90. Schematic representation of cut-
and-fill mining
standstill at a certain depth,
the surface lying over the
mined-out and filled areas remains practically intact.
The problems of stowing mined-out spaces present considerable
complications and are, therefore, discussed in Chapter VIII.
M. In mining with caving, that is, when the ground capping the
mined-out area is not held in place either by pillars or by mine-fill,
its movement, as a rule, is sharply accentuated (Fig. 97). A zone of

caving appears immediately over the mined-out area, where the
ground undergoes ruptures, is broken up by fractures, and where one
can observe the caving of pieces, lumps and large blocks of ground.
The appearance of ruptures and fractures and the displacement of
individual blocks of ground tend somewhat to increase the summary
volume of its mass. The increment may become equal to the volume
Principles Underlying Mining of Deposits lf.9
of the mined-out space, after which the cavings will cease by them
selves. But since the weight of the overlying strata will compress
the caved ground, and these overlying rocks will tend to subside,
there will be a zone of depressions (formerly known as a zone of
settlement) forming above that of caving, and in this zone the
ground will sag and develop fractures. The depression zone ends at a
certain elevation above the mined-out space and the ground occur
ring above will not experience any shifts. If, however, the mined-
out area is sufficiently extensive, the ground lying over the above-
cited depression zone, intersected with crevices, may sag somewhat
too, but gradually and without developing any fractures. The vol
ume of the ground involved in this process is usually designated as
a zone of smooth sagging.
In mining involving caving systems, there are three typical condi
tions the ground surface may find itself in:
1. The caving zone extends to the surface. In this case, the move
ment of ground, particularly when the thickness of the deposit is
considerable, may be extremely marked —the ground surface is
broken up by fractures and there appear holes and pits, sometimes
of enormous size.
2. The ground surface is reached by the depression zone only. This
is manifested by its subsidence and sagging.
3. The ground surface lies above the zones of caving and depres
sion and is not subject to displacement (deformations) of any prac
tical importance (though some very slight movements may sometimes
be registered by instruments).
The three basic principles of mining, viz: with support pillars,
mine-filling (cut-and-lill system) and caving, are employed now in
their pure form, now in combination with each other.
Very often pillars of useful mineral, supporting wall rocks, are
left for a time and not permanently, and after their recovery the wall
rocks begin to cave in.
Mined-out space may be filled with gob partially, in some sections,
the rock between which may cave in.
Sometimes the mined-out areas are provisionally filled with
broken mineral, which is later taken out of the mine. This temporary
abandonment of the mineral is called shrinkage stuping.
In mining involving caving, the stopes are protected by different
types of timbering. In most cases, the timbering of stopes or working
faces is also necessary in mining involving filling worked-out areas.
It is only in mining with abandoned support pillars that no timbering
is employed in the stopes.
The purpose of the timbering, filling, support and other
pillars is to protect mine workings from the impact of rock pres
sure.
1fiO Basic Concepts and Terminology
The main factor behind rock pressure is the weight of the rock
mass, but in individual instances it may also be the compressive
force developed by water and gases in the rocks and the force engen
dered by changes in the components of rocks (for example, the force
developed by swelling argillaceous rocks following absorption of
water, etc.).
Hock pressure manifests itself by the subsidence, sagging, caving
and other movements of ground, development of fractures, cracks,
etc. These phenomena may be attended by deformations of mine
workings, and it is to avert them that it becomes necessary to
install timbering, resort to filling or gobbing, or leave support pil
lars with useful mineral.
Thus, rock pressure is the compressive force developed in and by the
wall rocks surrounding mine workings, and its presence requires
installation of timbering (or other supports) to prevent deformations
in these workings.
Implementation of various measures, such as timbering, filling,
abandonment of pillars, controlled roof caving (see Chapter X),
etc., directed at eliminating the harmful effect produced by rock
pressure or at changing its character, is known as pressure control.
From this standpoint, rock pressure is regarded as a natural force
that must be managed, or controlled, with the aid of technical devices.
However, there may arise a question of utilising the forces of
rock pressure for industrial purposes. In fact, below we shall come
across instances when this pressure, for example, is helpful in
squeezing coal, thus facilitating its extraction, and learn of mining
systems providing for undercutting the ore body so as to utilise the
force of gravity in breaking, transferring and drawing the ore.
4. Drawings of Mining Systems

Like in Fig. 3, drawings of mining systems may be: 1) plans, that
is, projections on a horizontal plane; 2 ) projections on a vertical
plane running along the strike of a deposit; 3) projections on an
inclined plane, depicting the spatial position of a deposit; 4) vertical
section along planes, more often than not in the direction running
across the strike.
The basic type of drawings of the systems of mining is projection
on an inclined plane, since in this case dimensions along the lines
of strike and dip are not distorted. If the position of the deposit is
inconsistent or irregular, these drawings appear to be somewhat
schematic.
'Underground survey drawings or mine maps are plans, or, in
steeply dipping deposits, projections on a vertical plane. Vertical
sections are appended to mine maps.
C H A P T E R VIII
FILLING
1. The Significance of Filling
The mined-out area may he filled after the extraction of the useful
mineral. The materials for mine-fill are waste or, in rare instances,
smelter slags or concentration mill tailings.
The operation of placing or arranging mine-fill is usually desig
nated as filing, stowing or gobbing up of the goaf.
Mining of mineral deposits with subsequent filling or gobbing
has a number of major advantages. One is the drastic reduction of
the intensity of shifting taking place in the rock strata overlying
worked-out and filled areas (in high-dipping deposits this also ap
plies to wall rocks). The chances of caving in of the rocks in the stopes
which endanger men’ s lives and impair operations are reduced
substantially. Filling tends to decrease the pressure produced by
country rocks on the mine workings and cuts down consumption of
timber and mineral losses in pillars. Since leaving self-igniting
minerals (most types of coal, pyrites) underground entails fire hazards
the cut-and-fill method of mining also has the advantage in that it,
eliminates or, at least, tends to reduce the danger of mine fires. With
mining methods involving filling of goafs, it is appreciably easier
to arrange proper ventilation, since there is no air leakage through
crevices in rocks, which is the case with the caving system and which
it is difficult to do away with. They also ensure better maintenance
of surface mine structures.
This brief enumeration of the basic advantages of the cut-and-fill
methods of mining is illustrated in greater detail below.
The application of the methods under discussion, however, requires
setting up of special and complex installations for filling opera
tions. While in a mine employing no fill all the operations are in the
final analysis directed at ensuring the production of mineral in stopes
or at working faces, its haulage underground and surface transport
ation to the ultimate points of shipping or processing, the cut-and-
fill method provides for another series of analogous processes de
manding special arrangements,
Filling
For example, in wo; King coal deposits with mine-fill, the quantity
of produced coal n, I the amount of the stow required are approxi
mately the sanm in weight. When large volumes of the stow are
required, it is obtained on the ground surface.
This implies: I) opening up a quarry for the winning of mine-fill,
equipped with installations for its crushing, sizing and mixing;
2 ) transportation of these materials from the quarry to the site where
they are lowered into the mine; 3 ) the lowering of the mine-fill into
the mine; 4) its haulage underground to the faces or stopes; 5) filling
in or stowing of mined-out spaces.
This chain of operations requires installing special equipment and
manpower. To reduce the amount of labour required for these oper
ations, they should be thoroughly mechanised.
Hence, the economic aspect of the issue is of extreme importance
when deciding whether any given deposit is to be worked with or
without mine-fill. This complex question should be discussed in
all its details. To form an appropriate judgement on the economic
results of the method in question, it is necessary to compare, in each
individual instance, both the technical and the economic advantages
and shortcomings of working the deposit with and without mine-
fill, and take into account all the operations involved in filling, the
methods of mining used, mineral losses, etc.
As will be seen below, the filling is of the greatest importance in
mining thick, steeply dipping deposits, particularly of self-igniting
coal and pyrites.
2. Types of Filling
If the mine-fill is placed throughout the entire worked-out area,
it is called whole or complete fill; if not—partial or incomplete.
It is common to classify filling according to the methods employed
for its arrangement. Correspondingly, filling is subdivided into
hand-stowing and filling by flushing, mechanical filling, pneumatic
and hydraulic or float fills.
Hand-stowing is now employed only in the arrangement of rib-
fills in mining thin, flat-dipping seams for roof control or protection
of workings from rock pressure. These operations are described in
Section 4 of Chapter XI.
With the hydraulic method the mine-fill is delivered to the gob
area via pipelines by a jet of water. All types of filling other than
hydraulic are termed dry.
Sources and Properties of Mine-Fills 103
3. Sources and Properties of Mine-Fills
Stows can be obtained either in underground workings or on the

ground surface.
1. Underground sources of mine-fills. In some instances the stow
may be procured at the working face or in the slope itself. In working
very thin ore deposits to obtain sufficient head room in the stope,
it is necessary to blast country rocks whose volume is more than
enough to complete filling and part of them have even to be taken
out of the stope area because of the increased volume of the broken
ground, characterised by the coefficient of expansion. In working
ore veins, barren rocks that can be used for filling may be separaled
in the stope. In mining coal seams, bands or interlayers of gangue,
false roof or bed bottom can be used as mine-fill, if they do not con
tain self-igniting carbonaceous matter.
The common source of fill are the wall rocks blasted in driving
mine workings. In mining thin coal seams, after the faces have been
worked, it is a frequent practice to push forward special gob
or lateral entries for the sole purpose of procuring the necessary
mine-fill. Much slow can also be obtained when driving the main
mine openings (shafts, rooms, crosscuts) and when developing new
levels. A certain amount of rock is gained when repairing mine
workings.
2. In mining with large fills the above-cited underground sources
usually prove to be insufficient and the slow has to be excavated
on the ground surface. For this purpose special borrow pits are
arranged and the rocks used for filling are won by methods applied
in open-cut mining (see Chapters XXV and XXVI).
Hocks procured in a borrow pit are best used for filling without
undergoing any additional processing.
For example, sand with a slight admixture of clay particles is
considered to be the best material for hydraulic fill. If the borrow
pit with such sand is located in the vicinity of the site where the
stow is lowered into underground workings, the sand can be won
and transported to this site by hydromechanical methods (see Chap
ter XX VI).
Lumpy rock (not exceeding GO mm) can also be used for hydraulic
fill. Lumps of G0-70 mm can be used for pneumatic filling. Larger
lumps may he used for filling by flushing, but their size is limited
by transport facilities and the possibility of bringing them down into
mined-out areas without endangering the safety of limbering. If
it is bedrocks (hard rocks) that are mined in the pit for mine-fill,
requiring blasting and loading of large-sized lumps by power shov
els, then it is necessary to set up crushing plants to obtain the
filling material.
in ; Filling
Crushed rock or sand is delivered to the site where it is lowered

into underground workings by rail, in cars provided with automatic
discharge facilities. In areas with mountainous topography cable-
ways can be used instead of railway tracks. When transport dis
tances are short, conveyer plants may be employed.
Apart from the rocks excavated in pits, mines can be filled with
such loose or lumpy mineral materials as rocks from old waste dumps,
mill tailings from concentration and chemical plants, smelter slags,
etc., if conditions permit it. All these materials should not be self-
igniting. In mining potassium deposits, the waste left after the
processing of salts won in the mine is employed for filling. In many
copper mines of the Urals granulated slags obtained in copper smelt
ing by pouring molten slag into water are used as hydraulic fill (gener
ally, the term “ granulated slag”is applied to a fine-grained material
obtained from smelter slag when it is poured in molten state into
water or broken by air or steam blown through its mass).
Dry mine-fill may be lowered into underground workings by grav
ity or in mine cars. Lowering by gravity is effected through dumping
chutes or special pipes. Dumping chutes are arranged in inclined
openings (with the slope angle not less than about 45°). Receiving
mill holes are arranged over their mouths for the waste discharged
from transport facilities (mine cars, conveyers), while below there
are drawing chutes for the discharge of waste into underground
transport vehicles. To prevent men from falling and preclude pene
tration of excessively large blocks, a solidly built grate with openings
corresponding to the size of lumps is installed over the mouth of the
chute. The grate is provided with a cover to protect it from rain and
snow. If the descending material is sharp-angled, as is the case with
crushed rock, the walls of the chute should be lined with thick boards
or reinforced with rails. The fill can also be lowered into under
ground workings through vertical pipelines made of thick-walled
(8-10 mm) wear-resistant steel pipes with a diameter of 250-300 mm
and consisting of sections 30-50 metres long with clearances between
them to prevent formation of "air plugs”and to facilitate repairs
and replacement of pipes. To obtain the necessary clearances or
plays, the upper end of each section is provided with a bell-shaped
funnel into which the lower portion of the overhead section is in
serted so that it does not come into contact with the former. In the
mine at the bottom end of the pipeline a reception chamber is
arranged with a “ cushion”made of rocks to absorb the shock caused
by the velocity of the descending mine-fill.
The stow can also be brought down in cages, loaded in ordinary
mine cars or skips.
Underground dry mine-fill is transported to stopes, working faces
or pneumatic installations in mine cars or by conveyer.
Sources and Properties of Mine-Fills ir,5
3. When it is packed into mined-out space, the fill occupies a

larger volume than it did at the site of its original occurrence. The
volume of a solid rock increases when it is broken into separate
pieces. The ratio between the new volume and the initial is called
coefficient of volumetric expansion.
C o e f f i c i e n t of
Typos o( rock v o lu m e tric
e x pa n s ion
Dunning fine san d................. 1.05

Sand, g r a v e l ...................... 1.1-1.2
Sandy loam, loam, soft clay . . . 1.2-1.25
Marl, s o d ........................... 1.25-1.3
Hard, heavy clay, hard marl . . . 1.25-1.35
Docks:
s o f t .............................. 1.3-1.4
h a r d ........................... 1.4-1.5
Natural or artificial friable, loose or lumpy materials (sand, gravel,

waste from dumps, granulated slags, etc.) are already loose at the
site of their occurrence, and when extracted for filling their coef
ficient of expansion is low.
Even with the so-called complete or whole fill, the volume that
has actually to he packed is less than that occupied by the mineral
“in situ”, since usually there is some timber left in the mined-out
areas, which takes up a portion of the volume and prevents compact
ness of fill. Furthermore, certain mine workings are sometimes left
unpacked within the block to he filled. In some instances, by the time
filling is completed, the volume of the mined-out space manages
to shrink due to the settling or heaving of the surrounding rocks. The
gentle dip makes it rather difficult to pack the space immediately
adjacent to the roof sufficiently Lightly. Hence, to fill a certain vol
ume of the mined-out area, even if it is to he completely packed,
the amount of the stow needed is 1.5-2.5 limes less than its original
volume in place. The lower figure refers to loose ground, thicker
deposits and steep dip.
The above also explains why dry mine-fill is capable of being
compressed by rock pressure on being placed into a mined-out space.
It is understandable too why this reduction in volume (shrinkage)
is greater in flat-dipping deposits than in the steeply inclined, and
greater with large-sized lumps than with fine-grained material (see
Table 2).
Consequently, unlike hydraulic or pneumatic filling, the dry pack
may result in quite considerable shrinkage.
ICC' Filling
Table 2
Reduction in (lie Vo l ume of Mined-Out Space with Different Methods
of Filling
Ratio between
mined-out space
and the thickness
Types of fill of a bed after
shrinkage of the
mine-fill, in per
cent
llvdraulic f i l l ................................................. 85-95

Pneumatic fill................................................. 80-90
l illing by (lushing in high-

dipping beds { fine-grained rock
lumpy rock . . .
75-85
60 75
with the mine-fill supplied

to the stopes from with
Dry fill in fiat-dipping de out ........................ 40-60
posits
with the source of fill situat
ed in the mine field . . . 15-30
4. Filling by Flushing
Filling by flushing is distinguished by its movement by gravity

in the mined-out area. Hence, this type of fill is employed only in
high-dipping deposits. The fill is supplied from an entry or drift
lying overhead of the given slope. In the case of filling by flushing,
the worked-out space may be packed wholly or partially. In the
latter instance, rib-fills are arranged either on the strike or across
it (along the dip). The rib-fills or side packs extended on the strike
often serve to protect the entries.
In high-dipping deposits, the fill rests on gate-stulls supported
by heavy props to avert its slipping down. The dip rib-fills can be
held in place with the aid of stop boards. With complete filling by
flushing, the fill in the stoped-out areas is placed either at the angle
of its repose, which corresponds to the pitch of the bed, or else is
held in place by special stop boards. In steeply pitching beds, the
compactness of the fill, especially when it is made up of small-size
lumps, is quite satisfactory (see Table 2).
One variant of the filling by flushing is the mobile fill, transferred
from an overlying mine workings packed in the past. This method
has serious shortcomings.
Mechanical Filling 107
5. Mechanisation of Filling Operations

Packing of fill by hand presents considerable difficulties. The
filling operation can now be mechanised by several methods:
1 ) by machines in which the required velocity can be imparled
to the mine-fill by a fast-moving belt, rotating blade-wheel, etc.

Such machines are known as fillers, while slowing done with their
aid is termed mechanical-,
2 ) by supplying the fill with an air current (pneumatic filling);
3) by delivering the fill with a water jet (hydraulic or float fill);

4) by using scrapers, which have been tried on many occasions for
mechanising filling operations, particularly with barren rock from
gob or side entries, but this method has failed to win recognition.
G. Mechanical Filling
Two operative principles have been suggested for filling or slowing
machines. Those operating on the basis of the first throw the mine-
fill (throwing machines), while the ones built on the basis of Ihe
second stow the fill with the aid of special inclined conveyers which
bring it to the roof of the slope and simultaneously compact or ram
it (compacting stowing machines). The latter type of filling machines
has found no practical use.
The operating mechanism of the slowing machines that throw the
fill is a blade wheel or an endless belt.
A diagram illustrating the action of filling machines of bell-con
veyer type is shown in Fig. 98. The fill is usually fed by a conveyer
to a hopper, whence it slides down onto a high-speed endless belt
which imparts to it the velocity required for throwing. This velocity
is communicated to the material through its friction with the belt.
To increase this friction the belt is made curved and to assume Ibis
shape it passes round a drum provided with flanges. The cenlrifugal
force appearing thereupon lends to enhance the adhesion of the fill
to the belt and hence the fric
tion force.
This machine, designed by
the Kuznetsk branch of the Stale
Institute for Designing Coal
Equipment, is shown in Fig.
99. Its operating characteristics
are: capacity—GO m 3(hr, width
of the belt—500 mm, speed of
the belt—15 m/sec, angle of slope
—from 18 to 30°, throwing dis Fig. 98. Operating principle of a bell-
tance (at the slope angle of type mine-fill throwing machine
Filling
30°)—6.3 metres; over

all dimensions of the ma
chine: length—1.7 me
tres, width—0 . 8 metre,
height—925 mm; weight
of the machine (without
motor)— 925 kg; rated
power of the motor —
11.5 kw at 1,500 rpm.
Thus, the distance to
which these machines
can throw the fill is rath
er restricted.
A very important fea
ture of these machines is
their ability to bring the
Fig. 99. Throwing maclnno pack up to the roof of
the stoped-out area. The
mine-fill is fed to the machines by conveyers. In order to reduce
the number and duration of operations in the slope, which involve
transfers of the throwing machine, it is recommended to feed it
with the fill from belt conveyers provided with special devices for
their rapid shortening.
7. Pneumatic Fill
Slowing units operating with compressed air may be subdivided
into two categories:
those in which the fill is transported by compressed air through
pipes running along development openings and working stopes and
is then thrown into the mined-out space;
those where compressed air is employed only for throwing the fill
into worked-out space (stowing machines of the ejector type). In
purpose, the units of the latter group are similar to the throwing
machines described in Section 6 of this chapter, but instead of a
bladed wheel or belt the fill is thrown out by a compressed air cur
rent. These machines, however, have failed to find practical use.
With the aid of compressed air the mine-fill can be delivered via
pipes to various distances, which in the most favourable conditions
may be as much as 800-1,000 metres.
The phenomena characterising the movement of the fill in pipes
entrained by a current of compressed air are very complex indeed.
With a sufficient velocity of the air the finer particles can be caught
up by the air current and transported in suspended state (floating).
Larger particles can roll near the inside walls of the pipes and, being
Pneumatic Fill Hi!)
subjected to a reciprocal impact, move forward in leaps. Inasmuch

as the number of particles carried by the air current is extremely
high and their size varies within a very wide range, the phenomena
of floating, rolling and leaping of particles actually form combina
tions of a very complex type.
In modern pneumatic stowing units the permissible size of parti
cles handled should not exceed 70-80 mm.
Tests have proved that the diameter of stowing pipelines should
be about 150-200 mm if the formation of '‘ plugs”, that is, clogging,
is to be prevented.
The mixture of compressed air and fill particles moves along the
pipes at extremely high velocity. At the charging end of the pipeline
this velocity may be around 20-40 m sec, depending upon the proper
ties of the fill, but after that it increases somewhat and, in pipe
lines of up to 400-500 metres, the velocity at the discharge end be
comes as high as 50-80 m sec, while longer pipelines raise this "ter
minal" velocity still higher.
170 Filling
The transport of Oil pariicles along the pipes by compressed air

currents is accompau i.'d by head losses and the air should be fed to
them under a pres-mre of from 2.5 to 4 atmospheres, depending upon
I lie type of Ilie "lowing units.
Fmm l he "i aml point of operational safety and increased efficiency
of l In* air-blast slowing machines, the best stow should include crushed
and si/ed sofl rocks, such as clay and sandy shale. Harder rocks—for
example, crushed sandstone—cause rapid wear and tear of pipes.
Considerable amounts of fines (with particle size below 1 0 mm)
tend to reduce the efficiency of the unit. The humidity of the fill
rock should not exceed 3 per cent for otherwise minute particles may
adhere to the inside walls of the pipes. Clay is not suitable for pneu
matic fill.
Among the large number of stowing machine types proposed, the
most widely used are those of chamber and drum types.
Fig. 100gives the diagram and Fig. 101 the general view oi&double-
cbainber air-blast goaf-stowing machine. Its cylindrical body has
two charging hoppers closed from below by two airtight disk-shaped
gates. The mine-fill is fed evenly to the upper hopper, that is, by a
conveyer or a special feeder, and not by a chute. When the gate is
pulled out, the fill goes to the upper chamber, the bottom of which
also has the shape of a funnel provided with a gate. The gates are
opened and closed alternatively by an automatic air-operated device.
Fig. 101. Stowing machine with automatic control

Pneumatic Fill 171
From the upper chamber the fill pours down into the lower one at
the time when air pressure in both chambers is the same. At tho
bottom of the lower chamber is a deflecting disk provided with verti
cal radial partition plates enclosing individual cells. The deflecting
disk is mounted on a vertical shaft revolved by a motor with the aid
of a set of transmission gears. When one of the cells is brought by the
revolving disk to the pipe supplying compressed air, the fill is blown
out from the cell and thrown by the air blast into the pipeline deliv
ering the fill to its place of destination. The unit is provided ei
ther with electric or air drive.
A slowing machine of this type, designed by the Kuznetsk branch
of Ihe State Institute for Designing Coal Equipment (model I13M-1)
and manufactured by the Kiselyovsk (Kuznetsk Basin) Engineering
Works has the following operating characteristics: air pressure—
3-4 atm; output—35 m 3 hr; maximal size of individual fill lumps—
up to 80 mm; distance of the mine-fill delivery—up to 400-000 and
even 800 metres; air-motor capacity —around 1 0 hp: overall weight
of the unit —about 3 tons; bores of pipes: air-pipe—100 mm, stowing
pipe —150 mm; air consumption: for the operation of Ihe motor—
4.5-5.5 m’ /'min, per 1 cu m of the mine-fill —100-100 cu m; overall
dimensions of the machine: height—2.15 metres, width —1 metre,
length—2.5 metres.
A diagram of another air-blast stowing machine—with a measur
ing drum or cylinder—is depicted by Fig. 102. A drum with radial
ly placed partition walls turns inside a horizontal cylinder. The mine-
fill is poured into the unit through a charging hopper from above and
leaves it via a spout, whence it is
caught up and driven into the pipeline
by a jet of compressed air. To secure
the operation of this machine a mini
mum clearance (of not more than
0.5 mm) is needed between the cylin
der and the partition walls of the drum.
A machine of this type, designed
by the Kuznetsk branch office of the
Institute for Designing Coal Equipment
(M3I1M-1—small air-blast stowing
machine), is characterised by the fol
lowing operating data: output—
38 m3 hr; distance of the mine-fill
delivery—up to 400 metres; air con
sumption per 1 cu m of the fill—
80-lG0cu m; air-motor capacity—lOhp;
air pressure required: in the pipeline Fig. 102. Stowing machine with
of the motor — 4.5-5 atm; in the a measuring drum
172 Filling
stowing pipeline—2-2.5 atm; overall dimensions of the unit—length

—2.65 metres, width—0.67 metre, height—1.01 metres; weight of
the unit — 1.75 Ions.
The air-hlasl tilling machines described above are set up under
ground, in the vicinity of working sections. The rock for the fill is
supplied by conveyers or in mine cars. In the latter case (Fig. 103),
mechanical feeder 2 is set up beneath bin 1, from which the fill is
delivered evenly to short belt conveyer 3, and then to stowing ma
chine 4.
Machines of the drum type are simpler in design and service and
smaller than chamber units. But they are suitable for shorter dis
tances and, to prevent excessive wear, require softer rocks for
the fill.
From the air-blast units the mine-fill is delivered to the working
areas by special pipes and is thrown out into the mined-out space
through a nozzle. The machine is operated by a man provided with
protective goggles. To make shortening of pipes in the stope conven
ient, use may be made of a telescopic arrangement (Fig. 104), which
includes extensible sliding pipes 1 and 5, whose position in relation
to one another may be adjusted by flange 2, holder 3 and gasket 4.
The stream of the fill may be directed where desired by deflector 1
(Fig. 105), set up at the discharge end of the pipe and fixed in posi
tion by means of rod 2, handle 3 and toothed sector 4. The deflec
tor can also be made to turn around the axis of the pipe.
Individual sections of the pipeline, removed along with the ex
tension of the packed zone, are put down in the stope in an order
facilitating the next filling cycle. Two-way signallisation is provided
for between the stope and the stowing unit. In the event dust is pro
duced during the filling operation, spray water is supplied into the
pipeline, just before its discharge end. With air-blast stowing units
it is possible to bring the mine-fill up to the roof of the working.
The line is made of seamless steel pipes. Those laid permanently
in strike entries are 5-6 metres long, possess thick walls (8-10 mm) to
slow down their wear, and are sometimes lined. To facilitate their
handling, pipes used in stopes should be light and, therefore, about
2-3 metres long and have thin walls (3-4 mm). Flange connection
requires about 6 - 8 minutes for each pipe. Therefore, special devices
are used to enable to connect them in 1-2 minutes. One of these
devices is shown in Fig. 106. Flange 1 is welded to one of the pipes to
be connected and is provided with an annular lug which can be
inserted into a slot in flange 2 of the next pipe. The connection is
made airtight by rubber packing ring 3 in the slot. The pipes are
braced by the cams of lever 4, secured in the ears of clamp 5.
Permanent (stationary) pipelines of average service-life pass
through up to 60,000 cu m of clay shale, or 25,000 cu m of sandstone.
Fig. 103. Installation for uniform delivery of the fill to an air-
blast slowing unit
Fig. 101. Telescopic installation for shortening pipeline sections in the

sloping area
Fig. 105. Stowing pipeline deflector

Filling
The portable thin-walled pipes

employed in the stopes are liable
to wear out much faster.
A pipeline should be suspended
and not laid down rigidly, for sus
pended pipes, vibrating under thj
impact of mine-fill particles, are
somewhat less exposed to wear.
To reduce the wear, pipes may
be reinforced by lining of chrome
pig-iron, cast basalt or other
materials. Such pipes, however,
are expensive, heavy (since their
outer diameter must be larger)
and inconvenient to handle. Be
sides, lining complicates detec
Fig. 100. Inslallalion for rapid con
nection of stowage pipes tion of cloggings by drumming
on the pipe.
Special measures should be taken to prevent increased wear at
pipeline bendings. Fig. 107 shows a bending with a small angle of
turn and made of two short pipe pieces, their diameter increased to
facilitate reinforcing detachable steel plates.
Fig. 108 shows a bending made of two central 1 and two side
pieces 2. Its outer side, subject to maximal wear, is protected by in
serts 5 of chrome steel. The central pipes have holes, provided with
covers 4 with bolts and stiffeners 3 which hold the inserts in place.
The arrangement of this type makes it possible quickly to withdraw
or put in the inserts during repair work, or to eliminate cloggings in
the pipes.
Experience has proved it superfluous to resort to large radii of
bending in stowing pipelines. In pipes with a diameter of 150-200 mm,
bendings with a radius of 450-600 mm and somewhat more may be
used quite safely.
Air-blast stowing units are usually supplied with compressed air
from the general air network of the mine. But since air pressure in
the general network is greater than that required for air-blast stow
ing units (2.5-3.5 and up to 4 atm), the line with low pressure is
connected to the main air network of the mine by special reduction
valves. If the rated capacity of a compressor plant is as high as 200-
300 m’ /min (of free air under atmospheric pressure), the units com
prising it may be of a piston type. However, with higher requirements
in air, turbocompressors are preferable.
The amount of electric power consumed by an air-blast stowing
operation is quite considerable—usually 13-20 kwhr per 1 cu m of
the mine-fill.
Pneumatic Fill 175
On I-I
The advantages of pneumatic fill include: compactness of the packed

block (shrinkage not exceeding 2 0 per cent), simplicity of equip
ment and ease of its handling. On the other hand, pneumatic filling
requires big initial outlays, considerable amounts of electric power,
heavier expenses in connection with the wear of pipes and for stow
ITT, Filling
meeting set standards as lo its size and content of fines, clay admix
tures and moisture level.
The use of air-blast stowing with different methods of mining is
described in Chapter XV.
8. H y d r a u l i c F ill
As stated before, the term hydraulic fill implies the use of some
loose or fragmentised rocks, or artificial materials mixed with water
and delivered through pipes to a mined-out area to be filled. The
mine-fill proper remains in the worked-out space, while the water
runs into special collectors and is then pumped out to the ground
surface. After it has contracted, the hydraulic fill decreases in
volume by only 5-15 per cent and therein lies its main advan
tage.
Among the disadvantages of hydraulic fill are its high initial cost,
difficulties in combining stoping operations with stowing, increased
humidity in the mine, the necessity of pumping slime water back
to the surface, soiling of underground workings with the silt washed
away from the spaces being filled, and the complicated nature of
stowing operations in winter time.
The best material for hydraulic fill is quartz sand because it readi
ly mixes with water, is easily driven along the pipes and rapidly
emits water, which in this case is relatively pure. The resultant fill
is very dense. The drawback of the sand used as a mine-fill is that it
causes the pipes to wear out rather rapidly.
Clay causes almost no wear, but it can clog the pipes and, besides,
does not readily emit water it contains.
In favourable local conditions the following are the materials
that can be employed for hydraulic fill: waste rocks from the concen
tration mills of coal mines (these require much water, and because
of their high pyrite content make this water erosive and thus damage
pipes); granulated slag (it is cheap, moves easily along the pipes but
wears them out considerably and does not make the fill sufficiently
compact); boiler cinder (an occasional source).
At the site of their occurrence, loose rocks are excavated by power
shovels and delivered to the mine by locomotives or by any other
mechanical means in cars provided with adequate facilities for quick
automatic unloading. In exceptional cases, when large occurrences
of loose rocks are available in the immediate vicinity of a mine (or
a borehole) with pipes for the delivery of the fill into underground
workings, they can be worked by the hydraulic method. To accom
plish this, the loose rock is washed away by powerful jets of water from
nozzles or hydraulic giants under a pressure which is 6-7 atm for
sand and 15-20 atm for denser clay grounds. In exceptional cases,
Hydraulic Fill 177
this is done under still higher pressure. The resultant liquid mix
ture (pulp) goes directy into the mine.
When there are no deposits or piles of loose rocks in the neighbour
hood of the mine, crushed hard rocks may be utilised for hydraulic
fill, though naturally those which do not require too much mechani
cal energy to break them. The maximum permissible size of the par
ticles is 60-70 mm. Crushers and sorting screens are used to obtain
Ihe fill of proper size.
Good results may frequently be achieved by mixing materials of
two different groups. Special tests have proved that quartz sand con
tracts 5.1 per cent, shales with grain size of 10-25 mm 27.5 per cent
and a mixture of 40 per cent of shale and 60 per cent of sand no more
than 6-9 per cent. In other words this cheaper mixture is almost
equivalent to pure sand by its contraction coefficient. There are also
other mixtures that do away with the above-cited disadvantages.
Because of the subsidence of wall rock prior to filling, the abandon
ment of unstowed workings amidst filled areas, the timbering, etc.,
only 75-80 per cent of the mined-out area is subject to stowing in
hydraulic fill. Since one ton of hard coal with specific weight of
1.25-1.3 in place has a volume of 0.8-0.77 cu m that of the fill need
ed per ton of coal mined will be around 0.58-0.64 cu m.
One of the main issues to be solved in putting up a unit for hydrau
lic filling is to determine the maximum distance over which the fill
can actually be transported along horizontal workings.
This problem is of vital importance for mining in the U.S.S.R.
The horizontal travel distance is, first of all, dependent on the head
that is built up in the vertical portion of the stowing pipeline under
ground. The deeper the level of underground mining the higher the
head and, consequently, the greater the distance over which the fill
can be transported by water along crosscuts and entries. In the
U.S.S.R., hydraulic fill can be useful only in mining thick seams.
But deposits with thick seams are found exclusively in newly develop
ing areas where, with but few exceptions, the levels mined do not
lie deep and the pressure head, therefore, is low. For that reason,
in hydraulic stowing, we have to pay particular attention to the max
imum possible horizontal travel distance of mine-fill.
Let us discuss this issue in more detail. The pressure under which
the mixture of water and fill moves along the pipes is equal to the
product of the head, that is, of the vertical distance between the point
at which the mixture is discharged on the surface and the given un
derground level, and the average density of the mixture.
The speed with which the pulp travels in the pipe should not drop
below a certain limit if the solid particles are to be driven by water,
for otherwise the pipes will immediately become clogged.This crit
ical velocity is conditional upon the size of the material; larger-sized
7 - 3625
178 Filling
particles require higher speed for their transport by water than the
smaller ones.
The critical velocity tends to rise when the pipe runs upgrade, and
this, therefore, should be avoided whenever possible. When the fill
includes clay shales with medium-sized particles, the critical veloc
ity of the pulp should not be allowed to drop below 3m/sec. To pre
vent pipes from choking, the actual velocity of the pulp stream in
any given section of the pipeline should be greater than the above-
mentioned minimum. It is contingent upon the pressure head pre
vailing at the point where the level portion of the pipeline starts
and the friction losses within the part which lies between the starting
point and the cross-section under consideration. This loss is propor
tional to the length of the stream travel and the square of its veloci
ty. Let us assume that the friction losses per unit of length of the
pipeline are approximately equal in both its vertical and horizontal
portions.
Let us designate by:
H —depth of the shaft accommodating the stowing pipeline or,
to be more precise, the vertical pressure head in metres;
L—total length of the level portion of this pipeline in metres;
6—average density of the mixture;
k—coefficient of resistance to the movement of the mixture in pipes;
v—critical velocity of the mixture, m/sec;
w—actual velocity of the mixture, m/sec.
Then, in conformity with the statement above, there should be a
relation:
b H ^ zk ( L + H ) v \ (1 )
whence
(2)
We have seen that actual velocity cannot be below the critical

w^sv. (3)
Therefore, condition (2) may be rewritten as follows:
(4 )
Knowing the numerical values of the three parameters making up

the right member of equation (4), it is possible to determine value L.
The density of the pulp depends on the volume weight of the fill
and the amount of water in a unit of volume of the mixture. The
specific weight of clay shale in situ is about 2.3, but its volume
weight in lumps amounts to but 1.6 metric tons per cum. With water
consumption being from 1 to 3 cu m per 1 cu m of shale, the density
Hydraulic Fill 179
of the mixture will be from 1.24 to 1.53. In a numerical example the

last figure is arrived at through the following calculation: The aggre
gate weight of 1 cu m of lumpy shale and 1 cu m of water is 2 . 6 tons.
The volume of the actual solid body in 1 cu m of lumpy shale is
1.6:2.3=0.7 cu m. Hence, the mixture of 1 cu m of lumpy shale and
1 cu m of water will give us a total volume of 1.7 cu m, whence the
density of the mixture will be 2.6:1.7 = 1.53.
As seen above, critical velocity v may be taken at 3 m/sec.
The nature of coefficient of resistance k is very complex. Its value
depends upon the diameter of the pipe, the length of individual
pipeline sections, the accuracy of their alignment, properties and size
of fill particles and the percentage of water, and generally speaking,
is inversely related to the latter. More often than not, this coefficient
ranges from 0.01 to 0.03, but in unfavourable conditions it may be
much greater.
If, for instance, we take 6 = 1.24, w = 3, A=0.01, then, according
to formula (4), the resultant relation will be jj =; 12.8. With 6=1.53,
w = 3 and /c=0.03 ^ = 4.6.
For hydraulic fill with crushed rocks in the conditions prevailing
in the Kuznetsk coal fields, it is recommended to assume that rela-
lion L : H ranges from 5
to 8 .
To avoid pipe clogging, the
fill should be mixed thorough
ly with water.
The mixing units used for
the preparation of pulp are set
up either on the surface or un
derground. Surface location
has the advantage of permit
ting mixing operations in day
light; there is sufficient room
for accommodating the equip
ment and a high pressure head
can be built up in the pipes,
thus facilitating the transport
of the mine-fill. On the other
hand, the water escaping from
the fill must be pumped back
to the surface. Furthermore,
the pipeline wears out more
intensively, particularly in
the region of the lower main
bend, and pipe clogging can- Fig. 109. Mixing unit with a funnel
7
180 Filling
not be ruled out. These disadvantages are felt all the more as
the mine deepens.
Mixing units are mainly of two types: funnels (Fig. 109) or spouts
(troughs) (Fig. 110) communicating with mine-fill storage space.
Mixing funnel 1 has grating 2 at the bottom. Over the grating the
funnel is surrounded with circular tank 3 into which water is fed
through pipes 4 and 5. The wall of the funnel has many perforations
through which the supplied fill can be intensively sprayed with wa
ter. The wetted fill passes
through the grating and is once
more watered in inferior slop
ing portion of the funnel 6 by
streams escaping from perfor
ations in the pipe 7 and,
finally, by a jet from the end
of the pipe. At a certain height
over the grating, inside the
funnel, several angle bars 8 are fixed, their ribs directed upwards so as
to permit breaking up oversized lumps that may get into funnel with
the fill. The funnel itself is supported by solid beams. The entire
installation is set up below the ground level and is connected with
pipes running in the shaft through inclined opening 9. To ensure
adequate stowing, the fill should be supplied intensively and uni
formly, and that is difficult to realise by using mine cars to deliver
it to the funnel. For this conveyer feeding is more suitable.
Stowing operations are even better ensured when the mixing unit
communicates directly with the fill storage room (Fig. 110). Because
of their higher efficiency, installations of this type are used quite
frequently.
Hydraulic Fill 181
The fill storage room is located below the ground surface, this
simplifying transport and unloading facilities. The fill is mixed with
water not in the funnel, but in the trough. Bin B has a capacity of
220 cu m (generally, this capacity may reach as much as 500 cu m).
The fill is washed out by jets of water emitted under a pressure of
4 atm by two hydraulic giants 1, then mixes with water and flows
down along an inclined plate towards grating 2. The fines fall through
the grating, while oversize lumps of hard rock are removed and
sent to a crusher. The chunks of clay are broken up by two addi
tional streams 3 and 4, thrown out by special pump 5 under a pressure
of 12 atm. This pump gets its water supply from branching 6 of gen
eral pressure pipeline 7. To safeguard it from the destructive cllect
of water streams emerging from pressure nozzles the floor of the bin
is covered with thick plates or hard-burnt bricks. The fill mixture
is delivered to the mine via two pipelines 8.
The amount of water required to obtain a sufficiently fluid mixture
is determined in the fill storage room automatically, all by itself.
In the case of pure sand, the mixture runs down the inclined floor
when the ratio is 1:1. Larger-sized crushed material, on the other
hand, is harder to be driven by water and to make such mixture fluid
the volume of water must be increased to a ratio of 2:1, or 2.5 : 1
and sometimes even more. To prevent clogging, pure water is let into
the stowing pipes for 2-3 minutes before the mine-fill is fed. There
after the water stream is directed at the piles of sand (or crushed ma
terial), but in a manner preventing the amount of the material en
trained being too great. Following this, the density of the mixture is
brought to the level indicated above.
All the production sections of the mine are linked with the fill
storage room by telephone and call bells. Operations in the storage
room are thus started and ended on instructions received from below.
The signalling system is being automated.
Shortly before the operation of delivering mine-fill is completed,
the pipes are flushed with pure water for 2-3 minutes.
Fig. I l l depicts the arrangement used for the preparation of stow
ing pulp at one of the mines in the Kuznetsk coal fields. From the
bin the mine-fill (crushed rock) is fed to mixing platform 2 and then
to trough 3. The water is supplied from pressure nozzle 1. The mixing
platform and the trough are hinged together and suspended by rod
5 so as to make it possible to change the angle of their inclination
with the view to controlling pulp density. Inside main receiving
hopper 4 there is an additional hopper—6. When work proceeds nor
mally, the pulp is fed into the mine stowing pipeline through hopper
6. When it becomes clogged, the pulp overflows its edges into the an
nular space between the two hoppers, thus ensuring continuous sup
ply of the mine-fill.
182 Filling
Fig. 111. Mixing plant at one of the mines in the Kuznetsk coal fields
Fig. 112 depicts an underground mixing plant at one of deep lev

els of the mine. Dry mine-fill is let down along vertical pipe 1 until
it reaches “ cushion”2 made of the same material (to cushion the im
pact), passes along inclined opening 3 to underground bin 4, set in
concrete, and thence, via a chute, it may be discharged into hopper 5.
The latter is supplied with water and, after it has mixed with it,
the fill is sent through pipes 6 to its destination. An underground
mixing plant should be installed over the production level, at a
height sufficient to guarantee the necessary head. The same drawing
shows the arrangement of a plant for crushing hard mine-fill—waste
rock from dumps, in this instance. From mine cars in a tipper the
rock gets onto inclined grizzly 7, which lets the fines through, while
oversize lumps go to crusher 8.
The mine-fill is delivered to underground workings through pipes
laid in shafts. Less often, special boreholes with a large diameter
(0 .8 -1 .5 metres) are driven for this purpose.
Pulp is delivered along main lines by seamless steel pipes with a
diameter of 150-200 mm, 5-6 metres long and with walls not less than
8 mm thick, Circulation branch pipes in the stopes are 2-3 metres
Hydraulic Fill 183
long and their walls are about 3 mm thick.

These dimensions facilitate their handling.
Since the wear o f pipes constitutes a very
substantial item of expenditure in hydraulic
fill, this aspect of operations should be given
particular attention. The various parts of
the pipeline by far do not wear out to the
same extent. The following is the descending
order of importance: main bending (that is,
the one connecting the pipeline in the shaft
with other underground pipes), bendings in
inclined pipes, in level and slightly sloping
ones and, finally, in vertical pipes. Inas
much as one side of the pipe is chiefly
liable to wear out —for example, the lower
one in horizontal workings—the pipes
in use should be turned round by 1 2 0 °as they
wear out.
In sections wearing out most, the pipes
employed are usually made of variable thick
ness, the wall on the side liable most to
wear being the thickest. Such pipes, how
ever, are rather costly. Very often pipes are
lined with pig-iron, hard steel, ceramics, Fig. 112. Underground
etc. (Fig. 113). arrangement of mixing
To reduce frictional resistance and wear plants with hydraulic
of horizontal and inclined pipes, they are Idling
sometimes made tohavean oval cross-section.
As stated above, to prevent clogging the velocity of the pulp flow
should not be allowed to drop below 3-3.5 m/sec.
The maximum permissible speed of the How is
7 m/sec.
Elimination of chokes in main pipelines re
quires arrangement of inspection holes in the form
of tee-pieces with screw caps every 50-80 metres.
Moreover, there should be such inspection holes
in the vicinity of all bendings.
To preclude choking, the bendings should have
a fairly large radius. At bendings, the pipes should
be provided with holes permitting them to be
cleaned directly or by pressurised water jet
(Fig. 114).
In order to reduce the wear of stowing pipe
Fig. 113. Ceramic lines at the bendings when sand is used for
pipe lining filling—in addition to using steel pipes, thickening
184 Filling
their walls or lining them—they are sometimes provided with

ribs (Fig. 114) which hold back the sand and thus protect the wall at
the bending from excessive wear. To deliver the fill in the desired
direction, special valves are mounted at pipeline bendings. The de
sign of one is illustrated in Fig. 115. The valve axle is extended out
side the pipe and handle 1 is pressed on its end. In the right or left
position, this handle is fixed by holder 2 which is tightly bolted to
lugs 3 of the valve casing. By changing the position of valve flap 4
the flow of the mine-fill can be directed either into pipe 5 or 6. The
valve casing has inspection hole 7, provided with a cover.
Fig. 114. A pipe with in- Fig. 115. Flap valve at a pipe-
side ribs at the bending line branching
The details of hydraulic fill flushing, related to mining methods

proper, are given in the text devoted to the description of these
methods.
Here we shall dwell briefly upon clearing and lifting of water that
escapes from the fill during the stowing of mined-out areas. This
water at times is clear (when the fill is made of sand) and at others
muddy (when the fill is clayish). To clear the water, it is made to
settle in tanks which provide for the maximum possible sedimenta
tion of mineral particles (decelerated flow, bendings, fascine spac-
ings for filtration, etc.), or else it is made to flow through abandoned
mined-out areas and rock amassments where the slime settles down.
The dirt accumulated in tanks must be removed from time to time
and this is done by special pumps (for example, air-operated ones).
Clarified water may be brought to the surface by main mine-drain
age pumps, but to avoid their excessive wear this is done only when
the water is completely cleared underground. Muddy water is lifted
by special pumps, preferably rotary ones, their intense and rapid
wear being compensated for by a more convenient arrangement of
settling tanks for muddy water on the mine surface,
Comparison of Different Mine-Fill Types 185
9. C o m p a r i s o n o f D i f f e r e n t M in e - F i ll T y p e s
and th e S p h e r e s o f T h e ir A p p lic a tio n
Despite all its simplicity, hand packing has one major disadvan
tage—it is a highly labour-consuming operation. Therefore, its use
is restricted to exceptional cases in which work is done on a small
scale; for example, in packing diagonal workings, strip packing of
mined-out spaces in thin gently sloping beds, etc. But even these
operations should be mechanised, for instance, with the aid of con
veyers and slushers.
The advantages of the fill by gravity are: 1) ease of operation; 2)
possibility of using mine-fill of variable size—with lumps up to 120mrn
and over; 3) high efficiency of slowing operations. On the other hand,
this type of fill has also considerable shortcomings, such as: 1) neces
sity of providing special transport facilities for bringing the mine-
fill to the sloping area, since il is moved by gravity only within the
slopes proper; 2) difficulties in delivering moist or clayish ground
by conveyers or in mine cars to the spot on the surface whence it
is brought down into the mine; 3) need of supplementary mechanical
facilities to secure light slowing in the upper porlions of slopes. Slow
ing hy gravity can be employed in slopes with a moderate or high dip.
The positive aspects of mechanical stowing include: 1) simplicity
of equipment; 2) sufficient compactness of Lhe fill; 3) low power con
sumption; 4) ease of stowing the upper porlions of workings. On the
other hand, among the drawbacks of mechanical filling are: 1) Lhe
fact that it is only the stowing of mine-fill proper that is actually
mechanised, while the material itself must be delivered to a stowing
machine with the aid of other transport facilities; 2) difficulty of
manipulating stowing machines in the slopes; 3) heavy wear and
tear of bells; 4) excessive dust formation requiring special measures
to combat it. Therefore, it is advisable to use these machines prin
cipally as ancillary equipment for slowing the fill in the space im
mediately under the roofs of workings.
Among Lhe advantages of pneumatic fill should be listed: 1) extreme
compactness of the mine-fill block; 2) simplicity of slowing oper
ations in slopes; 3) ease of fill transportation through pipes within
the range of the mining field. The shortcomings of this method in
clude: 1) necessity of maintaining heavy-duty air and power equip
ment; 2) high cost of machinery; 3) high power consumption rate;
4) increased wear and tear of machines and pipes; 5) need of special
ly made mine workings to accommodate air-operated machines;
0) possible “ cloggings" of pipelines; 7) dust formation in stopes and,
hence, the necessity of supplying water to reduce it.
Considering the technical features specific to air-blast stowing
equipment, the field covered by pneumatic fill is manifold indeed,
180 Filling
but it is predominantly used with mining methods for the level ar
rangement of working stopes.
Hydraulic or float fill has the following major advantages: 1) high
degree of compactness; 2 ) automatic transportation of the fill by wa
ter jets from the ground surface right to the face of the stope; 3) pos
sibility of achieving a high degree of stowing efficiency; 4) simplicity
of slowing operations. The disadvantages of the method include: 1)
introduction of water into stopes and other mine workings; 2 ) impos
sibility of utilising any materials other than sand and small-sized
crushed rock; 3) difficulty of arranging seals or bulkheads; 4) heavy
consumption of water, its clearing and back pumping; 5) necessity
of clearing workings of slime; 6 ) difficulties arising from the organi
sation of proper water supply for stowing operations in winter.
The principal spheres for the application of hydraulic stowing are
thick beds with sand deposits occurring nearby. If there are none,
crushed rock may be used. In stopes with moderate and high dip the
stowing of hydraulic fill tends to produce excessive pressure against
bulkheads.
The use of various types of fill is now of particular importance in
mining steeply dipping coal beds in the Kuznetsk fields.
COAL D E P O S IT S
CHA PTER IX
CHOICE OF MINING METHODS AND MODES OF EXTRACTION
Seclion 2 of Chapter VII briefly enumerated the factors influencing

the choice of mining methods in working deposits of different miner
als. This chapter is devoted to a detailed analysis of these factors
when applied to mining of coal deposits.
1. S h a p e o f D e p o s i t s
Mineral coals occur in the earth's crust in the shape of beds (scams)
or sheetlike deposits.
In its ideal form a bed looks like a tabular body of uniform thick
ness. which is insignificant compared to its two other dimensions.
In nature beds of such ideal form are nonexistent—due to genetic
and tectonic causes, the thickness of a bed is subject to variations
(bulgings, attenuations, peterings out), its continuity may be
Borehole
U6 00m deep Borehole No 6
Fig. 116. Typical occurrence of coal scams in the Moscow coal fields
/—chernozem; 2—clay; 3— sandy clay; i — sand; 5—aquiferous sand; 6— coal; 7—blossomi
t —limestone
188 Choice of Mining Methods and Modes o f Extraction
broken, the lines of the strike and angles of dip are

apt to change over short distances.
Of quite regular shape are the beds in many dis
Southern entry
tricts of the Donets coal fields. The Moscow coal

basin is distinguished by sheetlike deposits (Fig.
116). One example of strongly pronounced varia
bility is some of the coal deposits on the eastern
slope of the Urals (Fig. 117). A picture of extremely
complex shape and structure is presented by the
rich Korkino lignite deposits lying in the Urals
south of Chelyabinsk (Fig. 118).
Frequent variations of thickness and other ele
ments distinguishing the occurrence of seams, such
as roughness of the floor and roof, swellings, atten
uations and peterings out of beds, faults and shifts,
even of the slightest amplitude, tend to complicate
Northern entry
the mining of a deposit and should be taken into

account in planning and elaborating a suitable
mining method.
2. Thickness of Seams
The thickness of beds is a factor of paramount
importance in the selection of a mining method, for
it determines the mode of extraction, the nature of
wall-rock cavings over mined-out spaces, the neces
sity of using back fill or the possibility of doing
without it. In thicker beds, the worked-out rooms
are higher and the displacement of rocks overlying
them progresses with greater intensity.
If full-seam extraction were practised in the work
ing stope of a thick bed, the excessive height of
production faces and the large area of coal exposed
during extraction would make stoping operations
both inconvenient and unsafe. Therefore, in work
ing beds of considerable thickness the frequent
practice is to employ so-called slicing methods, that
is, work a thick bed by extracting individual slices
2-3 metres thick.
In thick beds, particularly those with a steep
pitch, filling of mined-out areas quite often proves
indispensable.
By their thickness coal seams are subdivided
into four groups: 1) very thin—up to 0.5 metres;
2) thin— from 0.5 to 1.3 metres; 3) of medium thick-
190 Choice of Mining Methods and Modes of Extraction
ness—from 1.3 to 3.5 metres and 4) thick or high seams — over

3.5 metres.
Such classification is usually motivated by the following, rather
conventional, considerations (Fig. 119). The group of very thin and
thin seams includes those whose thickness is inferior to the usual
height of development workings, suitable to human stature (2 ).
To the category of seams with medium thickness belong those whose
thickness is approximately the same as the height of the above-named
workings (2). The thickness of beds of the third group exceeds, often
quite appreciably, the height of development openings (3). The con
ventional nature of this grouping consists in that, firstly, the height
of development workings does not represent a definitely established
magnitude and, secondly, the position of a bed in relation to the
contours of the working may differ in many ways, depending upon
F i g . 119. G r o u p in g o f s e a m s a c c o r d i n g t o th ic k n e s s
the angle of dip. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned classification

of coal seams according to their thickness—their subdivision into
very thin, thin, medium and thick—is very convenient for practical
purposes.
Coal beds whose natural properties make them suitable for extrac
tion are called pay beds or payable seams.
The minimal thickness of pay beds is ordinarily assumed to be
around 0.4-0.5 metre, although there have been instances of even
thinner seams—0.3 metre thick—being worked quite successfully.
If a coal measure includes very thin and thicker seams, the first
should also be extracted, though their mining entails somewhat
greater expenditure. If this is not done, coal reserves in very thin
seams are irretrievably lost for the national economy.
Coal seams not fit for extraction because of their thinness are
called coal sheds.
The thickness of beds encountered in diverse coal fields varies
widely.
In the Donets coal fields thin beds predominate. Seams up to 1.5-2
metres thick are an exception to the rule here.
In the Moscow basin the usual thickness of beds is 1.5-3 metres
and it is only in some places that it exceeds this figure.
Angle of Dip 191
In the Kizel coal Helds of the Urals there are thin beds and beds
about 4-6 metres thick. Brown coal deposits occurring on the east
ern slope of the Ural Mountains (Bogoslovsk and Korkino are the
principal ones) include beds of immense thickness, reaching scores
of metres (the maximum thickness of the lignite deposit at Korkino
comes to as much as 160 metres. This is the thickest known coal de
posit in the world).
The coal-bearing formations of the Karaganda basin include thin
seams, beds of moderate thickness and thick ones—to 7-9 metres (the
Verkhnaya Marianna seam).
Very rich in coal beds is the Kuznetsk basin. The thickest beds
are in the southwestern part of the basin—in the Prokopyevsk-Kise-
lyovsk area, where along with numerous thin and moderately thick
seams one comes across beds as much as 15-16 meLres thick (the
Moshchny seam) and in some places even thicker.
In the Cheremkhovo area (west of Irkutsk) coal is won from the
Glavny seam, which is about 7-9 metres Lhick.
Thick beds are also met with in many other basins and areas of
the U.S.S.R. (Tkvarcheli and Tkvibuli occurrences in Georgia; Ang-
ren, Sulyukta, Shurab, Kizil-Kiya and others in Central Asia; lig
nite deposits on the right bank of the Dnieper River in the Ukraine;
deposits in Bashkiria and Kazakhstan; in the Far East and in other
parts).
To certain depths from the ground surface thick beds are mined
by the open-cut method.
3. Angle of Dip
As said above, coal seams are classified by their angle of dip
into gently sloping (0-25°), inclined (25-45°) and steeply pitching
(45-90°).
The pitch of a coal scam is one of the major factors taken into ac
count in selecting a mining method.
While in a gently sloping bed coal lumps broken in the stope, or
fallen rock blocks, remain on the spot, in steeply pitching beds they
roll down the dip. To protect workers and face timbering from being
hit by falling objects, the mining method used must have correspond
ing structural features. In steeply pitching seams, in contrast to
gently sloping ones, it is not only the roof of the bed that can col
lapse; its bottom may start creeping too. While in gently sloping beds
extracted coal is transported mechanically (chiefly by conveyer),
in the faces of high dipping seams it moves by gravity.
Abrupt changes in the dip of seams seriously complicate their
working.
4. S t r u c t u r e o f S e a m s
The structure of a coal seam is an important factor in the choice

of methods and the sequence of extraction.
There are pure seams, that is, seams without gangue bands (Fig. 120)
and seams with intercalations, also known as multiple or composite
seams (Fig. 121).
But even in pure or homogeneous seams the properties of coal (or
any other useful mineral) may vary. Portions of a seam possessing
special features are called benches. For example, Fig. 120 shows a
pure or homogeneous seam consisting of two benches—a and b.
Hoof
Coal
1nterloyer
Coat
tn le r la u e r __________
c°
°<- ZZ////// C
B o tto m
F ig . 121. I n te r c a la te d
sea m
Portions of a composite seam separated by gangue bands are also

called benches. For instance, the seam shown in Fig. 121 has two
gangue bands and three coal benches—top a, medium b and bottom c.
A specimen of a high coal seam of very complex structure (Verkh-
naya Marianna in the Karaganda coal fields) is depicted in Fig. 122.
The presence of gangue bands complicates the extraction of seams.
If the gangue from interlayers is allowed to mix with coal, this
entails a very adverse increase in ash content. But separation of in
terlayers less than 5 cm thick is practically impossible during the
stoping of coal in a seam. When coal is loaded by hand, the hewers
can pick up waste from thicker bands and throw it into worked-out
spaces, but this lowers their efficiency. Mechanical loading of coal
in the faces makes separation of waste from gangue bands simply
impossible. In such cases, the waste is partially picked out in the
mine while being transported by conveyers. But, in general, mines
working seams with gangue bands and possessing no facilities to sep
arate the waste from coal at the face should have their own concen
trating mills. If the coal mined is used as fuel in power plants and
Quality Characteristics of Coal 193
burnt in coal-dust furnaces, it may be prof

itable (which must be confirmed by techni
cal and economic calculations) to use raw
crushed run-of-mine coal.
High-pitching seams present particular
difficulties for the separation of gangue
bands from the bulk of coal.
In mining high seams of composite struc
ture which are divided into individual in
clined layers (lying parallel to the bedding
plane) efforts should be made to use indi
vidual intercalations or their groups for
separating these layers.
The waste contained in gangue bands
separated from coal when it is broken is
usually thrown into inined-out areas. If the
volume of waste is noL too small, it can be
employed for packing. Waste containing
carbonaceous mailer and liable to spon
taneous combustion should not be kept in
inined-out areas.
5. Quality Characteristics of Coal

Mineral coal comprises organic and min
eral constituents.
The organic matter of coal is a complex
and multiform aggregate which includes
chemical compounds of carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. Proportional
content of these elements in coal is estab
lished by elementary analysis.
For instance, the following elementary F i g . 122. A seam of com
composition of organic matLer in percent posite siruclare (Verkh-
is typical for Donets basin coal (Table 3). naya Marianna in Kara
The organic mass of the Moscow basin ganda)
/ — clay shale; //—coal;
(lignite) coal includes: 71-75 per cent of ///— ainpelitc
carbon, 3.8-5.0 per cent of hydrogen,
18.5-23.5 per cent of oxygen and 1.4-2.0 per cent of nitrogen.
Besides elementary analysis the commercial qualiLy of coal is also
determined by proximate, plastomelric and pelrographic analyses.
In addition to this, coal is examined for its ability to undergo ben
efication and is put to dry distillation, fusion and mechanical tests.
1. Proximate analysis of coal is of utmost commercial importance.
It helps to determine the content of moisture (HQ, ash (4),
T a b le 3
C o m p o s i t i o n o f O r g a n ic M a tte r in D o n e t s C o a l
C o m m e r c ia l b ra n d s of co a l
nw nc
Elements r Steam - K S te a m T A
Long- G as fat C ok in g b a k in g Lean A nth ra
flam e coa l co a l coa l coa l coa l c it e
Carbon . . . . 76-86 78-89 84-90 87-92 89-94 90-95 95-97.5

Hydrogen . . . 5-6 4.5-5.5 4-5.4 4.5-2 3.8-4.9 3.4-4.4 1 .2 -2 .7
Oxygen . . . . 10-17.5 6.8-16 5-10.5 3-8 2-5 1.6-4.5 —
Nitrogen . . . 1 .8 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.5 1 .2 1.5-3.5
sulphur (5), phosphorus (P), volatile matter (V) and calorific

value (Q).
In estimating the moisture content (State Standards 147-41-III-VI)
distinction is made between:
moisture in effective fuel (W{) or, which is the same, total moisture
in coal (Wt), this representing all the moisture contained in coal,
except for crystal water, which is mainly part of the mineral (alumi
nium silicate) portion of coal and is not determined by proximate
analysis;
external or surface moisture (Wf), dependent on the extent to which
the seam is exposed to the action of external water sources which can
be relatively easily eliminated by drying in the open; so-called in
ternal or hygroscopic moisture (W/f), seated in the pores and capil
laries of coal and dependent on its chemical nature. This moisture can
be eliminated only by desiccating coal at a temperature not below
102-105°. In the laboratory, moisture is determined by an analyti
cal test of coal and designated as Wa (analytical moisture).
Surface moisture content We is determined by the loss of weight
of a coal sample after it has been dried down to its constant weight
in the open at room temperature or in a drying cabinet heated to
70° (±5°).
Analytical moisture content Wa is estimated by the loss of weight
of a laboratory sample after it has been desiccated to the point of
constant (dry) weight in a drying cabinet heated to 102-105°.
Total moisture Wt is found either by calculation or by directly
drying the whole of the batch to the point of constant weight in a
drying cabinet heated to 102-105°, and by consequent determination
of the weight lost. To estimate effective fuel moisture, a special sample
is collected and sent to the laboratory in a hermetically scaled
metal container.
Coal ash is the unburnt mineral residue remaining after the combus
tion of coal.
Three types of coal ash are distinguished in analytical work: ash
content of run-of-mine coal {Ar), ash content of an analytical (labo
ratory) test sample (Aa) and ash content of an absolutely dry coal
mass (Ad).
In the laboratory, ash content in an analytical test sample is de
termined by burning a coal batch in a small open melting pot,
placed in a muffle heated to 800° (±25°) with access of air.
Ash content in effective fuel and the air-dry coal mass is found by
calculation according to the following formulas:
t o o — Wj .
Ar = Aa
too—w° '
100
Ad = Aa
100— IK0 '
Since mineral substances forming ash play no part in the combustion
of coal, ash is a worthless and harmful ballast, like moisture. For
this reason seams should be worked in a manner of minimising the
chances of coal at the face becoming diluted with waste from the
roof and floor of the bed. To reduce its ash content, mined coal under
goes benefication or concentration. Low ash content is of particular
importance for preparation of metallurgical coke.
In the burning of coal in boiler furnaces or in coke producers a
significant role is played by the fusibility of its ash. This may be a
source of considerable inconvenience and difficulties. The fusing
point of ash depends mainly on its chemical composition.
Table 4
Marking of Donets Coal
a n>K nc
Commercial Long- r Steam- K Steam T
marking of coal flame 13as fat Coking baking Lean
coal coal cool coal coal coal
V o la tile m a tte r O v e r 42 44-35 35-2G 26-18 18-12 B elo w 12

p e r c o m b u s t ib le
m ass in p e r c e u t
T y p e o f c o k e but- Non- Baked, Baked, B aked, B aked P o w d ery

ton baked, fused, fused, fused, o r fused, o r agglu-
pow dery som e s o lid s o lid o r from tin a ted
o r a g g lu tim e s or m od m od s o lid to
tin a ted s w o lle n e r a te ly e r a te ly m oder
(friable) s o lid s o lid a te ly
s o lid
19(5 Choice of Mining Methods and Modes of Extraction
Increased silica and alumina content tends to raise this point,

while that of ferrum, calcium and magnesium compounds lowers it.
Ash is classified into groups of fusible (below 1,200°), of medium fusi
bility (1,200-1,300°), low fusibility (1,300-1,500°), very low fusibility
(1.500-1,650°) and refractory (above 1,650°).
The increased fusing point of ash in furnaces may be achieved ei
ther by mixing various grades of coal or by its concentration.
Coal contains three types of sulphur-, pyrite, sulphate and organic.
Pyrite sulphur is found in coal in finely disseminated state, or else
in the form of a slight streak between bedding planes, thin interca
lations or individual inclusions(concretions).Pyrite sulphur and organ
ic sulphur come under the heading of volatile modification: in burn
ing, they become transformed into sulphur dioxide and, on coming
into contact with moisture, form sulphuric and sulphurous acids
which are capable of corroding metallic objects. They are, therefore,
also regarded as harmful^ , —
Sulphate transforms into coal ash. Much of organic and a slight
portion of pyritic sulphur transforms into coke and impairs its qual
ity.
Usually it is not individual types of sulphur in the coal that are
determined, but its aggregate amount—total sulphur S iot.
The yield of volatile matter from coal is estimated by an analyti
cal sample test in accordance with existing standards (State Standard
147-41-VIII).
Dry distillation or heating of solid fuel in the absence of air re
sults in desintegration of coal and is attended by the evolution of a
number of fumes and gaseous products—the so-called volatile matter,
on the one hand, and by the formation of solid residue—coke button,
on the other.
The amount and elementary composition of the volatile matter
evolved and the external appearance of coke button characterise the
nature of coal and its commercial value. The aspect of coke button
is illustrative of the degree of caking or baking capacity of coal and,
consequently, of its suitability for coking industry. Therefore, the
yield of volatile matter and the nature of coke button are regarded
as characteristic signs in the marking of mineral coal.
For Donets coal this marking is shown in Table 4 and for Kuznetsk
coal in Table 5.
At Karaganda Brand K includes coal yielding from 24 to 32 per
cent of volatile matter. In the Kizel coal fields the group of fat coal
(Brand Hf) refers to that with the proportion of volatile matter
ranging from 36 to 43 per cent, etc.
To estimate the proportion of volatile matter, a coal batch is heat
ed in a porcelain crucible with the cover carefully ground in, placed
in a muffle furnace at 850° (± 20°). The loss of weight in per cent of
Table 5
M a rk in g o f K uznrl.sk C o a l
K)K KO ny riT
TM Adju Adju
Coal r Gas, low JK Coking, K Coking,
Gas Fat fat Coking meagre vant vant
brand9 fusible Tat lean
coal coal coal coal coal coal coal coal
Volatile
matter 4 3 -3 7 3 5 -28 37-24 34-25 2 5 -18 22-10 28-22 17-13
In per
cent
the coal batch, minus analytical moisture Wa, represents Va—Lhe

proportion of the volatile matter sought.
The calorific value of coal (State Standard 147-41-XI) characterises
the amount of thermal energy contained in it. Its numerical value
depends chiefly on the content in coal of combustible components—
carbon and nitrogen.
The availability of other elements in coal-such as oxygen, nitro
gen, and moisture and ash —tends to reduce its thermal value.
Determination of the healing value of coal by an analytical lest
in a laboratory is effected in a hermetically sealed steel vessel (cal
orimetric bomb) in which a weighed quantity of coal is burnt in com
pressed oxygen. Subsequently, the heat generated in the bomb (Q't.)
is estimated.
Correctives for acids (sulphuric and nitric) formed in the bomb
give the gross calorific value of coal in the bomb This includes
the latent heat of evaporation of effective moisture and water formed
by coal hydrogen. However, in industrial installations (for example,
in boiler furnaces) these types of moisture escape into Lhe atmosphere
in Lhe form of vapour and do not impart their latent heat of evapora
tion to Lhe boilers.
Correctives for this value give the net calorific value of coal in a
bomb (<?“ ,!,).
By their evaluation both modifications of Lhe heating value—gross
and net—make it possible to arrive at the calorific value of e/Jective
fuel, air-dry coal and its organic substance.
Of Lhe greatest practical importance is the net calorific value of
effective fuel (?„ , which determines the suitability of given coal for
any specific use.
Table 6 gives the figures of Lhe gross calorific value of combustible
substance Ql and those of the net calorific values of effective fuel
Qn for some brands of mineral coal and lignites in Lhe U.S.S.R.
The heat value of coal in other coal fields of the Soviet Union ia
approximately the same.
T a b le 6
C a l o r i f ic V a lu e o f S o m e T y p e s o f C o a l, in c a l
Mineral coal L ig n ite s
Bran ds D onets K u zn e tsk

of
coal D e p o sits Qe
vn
A 7,500 5,250 7,700 6,400 M o s c o w b a sin 6,600 2,800

r 8,150 5,700 8 ,2 0 0 6,850 N o r th er n U r a ls 6,250 2,800
(K a rpin sk )
nw 8,500 6,500 8,550 7,000
K 8,500 6,500 8,500 7,050 S o u th e r n U r a ls 6,900 3,900
( C h ely a b in sk )
k 2 — — 8,500 7,050
nc 8 , 500 6,600 8 ; 550 6,900 U k ra in e 6,600 2 ,0 0 0
(A lek san d ria)
cc — — 8,300 6,800
T 8,500 6,750 8,450 6,650
2. Plastomelric analysis of coal. The suitability of coal for the prep

aration of metallurgical coke is regarded as one of its valuable prop
erties. Not all coal is capable of producing metallurgical coke of
good quality. Therefore, in most instances it is necessary to resort
to mixing various brands of coal (preparation of coal stocks) whose
coking properties are close to those of natural coking coal.
Preliminary determinations of the coking properties of any coal—
individually or in a mixture—is of a considerable practical impor
tance.
Yet until quite recently the coking properties of coal were deter
mined by the amount of volatile matter it yielded. This procedure,
however, did not prove quite satisfactory, since coal yielding the
same amount of volatile matter may nevertheless have different cok
ing properties, this depending on the chemical composition of
volatile matter.
Coking properties of coal may also be determined by the plastomet-
ric method proposed by L. Sapozhnikov and now widely used in our
country.
This method consists of the following. A large batch (100 g) of
coal is placed in a special oven heated to 730° for a period of three
and a half hours. Just like in an industrial coke-oven, the
heating of the coal batch in a plastometric apparatus proceeds uni
laterally, from its warm portion to the colder one, thereby forming a
.plastic layer, whose thickness varies with the brand of coal. The depth
of this layer is commonly denoted by y and determines the coking

properties of coal and coal mixtures.
At the same time there is yet another value, x, which is obtained
in the plastometric apparatus and which denotes shrinkage (volumet
ric contraction) of coal in the process of coking.
Experience in our principal coal fields has made it possible to
determine the average plastometric indices of coal brands which are
actually used more than any others in coking industry (Tables 7
and 8 ).
Table 7
P la s t o m e t r ic I n d ic e s o f D o n e ts C o a l
IDK nm n>K nc
Plastom etric r Steam- Steam- Steam- K Steam-
Indices Gas fat. fat, fat. Coking coking,.
contract string weak baking
T h ic k n e s s o f p la s
t ic la y er y in
mm 10-14 15-25 o v e r 27 22-27 16-22 5-15
S h rin k a ge x in
mm 25-40 15-35 n ot o v e r le ss than n ot over —
15 12 20
Table S
P la s t o m e t r ic I n d ic e s o f C o a ls fr o m E a stern R e g io n s
Gns of low
A djuvant
fusibility
C
U) tL
m eag re
C o k in g
P lasto m etric
Indices Vi _£ a l
n - "O u
fat
O u* v Z o « G UkC ti
T h ic k n e ss of 9-12 13 and 25 and 13 and 13 and 7-12 7-12 5 and 11 and

p la s t ic layer ov er ov er over over o v er over
y in m m
S h rin k a ge x in — — n ot n ot less less — — —
mm over ov er than than

16 28 28 28
3. Investigations into petrographic composition of coal is a very val

uable means for forming an adequate judgement regarding its nature
and technological properties.
There are four basic petrographic varieties in the most widely
occurring banded coals, viz: fibrous (fusain), dull (durain), lustrous.
(vitrain) and semibright (clarain).
Outwardly, fibrous coal resembles charred wood. It is friable,

crumbles to dust, has a black streak and soils fingers.
Dull coal consists chiefly of agglomerations of carbonised plant
remains and is distinguished by its hardness and viscosity. When
subjected to run-of-minc sizing, it is generally classified as large
sized.
Lustrous coal,by nature a solidified gelatinous mass,is distinguished
f o r its conchoidal, vitreous fracture. It is rather friable and joint
ed and is generally sorted into undersize classes.
Semibright coal is less friable than lustrous and of greater vis
cosity.
In the petrographic study of coal microscopy plays an important
role.
A. Widespread construction of concentration plants in the U.S.S.R.
has brought in its wake considerable progress in preliminary investi
gations of coals for their amenability to concentration.
The accepted procedure is first to choose bed and production samples
which are to be processed in accordance with State Standards.
With the aid of screen analysis the sample is divided into classes by
size, starting with lumps measuring over 150 mm, then 150-100,
100-50, 50-25, 25-13, 13-0. 0-3, 3-1, 1-0.5 and less than 0.5 mm.
Classes of 25 mm up undergo sorting with the picking of waste
and pyrile aggregates (if they are there).
Classes of 100 mm and below, barring dust of 0.5-0 mm, are sub
jected to investigation in heavy liquids of diverse specific gravity,
from 1.3 to 1.8. Classes of 0 mm up are usually scrutinised in water
solutions of zinc chloride. Classes below 0 mm are examined in tol
uene (or benzene) carbon tetrachloride solutions.
The screening analysis of the production sample, the data obtained
in large-sized class sorting and the results of the tests of medium
and small-sized classes in heavy liquids determine the granulomet
ric pattern of coal and ash content (if necessary, also that of sulphur)
in individual size-grades and fractions of different specific weight.
This information is used in selecting an adequate method of concen
trating coal and estimating the size, character and power of mill
equipment and the balance of concentration products.
5. Dry distillation of coal or its healing without air is done at dif
ferent temperatures., depending upon technological aims. To obtain
metallurgical coke, it is necessary to have high temperatures (1 ,0 0 0 °
and more). In this case the coke obtained is the basic ultimate prod
uct, while gaseous and vapour substances are considered by-prod
ucts, although Ihey arc actually of extreme importance for the chem
ical industry.
Low-temperature coking is principally used for obtaining conden
sation products (primary pitches, etc.) and their subsequent process-
Hardness of Coal 201
ing into synthetic liquid fuels (benzene, ligroine, etc.). The semi-
coke, which is the final product in this instance, is but of a secondary
importance, though by its weight it predominates in the process.
Here of major significance are the yield and quality of primary pitch.
Semicoking proceeds at a temperature not exceeding 550° and, un
like high-temperature coking, the size of coal processed is of partic
ularly great importance from the standpoint of the gas permeability
of the stock in the semicoke oven.
In mining coal deposits, due account should be taken of the qual
ity of coal to be extracted.
Of particular importance for the national economy is the coal
utilised for the production of metallurgical coke, that is, that capa
ble of coking independently or in mixtures with coal of other brands.
New deep mines in the Donets basin are sunk chiefly to work beds
containing coals suitable for coking.
If a mine has beds or seams with coal of varying grades, the order
and sequence of mining should be so planned as not to delay the
extraction of coking coal beds by the exploitation of other seams. On
the other hand, it would be wrong to leave unmined beds in already
developed levels for lengthy periods of lime just because their coal
is not suitable for coking.
In mining coal measures, it is also necessary to consider the quali
tative composition of coal when it is extracted separately from dif
ferent seams. If this be the case, the order of mining should be ar
ranged and the choice of suitable transport facilities made well
in advance.
Spontaneous combustion of coal (Section 13) has also much to do
with the qualitative pattern of coal. Anthracite, for example, is not
self-igniting and its mining, therefore, does not require measures
against underground fires, a thing that is mandatory when working
beds containing spontaneously igniting coal.
Some coal (coking coals, coal used for power plants and burnt in
powdered state) is ground prior to being used for industrial purposes
and, therefore, can at least partially be obtained as fines, while other
types of coal—for instance, gaseous, used in gas producers—should
be drawn in large-sized lumps.
6. Hardness of Coal
Hardness of coal, that is, its resistance to mechanical agents, is of
paramount importance for undercutting by coal-cutters or undercut
ting and slotting by combines, for work with mechanical picks, blast
ing, etc. The degree of hardness also determines the capacity of
coal to break into pieces of different sizes and either to remain lumpy
or disintegrate during trasportation and storage.
The methods of mining and mechanisation of stoping operations to

ho applied, with due account of coal hardness, depend on whether coal
is to he obtained in large-sized lumps or is allowed to disintegrate.
The degree of coal hardness is rated in mining practice by includ
ing coal in a certain class (or category) of hardness. In the Donets
basin, for example, it is as follows:
I. Hard anthracite (interfluent) without traces of cleavage and
strong coal with no cleavage and jointings but with a high propor
tion of pyrite inclusions.
II. Anthracite with slight cleavage and coal of medium hardness,
with no cleavage, jointings and inclusions.
III. Eutomous anthracite and soft coal with indistinct cleavage.
IV. Very soft eutomous coal.
The classes of coal hardness are established to conform to certain
mining operations, such as excavation by combines, undercutting
by cutters, boring by electric drills, etc. Thus, Class I includes coal
for which the average feed rate of the Donbas and Gornyak combines
is 0.27 metre per minute, and Class IV coal for which this rate is
0.7 metre per minute.
The hardness of coal is one of the major factors influencing produc
tion rates in different coal-seam mining operations.
It may also have a bearing on the selection of a mining method.
For instance, in mining high seams with soft coal, the methods of
exposing coal surfaces overhanging the working face are inadmissi
ble. In coordinating the length of faces with the efficiency of available
equipment, one should reckon with the hardness of coal since effi
ciency depends on it.
7. Cleavage of Coal
Cleavage is a property of rocks, particularly useful minerals, by
virtue of which they detach or break more readily from the solid
mass in one or several directions or planes than in all others. Cleav
age is closely related to the jointing of rocks caused by intense tec
tonic processes. Donets miners have aptly dubbed cleavage “ stream s” .
The cleavage phenomenon is related to the origin and geological
history of rocks and its planes and their orientation are therefore gov
erned by regularities incident to the geological structure of a given
district. The direction of cleavage is usually uniform over large areas,
especially if the strike and dip of the bed are constant. The position
of cleavage planes in space may be characterised by the relation be
tween azimuth and meridian and the angle of pitch to the horizontal
plane. But it is usually only the angle between cleavage orientation
and the strike of the bed that comes under consideration. Hence the
expressions cleavage with the bedding, cleavage with the dip and trans-
Size of Coal 203-
verse cleavage. A clear-cut cleavage is usually called distinct or ob

vious, or, conversely, blind joint.
When coal was broken by hand, the relative position of the face
breast and cleavage greatly influenced the labour productivity of tho
hand-cutter—cleavage parallel to the breast of the face facilitated
breaking coal, while perpendicular cleavage complicated this opera
tion. At present, when coal extraction is mechanised, the relative
position of cleavage has lost most of its significance.
In certain cases, however, the position of cleavage planes deserves
serious consideration on account of safety. When high-pitching and,
particularly, thick beds are mined, large coal blocks are apt to be
come detached along the cleavage planes. This hazard can be elimi
nated by the proper sequence of coal extraction and adequate timber
ing at production faces.
8 . Size of Coal
In many instances, the size of coal is an important factor of indus

trial utilisation.
As stated above, coal for gas producers should be in lumps of def
inite size. Fine lignite is unsuitable for locomotive fireboxes or sta
tionary grate furnaces. The same applies to long-flame coal, whose
particles do not fuse in burning.
Conversely, the size of lumps is of no importance for coal used in
the production of metallurgical coke, since it has to be ground prior
to coking anyway. For coal burnt chiefly in the boiler furnaces of pow
er stations in powdered form the size of raw coal delivered by the
mine is of no consequence either.
Coal whose size is essential for industrial utilisation, and which
consequently has to go through sizing and screening, is classed as
follows (Table 9).
Table 9
G ra d e s o f B row n , L o n g - F la m e, G a s a n d A n th r a cite C o a l
Design ation of coal grades

Size
Grades of coal In mm Long- A n th ra
Brown name Gas cite
S la b s + 100 Bn An rn A ll
R u n-of-m in e -100 BP AP rp AP
L a rge- sized n uts 100-25 EK An rn AK
S u a ll- s iz e d n uts 25-13 EM AM m AM
F la x seed 13-6 EC AC re AC
F la x seed w ith coa l d u st 13-0 BCUI A cm rem ACUI
C oa l d u st 6-0 B ill A in rrn A lii
■204 Choice of Mining Methods and Modes of Extraction
The “large-sized nut”grade sometimes includes a special grade of

gas-generating fuel, its size ranging from 50 to 25 mm (AT, etc.).
From 25 inm down the value of coal grades diminishes progres
sively. Besides, State Standards provide for rebates in prices of coal
whose grades contain fines in excess of established proportions. De
termination of fines in graded fuel is effected by screening samples
through a set sieve. This operation is called sizing assay or screen
test.
The size of coal broken in the mine depends on its hardness, joint
ing and cleavage, as well as mining methods and haulage. Coal whose
size is important for utilisation should be mined and transported
by methods minimising their disintegration. One essential disadvan
tage common to mine combines is that they yield a large proportion
of coal dust. The designers, therefore, should concentrate their efforts
on building machines operating not on the principle of cutting, like
ordinary coal-cutting machines and mine combines, but on that of
broad shearing, without reducing broken coal to dust.
Lignites, when stockpiled in the open air, are liable to disintegrate
and crumble. Therefore, they should be kept in storage for as little
as possible and stocked in low piles, this also being of importance
for preventing their spontaneous combustion.
9. Properties of Wall Roeks

Country rocks enclosing coal seams are made of silt, sand, rubble,
etc., which lay under and over the agglomerations of vegetable mat
ter during the formation of deposits. In the course of the lengthy
period of their geological history, these mineral sediments have been
subject to changes (diagenesis) which have, generally, led to the for
mation of rocks. The rocks specilic of most coal fields dating from the
carbonaceous age are sandstone, clay and sandy shales and limestone.
Of these sandstone and limestone arc the strongest.
Since silt and sand, as well as other mineral particles, sometimes
mixed during the accumulation of initial mineral matter, there are
rocks which are a cross-section between the above-cited typical rocks
of coal deposits. Shales, found among the latter, which contain a high
proportion of carbonaceous substance, are called coaly shales or am-
peli tes.
The extent of loose rock “ lithification”was not dependent only
upon the duration of its geological life, but also on the effect of
tectonic factors. The Moscow coal fields, for example, are of approxi
mately the same geological age as the Donets basin, but reposing
as they do upon the Russian continental plateau, they have not un
dergone orogenesis while the changes in the structure of country rocks
enclosing these coal deposits have been relatively slight. Therefore,
Properties of Wall Rocks 205
the coal measures of the Mos

cow basin are overlaid with S a n d s t o n e 'U pper r o o f
clay and sand, which have not

been transformed into clay C la y s h a l e I m m e d ia t e
shales and sandstone. roof
Friability is also a feature
specific of rocksenclosing the C oal s h a l e fa ls e r o o f
brown coal deposits of the
Worn a b le
Tertiary Period (Ukraine, C oal
sea m
Bashkiria).
It should be noted that, on Sandy s h a le ■ .1 I B o tto m
the suggestion of the outstand
ing geologist, Academician F ig . 123. D ia g r a m m a tic r e p rese n ta tio n o f
M. Usov, rocks analogous to w a ll ro ck s in a co a l seam
clay shale in the Donets basin
are quite often called argillites, and sand shale—aleurolites. How
ever, for practical purposes, this is of no significance.
Everything said about cleavage in coal beds also applies to the
rocks enclosing them.
The properties of wall rocks play a major role in the selection of
the methods of mining and stoping.
The degree of the rigidity and jointing of wall rocks, the direction
of cleavage and fissures, the capacity of rocks to become detached
and fall in lumps or large blocks, the tendency suddenly to cave in
or sag gradually—all this is often of decisive importance for choosing
an adequate method of mining and stoping, a fact that will be repeat
edly emphasised in the chapters below.
In gently dipping deposits the most significant factor in mining is
the properties of the roof, though the floor’ s features must sometimes
be considered too; for instance, when it is apt to heave, that is, to
rise in production faces and in the workings in general. Heaving and
bulging of the floor rocks in mine workings is partly explained by the
pressure exercised by the surrounding rocks and partly by the absorp
tion of moisture by argillaceous rocks and their concomitant swelling.
In the case of a high dip, the properties of the floor, which is apt to
slide and cave in, are in a large measure responsible for some of the
peculiarities of mining methods adopted.
When a thin layer of easily caving rock lies immediately over the
mined bed it is called false roof. In coal seams, the false roof is fre
quently made up of carbonaceous or weak clay shale. The stronger
rocks overlying the false roof are called upper or main roof. Often
there are only immediate and main roofs. The first is a mass of rocks,
usually several metres thick, which falls in the mined-out area the
moment the roof caves in by itself or is made to do so. A typical exam
ple is given in Fig. 123. Here the main roof includes sandstone, the
2or, Choice of Mining Methods and Modes of Extraction
immediate one—argillaceous shale and the false roof—coaly shale.

Quite often when there is no false roof at all, the immediate roof made
up of stable solid rock may be regarded as the main roof. The layer
of strongly coherent rock lying immediately over the coal bed is fre
quently called slab roof.
The capacity of rocks to adhere firmly (or loosely) to the roof of
working faces causes them to be characterised by such terms (rather
vague) as stable or coherent, strong, medium stable, unstable and weak.
A short roof is one of sand or weak shale crumbling into very small
particles. With a short roof, to avoid contamination of coal, it is
necessary not only thoroughly to “ tighten”the roof during timbering,
but sometimes even to leave a ceiling or a coal layer in the roof about
1 0 or more cm thick.
We shall return to the properties and behaviour of rocks in their

capacity of roofs in working faces in Chapter XI.
10. Spatial Relationship of Seams in the Series

In the mining of coal series, displacement of rocks following the
extraction of the mineral from one of the seams may affect mining
conditions in the neighbouring ones. On account of that, contiguous
beds should be worked in a definite sequence so as to prevent them
from undermining each other.
This complex problem is very largely related to the peculiarities
of the mining methods now in use. Therefore, it is advisable to dis
cuss it in greater detail in Chapter XXII.
11. Mining Depth

As the depth of mines increases, one may expect certain changes
in the nature of rock pressure, in rock temperature, and in their wa
ter and gas-bearing capacity.
There is no doubt that in the earth’ s crust rocks are in a state of
stress and that in a solid block of rocks these stresses increase along
with the depth. As mine workings are advanced, however, there
occurs a redistribution of the stresses formerly existing around them.
Therefore, the new stresses, whose distribution depends on initial
tensions, the shape of mined-out spaces and the physico-mechanical
properties of rocks, are no longer proportional to the depth and, as a
matter of fact, their distribution is extremely complex.
This phenomenon is, apparently, related to the important fact that
in conditions of rock pressure prevailing in development workings
and stopes at a depth of about 1 , 0 0 0 metres, now reached in some coal
mines, there has as yet been no distinct manifestation of it observed
that could be ascribed to the increased depth of mining. On the other
Gas-Bearing Capacity of a Deposit 207
hand, it can hardly be denied that below 1 , 0 0 0 metres there may

arise pressures which are not encountered at lesser depth from the
surface.
In the earth’s crust the temperature of rocks increases along with
depth. It rises by 1° approximately every 30-35 metres, sometimes
considerably more (geothermal gradient is the rate at which the tem
perature increases per 1 km of depth). But these are but average fig
ures, since accurate recordings of temperatures in deep boreholes show
that in the southwestern part of the Donets basin, for instance, the
geothermal gradient ranges between 27.3 and 70.4 metres. In the
same area it has been ascertained that the mean temperature of rocks
from the ground surface is as follows: at the depth of 2 0 metres—
15.1°; 700 m etres—29.8°; 1,200 m etres—44.1°. The temperature
taken at the depth of 1,450 metres in a borehole of the Donets basin in
1952 was 54°, which corresponds to a geothermal gradient of 31.5
metres. The rock temperature increased in direct proportion to the
depth. Hence, to find the approximate temperature of rocks, divide
the depth of mining by the value of the geothermal gradient and add
the mean temperature prevailing in the given area over several years
(for example, about 4-8° in the Donets basin).
The temperature of the air in mine workings is lower than
that of the rocks on account of the cooling effect of ventilating
currents.
High temperature in stopes makes m iner’ s work painful and
unhealthy, and the result is a drop in efficiency. Therefore, special
plants are installed to cool the air entering underground workings.
The relation between the gas- and water-bearing capacities of
rocks and the mining depth will he discussed below.
12. Gas-Bearing Capacity of a Deposit

Each mining method should be elaborated in such a way as to en
sure adequate supply of pure air to the stopes of development and
production workings.
Of the gases which mix with the atmospheric air of normal compo
sition, the most important are detonating gas, carbon dioxide, car
bon monoxide and gases released by blasts.
Sometimes the atmosphere in coal mines also contains hydrogen
sulphide.
Detonating gas, or firedamp, is methane, sometimes with slight
admixtures of other hydrocarbons and hydrogen.
There are three basic ways in which detonating gas escapes into
the mine atmosphere, viz.: 1 ) placid outflow from coal or wall rocks,
without any outward signs; 2 ) outflow in the form of gas jets from
cracks and fissures with audible sound effects (fumaroles); 3) sudden
outrushes or instantaneous outbursts of coal and gas, that is, gas dis
charges accompanied by ejection of finely broken coal.
Mines, in which firedamp is formed, are called gassy or fiery. The
mines are classified in accordance with the abundance of gas they con
tain, this depending on the volume of gas evolved (see Table 10).
Table 10
C a t e g o r ie s o f M in e s A c c o r d in g t o A b u n d a n c e o f G a s
I II ill S u p er-ca te g o ry
V o l u m e o f m e th a n e fo r m e d U p to F rom 5 F r o m 10 O ver 15, o r m in e s

p e r to n of average 5 t o 10 to 15 w o r k in g se a m s m ade
d a ily o u t p u t ( r e la tiv e h azardou s by ou t
g a s a bu n d a n ce) in cu m b u r s t s o f c o a l an d
g a s an d b y fum a-
r o le s
M in im u m v o lu m e o f a ir 1.25 1.5 S e e n o te
per ton of average
d a ily o u tp u t, in
m’ /min
N o t e : F or s u p e r - c a te g o r y m in e s th e p r o p o r t io n o f m e th a n e in th e total
retu rn cu rre n t s h o u ld n ot e x c e e d 0.75 p e r cen t, n o r b e le ss than 1.5 m ’ /min
p e r ton o f a v e r a g e d a ily o u tp u t.
The relative abundance of methane in mines, that is, the volume of

this gas in cubic metres forming per ton of coal extracted (daily aver
age) tends to increase with depth. Investigations carried out by G. Li-
din show that in the Donets coal fields the ratio is as follows:
R e l a t i v e a b u n d a n c e of
D e p t h of m ine, in m etres m e t h a n e p er to n of coal
o u t p u t , In cu m
U p to 150 1.2
150-250 5.7
250-350 9.5
350-450 11.3
450-550 16.3
550-800 2 0 .0
The figures above are averages for the basin as a whole; the propor
tion of methane in some mines deviates considerably from these
averages.
Gas-Bearing Capacity of a Deposit m
According to Academician A. Skochinsky, the discharge of methane

in the future mines of the Donets basin at depths of 1,000-1,500 me
tres may be expected to reach 50-80cu m per ton of daily coal output.
G. Lidin estimates the following average distribution of methane
evolved in the mines of the Donets basin: from working seams—00
per cent, contiguous beds — 1 0 per cent, from enclosing country rocks—
30 per cent.
In gassy mines the adopted mining methods should envisage as
few dead faces as possible, especially in ascending workings. Being
almost twice as light as atmospheric air,
evolving methane tends to occupy the
upper portion of an ascending working,
in other words, it accumulates right at
its face. The study of causes leading to
explosions in coal mines reveals that in
most cases gas ignites at the face of an
ascending working, where it amasses on
account of inadequate ventilation. From
such a face the explosion may spread
through coal dust all over the mine and
cause a major catastrophe.
Generally speaking, the presence of
firedamp requires active and intense aer
ation of mine workings. Whenever pos
sible, individual sections
of a mine field should be
ventilated by separate
air currents to prevent
the consequences of a
possible explosion or
shortcomings of ventila
tion within one section -i m
from adversely affecting
the others. Fig. 124. Shape of a hollow space formed after
a sudden outburst of coal and gas
Insufficiently aerated
hollow spaces in mined-
out and abandoned areas of gassy mines present a definite hazard.
They may become a scene of firedamp accumulation and if baromet
ric pressure drops abruptly or the roof caves in over an extensive
area this gas can penetrate into active workings.
One of the most dangerous forms of methane evolution is sudden
outburst of coal and gas. The amount of coal ejected in these in
stances ranges from a few to hundreds and even thousands of tons, this
being accompanied by discharges of large and sometimes huge vol
umes of gas. A sudden outburst produces sound effects of diverse
8 -362b
intensity. After such an outburst a hollow space or cavity of a peculiar

shape forms within the coal seam (Fig. 124). The drawing is illus
trative of the case of instantaneous outrush which occurred at the
face of a strike entry running along the Mazur seam in the Krasny
Oktyabr Mine (Donets basin) on February 15, 1951. The position of
tlie face prior to the outburst is shown in Fig. 124, 1. When he heard
Ihe cracking of breaking coal, followed by a strong shock in the coal
block and sounds resembling machine-gun fire, the miner working
at the face left it. Then came an outburst of coal and gas. The amount
of coal ejected totalled 71 tons. The force of the outburst was so
great that it knocked out a portion of the face timbering and threw
the coal 7.4 metres away from the face. The hollow space formed in
the seam is depicted in Fig. 124, 2.
According to the opinion voiced by Academician Skochinsky, the
sudden outburst of coal and gas is a consequence of an avalanche
like progressive dislodgement of coal under the effect of rock pressure
and gas contained in coal attended by a dynamic effect involving
ejection of coal and its disintegration, unusually intense discharge
of gas within a short time and formation of characteristic hollow
space In the seam.
Sudden outbursts should not be confused with the following three
phenomena:
sudden downfalls or inrush of coal, accompanied by gas discharges
(sometimes very abundant), but without too high a head;
crushing and squeezing of coal, with comparatively slight evolution
of gas and with the coal being thrown a short distance;
instantaneous gas rushes without coal outbursts but with splits
in the roof and the bottom and the formation of one or several frac
tures and cracks (sometimes quite extensive).
The causes and mechanisms of sudden outbursts have not been
studied thoroughly as yet. The main factors underlying a sudden
outburst are apparently the following.
When a mine opening is driven in a coal seam saturated with gas
under pressure and containing soft or, at any rate, not very strong
coal, rock pressure causes the coal at the face to split and disinte
grate; it is then detached and thrown off by the pressure of escaping
gas. In steeply dipping seams, the downthrow of coal is facilitated
by its own weight. This process gains momentum extremely rapidly—
avalanchelike—from the face into the coal massif until the pressure
of gas subsides following its escape and the cavity of the outburst
acquires a stable pearlike shape. Sudden outbursts, with rare excep
tions, originate at the depth of 200-300 metres from the surface.
This is due to a certain amount of degassing in seams caused by the
leakage of gas to the ground surface in the past. It has been observed
that in high-pitching seams in the Donets coal fields instanta-
Gas-Bearing Capacity of a Deposit 211
neous outbursts are very rare in the upper third of the level inter
vals. The reason is degassing of coal and wall rocks, with the gas
escaping into an upper entry, which first serves as a haulage working
and then as an airway.
Sudden outrushes usually (but by far not always) occur at geolog
ically disturbed sites, where coal, it may be presumed, was subject
ed to high stresses during tectonic processes and subsequently to
crushing and breaking.
In Soviet coal mines sudden outbursts occur in the Donets coal
fields, especially at the deep levels of mines working high-pitching
coal measures in the area of the Main Anticline, in the Urals (Yegor-
shin anthracite district), in the Kuznetsk coal fields (Severnaya and
Tsentralnaya mines near Kemerovo) and in the mines of Suchan (Far
East).
In mines with seams susceptible to sudden outbursts of gas and
coal, in addition to the safety measures generally taken in mines
against methane hazards, the special precautions given below are
obligatory, their purpose being to prevent sudden gas and coal out
rushes and ignition of released gas, facilitate the rescue of men
and eliminate the damage:
1 ) adoption of mining methods requiring minimum development
work, with maximally regular shape of production faces devoid of

pointed projections;
2 ) working of protective seams; in mining a series of seams, some
of which are subject to sudden outbursts, the first to be extracted are
the contiguous seams overlying and underlying them and “ protect
ing”the hazardous ones;
3 ) breaking of coal in development and production stopes solely
with the aid of blasting and rotary drilling, without the use of per
cussion instruments and machines;
4) blasting of drill-holes in-between shifts, when there are no work
ers in the mine, effected from the surface or special shelter-
rooms;
5) the use of so-called concussion blasting, with the number of
holes drilled in excess of that actually needed for the breaking of
coal and with larger charges than usual;
G) measures designed to facilitate the rescue of men caught in a
mine by a sudden gas outrush, viz.i separate ventilation pattern;
arrangement of shelter-rooms; distribution of self-rescuers among
workers; placing of m iner’ s electric lamps-guides along the routes
of men’ s possible escape, etc.;
7) drilling of advance exploration holes (up to 10 metres deep)
in the faces of development workings.
The volume of methane liberated in coal mines may reach propor
tions that necessitate its catchment and practical utilisation.
8
2 12 Choice of Mining Methods and Modes of Extraction
Organisation of catchment is easiest in the case of fumaroles ac

tive in a working that can be isolated from the rest of the mine.
The site with fumaroles is isolated by a seal, from behind which gas
is brought by a pipeline to the surface.
Yet another method is drainage and aspiration of the gas from coal
hods. A pilot gas-aspirating plant was commissioned at the Sever
naya Mine in the Kuznetsk basin in 1951. A series of drainage bore
holes up to 50-60 metres long were drilled along the Volkovsky seam,
which is very rich in gas. To bring methane up, boreholes were con
nected hermetically with a pipeline which was linked on the surface
with a vacuum pump. An average of 1,000 cu m of methane was as
pired every 24 hours. At present degassing plants operate in a number
of mines in the Kuznetsk and Donets basins. In some instances the
gas thus caught is utilised as a high-grade fuel.
The importance of gas draining and aspirating plants lies not only
in the fact that they open up new possibilities for utilising methane,
but also in the fact that catchment of gas reduces its volume and pres
sure in coal seams (this is particularly important in working seams
susceptible to sudden outbursts) and decreases amounts escaping
into active mine workings.
In some foreign countries sudden outrushes occur where the gas
is not methane but carbon dioxide. No such sudden outbursts have
been registered so far in the U.S.S.R. Nevertheless, we should reckon
with possible carbon dioxide accumulations in our mines, which
can largely be due to decay of timber in mined-out areas.The carbon
dioxide level in the mine atmosphere should not exceed 0.5 per cent,
the only exception being made for the workings with a common re
turn current, where it is allowed to be 1 per cent.
The appearance of carbon monoxide and fire gases in the atmosphere
of mine workings is a consequence of underground fires.
13. Spontaneous Combustion of Coal

The main reason for spontaneous combustion is oxidation of coal
with atmospheric oxygen. Secondary factors contributing to spon
taneous combustion are the presence of pyrites in coal and, to a cer
tain extent, moisture content. The intensity of oxidation is directly
related to the physical and chemical nature of the coal, the degree
of its breakage and the rate of air inflow to its accumulations. If
coal is in a solid block, its contact surface exposed to the atmosphere
is small and there is practically no oxidation. If, on the other hand,
coal is split by fissures or broken into smaller pieces, its surface ex
posed to contact with atmosphere increases immensely and this may
cause faster oxidation. In the latter case the temperature goes up
and this, in turn, contributes to the intensity of coal oxidation. The
Spontaneous Combustion of Coal 213
increase in temperature may attain a degree where coal becomes

incandescent and burns with an open flame. The greater the natural
softness conducive to the breaking up of coal the greater the hazard
of its spontaneous ignition. Also dangerous in this respect are areas
with geological dislocations containing crushed coal.
The main prerequisite for spontaneous combustion is, therefore,
the loose state of coal. Consequently, particular hazards are present
ed by crushed pillars and amassments of coal fines in worked-out
areas. Since coal losses in the mining of high seams without filling
are greater than those in the case of thin ones, the fire hazard in the
first instance is much bigger.
Self-ignition is a property more or less common to almost all kind?-
of mineral coal. Although in practice coal seams are subdivided into
self-igniting and nonself-igniting, such classification is highly con
ventional. The absence of spontaneous combustion in conditions
where coal losses are kept down and there are no crushed pillars by
no means warrants considering a seam nonself-combustible.
Combustibility applies not only to coal but to gangue containing
carbonaceous matter loo.
There is almost no danger of self-ignition of coal with a minimum
level of volatile matter, such as anthracite. But in the case of lean
coal, spontaneous combustion may be quite intensive.
Experience, at any rate, has shown that high seams in most coal
deposits in the U.S.S.R. are subject to spontaneous combustion. One
exception is the Yegorshin anthracite deposit (Urals). In spite of the
faulty nature of the occurrence, the softness of anthracite and high
exploitation losses of coal, no fires due to spontaneous combustion
have so far been recorded there, although these mines have been
worked for several decades now.
No universal measures have so far been devised to combat under
ground fires caused by spontaneous combustion. Active fire-fighting is
resorted to only when the area affected is small and accessible. Fires
in inaccessible areas are put out by the isolation method. To do this,
the suspected fire-stricken section is sealed off by airtight bulkheads,
and the fire gradually dies down because of lack of oxygen. This
method is adequate for thin and medium thick seams, but in the case
of high seams the ultimate extinguishment of a sealed-off fire requires
silting, that is, filling the fire-stricken section with a liquid clay
solution through boreholes. It is also necessary constantly to watch
temperature and prevent outside air from penetrating into the fire-
stricken area from the surface through crevices and holes. The latter
should be regularly filled and tamped with clay. Experience, unfor
tunately, shows that these measures are not always effective and ad
equate. When attempts are made to unseal the isolated fire-stricken
section it is often found that the fire has merely been subdued but
not extinguished and the inflow of fresh air again sets it ablaze. Fire
fighting measures are thus a costly item of expenditure, hamper nor
mal activity in the mines, divert the attention of the supervising
technical staff from other production problems, require a consid
erable labour force and yet do not always bring the desired results.
Large coal reserves, developed for extraction, become irretrievably
lost in fire-stricken areas.
Underground fires are especially dangerous in high-dipping depos
its. Let us assume that a fire has broken out in one of the levels
which is then sealed off by bulkheads. The working of the underly
ing level may "undermine" the fire-stricken section, that is, cause
fhe pillars surrounding it and even the bulkheads to develop fissures
enabling air to circulate. The influx of oxygen will not only set the
smouldering fire ablaze again but also cause it to spread to the work
ings of the underlying level. Underground fires are known to have
a tendency to spread in a direction opposite to the movement of fresh
air currents. With the appearance of the above-mentioned fissures
and the increase of temperature, the air currents in the fire-stricken
area will, generally speaking, move upward.
Men engaged in putting out and sealing off underground fires very
often have to wear respirators. The access to the site of fire for fire
fighting teams in such masks is facilitated by the numerous break
throughs usually available in the mining of the first levels of high-
pitching or sloping deposits. But with sloping proceeding at deeper
levels the number of openings communicating directly with the sur
face becomes progressively smaller, and this greatly complicates
fighting underground fires in deeper mines.
Hence, the hazard of spontaneous coal combustion should be re
garded as a major factor in selecting mining methods. Self-igniting
seams have to be worked with minimum losses, and in thick high-
dipping beds this can be achieved only by a complete fill. This, in
turn, exerts a decisive influence on the nature of mining itself. Self-
igniting seams should be worked with maximum speed and by sec
tions, which can be isolated rapidly from each other, a fact which
also distinguishes the mining method to be chosen.
14. Water-Bearing Capacity of a Deposit

The water-bearing capacity of a deposit is a factor which necessi
tates elaboration of certain specific features for the method of
mining it.
The presence of water in workings reduces labour efficiency and is,
moreover, dangerous. Men engaged in wet stopes easily catch cold;
when the floor and timber-pieces are wet and slippery, miners are
apt to fall and hurt themselves; by absorbing water, clay wall rocks
The Effect of Mechanisation on the Selection of Mining Methods 215
become weaker and more liable to caving. In wet stopes the law pro
vides for, or allows establishing, in certain conditions, a reduced
workday and, depending on the amount and nature of water inflow,
lower production rates.
For this reason measures should be taken to divert mine water
from active faces.
When the bottom is rough and the occurrence of a bed is nearly
level, its extraction in highly acquiferous deposits should be ar
ranged so as to make the drain ditch now run above coal in the sink
holes of the bed, now become rather deep.
Acquiferous friable rocks require deep drain ditches capable of hold
ing large volumes of water.
In mining highly acquiferous deposits, particularly those in which
sand and particles of other rocks are entrained by water, one should
take special steps in production faces in the form of definite meas
ures for roof control and the setting up of bulkheads. But it is still
better systematically to dewater such deposits prior to starting stop-
ing operations in the section. To protect underground workings
from inrushes of water from the underground or surface reservoirs—
which, for some reason, can not be drained—safety pillars arc to be
left under these reservoirs. There have been instances of deposits
being mined even under the sea bottom.
Below we shall meet with the description of technical methods
used in mining acquiferous deposits.
15. The Effect of Mechanisation on the Selection

of Mining Methods
Mechanisation of coal production is a factor not to be underesti
mated in the selection of mining methods.
Cutting machines, mine combines, mechanical picks, conveyers,
transport facilities, etc., have already wrought immense changes in
the mining methods formerly used in the same natural conditions.
Ventilating equipment, good lighting, adequate means of communi
cation (telephone,signalling systems) have also completely transformed
working conditions in the faces. Thanks to mechanisation, and
wide application of mechanical energy in general, there are now
faces 200 metres and more in length. The use of cutters and combines
have made it possible to have linear faces in steeply dipping seams.
The list of such examples could be continued.
Therefore, in planning mechanised coal production, one should
very carefully select a mining method best adaptable to the availa
ble equipment and, conversely, to choose the machinery most suita
ble to the conditions from among that actually in use. In this respect,
mining methods and systems of mechanisation are closely interrelated.
2)6 Choice of Mining Methods and Modes of Extraction
Another basic factor to be considered in selecting a mechanised

method of mining is complex mechanisation, which coordinates the
operations of all mining machines in a given section. The sequence
of operations by machines linked with each other technically or or
ganisationally (for example, cutler or combine, push conveyer in
the face, bell conveyer in the entry and the incline) should cause no
bottlenecks”in the work of machines or continuity of operation
which might result in delays in the work of other equipment or hold
up other operations.
There is no doubt that wider use and improvement of the existing
types of machines for undercutting and cutting coal, its tramming
in production faces and along haulageways and introduction of new
types of equipment, whose employment is imminent, will lead to
the appearance of entirely new mining methods, in addition to those
in existence now.
The factors above should be taken into account in selecting mining
methods. The choice of the method, generally speaking, is a difficult
task which requires a great deal of caution and considerable experi
ence for many of the factors cited are in opposition to each other.
The main aim in selecting an adequate mining method in the condi
tions of the Soviet national economy is achievement of safety and
maximum labour efficiency along with the improvement of working
conditions by the employment of machines and suitable mining methods,
as well as reduction of mineral losses to the minimum.
Below, in describing each individual mining method, we shall
touch upon the influence exerted by all or some of the above-men
tioned factors.
CHAPTER X
GENERAL SURVEY OF COAL SEAM MINING METHODS
1. A Note od (lie Classification of Mining Methods

Classification of mining methods is based on a number of charac
teristics whose essence can be understood only after a study of their
individual types. It is for this reason that the classification of mining
methods itself is given in Chapter XXIV at the end of the book.
2. Fundamentals of Breast-Stoping Methods of Mining

We have learned above that in opening coal seams mine fields,
as a rule, are subdivided into levels.
In the simplest case, the stoping of coal in each flank of a level
with inclined height h can be carried out in one straight stope or
face ab (Fig. 125).
From this production face (wall) there should be two absolutely
free exits, one leading to lower (haulage) entry ac and the other to
upper (ventilating) entry db.
Coal extracted from the wall is delivered to the haulage entry at
point a, whence it goes to the hoisting shaft.
The direction of the working face advance (at the rateof£[m] per
year) is shown in Fig. 125 by an arrow. A mined-out space remains
behind the production face as a result of stoping. Haulage entry ca
and ventilating entry db are protected from rock pressure by coal pil
lars or back filling (Fig. 125).
This method of mining is distinguished by the fact that there is
one production stope or wall, whose length (if one ignores the height
of stub pillars) is equal to the level interval. This method, therefore,
is called longwall mining. In the author’ s opinion, it would be more
convenient to regard this method as a modification of breast stopping
(see below).
Fig. 125, I illustrates an instance of advance mining of a level.
But it is also possible to work a longwall (just as it is in the case of
any other mining methods described below) in the retreating order
of extraction (Fig. 125, II).
218 General Survey of Coal Seam M ining Methods
Since in the latter case

7777777777777777777777777? no development openings
are made in the level
delimited by haulage
* and ventilating entries,
tra asreret V /////S | this presents sufficient
c /7 7 /7 /7 7 ///7 7 /////7 /.
ground, the author
thinks, for including the
^2 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 /^ retreat method of work
ing a longwall in the
n h group of breast-stoping
methods too.
\///////////r//////////. Mining a longwall is an
77777777777777777777777777777777777.
extremely simple oper
F i g . 125. L o n g w a ll m in in g m e th o d s ation. But it is not al
I —advance orderi I I —retreat order
ways possible to work a
level by a wall whose
face extends over its entire height, and then stoping in the level is
done by two (Fig. 126) or several walls. Communications between
these walls and main haulage entry ca are maintained in the fol
lowing manner.
Incline gf and intermediate entry gb are arranged in the worked-out
area. Coal won in upper wall a'b' is passed along the face down to
the intermediate entry, then hauled along to incline gf, whence it
goes to haulage entry ca. Manway eh is usually driven over the entire
height of the level, parallel to the incline. If the type of haulage adopt-
F ig . 126. C o n tin u o u s b r e a st s t o p i n g
Fundam entals o f Breast-Stuping Methods o f M in in g 219
vs;////////////////////////////////////////////////////;
/ n m
Fig. 127. Pillar method of mining
ed in the incline does not interfere with the passage of men, there
may be no need for a special manway, but a manway leading to the
ventilating entry must then be provided in the upper sublevel.
Like main strike entries, inclines, manways and intermediate
entries, made and maintained in mined-out space, are protected by
coal pillars or mine-fill.
As working faces move away from the incline, the intermediate
on tries grow progressively longer, and this increases expenditure for
their upkeep and transport costs. Since intermediate entries pass
through mined-out areas, their maintenance represents a substantial
item of expenditure. To reduce it, new inclines are arranged in worked-
0111 areas as the face advances, while the old ones are abandoned,
us are the sections lying between them in the intermediate entries.

In Fig. 127 abandoned mine workings are depicted by dash lines.
As Fig. 12G shows, there are no development workings in front of
the advancing production faces in the level delineated by the main
level entries. Mining methods possessing this distinctive feature aro
called breast-stoping. A typical example of such a method is given
in Fig. 12G. Inasmuch as working by longwall also conforms to that,
il should be regarded as one of the variants of breast-stoping.
The portions of a level lying between adjacent entries (main and
intermediate) are called sublevels.
Correspondingly, a wall whoso length (as previously, with a
possible corrective for the height of pillars) is equal to the height of
the sublevel is sometimes called wall-sublevel.
Hence the meLhod represented diagrammatically In Fig. 12G is
distinguished by division into sublevels, while there is no such sub
division in that of longwalls.
220 General Survey of Coal Seam Mining Methods
The portion of a level lying between the neighbouring inclines is

lermed production block. When the working face within a level (in
mining a longwall) or within a sublevel (if the level is divided into
sublevels) forms an uninterrupted line it is said to be continuous.
There should be a clear-cut distinction between two concepts:
1) breast-sloping with no development workings driven ahead of
Ilie production face front in the level (this condition does not apply
in the main strike entries); and
2) a continuous face whose definition has just been given.
Continuous production faces (longwalls) may thus be encountered
in the pillar methods of mining too.
3. Definition of Pillar Methods of Mining

One major disadvantage of breast-stoping is the necessity of driv
ing and maintaining mine workings in the midst of worked-out
areas. Generally speaking, this shortcoming is felt the more strongly
(he thicker the coal bed. Because of this, pillar methods are used.
A typical example is given in Fig. 127.
The main feature of the pillar methods of mining is that the de
velopment workings are driven and maintained not in the midst
of mined-out areas, but in the mass of solid coal. To achieve this,
all necessary development workings are prepared in the production
block before stoping operations are started in it.
Fig. 127 shows that, while production block I I I is in the stage of
development, block I I is being stoped, and block / has already been
mined out.
With the pillar method, a level can be divided not only into two
sublevels (see Fig. 127) but into three and more. In this method, each
production block represents a pillar or panel, that is, a solid mass
of coal delimited for subsequent extraction by stoping. Pillars shown
in Fig. 127 are rectangular, extending along the strike. Therefore,
this is a method of long-pillar mining along the strike. There also
are some other, now almost fully abandoned, methods of mining by
long pillars up the dip and pillar-and-stall (Chapter XIII).
The above-cited modifications of breast-stoping (longwalls) and
mining by long pillars along the strike (Fig. 127) are distinguished
by continuous rectilinear production faces (walls) ab, a'b'. Such
faces are of exceptional significance in the case of modern methods of
mechanised stoping with the aid of mine combines or cutting machines
(and also coal planers) and conveyers used in slightly inclined and
sloping coal seams. Working faces may also be rectilinear in high-
pitching seams, when extraction of coal is done by cutting machines,
combines or planers. But, as will be seen below, the present practice
still provides for a wide use of pneumatic picks and overhand slopes.
Definition of Combined Methods of Minin; 221
4. Definition of Combined Methods of Mining

The principal distinction of breasl-stoping is Lhe absence of devel
opment workings in front of working faces (the only exception being
the main level entries), while a feature specific to the pillar or panel
method is the preliminary cutting of coal massifs into pillars or pan
els, which are then stoped out.
There may be methods based on the following principle: sloping
is started directly in production blocks, bill at first the working
faces are not extended over the
entire coal area in the produc \ffiQE72F772f772mr7nF7XP7>[772t77)r7XP7?r7n
tion block, but advanced so T7TT7rrT7TrT7777T7T7
■uA
as to leave coal pillars be
tween worked-out areas, which
are later recovered. A at
Thus, with these methods, a\
extraction of coal in the first
stage does not involve any
J
/ / / / / / / / / ///////////ZA W y E
development work. In this
stage it is done by following F i g . 128. Room-and-pillar method
the principle of breasl-stoping, of mining
while the second stage—pillar
recovery —is typical of Lhe pillar methods of mining. These methods,
therefore, are termed combined.
A typical example of thisgroup of mining methods is that of
pillar-and-stall mining, which has by now almostcompletely
lost its significance (its brief description is given in Chapter
XIV).
The combined group also includes the room-and-pillar method
(Fig. 128). Ils principal feature is that at first sloping operations pro
ceed at the room faces (a) of a production block, usually about 4-7
metres wide. Rib pillars of coal are left in-between and are then
recovered in a retreating order, that is, in the general direction oppo
site to that in which sloping was carried on in Lhe rooms. As will
be seen later, the rooms are made insignificantly wide with Lhe view
to reducing roof pressure. Because of that, the room-and-pillar
method requires narrow or short production faces, as distinct
from the other methods cited above, which require wide or long
faces.
If rib pillars were not recovered after the rooms had been worked,
the method would be called room-mining. However, the method of
room-mining is no longer employed in working coal beds.
222 General Survey of Coal Seam Mining Methods
5. A Note on Methods Used in Mining of High Seams

The methods employed in working thick seams are constructively
more complex.
One oF the main principles underlying the mining of thick coal
beds implies their division into slices usually about 2.5-3 metres
thick, that is, seemingly into individual seams of medium thickness.
Each slice is mined by methods which are used mostly in working
seams of medium thickness, particularly with continuous rectilin
ear faces in slightly inclined deposits, and sometimes with stepped
ones in steeply pitching seams. In this respect, drawing of coal from
continuous faces is also of great importance in mining high seams
by the slicing method.
Thick beds are also mined by methods envisaging no division of
seams into separate slices.
6. Sequence of Describing Methods of Coal Mining

Henceforth we shall keep to the following order in giving detailed
description of coal-mining methods.
Since it is in the continuous faces that stoping operations by the
breasting (longwall) and pillar methods of mining thin and medium-
thick beds, as well as by the methods of working high seams by slic
ing, are chiefly practised, these operations will be covered by a spe
cial chapter (XI).
The group of breast-stoping methods will be discussed in Chapter
XII, pillar methods in Chapter X III and combined methods in Chap
ter XIV. Methods used in mining very thick coal beds are dealt
with in Chapter XV.
Issues concerning the working of groups of two or several contig
uous seams have to be discussed all together, and this is done in
Chapter XXII.
C H A P T E R XI
STOPING IN A CONTINUOUS FACE
A. S L IG H T L Y I N C L I N E D A N D S L O P IN G SE A M S
1. Rock Pressure in a Continuous Face
The active stope area accommodating men and mine equipment is

protected against rock pressure by rows of timber or metal props
which are either adjusted directly under the roof of the seam or bear
the pressure with the aid of cap sills or other elements of timbering
lying close to the roof (see below). In the past, this was commonly re
ferred to as “face man’ s timbering” , since it was mostly the face men
who installed it. Because of mechanised coal production and la
bour differentiation in coal teams or gangs, this term has now become
obsolete, and face timbering is used instead. The latter can support
the roof and prevent it from caving in the immediate vicinity of the
coal face,where the roof of the seam and the rocks overlying it are
held in place chiefly by cohesion with the rocks still resting directly
on the solid mass of coal. At some distance from the breast of the
face, usually within a few metres and depending upon the properties
of rocks, the effect of this cohesion drops to a point where post tim
bering becomes inadequate.
When the excavated area is gobbed up (Fig. 129, 1), rock pressure
is borne by the mass of mine-fill. Where mining involves caving, a
special timbering is 6 et up along the break or rib line. It consists of
wooden or metal cribs, closely spaced rows of posts (Fig. 129, 2),
steel organ timbering of walls and other types of special timbering
(see Section 3).
Special timbering near the face and mine-fill are designed to bear
rock pressure and to protect the active stope area from caving. The
disposition of timbering at the faces, the dimensions of Its elements
and the sequence followed in setting it up are depicted in a drawing
called “ timbering certificate” .
Under consideration at present and undergoing trial tests is an
idea of protecting the stope space with the aid of movable steel shields
Fig. 129 A diagram illustrating protection of an active stope area
I —by prop9 and till; 2—by prop9 and 9pecial timbering; 3—by movable
protective shield; 4—by movable mechanised support timbering
(Fig. 129, 3), and work is being carried on to introduce mechanised

movable timbering (powered movable support) (Fig. 129, 4).
In the case of continuous production faces worked in slightly in
clined and sloping seams, control of wall rock pressure actually boils
down to control of roof rocks or, in short, to roof control.
In order effectively to control the roof one should know the nature
of rock pressure. Let us examine this problem in an elementary
manner conformably to conditions prevailing in continuous work
ing faces during the mining of gently inclined and sloping coal
seams.
In order to open up (or cut up) a continuous face (longwall), through-
cut 1 is pushed forward over its entire length (Fig. 130). Since
the width of this through-cut is insignificant (usually about 2-3 me
tres), even if its roof should cave in (which is naturally inadmissible)
there would be only a small volume of rocks 2 lying under the dome of
natural equilibrium which, according to the well-known theory ad
vanced by M. Protodyakonov, forms in such cases over a mine work
ing, that would actually fall. Consequently, according to this
viewpoint, the pressure of roof rocks on the limbering of a through-
cut cannot exceed the weight
of rocks lying under the dome
of natural equilibrium. Gen
erally speaking, the stronger
the rocks of the roof capping,
that is, the greater the cohe
sion between their particles,
the less this pressure is. With
Fig. 130. Initiation of mining in a con strong rocks it is sometimes
tinuous production face possible to do without any
Rock Pressure in a Continuous Face 225
I I I 1 I
Fig. 131. Diagram illustrating the nature of rock pressure

bearing on the working face with mine-fill
timbering in the through-cut, for there is practically no rock pres

sure there.
Consequently, rock pressure bearing on the working face will be
low at the very start, and if wall rocks are firm it will not manifest
itself at all.
But with the production face advancing into positions 3, 4, etc.,
the span width of the mined-out area will augment, the height of
possible natural equilibrium domes will go on increasing, and so
will pressure on the face timbering.
Subsequently, the nature of rockpressure to which the Limbering near
the working face is subjected will vary, this depending on whether it
is gob that is packed or the capping of the roof that is allowed to fall.
As said above, roof pressure in mining with fill (Fig. 131) is borne
by the latter. But, since
the mine-fill shrinks under Y
the pressure, the roof in
the area near the face is apt
to subside a little. Conse
quently, the pack does not
eliminate rock pressure in a
production face, but only
reduces its intensity and
makes it more uniform.
When roof rocks cave in,
rock pressure proves much
more complex (Fig. 132).
The active face is supported
by face and special timber
ing. Fig. 132 shows special
limbering consisting of a
double row of closely
spaced props—the so-called
organ timbering 1. It also
Fig. 132. Diagram illustrating the nature of
reveals that immediate roof rockpressure bearing on the working face in
3, right behind the organ caving
226 Sloping in a Continuous Face
timbering, has caved in and that break line 2 runs near the organ tim
bering. Consequently, hanging over the production face are the still un
caved rocks of the immediate roof in the shape of back slab 4, the cross-
section of which equals the thickness of rocks constituting the immedi
ate roof and the length is equal to that of the working face. This back
slab is held in place, firstly, by the face timbering and, secondly, by
the forces of cohesion acting along vertical plane xy and involving the
rocks that continue to rest directly upon the coal seam (to the right
of plane xy). Thirdly, there may be some degree of cohesion between
the back slab and overlying rocks 5 along the bedding plane. The
strength of timbering, the physico-mechanical properties of rocks
and the size of the back slab make the relative value of the forces
holding this slab over the stoping area vary substantially. At any
rale, the wider the back slab, that is, the distance between the rock
Fig. 133. Diagram illustrating roof control by artificial caving
break line and the coal face, the weaker the holding effect of cohesive
forces acting along plane xy (as in the instance of a cantilevel beam
where, all other conditions being equal, the deflection of its end por
tion is proportional to the length to the beam itself). Therefore,
the greater the distance between the production face and the rock
break line and the special timbering, the larger, generally speaking,
is the rock pressure exercised upon the timbering installed in the
active stope face area. To reduce this pressure the roof should be al
lowed to fall or, in other words, to cave in. The idea behind this method
is as follows (Fig. 133). When the coal face is moved away from the
roof break line and special timbering 1 to a distance where it becomes
necessary to proceed with fresh caving of the roof, a new row of spe
cial limbering 2 is set up (by the transfer or, at least, partial removal
of posts from old row 1). Between rows 1 and 2 the timbering is pulled
out (see Section 5, below) and then the roof rocks over this area are
allowed to cave in, with the break line running near the new line
of the special timbering (dash line in Fig. 133). After the caving,
(he width of the back slab is reduced and its pressure on the face
limbering is weakened.
In this case, roof control is thus effected by artificial caving. A more
detailed description of this operation is given below, in Section 5.
The distance between each artificial or induced caving of the roof

is termed caving space interval or run. When coal is extracted by cut
ting machines or combines, this interval or distance is usually deter
mined by the number of cuts. Hence such a commonly used expression
as “ caving interval after one cut or after three cuts” . The more solid
the rocks, the bigger the caving interval. Caving after one cut is
practised when the roof is poor and, especially, loose.
If the roof is not allowed to fall in proper time, the pressure exert
ed by the back slab may grow strong enough to destroy the face
timbering and may eventually lead to the spontaneous caving of
the roof over the face area, that is, the “ rib”or break line of the roof
will run in the immediate vicinity of the coal face. This would mean
a breakdown in the production face, a fact that lays particular stress
on the necessity for the timely artificial caving of the roof, with its
space interval arranged on the basis of previous practical experi
ence and in conformity with the local conditions.
In the initial period of the operation in the wall, that is, when the
face has not yet advanced too far from the through-cut (see Fig.130),
the roof of the seam rests on coal on two sides.
In these conditions, induced caving of the roof is a rather difficult
task and the run or interval of the first caving is made larger than
normal and, if necessary, blasting is resorted to to induce the roof to
settle.
Fig. 132 is illustrative of a particular yet very typical case when
an immediate roof, falling directly after artificial caving, is over
laid with thick strata 5 of harder rocks (the immediate roof, for exam
ple, includes clay shales, with capping of sandstone or limestone stra
tum). Hard rocks then do not fall in during induced caving but, like
back slabs, hang over the mined-out area. As the stoping advances,
these slabs grow bigger until they eventually become subject to spon
taneous caving, which, involving large rock masses and spreading
over considerable areas, is attended by rock vibrations and sound
effects—rumbling and bumps of exfoliating, fracturing and brusquely
subsiding rocks. The intensity of these phenomena vary widely, de
pending on the bedding succession and physico-mechanical proper
ties of the rocks. This periodic spontaneous fall and subsidence of
rocks lying directly over the immediate roof is called secondary caving.
The overhanging solid rock masses in worked-out spaces may
cause rock bursts. At the back of this phenomenon lies the fact that
coal lumps (as well as other minerals) suddenly break off and fall
from the face breasts and the walls of mine workings, the timbering
collapses, the coal pillars become crushed and the workings deformed
and even destroyed, etc. All this is accompanied by strong sound
effects and proceeds extremely rapidly, explosion-like. Rock bursts
may be attended by local earthquakes on the surface.
Mock bursts are a 11 rihuled to the following causes. Rocks in the

earth’ s crust are usually under a constant stress, and this stress in
creases with depth. When the working seam is topped by a stratum
of firm rocks, they sometimes hang over large mined-out areas with
out falling. But their huge weight passes onto the protective pil
lars that happen to be in the worked-out area and onto the edges of
solid coal masses surrounding it, Lhis giving rise to elevated bearing
pressure. In the case of strong coal, before its block edges are crushed,
l bey become subject to such high stresses and accumulate so much
potential energy of elastic compression that the destruction of coal
is accompanied by rock bursts. In the U.S.S.R. they are common
place in the mines of the Kizel coal fields where coal and country
rocks are so much stronger than in our other basins.
Fig 134. Rork pressure control by gradual settling of the roof
To avoid the hazards of rock bursts, coal pillars should not be left
in worked-out areas, and rib fills or pack walls should be built in
stead (see Section 4. below). Strike entries running ahead of the face
should be supported by reinforced timbering over a distance of up
to 50 metres. Roof control requires partial fill.
Sometimes, when large rock masses subside suddenly, the second
ary caving may be so violent that considerable volumes of air are
instantaneously pushed from the goaf into the adjacent mine work
ings, causing air blasts that knock men off their feet or expose them
to injuries by flying objects.
Such phenomena are usually preceded by warning signals in the
form of rumblings or bumps coming from worked-out spaces. When
these signals come, the men should be immediately removed to a
safe place.
When a seam is topped by unfirm rocks with more or less same prop
erl ies, secondary cavings usually do not occur.
Prior to falling, roof rocks as a rule sag or deflect. Therefore, if
the seam is low, the roof may come down to the bottom before it
actually starts to cave in (Fig. 134). The convergence of the roof and
bottom may also be facilitated by the heaving of the latter. In such
conditions it may be superfluous to induce the caving of the roof.
Rock pressure control on the basis of this phenomenon is called grad

ual roof settling.
If, along with the gradual settlement of the roof, local conditions
allow its periodic caving, the area near the working space must lie
protected by special timbering.
Of great interest is the relationship between rock pressure in the
wall and its length. The following considerations may be set forth
in this respect.
As slated above, one of the forces keeping the roof in its position
is the cohesion of rocks hanging over the mined-out area along plane
xy (see Fig. 132) with those still borne
by the unextracted coal block. In this
sense, intact coal serves as a support
for the roof rocks.
If we take circular area 1 (Fig. 135)
with its centre in the middle of the
face, unextracted coal supporting the
roof will occupy half of this area.
If we take similar areas on both ends
of the face, the supporting coal sur
face at lower end 2 will occupy 0.75
and at the upper end of face 3—0.25 of
the same circular area. Hence, as com
pared to the central portion of the 2 V#//////////////.
wall, the roof pressure near its lower
end is smaller and at the upper one—
greater. The effect of the specific con
ditions of support at the ends of the Fig. 135. Diagram illustrating
face on the stability of the roof reveals the difference between rock pres
itself over a certain distance along sure in the centre and at the
(he length of the wall, depending on ends of a longwall
the firmness of rocks. The weaker and
the more susceptible they are to caving, the shorter (he distance.
For average conditions in coal mines, this distance ranges from 10 (o
20 metres. Hence the very important conclusion that it is only in
very short walls lhal the special conditions at the ends of the face
can substantially influence rock pressure. In a wall of considerable
length —100, 200 or 300 metres—rock pressure will remain uniform
everywhere except at its ends. An increase in the volume of work done
in a longwall will naturally complicate rock pressure control
therein.
The phenomena characterising rock pressure at the production
face should be viewed in their dynamic development. The advance of
a coal face causes roof pressure at a given point of the inined-out
area to change. For example, a post that is sufficiently strong while
2:;o Sloping in a Continuous Face
standing at, the coal face may break if the distance between it and the
face increases.
We have already seen how rock pressure may be reduced by the
timely artificial caving of roof rocks. We have also explained why the
first artificial caving of the roof is usually more difficult than the
subsequent, etc. Therefore, a clear and adequate idea of rock pressure
may be gained only if we take due account of the dynamic changes
attending these phenomena.
The phenomena of rock pressure appear to have a dynamic nature
even if the face remains stationary. Experience shows that in a sta
tionary stope the rocks, as a rule, become settled. This means that
roof rocks continue slowly to sag, exfoliate and fracture, and fall
down in small lumps. In the end, rocks in a stationary stope may be
come so loose that they will start to cave in. Stoppage of a face is
particularly undesirable when the roof is made up of argillaceous
rocks, all the more so if there is water. Restarting operations in pro
duction stopes that have been inactive for a long time may lead to
serious difficulties. Therefore, faces kept in reserve for a long time
in conformity with the operational plans of the mine or stopped tem
porarily for some reason should be periodically refreshed, that is,
advanced over a short distance so as to eliminate the hazards of rock
settling. Hence the rapid advance of working faces, very advanta
geous in general, is also favoured in the case under discussion. What
we have said above also makes It clear that, all other conditions
being equal, the higher the rate of face advance the greater the adopt
ed space interval or run of induced roof caving.
Let us now pass to the systematic description of mining operations
in a continuous production wall.
2. Extraction of Coal
At present coal extraction in continuous faces of thin and medium
seams can be fully mechanised by the use of coal cutters, com
bines, coal ploughs, air hammers, and by blasting.
Normally, cutting machines are used to make a lower or toe cut
in the seam (Fig. 136) to facilitate the breaking of coal. The depth
of the cut ordinarily ranges between 1.5
and 2.4 metres, the height between 12 and
14 centimetres. In individual instances,
when the kerf is made in a soft coal bench
or a rock interlayer, the first cut is
made in the centre. But this is less effect
ive, for it makes the subsequent break
ing of the ground coal band more diffi
Fig. 13G. Toe cut cult.
Extraction of Coal 2.31
F ig . 137. rTK -35 coal culler
If, on account of structure features and the physical properties

of the seam, coal is apt to fall immediately after being undercut, the
cut should be secured by placing posts or punch props in it.
The designs of Soviet cutting machines have been modified and
improved in the past two decades. Faces of slightly sloping seams
are today worked by mining machines provided with bars. It depends
on the thickness of the seam and the hardness of the kerf whether
310-mm-high coal band-cutting machines (ITK-35, FTK-3m) or
the more powerful ones KIIM-2 and MB-60, 375-400 mm high, are
used.
Coal cutter rT K - 3 5 (Gorlovka heavy-duty, rope coal cutters with
motor capacity of 35 kw, Fig. 137) makes it possible to change the
cutler feed rate in the course of operation within the range of 0 .2 -0 .4-
0.6-0. 8 m/min, has a drawing pull of up to 5 tons and is provided
with a spiral gummer. The overall dimensions of the machine are:
length—2.7 metres, width—0.7 metre, height—310 mm; weight—
2 . 6 tons. Feed rate of the machine during manipulations is 12 m/min.
Our mines make a wide use of the powerful KMI1 (Kopeisk powerful
pulsing feed, models 1 and 2) (Fig. 138),coal cutler, manufactured
by the Kirov Mine Engineering Works at Kopeisk in the Urals. It
is furnished with the so-called “ pulsing”mechanism to change the
feed rate in the course of operation. Its principal characteristics are:
continuous per hour motor power output—47 kw, the range of opera
tional feed rates—0 -0 . 8 6 m/min, travel speed during manipulations —
8 . 6 m/min, draw pull of 5 tons when operating at full capacity,
length of the bar—1.6-2. 8 metres, trim-chain speed rate—1.07-1.12
Stuping in a Continuous Face
m/sec; overall dimensions: length (gummer)—3.14 metres, width—

850 mm, height—375 mm; weight—3.3 tons.
Another powerful coal cutter (MB-60) with a 60- or 65-kw motor
is at present used in making starting cuts in seams with hard coal,
ns well as a ground structure for coal mine combines.
The MB-60 has a device capable of changing feed rates in the run
ning machine within the range of 0.27-0.54-0.81-1.08 m/min, travel
speed during manipulations—14.5 m/min, length of the bar—2 -2 . 8
metres, trim chain speed rate—1.9 m/sec. The draw pull at full load —
7 tons. The machine is provided with a spiral gummer. The overall
lengLh—3.13 metres (without gummer), width—740 mm, height-
400 mm; weight—3.5 Ions.
Many coal-cutter operators in the Donets, Kuznetsk and other
coal fields have raised their monthly productivity to 15,000-18,000
Ions of coal per machine. The record is held by G. Lyashenko of the
Zhdanov Mine in the Karaganda basin.Working in a coal wall in
accordance with a cyclic operation schedule, Lyashenko attained the
unheard-of production figure of 32,000 tons of coal a month. Coal
cutter operators S. Tomashevsky and I. Mozgovoi raised the monthly
output of coal per one coal-cutting machine MB-60 at the Lutugin
Mine in the Donets basin to 20,000-23,000 tons.
The machines described above are normally used to make a toe
cut. For central cuts they have to be set on a frame made of angle
and channel bars.
As a rule, undercut coal is broken with the aid of small charges of
explosives (usually two-three permissible cartridges). More often
than not holes are bored by electric drills (augers). Only soft grades
of coal are broken with the aid of pneumatic coal hammers.
Fig. 138. KflM-2 coal cutter

Extraction of Coal
The facemen engaged in breaking coal shovel il onto conveyers.

Output per faceman shift varies approximately from 3-4 to 15 tons,
depending on the thickness of a given seam and the hardness of coal
Thus, mechanisation in a working face using a coal cutter is at a
very high level and coal is transported with the aid of a conveyer.
However, coal is broken and loaded in this case hy facemen by hand.
This has raised the question of mechanising coal-loading opera
tions.
The simplest way of mechanising the operation of loading coal
onto a conveyer in working walls of gently sloping seams is to use a
cutting-loading machine (BI1M). This is an ordinary coal culler,
though equipped with an additional arrangement for loading coal
(Fig. 139) in the form of a detachable share or mouldboard, that is,
a bent steel sheet that can be bolted to the bar. The cutter-loader
operates in conjunction with a rigidly built drag-link conveyer
(CTP-30). The cutting-loading machine can move alongside the con
veyer (Fig. 139) or directly on it. In the latter case it is somewhat
tilled. Since the machine is suitable only for loading loose coal,
coal excavation in a wall proceeds in the following manner: after
a cut is made, coal at the face is blasted, with about one-fourth of
the coal undercut being thrown spontaneously onto the conveyer.
About half of the coal is loaded onto the conveyer with the aid of
the above-mentioned mouldboard. The remaining one-fourth must
he shovelled onto the conveyer by hand, this being the principal
2'M Sloping in a Continuous Face
disadvantage of the machine discussed. The thickness of the seam

should not be less than 0.9 metre.
This naturally has stimulated invention and construction of coal
mining combines, that is, of units capable of undercutting, breaking
and loading of coal onto conveyers by a single mechanised operation.
The U.S.S.R. is first in the world in the invention, construction and
practical utilisation of coal combines. The first combine for long-
walls, designed by Bakhmutsky, was built in 1934.
Since in conditions prevailing at working faces coal can be loaded
mechanically only if it is broken into relatively small pieces, the
F ig. 140. C u t s m a d e b y th e D o u b a s c o a l c o m b i n e
cuts made by combines must be of a more complex shape. For instance,

the Donbas combine makes a looplike cut by its trim chains and
inside this cut there is another, made by the cutting bar and toothed
disks fitted on it (Fig. 140). Because of this the amount of fines made
by combines in the process of undercutting and breaking coal is
greater than when coal cutters are used, and this is a shortcoming
of the types of the combines currently in use.
The Donbas coal-mining combine (Figs 141, 142), designed by the
State Prize winners engineers A. Sukach, M. Gorshkov and V. Kho-
rin, has gained wide popularity in recent years. The operating part
of the combine comprises a circular bar with a trim chain and a rod
with cutting disks, which make vertical cuts to split the coal band
delimited by the circular bar cut.
Coal dust or gum carried by the trim chain of the bar is accumulated
in the housing of the gummer, which then loads it onto the face con
veyer. The length of the bar and the rod that determines the width
of the coal band extracted by the combine varies from 1.4 to 2 metres.
Circular bars are manufactured 710, 830 and 1,000 mm in height and
are mounted on the combine in conformity with the thickness of the
seam. In seams more than 1.4 metres thick, an articulated collapsible
Extraction of Coal 2'tr>
F ig 141 Donbas coal combine
F ig 142 Donbas coal combine at a coal lace

2.1(1 Sloping in a Continuous Face
Fig. 143. Articulated collapsible bar
contour bar is used, as proposed by the staff of the Kirov Mine in the
Kuznetsk coal basin (Fig. 143). The height of Ihe bar in the operating
posilion ranges from 1.3 up to 1.65 metres, depending upon the size
of the interchangeable insert in ils vertical arm, with the grab
(cut) l.G metres wide. The trim chain speed rale in all the bars is
2.14 m /sec.
A circular scraper loader, its chain driven by an independent 13-kw
molor, is mounted at some distance from the bar and the cutler
breaking rod.
In Karaganda, slice mining at the “ Verkhnaya Marianna”seam is
successfully done by twin (coupled) Donbas combines, which extract
slices 2.5-3.0 metres thick. The loaders of the twin combine are
powered by a 35-kw motor.
The main electric motor of the combine, which drives the operat
ing mechanism and the feeding arrangement, has a capacity of
65 kw. The feeding rate varies stepwise, depending upon the hardness
of coal, within the range of 0.27-0.54-0.81-1.08 m/min.; the idle
travel speed of the combine is constant—14.5 m/min. The overall
dimensions of the Donbas-1 combine are: length in the operating
position—4.6 metres; width—0.72 metre and in the position of idle
travel—0 . 8 6 metre.
To prevent the formation of gum and dust, the combine is fur
nished with a spraying device consisting of five to seven pulverisers
located in places where dust accumulates most. Water is supplied
under a head of 4-5 atm to the pulverising nozzles by a pump with a
Extraction of Coal 237
capacity of 20 litres per minute (powered by a 4.2-kw motor), placed

in an entry, through a 16-mm bore flexible hose and a filter and pip
ing on the combine. The consumption rate of 3-4 litres/min per
pulveriser is sufficient to reduce the dust level in the face near the
combine 6 - to 1 0 -fold and thus substantially improve hygienic condi
tions there.
The Donbas combine is designed to mechanise the mining of
soft and semihard coal in seams not less than 0 . 8 metre thick.
There are several improved types of the Donbas-1 combine put
out for mining seams varying in thickness from 0.8 to 2.5 metres,
with the range of 1 .2 , 1 . 6 and 2 metres.
Fig. 142 illustrates how the Donbas-1 combine is operated in face
with metal posts.
The Donbas combine is a highly efficient machine. At No.
31 mine of the Karaganda coal field, operators F. Bushchinsky and
V. Velichko produced on the average 24,690 tons of coal a month
in 1955, raising the output to a new height of 27,031 tons in December
of that year. At that time this was a record.
In 1954 the Kirov Machine-Building Works in Gorlovka put out
the new Donbas-2 combine. The capacity of its main motor was
120 kw and that of the loader—35 kw, the operating voltage amounting
to GGO.Tested in one of the hard-anthracite seams of No. 13
Ayutinskaya Mine of the Rostov coal fields, the combine showed it
could develop a high efficiency, while the Donbas-1, in similar
conditions, proved to be totally unsuitable. The Donbas-2 combine
has been put into serial production.
By its general construction, the Gornyak combine (Fig. 144)
is analogous to the Donbas model, but it is intended chiefly for min
ing seams 0.6-0.85 metre thick containing soft and semihard coal
F i g . 144. G o r n y a k c o a l c o m b i n e
and may also be used for hard coal seams, provided the coal contained
therein is subject to delamination. The design of the machine is some
what simpler. Its overall dimensions: length in the operating posi
tion—4.9 metres; width—750 mm; height—400 mm; weight—about
7 tons.
The Shakhtyor coal combine is also similar to the Donbas, but it
can operate in low (0.5-0.75 metre) seams. It makes but one loop
like cut. Crushed coal and gum are carried out of the opening slot
by the lower branch of the trim chain. Loosened coal is either disin
tegrated during the operation of the trim chains or broken into small
pieces by the scrapers of the gum loader. Broken coal and coal dust
are loaded onto a conveyer by the trim chain and gumstower. The
overall length of the Shakhtyor coal combine is 3.8 metres, its width—
0.76 metre, gross weight—3.5 tons, motor capacity with continuous
rating—47 kw, output—up to 45 tons per hour.
In 1951 a State Prize was awarded to a group of designers headed
by A. Gridin for inventing and introducing theyKT-1 coal-mining
combine (for thin seams), in production faces of low, slightly sloping
coal beds 0.45-0.7 metre thick (Fig. 145).
The operating mechanism of the YKT combine consists of four
bits 1 with blades 2 and jumpers. The blades separate coal from the
face surface without making any starting slots, thus reducing power
consumed in loosening and breaking it. Behind the bits, in the oper
ating mechanism guides, runs trim and gathering chain 3 provided
with teeth and blades attached to individual cams which, when the
chain moves, grab coal and load it onto a face conveyer.
The chain is driven by a sprocket fixed to the spindle of the last
bit, and its lower branch moves from the face towards the conveyer,
thus ensuring the loading of loosened coal by the bit blades, while
some of it is brought onto the conveyer by the bits themselves.
Fig. 145. yKT coal com b in e

F ig . 146. y K M I coal combine
As required by the thickness of the seam, the machine is furnished

with a corresponding set of operating mechanism parts, thus securing
a coal-breaking height of 0.45-0.5-0.6 or 0.65 metre. Each set of
bits allows the coal-breaking height to vary within a range of 50 mm
with the aid of the teeth and the trim and gathering chain.
The feeding and power units in the combine are those from the
KMI1-1 or TTK-35 coal-cutting machines. In the first case the con
tinuous rating (per hour) of the motor is 47 kw, in the second—35 kw.
The feed rates of the running machines vary correspondingly—in
the first instance infinitely within the range of 0 to 0 . 8 6 m/min,
in the second—stepwise in the sequence of 0.2-0.4-0.6-0.8 m/min.
The width of a coal strip drawn by the YKT-1 combine is 1.4 me
tres. The new YKT-2 model is designed to draw a strip 1.65 metres
wide. The angle of the seam pitch may be as great as 20-23°. The
travel of the machine within the area of the strip under extraction
appreciably reduces the width of the working space, though a roof
surface of up to 1 0 sq m remains unsupported immediately over the
combine. The overall operating dimensions of the machine; length —
3.1 metres, width—1.6 metres, height—0.45-0.65 metre, weight—
4-4.12 tons.
In 1952 the Gorlovka Machine-Building Works put out a pilot and
in 1953 a serial lot of two YRMT coal-mining combine models
(coal combine for low seams at the Gorlovka Mine) (Fig. 146), intended
for working thin coal seams. The operating mechanism in this ma
chine is constituted by two cutting bars, placed one above the other
with a cutting disk in-between. A double-articulated link chain of
the lower bar grabs loosened coal and gum when moving in the direc-
lion opposite lo Ilint of the I rim chain in ordinary coal cutters, and
loads them onlo a face conveyer.
When Ihe range is 1.45-1.65 metres deep, the feeding rates in a
running machine vary from 0 . 2 to 0 . 8 m/min and the continuous
(per hour) rating of the electric motor equals 35 kw, the output of
Ihe combine is from 10 to 54 tons/hour, depending on the thickness
of the seam.
The overall dimensions of the machine in the operating position:
length—3.3 metres, width—0.72 metre, height—0.31 metre, weight
—3.3 tons. The combine may be operated in a small unsupported
area and is employed in seams of
irregular thickness, from 0.38 me
tre up.
Original in design is the oper
ating mechanism of the BOM-2
mine combine (cutter-breaker, mod
el 2) built by State Institute
for Designing Coal Equipment
(Fig. 147). The position of the
BOM combine in the wall is seen in
Fig. 148. It makes vertical cutting
slots of up to 2 . 8 metres in height
and 130-140 mm in width. Coal
Fig. 147. Cut ntado by the BOM bands 0.3 metre thick, formed be
cutter-breaker tween the cuts, are loosened up and
the coal lumps are loaded onto a
face conveyer by a mouldboard or a circular flight loader (in the
latest model of the BOM-2m combine). The machine cuts coal in
strips 0.9 metre wide and is used in soft and semihard coal seams
not less than 1.5 metres thick, chiefly in the Moscow coal fields.
Mine combines may also be employed in sloping seams, but their
employment in such cases is distinguished by a number of specific
features (Fig. 149). To prevent it from falling when pull rope 5 is
ruptured, the combine is tied by safety rope 4 to drum 6 of special
hoist 7. Broken coal slides down immediately and for that reason the
machine has no loader and there is no conveyer in the face. The func
tions of the other parts of the unit are explained in Fig. 149.
On the suggestion of the State Institute for Designing Coal Equip
ment, a new method of mechanised coal drawing with the aid of
coal ploughs was tried in continuous walls after the Great Patriotic
War. Moving along the face, the coal plough cuts coal 0.6-0.7 metre
high and 20-25 cm thick.
The set of mechanical equipment in a coal-plough-worked wall
(Fig. 150) includes: coal plough 1—a heavy-duty (weighing about
3 tons) steel casting in the shape of a share with cutters of special
1‘
V 1-lK. lIu .M ".ll cil l l l l j i no
F i g . 149. C o m b i n e o p e r a t i n g in a s l o p i n g s e a m wall
l —coupline device; 2—control desk: 3—movable corner post: /—safety ropei 5—load
llnei 6—safety rope drum; 7— hoist; S —load line drum; 9—support for securing tde
bolsti 10 —magnetic starter; 11 —spraying pump; 12—face tray (left)
9
Fig. 150. Production face worked by a coal plough
2\\ Sloping in a Continuous Face
steel inserted into il for loosening coal; flight conveyer 2, which

is used not only to transport coal but also to steer the plough; two
slow-speed hoists ■ '} set up in entries to pull the ropes propelling the
plough; and pneumatic jacks 4 to facilitate shifting conveyers to the
face. The coal plough is supplied with mouldboards to load coal onto
a conveyer, and moves along the wall at a speed of 6 - 8 m/min. After
each run of the plough the conveyer is shifted to the face by jacks
thrust against the supporting metal posts.
Field trials have shown that these coal ploughs are capable of
operating in very soft coal only, in seams whose occurrence is uni
form and roof and bottom rocks sufficiently stable and firm. With
the width of the coal plough equalling 0.43 metre, that of conveyer—
0.7 metre and the space between timber rows—1 metre, the untim-
bered portion of the active slope area is up to 2 . 1 metres wide, and that
is inadmissible in the case of rocks of medium stability. This leads
Lo difficulties in roof control, and the lime lost on account of the
frequent shiflings of the conveyer makes it impossible to produce
large quantities of coal. That is why coal ploughs of this type have
as yet found very liLLle practical application.
In recent years, however, high-speed coal ploughs have been uti
lised on an increasing scale.
In the U.S.S.R., a combined coal plough of this type has been
proposed in the Kuznetsk coal fields by the Stazhevsky brothers
Fig. 151. Coal plough designed by the Stazhevsky brothers

(Fig. 151), while abroad

wide use is made of Weslfa-
lia-Liinen coal ploughs
(Fig. 152).
In high-speed coal
ploughs, the culling mecha
nism is not filled with
smoolh blades, bul with
massive leelh welded on
wilh a hard alloy and used
for dislodging coal from the
surface of a face by cuts
Fig. lo2. Weslfalia-Liinen coal plough
50-100 mm deep. Moving
along the face with a speed
of 30-45 m/min, the plough removes coal strips almost over the
entire thickness of the bed with the draw pull under load of up
to 7-10 tons.
Both the above-mentioned and the high-speed coal ploughs cut
coal by pressing their leelh or blades against the breast of the face
under the effect of draw pull transmitted through a rope or chain.
It is common, therefore, to designate these ploughs as static.
After each cut the whole unit is moved nearer to the face breast
by special mechanisms which, in the home-made KC-2 plough, are
actuated through the idle running line passed over the by-pass rol
lers at the end sections of the plough unit conveyer.
During the test-trials of the K.C-1 and KC-2 strippers at a seam
wilh sufficiently viscid coal at the Kirov Mine in the Kuznetsk coal
fields the face advance in individual shifts was as high as 1 .8 -2 .3
metres.
Coal literature reveals that in May 1954 there were 72 coal ploughs
working in West-German mines, their daily output being 30,000 tons.
In England, at the end of 1953, there were high-speed ploughs
in operation in nine longwalls and ordinary static ploughs in
ten.
The tendency to extend the field of coal plough application to
viscid and harder coals has resulted in the construction of percussive
(thrust) and vibration action coal ploughs. Such strippers were tested
both in our and German and English mines, but as there is insuffici
ent field experience it is as yet premature to speak of any extensive
application of this type of equipment.
Seams with soft coal can be worked with coal hammers. In
practical use today are only air hammers, since the persistent
attempts (of Prof. Shmargunov and other inventors) to design
and utilise electric coal hammers in coal mines have so far remained
unsuccessful.
3. W o r k i n g F a c e T im b e r in g
It is above all from the viewpoint of safety that the timbering of

working faces fully conforming to the pressure and properties of
rocks acquires particular importance. An analysis of the causes un
derlying accidents in mines shows that a large proportion of them
are due to the falling lumps or blocks of the useful mineral or barren
rocks. Besides, since cavings occur over considerable areas, a pro
duction face may become a scene of mass accidents.
Special safety measures should be taken in the case of rocks split
by cleat planes, fissures or made of blocks which detach easily from
the solid mass in places where the surfaces are glossy and slippery.
Posts, cap or head boards and laggings of timber sets should be placed
so as to eliminate any possibility of roof falls. Particular attention
should be attached to sites marked by geological disturbances,
where rocks are less rigid than is usually the case. One safeguard
against mass cavings in work places is adequate roof control. Working
at the face, the gang leader and the miners, as well as the technical
supervising staff, should be on a lookout for any signs of impending
caving in the roof and on the face breast, check up on the firmness
of the roof by lapping it and, when necessary, set up additional,
reinforcing timbering.
Since huge and ever-increasing amounts of coal are mined in the
U.S.S.R., the use of timber sets at production faces represents an
extremely big drain on timber resources. For (his reason metal sets
are used on an ever wider 6 cale both in production and development
mine workings.
Let us first discuss the timber and then the metal supports of work
ing faces.
The space immediately adjoining a working face is limbered by •
posts or props.
Posts are placed along the wall in regular rows, this being absolute
ly indispensable when coal cutters, mine combines and conveyers
are operated at the face.
It is only when the roof is very firm that the ends of the posts can
be blocked directly against the roof. Almost invariably, however,
practice calls for putting head boards made of wood slabs, sawed
lumber and even round timbers, between the posts and the roof,
this depending on the properties of and pressure by rocks.
The cap or head boards may be placed along the wall (Fig. 153)
or perpendicular to it (Fig. 154).
In Lhe first case, slabs used for cap boards overlap each other and
are supported by a common prop at their ends. When timber is heavi
er, sawed or round, the head boards meet end to end and the ends are
supported by extra posts.
S .c$
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248 Stoping in a Continuous Face
Disposition of head boards along the wall has a number of substan

tial disadvantages:
1) Development of rock pressure within the area of an active face
usually causes fissures along it. In order to prevent rocks from break
ing away as the result of that, the head boards should not be placed
parallel but across these fissures.
2) The part of the face area immediately adjoining it is devoid of
all support.
3) The spacing of timber rows, though conforming to the size
of equipment used at the face, that is, coal cutters, mine combines,
conveyers, etc., may at the same Lime be undesirable from the stand
point of roof stability.
For this reason it is a much more frequent practice to place the
head boards perpendicular to the face (Fig. 154). Two posts are usual
ly wedged under and against the head board (the so-called frame sets).
The width of the frame (/) should be sufficient to permit setting up
conveyer a. When coal cutter b passes at a given point of the face
head board end c, adjacent to the face breast, is forced into coal.
After that a prop is set up right next to the coal surface. Sometimes
these frames are arranged in a somewhat different way (II).
The size of timber and the number of posts set up on the average at
intervals of one sq metre depend on the thickness of the seam and rock
pressure. The props are usually 10-20 cm thick. As stated above, the
distance between posts in a frame set should be sufficient to allow the
installation of a conveyer. When coal cutters are used at the face,
the disposition of the Limbering should be brought into line with the
depth of the cut.
The distance between frame sets is determined by the firmness of
rocks: the weaker the rocks the closer the spacing of the sets.
When the roof is so weak that rock pieces fall down through
the interstices of head boards, additional laggings (thin slabs) are
placed against the roof, their ends over the top of head boards.
The ordinary face timbering of longwalls serviced by conveyers in
slightly sloping seams, described above, is inconvenient because the
conveyer has to be dismantled (unbolted) before it is shifted to a new
position. This disadvantage may be eliminated by the use of the fol
lowing type of timbering (Fig. 155). The head boards should be
sufficiently long to allow posts 1 and 2 to be blocked under both ends
of head boards when the conveyer is in position ki. Before the convey
er is placed in the next position, ki, new head boards b are put in
place, their ends extending far beyond the ends of the first head board
set, a. After this posts 3 are set up and posts 2 are pulled out, this
allowing sufficient room for the transfer of the conveyer which then
can be shifted to a new position without being unbolted. Therein
lies the main feature of the method under consideration. But it can
Working Face Timbering 249
be used only in the case of very rigid rocks, which make it possible
to set up widely spaced timberings and regularly shift and reset
the props.
In Section 1 of this chapter we learned that caving methods in
mining involve setting up special limbering in addition to that put
up directly at the coal face. Here we shall dwell on some details.
A timber crib consists of sticks arranged as shown in Fig. 156.
As a rule, cribs are made by laying props similar to those used in
supporting working faces, though sometimes other types of timber
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F ig . 155. Face-timber allowing a conveyer to be shifted
are also employed (very often partly broken timber obtained when
repairing development openings). Ordinarily, a crib is laid near the
earlier installed props of the face timbering. To make it stable, the
crib is wedged, but the wedges should be driven between the posts
and nol between the crib and the roof, since in the latter case the con
tact surface between the crib and the roof would be smaller, and this
would weaken the roof support. As will be seen later, in most cases
cribs have to be shifted from place to place, and to facilitate their
dismantling they are underlaid with pieces of rock. To make the cribs
fall apart, these rocks are broken.
Cribs are arranged in single or double rows along the working face,
usually at intervals of about 1-2 metres and more (up to 7 metres),
depending upon the pressure and stability of the roof and the thick
ness of the seam.
Where induced caving is practised, the space between crib runs is
determined by the caving interval or rate. When no caving is induced
by pulling out Limber, spacing is determined purely empirically, on

the basis of accumulated experience. More often than not the inter
vals range between 2 and 8 metres. It is only natural that in one and
Ihe same wall the space between cribs varies along with the operating
conditions. The necessity of setting up a new row of cribs comes with
the increase in roof pressure.
In most inslances, the building of a new crib row implies simulta
neous demolition of the old ones, and that is the reason why cribs
/AU. are shifted. This is usually started with the
ft top cribs.
C D In addition to systematic cribbing, there are
c 3 extra individual cribs set up, as the need
77^77777777777^77 arises, in places where, for one reason or
another, roof pressure increases abnormally.
lzi
___ Da, The above-mentioned close-set rows of
posts are called organ timbering.
The posts usually have to be arranged in
double rows, less frequently in single or triple
rows. In these the posts almost touch each
Fig 156. Crib other. Where pulling out or knocking out of
timber is practised, passageways for men, not
less than 0 . 8 metre wide, are left in the organ timbering at inter
vals of not more than five metres. In seams about one metre
thick one worker sets and blocks in place between 80 and 1 2 0 organ
timbering posts in a shift.
Very often the practice provides for a limited use of organ timber
ing without cribs. Sometimes groups of closely spaced posts (clusters)
are set up instead of cribs.
Preference is shown to organ timbering and post clusters because
post timbering is rigid compared to cribbing which, to some degree,
is yieldable, compressing and decreasing in height when pressed upon
by the weight of the roof because the timber sticks piled one on top
of the other crumple up where their points meet. Rigidity is a posi
tive property that helps to obtain a good break line in rocks when
the roof caves in.
On the other hand, cribs withstand side pressures better
than the posts. To make cribs more rigid, they are built of
timber sticks slightly bevelled on both sides or even of heavy
planks.
Prior to proceeding with artificial caving, special timbering is
set as close to the face as possible, but with sufficient room to allow
the passage of a mine combine or coal cutter and the installation of a
conveyer after the roof has been settled. The posts and cribs should
be arranged in a straight line along the face, this being of importance
not only for facilitating the mining of alougwall with the aid of mine
i
Sections and plans for mine timberinn
set- ups in sloping operation y
Fig 157. Coal-face support in a mine of the

Moscow coal fields
combines, coal cut tors and especially conveyers, but also for obtaining
an adequale break line in the roof when it caves in.
Wall rocks in the coal seams in the Moscow basin are distinguished
by their low mechanical strength, and because of that the working
faces are subject Lo high rock pressure and require strong support.
The timbering in the area near the face is made of a row of frame
sets with caps running perpendicular to the coal face.
Fig. 157 depicts a typical example of a timbering method employed
for supporting the area near the working face in the Moscow coal
fields. It shows six successive positions in an interval between two
Fig. 158. Junction timbering between wall and entry
roof cavings: 1) position after caving; 2) at the time the first cut is
made; 3) after drawing coal from the first cut; 4) at the time of the
second cut; 5) after drawing coal from the second cut; 6) after shift
ing the conveyer. Timbering may be reinforced by angle braces, as
required by the nature of rock pressure, while coal at the face breast
is held in place by vertical boards and stulls. The figure reveals that
the roof is caved after every two successive cuts.
Fig. 158 is illustrative of a method used to protect a wall entry by
additional organ timbering in the mined-out area.
The use of wood for supporting working faces consumes scores of
cubic metres of timber per 1 , 0 0 0 tons of coal produced, and that, con
sidering the huge amounts of coal mined annually, has become an
economic problem of national importance and led to attempts at
employing metal mine supports. These naturally have to be trans
ferable or movable to allow their multiple utilisation.
Soviet inventors have now designed and tested quite a number of
types of metal support in the mines.
The design of metal posts should make it easy to shift them from
one place to another. Many constructional types of such posts have
been proposed.
Widely used in recent years were the CTK posts (mine posts of
the wedge type), designed by the Slate Institute for Designing Coal
Equipment. In 1955, however, model M metal posts were put in
serial production, and they are lighter and easier to manufacture
(Table 11).
Table 11
Metal Post M
Types nnd sizes
Characteristics
M, M, M1 M,
Height, m m
m i n i m u m .............................. 003 708 845 1,033
m a x i m u m .............................. 1,000 1,210 1,470 1,845
E x t e n s i o n range, m m ..................... 397 502 625 812
T h i c k n e s s of seam, m e t r e s ............ 0.8-0.95 0.9-1.15 1-1.4 1.2-1.8
S e r v i c e load, t o n s ........................ 35 35 35 35
Y i e l d rate, m m ........................... 75 75 75 75
W e ig h t, k g .................................... 29.5 32.6 38.4 48.5
A schematic diagram of the wedge arrangement in the expansion

post is shown in Fig. 159. It consists of two clamps 1, connected by
strips 2, two vertical wedges 3 and level wedge 4.
Fig. 159. Extension ^m etal post w edge Fig. 160. H ouyni m eta l
post
2.Vi Sloping in a Continuous Face
The posl /1,011 Vni(C/J,T) also belongs in Ihe category of yielding

telescopic posts (Fig. 160). This is comprised of body 1 and extension
2. The wedge lock consists of two clamps 3, thrust strip 4, working
or IhnisL wedge 5, gib 6 and level wedge 7, all of them placed one on
top of the other in the body of the post. In order first to tighten
the post in place, wedges are driven into holes 8 on the opposite side
of the body in the process of installing the post. /JoHYril posts for
low scams, 0.5-0.7 metre thick, arc intended for a load of 25 tons and
weigh 14 kg each. Posts of similar design are made for seams 0.7-2.3
metres thick.
F ig 101. Swivel-type metal cap
Metal props are more economical than the timber, providing they
are shifted from place to place not less than 40-50 limes.
By the nature of their action the above-mentioned wedge-type posts
should be included in the group of “ rising resistance”designs. There
may also be, however, posts of “ constant resistance" type, with a
high initial supporting capacity which changes but little after further
extensions of the telescopic portion, and this is of great significance
in roofs undergoing considerable subsidence.
In modern coal mines metal props are used very widely. In the
Donets coal fields, for instance, their number at the close of 1954
exceeded 336,000, while in West-German mines there were about
1,300,000 such posts in use.
Timber caps of the sets at working faces can also be replaced by
metal. To reduce the weight of their individual elements and to fa
cilitate their transfer and installation they are made of a split-swivel
type (Fig. 161). The weight of metal caps is 20-30 kg. This can be
cut down considerably by making Lhein of light alloys, with alumi
nium as a base element.
Use may also be made of sectional metal cribs (Fig. 102). Such
cribs have two wedge beams with chamfered ends at which the
wedges are held in place by catches.The wedge key is released by
striking this catch with a hammer, the crib is freed from pressure
and can subsequently be
dismantled.
We have seen before that
closely set rows of posts or
“breaker props” are used to
effect roof-caving control in
walls with timber support.
For the same purpose the State
Institute for Designing Coal
Equipment has suggested
metal structures in the form of
solid expanding props. At
first, because of the purpose
they served, these structures
were called “metal prop walls” ;
now they are called simply
breaker props. One of the most
upto-date designs of this type-
mechanised organ support
MOK (Fig. 163)—includes a
base and superstructure whose
surfaces contact each other
along an inclined plane. The
superstructure is furnished
with a screw extension device
and a slab held against the
roof. The base has a mecha
nism enabling to keep both
parts of the prop in a definite
position or to disengage them.
The last operation, that is, removal of pressure from the prop, is
effected by pulling a rope line from a special prop shifter. By means
of the same rope line Lhe free prop is set in a new position, closer to
the face.
Breaker props of this kind are manufactured in two types and sizes
for seams from 1 to 1.8 metres thick. They are designed to bear a
maximum load of 350 tons. The weight of the prop itself is 0.4 ton.
The prop shifter (Fig. 164) has a drum for pulling rope driven by an
electric motor employed in coal-cutting machines. During the oper
ation the shifter is reliably secured by its hydraulic anchor
post.
25G Sloping in a Continuous Face
Fig. 163. MOK melal breaker props
Supporting blocks can be used instead of prop walls. A vertical sec

tion of one design is shown in Fig. 105. This block is made of mount
ing or base 1, medium extensible section 2 and upper slab or plate 3,
which bears pressure coming from the roof. The base and the medium
section are connected by a screw thread, this permitting to vary the
height of the block from 10 to 40 cm, depending on the size of the
block. The block is maintained at a preset height by wedge key 4.
There are fivcOKY supporting block models now being manufactured,
their maximum height ranging
from GOO up to 1,300 mm. The load
carrying capacity of such a supporting
block is 150 Lons. In a coal wall the
blocks are set up in rows, like the props
of organ timbering. Supporting blocks
are shifted by hand with the aid of
handles 5. The use of blocks reduces
consumption of supporting props, but
these blocks are heavy (124-202 kg)
and their handling and shifting pre
sents many inconveniences.
In describing organ timbering above,
we stressed that it was relatively
more rigid than the cribs. Metal break
line props arc naturally even more
- •I------------- —- J rigid, which is of special importance
Fig. 164. Prop shifter for roof-caving control. The use of
melal cribs, props and supporting blocks in the mines of Ihe

Donets coal fields has already shown that they make roof-caving
control feasible in conditions where organ limbering was of no
avail. This is very important, for it suggests ways of considerably
restricting the use of the labour-consuming method of roof control
by pack walls built of rock drawn from lateral entries.
In discussing the use of the above-mentioned metal supports at
production faces, it should be borne in mind that there may be in
stances when their use is impossible. If the seam contains thick inter
calations, the mined-out area is encum
bered with waste that hampers the
shifting of metal support sets. When
wall rocks are unfirm, the metal sets
tend to sink deep inlo walls when sub
jected to rock pressure, and this also
complicates the shifting of sets. The
use of metal supports can also prove
extremely difficult in sloping and, still
more, in high-pitching seams.
Quite original and remarkable are
the Soviet inventors’efforts to design
mechanised movable supporting sets
for continuous faces. Back in the
1930’ s A. Zhuravlyov suggested con
struction of a solid metal shield consist
ing of individual sections capable of
protecting the active stope area from
caving in and of being moved imme
diately after coal extraction. The in
ventor hoped that the pressure of caving
rocks would be sufficient to make the shield move. The hope was
not justified, hence the tendency to mechanise the shield. Most suitable
for this purpose were hydraulic units, jacks, operating under the
pressure of liquid (oil) supplied by pumps of a special design at
tremendous pressure—several hundred atmospheres. Such a mechan
ised shield, designed by Zhuravlyov and Pokrovsky, was some years
ago tested in the mines of the Karaganda coal fields, but the tests did
not lead to its mass utilisation.
Of considerable interest are field tests in the Moscow coal fields
of a shield invented by engineers Ziglin and Geller. This is a set de
signed to support a narrow strip of roof in an active stope area and
Lo protect the latter from caving in or from subsiding rocks on the
side presenting the greatest hazards.
The shield consists of individual link-connected sections. They are
arranged in a single row along the coal wall and moved simultaneously,
258 Sloping In a Continuous Face
after the extraction of the entire coal bench, with the aid of
ropes and winches placed in the entries.
Three winches are needed to move a shield 50 metres.
Inventors have created several designs of such a shield. Fig. 166
shows model IH-52. Each of its sections consists of bed 1, body 2
and two sliding deflectors or visors 3, supported by posts 4. Uprights
5 support the body of the shield. The bed accommodates flight con
veyer 6 and hoist 7 moving the deflectors.
Coal is mined by blasting and about 40 per cent of it is loaded onto
the conveyer automatically. When coal from the face has been drawn,
the visors are slid into a position indicated in Fig. 166 with the aid
of rope lines and the hoist. The shield is then moved into its new posi
tion. During this operation the front ends of the visors remain stable,
while articulated sections 3 are let down and slide along the body of
the shield. The pace or space interval of the shield transfer is one
metre. One major advantage of the shield method of support is that
it completely eliminates timber consumption in coal walls.
Elaboration of the final construction details of the above-mentioned
shield and the methods of its field operation are still going through
a stage of improvement. Thus, for example, there are tests of
devices providing for the extension of visors not with the aid of ropes
pulled from a hoist but with that of a hydraulic mechanism.
The main idea underlying the design of this shield is not to make
it support the roof but merely protect the active stope area from roof
rocks caving in behind the shield (protective timbering). But there
have also been suggestions for building a movable mechanised
support capable of bearing pressure coming from the roof at Lhe coal
face (supporting timbering).
This type of support includes Lhe one known as MI1K (mechanised
movable support), proposed by Abroskin, Bondarev and Dashevsky
for operation in coal walls of gently sloping seams from 1 to 1.7 me
tres thick when they are worked by combines.
The principal features of the MI1K support are as follows (Fig. 167).
The support comprises separate disconnected sections 3. Each is
made of a tubular steel column with a solid cantiliver head piece
2.3 metres long and 0.45 metre wide welded to the upper end. The
head piece overhangs the coal face. The upper and lower parts of the
column are connected by a female screw thread. To alter the height of
the column, it suffices to turn the lower part, which is shaped like
a spherical shoe. The actual turning is effected with the aid of a small
crowbar inserted into the holes provided in the shoe. In addition to
this the column is furnished with a wedge key to provide for an out
ward thrust. The sections are moved to a new position at the breast
of the coal face by special hoist (“
shifter”) 4, for each of them weighs
about 0.5 ton. The sections are moved forward parallel to the progress
of the coal combine, approximately 15-20 metres behind it. The
transfer of one section takes about three minutes. A stand-by shifter
5, is available in the wall.
Coal is brought out from the face by “ winding”conveyer 2 of KC-1
type, which can be moved to the face with the aid of the above-cited
shifter without its being dismantled (see Fig. 167). The roof over
the mined-out area is subject to caving immediately after the sup
port, whose bearing capacity per metre of the wall reaches 330 tons,
has been moved to a new position. The active stope area behind the
mine combine is temporarily supported by light extensible posts.
The use of the MflK support eliminates consumption of mine timber
almost completely.
in the same category is the mechanised movable support invented
by V. Vorobyov, T. Gorbachov, I. Patrushev and F. Kufarev, which
has lately been put to the test in the mines of the Kuznetsk basin.
Inasmuch as in this design the movable powered support is combined
with mechanised extraction of coal with the aid of a coal plough,
the inventors gave the whole arrangement the name of Kuzbas Coal
Combine.
This combine is made of the following assembly units (Fig. 168);
coal plough 1, driven by hoists 2, self-propelling mine support 3,
conveyer 4, control board 6 and hydraulic pump plant 7. All these
s &
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Moving along a coal wall, the plough cuts a strip of coal 20 cm
thick. The face conveyer and overloader transfer coal to gate conveyer
w m y y i 7cUv 6'(
Fig. 168. Different positions of the Kuzbas coal combine

in the wall
5 installed along a strike entry. When a coal strip has been cut from
the breast of the face, the combine moves forward, simulta
neously shearing the coal left in the roof after the passage of the
plough.
The roof of the face is held in place by the sections of the support.
Thus, as proposed by its inventors, the combine is meant to extract,
load and transport coal from the face, and support and control the
roof in one process based on the principle of a continuous operation.
4. Filling of Mined-Out Areas

Worked-out space in walls with continuous faces (longwalls) in
slightly inclined and sloping seams is filled primarily with materi
als sorted out in the stope itself.
A method widely used to obtain packing is that of driving lateral
entries or dummy roadways (Fig. 169). It implies pushing forward rock
entries 1,1 with brushing in a mined-out space, the sole purpose
being to obtain waste for filling. They require but light timbering
and are not supported in the open goaf. Their roof at the face can be
supported by individual props (relief posts).
Roof brushing in such entries is more convenient than floor
brushing, but this disturbs the continuity of rocks in the back of
the entry and is attended by increased rock pressure at the production
r /
T
?
n Prop to
X protect gob entry
On A-B
Fig 169. L a tera l e n tr ie s a n d p a ck w a lls

I — gen eral view; I I — d eta ils
Filling of Mined-Out Areas 263
face. But it is the back that

is ordinarily ripped in this
entry. The ripped rocks are
arranged on both sides of en
tries in the shape of pack walls
2,2. To lend stability to them,
the packing strips are built
on the sides of large blocks of
rock in the shape of walls
(Fig. 169, 11), between which
smaller lumps of rock are
placed less carefully but so that
the fill should reach the back
and the pack wall be made a
reliable support for the roof.
The width of pack walls de
pends on the firmness of the
roof and is usually assumed to
be about four times as thick
as the seam.
When the pack walls of
neighbouring entries meet, the Fig 170. Complete filling in mining
mined-out space is said to be a seam with gangue intercalations
completely filled. To cut down
the cost of driving lateral entries, they are more often than not
spaced so as to leave unpacked areas 3,3 between them. Id other
words, the filling is incomplete.
Although the extraction of waste filling from lateral entries is
practised quite widely in the mining of low seams, this method of
roof control nevertheless has one major disadvantage—it is highly
labour-consuming because the packing is done by hand.
The attempts to mechanise this extremely labour-consuming opera
tion with the aid of scrapers have been unsuccessful. Recently
V. Fishchuk and P. Tereshchenko elaborated special machines for the
diagonal stowing of the waste obtained in ripping an airway driv
en right after the coal wall. Successful field tests of these “ mechani
cal packers”will bring the task of mechanising pack wall stowing
closer to its accomplishment. Pack walls built up of brushed rocks
are also frequently used to protect mine workings.
When seams with considerable intercalations of barren rocks are
mined, the amount of waste available at the face may be sufficient
for a full fill. One example is the mining of the Begly anthracite bed
at one of the pits of the Rostov coal field. The bed of a total thickness
of 1.7-2 metres is divided into two bands by a gang intercalation
one metre thick (Fig. 170). Upper baud or bench 1 is undercut first
and holes in coal and in gangue interlayer 2 are drilled. Broken coal
is loaded onto a conveyer, when mining proceeds up the dip. Along
with the extraction of coal charges are shot in holes drilled in the
gangue interlayer, and loosened rocks are thrown over the conveyer
and stowed in the worked-out area. Then the bottom coal bench 3
is blasted without any preliminary undercutting. The mode of face
support is seen clearly in the drawing. Because of the considerable
thickness of the intercalation the volume of waste obtained during
the breakage is sufficient to secure a full packing capable of support
ing the back of the seam.
5. Artificial Caving of the Roof

We have already seen that the roof control can be effected by its
artificial caving. We shall now discuss the various methods employed
to achieve this end.
In order to induce roof caving, the props placed behind the special
support have to be completely removed from the mined-out space
whenever possible. After that the rocks over the corresponding
area start caving under their own weight. But since this special tim
bering is much stronger than that made of individual posts and can
fully support the rocks overlying it, caving causes a rupture (break)
in the subsiding mass of rocks along a certain plane. As soon as
such rupture has occurred, cohesion between the mass of rocks
settling over the mined-out area behind the special timbering
and those lying closer to the face becomes disturbed, and that is
why when they start subsiding and caving they do not entrain the
others. Due to this rock pressure over the active face grows
weaker.
By regularly repeating the operation above, that is, by setting
up new special timbering at definite intervals as the production face
advances and causing caving by pulling out the props it becomes pos
sible systematically to maintain rock pressure over the active face
within permissible limits and thereby eliminate the encumberment
of working faces with caved-in rocks. This, in fact, constitutes the
main principle underlying roof control by artificial caving.
The geological structure of rocks overcapping the worked coal seam
and their properties make caving now easier and now more difficult.
Clay and sandy shales of medium firmness lend themselves quite
well to roof control. Hard shales and sandstones cave in much more
readily when they are broken up by jointings.
The space interval or rate of caving is determined in each individual
case by experience. It ranges widely from 1.5 to 10 metres, according
to local conditions, and that corresponds to one or several machine
cuts.
Artificial Caving of the Roof 265
Artificial roof or back caving is not altogether a safe operation and

it is, therefore, entrusted to experienced men only. Caving itself
should be performed under the direct guidance of a person belonging
to the supervisory technical staff of a rank at least equal to assistant
mine-section superintendent. It is he who sanctions other operations
in a coal wall whose angle of pitch does not exceed 18°and who allows
workers to be at a distance not less than 80 metres from the section
marked for caving.
The pulling out of props, an operation usually requiring three or
four workers, as a rule begins in the rear upper corner of the area
where it is performed. When props are pulled out in a seam pitching
at more than 15°, the job is elVecled up the dip so as to prevent falling
and sliding rock blocks from knocking timbering down. Timber is
knocked down in the diagonal direction so that the workers doing it
stay at all times in the supported portion of the mined-out area. Be
fore beginning, the timber pullers carefully examine each post and
pull out only those which can be removed safely. To preclude rock
cavings, the posts serving as the chief support of the blocks of rock
and standing near the place where rocks are fractured are not removed.
Besides these posts are others called safety or signalling which are
not pulled out and the purpose of which is to warn the limber pullers
of danger. As the ground starts to move, it causes the “ signalling”
posts to crackle and thus enables the workers to find shelter in good
time. The posts are knocked down by sledge-hammer blows at their
upper or lower ends or, if they are tightly jammed, with an axe.
The pulled-out posts are brought up to a new line of special limbering.
Before the posts are pulled out, the old cribs are shifted to a new
position, while the organ supports near the old “ rib”of the break line
are either not removed at all, because this operation is dangerous,
or else are drawn off only partially.
The transfer of cribs and the pulling out of props mean a consider
able economy of mine timber, since this makes it possible to preserve
from one-quarter to half and even more of the total number of cribs
and posts. A man working in a seam 1-1.5 metres thick pulls out from
80 to 140 posts in a shift.
Despite the important advantages gained by pulling out the posts—
saving of mine timber and adequate roof caving control—it is by
far not always that this operation is undertaken, since this requires
a set of definite conditions, namely:
1 ) the roof should not be subject to sudden, spontaneous collapse,
its caving should be preceded by definite signals, such as preliminary
crackling of posts after the rocks have started sagging and bumping
sounds following the disintegration of solid rocks;
2 ) the goaf should not be packed with any considerable amount
of the mine-fill that would hamper pulling out the posts;
2(i(i Sloping in a Continuous Face
3) the pulling out of posts is

possible only in slightly inclined
seams, when the falling blocks of
rocks remain on the spot and do
not slide down as is the case in
sloping and high-pitching beds,
where the drawing off of posts is
not practised;
4) operations involving artifi
cial caving are difficult to per
form in extensive walls, since
delays are quite probable in stop-
ing in the process of induced
roof-caving and possible collapse
of the back;
5) the bed should not be too
thin (not less than 0.7 metre),
since in a thin seam the move
ments of workers engaged in pull
Fig. 171 Mechanised post pulling ing out of posts are very much
restricted.
1-1ut in thin seams the back quite often does not cave at all, for
when the roof starts sagging over a worked-out area it has, because
of the insignificant height of this space, enough time gradually to
sett le down to the bottom before any fractures and ruptures actually
occur in it.
A factor which sometimes facilitates the gradual uneventful fill
ing of the mined-out space is the heaving of the bottom.
If, for some reason, the posts are not pulled out or the roof is stable
and does not cave in even after the cribs have been transferred and
the posts pulled out, to avoid subsequent mass caving the overhead
rocks are sometimes caved by means of explosives, charged in several
holes drilled behind the cribbing.
Attempts have been made to mechanise the knocking down ol mine
timber (roof caving by machines) (Figs 171 and 172).
Mechanised knockdown of mine timber consists in demolishing
supports in a worked-out area either by tipping or breaking posts
with the aid of steel cable a. One end of the cablo is secured while
the other is gradually wound around the drum of hoist h set up in an
airway. The cable is guided by idle roller c. It is not only the face
sets, but breaker posts too that are thus removed.
Mine timber pulling hoists or tuggers (Fig. 172) manufactured by
the Kuznetsk Machine-Building Works have a drum with a diameter
of 400 mm, are 3 metres long, 0.9 metre wide and one metre high.
Their rated rope pull is 14 tons. Cable speed rate is 0.14 m/sec, with
Artificial Caving of the Roof 2G7
motor capacity of 20.5 kw. The breaking force for the cable used is
23-28 tons, its diameter—20-22 mm, it is of cross lay, made of thin
wires (1-1.4 mm) with tensile strength of 140-160 kg/mm1.
Artificial caving operations, that is, fixing and handling of the
cable, putting up idle rollers, tugger control, etc., are performed by a
team of three or four men. Artificial roof caving proper in a coal
wall 100 metres long lasts 20-25 minutes. The size of the caved area
on strike should conform to the space interval of caving determined
by experience—usually three or four cuts, that is, 5-7 metres.
The advantages of mechanical artificial caving are considerable.
They are:
1 ) greater safety of operation;
2 ) complete demolition of timbering, ensuring full and rapid settl
ing of the ground, and this, in turn, favourably affects the condition
of the roof over the active stope area;
3) caving takes very little time.
This mechanised method of artificial caving, however, causes com
plete loss of mine timber. But practice shows that it is often possible
to “ thin”timbering by knocking down some of the posts (25-35 per
cent) by hand before proceeding with mechanised roof caving.
Fig. 172. Prop-pulling tugger hoist

2fi8 Sloping in a Continuous Face
Successful experiments have been carried out in recent years in

the Moscow coal fields in drawing off mine timber with the aid of
cables and electric tuggers.
6. Collapses of Working Faces and Retimbering

Normal, well organised work at the coal face may be completely
disrupted in the event of a collapse. This happens when the condition
of the occurrence of rocks suddenly deteriorates, for example, when
faces unexpectedly approach a geologically disturbed section. Unfor
tunately, such collapses or goafs are due mostly to negligent attitude
towards and insufficient care of the
roof and timbering at the active face.
In instances of minor local collapses
(Fig. 173), cleaning up operations re
quire careful removal of caved-in
lumps of rock and installation of a new
ordinary timbering, which is often re
inforced by cribs. At any rate, it is
F ig . 173. L o c a l c o l l a p s e in a
w o r k i n g fa ce
imperative to prevent the collapse
from spreading and this is done by
setting up additional supports over the whole area of the face.
But sometimes it happens that collapses occur in such a fashion
that great masses of rock start caving in at the very face (Fig. 174, I)
and special methods must be employed for its retimbering.
To do this lumps of rock are cleared away with caution to an extent
making it possible to set up inclined or battered props (Fig. 174, II).
Under protection of this support the operation at the face is restarted
and, as soon as possible, ordinary timbering (Fig. 174, III), followed
by a breaker row or cribs, is put up. The collapses, however, may be
so extensive that their clearing proves a rather difficult and dangerous
affair, for, as the result of the collapse, fissuring of the rock masses
occurs over the coal seam itself, near the very face. In such cases the
site of collapse is not retimbered, but by-passed and to do so a new
break-through (Fig. 175) is driven along the face at a distance of
1-1.5 metres from the site of collapse, wherefrom stoping operations
are being started in the usual manner.
In individual instances valuable equipment (coal-cutters, combines,
conveyer drives) may be buried at the production face follow
ing a collapse of the coal wall. This can be saved by pushing cross
headings from the above-cited by-pass break-through towards the
sites where it was originally operating.
Those responsible for the conduct of work at the production face
and in the mine should take beforetimes all the necessary measures
to prevent and preclude collapses of coal walls.
Conveying Coal in Production Faces 269
7. C o n v e y i n g C o a l in P r o d u c t i o n F aces
In the early period of all-round mechanisation in the continuous

production faces of slightly inclined seams it was electrically driven
shaking conveyers that were used almost exclusively for coal trans
portation. The old chain-and-flight conveyers were considered too
heavy, cumbersome and inconvenient to be moved about frequently
in active faces. But the progress of the Soviet mine machine-building
industry has in recent years given our mines some new types of chain-
and-flight conveyers that are more suitable for the operation in
working faces.
Up-to-date chain-and-flight conveyers have the following advantages
over the shaking conveyers: they carry coal not only down a slope,
but also in level sections and upgrade; their efficiency is higher. At
present there are reversible-type chain-and-flight conveyers available,
capable of delivering materials (coal, mine timber) in two direc
tions. They work more smoothly and are less noisy because there are
no reciprocating motions and constantly varying accelerations and
decelerations, a feature common to shaking conveyers.
The CKP-11 conveyer (chain-and-flight conveyer of the reversible
type, powered by an electric motor of 11 kw) (Fig. 176) has been di-
signed by the State Institute for Designing Coal Equipment (Chief
designer—N. Samoilyuk). Its coal-carrying capacity is (iO tons per

hour. It is 70-100 metres long, the speed of the drag chain is 0.4m/sec,
rated motor capacity —11.4 kw. The conveyer trough is 150 mm high,
500 mm wide at the top and 350 mm at the bottom. It is pulled by a
stamped drag chain. The driving tumbler or head pulley is set up at
the discharge station of the haulage entry, but if the pitch is in
excess of 1 0 °
, it is better to put it in the upper section of the coal
wall. The minimum thickness permitting the use of this conveyer in
working seams is 0.65 metre.
More powerful chain-and-flight conveyers—the CKP-15, CKP-17
and CKP-20—have lately been put into operation to copewith the
growing amounts of coal mined at faces worked by combines. The
CKP-20's capacity is 100 tons of coal per hour and it is 150-170 me
tres long.
To facilitate loading, the conveyer board on the side of the mined-
out area is higher than that on the side of the working face.
For operation in low seams the industry has organised serial pro
duction of CKTs = Gm and CKTs= 0 chain-and-flight conveyers. They
are 100 metres long and capable of handling 40 tons of coal per hour.
The increasing employment of coal combines enhances the need
for face conveyers whose design facilitates their shifting in a coal
wall and takes into account combine operations and methods of roof
control. Designing organisations are actively engaged in elaborating
Fig. 176. Reversible chain-and-flight conveyer

Conveying Coal in Production Faces 271
----------------------------------------- ISO----------------------------------------
F ig . 177. Loading of coal from a face conveyer
and testing such conveyers. For example, there is the KC conveyer

designed to operate with the Gornyak combine. It is 170 metres long,
has a 2 0 -kw electric motor and is capable of handling 80 tons of coal
per hour.
Belt conveyers are not widely used in production faces because it is
difficult to shift them and the rubber belt wears out quickly.
The loading of coal drawn from walls into mine cars is simple, es
pecially when there are no entry pillars or when they are extracted
simultaneously with coal recovered at the working face (Fig. 177)
and coal is loaded into mine cars directly from a face conveyer.
Pass-by tracks (100-150 metres long, depending on the length of
trains) should be laid at the loading site. The empties, brought up
for loading through entrance switch 1 with an electric locomotive
at its head, move along run-around track I I I beyond switch 2 and
are then brought to the empties section II of the loading track. After
it is uncoupled from the train, the electric locomotive passes through
switches 2 and 1 to the loaded portion of the track I and pulls the
coal train. A low-speed trip-spotting hoist 3 (with rope speed of0.15-
0.3 m/sec) is employed for spotting cars during loading. Both this
hoist and the conveyer in the coal wall are remote-controlled from
board 4. The work of the loading station and conveyer in a coal wall
is thus supervised and regulated by one operator.
If there are sill coal pillars over the haulageway (Fig. 178), two
short intermediate conveyers are set up near the loading station.
In Fig. 178 digits 1, 2, 3, 4 are track switches and 5 is the trip-spot
ting hoist.
Scraper mucking is unsuitable in the conditions existing in long-
walls, since the per-hour efficiency of coal transportation drops very
rapidly as the distance increases. At each given moment the scraper
removes the material at one point only. By “ tearing”and “stripping”
the bottom of the bed, the scraper tends to increase the ash content
in the coal mined. The scraper path is broader than permissible for
conveyer transportation, which is not always possible because of
rock pressure in the hack. For these reasons no scrapers are employed
at present in long coal walls. When conveyers are used for coal trans
portation at working faces, it is extremely important for timber sets
to he arranged in straight lines.
Load
Fig. 178. Loading of coal from intermediate conveyers
Dumping of coal by gravity in stationary steel trays is possible

with angles of pitch of not less than 20-25°, and its sliding along the
bottom of the seam with an angle not less than 3 5 ° .
8 . Ventilation and Lighting at Working Faces
Ventilation of a continuous rectilinear production wall is a simple

matter. In a gassy mine, with the seam pitching at an angle of more
than 5°, the air current should aerate the face by ascending, that is,
moving from the lower to the upper entry of the given wall. This is
due to the fact that the natural draught makes the ventilating cur
rents How in that direction, for, enriched by methane, air in produc
tion places becomes lighter. Therefore, with the air currents in the
wall ascending, the natural draught will always cause air movement,
even if the fans are switched off.
According to Mine Safety Regulations the velocity of air in a pro
duction wall should not exceed 4 m/sec.
Adequate lighting in a coal face is a necessary prerequisite for
safe and highly efficient work.
In working places preference is given to individual portable
electric battery lamps, which can be of two types—hand and cap ones.
Hand lamps (Fig. 179) are used in coal faces of gently inclined low
seams. Their illuminating power is 3 watts, weight—4.3 kg and
burning time — 1 0 hours.
Electric battery lamps of cap type are employed (Fig. 180) in
working steeply pitching seams and thick beds. They weigh 3.7 kg and
burn for 10 hours. Thanks to the mirror concentrating the luminous
flux these lamps have an illuminating power of 20-30 watts.
In working-face conditions, stationary lamps (Fig. 181) have the
Ventilation and Lighting at Working Faces 273
Fig. 179. Electric battery lamp Fig. 180. Electric battery

cap lamp
10-3625
27'i Sloping in a Continuous Face
disadvantage of requiring frequent (almost daily) transfer of the

lighting mains. Moreover, timber props and other objects throw
immobile shadows that make light nonuniform. They are also incon
venient in blasting operations. The lighting mains can be transferred
much more easily in short coal walls.
El eel l ie lamps cannot be used to measure the firedamp content in
Ibe alinosphere of a mine. Therefore, when electric light is supplied
by both portable and stationary lamps, there should always be one or
Fig. 183. Explosion-proof daylight lamp
two flame (benzene) safety lamps (Fig. 182), with which the methane
level can be determined at any given moment. In electrically lighted
working places these safety lamps are also needed to provide emergen
cy lighting in case of current supply failures.
Luminescent lamps have lately been used widely for illuminating
mine workings. They are used in haulageways, engine rooms, dis
patcher and shaft stations, etc.
Fig. 183 shows a luminescent explosion-proof lamp.
CYCLIC STOP I.NO
9. Definition of Continuous Cycle Operation

Production faces and stopes of development workings are the prin
cipal places of mining in active pits.
Fulfilment and overfulfilment of production programmes primarily
depend on the successful operation of coal walls and timely and con
stant availability of reserves ready to be mined by means of driving
development openings.
All the other numerous jobs and operations performed at a mine-
transport and haulage of every kind, ventilation, drainage, power
supply, etc.—have but one sole purpose: to ensure uninterrupted ex-
Definition of Continuous Cycle Operation 275
traction of coal in walls, its delivery to the surface, and the driving
and maintenance of development openings.
Proper organisation of work is of prime importance for normal oper
ation of coal faces and development stopes. This can be achieved
only on the basis of cyclic operations.
Individual operations in production faces recur periodically and
in a definite sequence: after the undercutting, breaking and drawing
of coal comes a new cut, then loosening and extraction of the miner
al, etc. All other concomitant work in the wall, that is, timbering,
roof control, shifting or transfer of equipment and machines utilised
in extracting coal and its transportation from the coal face also recur
in a definitely set order.
In other words, all these operations in a production face can be
grouped in categories of successively recurring operations, that is,
cycles.
Hence, a cycle in the production face of a coal mine can generally be
characterised as a complete course oj processes and operations, per
formed in a definite sequence and necessary to mine coal over the entire
coal face, the distance of its advance being provided for by the planned
technical schedule.
This general conception of cycle needs a more precise definition
for the following typical cases:
For coal walls worked by mine combines or coal-cutting machines
the cycle is an aggregate of operations elTected between two consecu
tive undercuttings, or the cutting and loading of coal by a combine.
When coal is broken by pneumatic hammers, the cycle is better de
fined as the sum total of operations performed at the face during its
advance over a distance of two face timbering set shifts.
The cyclic schedule means mining operations performed strictly
and systematically in accordance with work cycles.
Cyclic organisation of mining is simplest and most convenient
when the sequence of operations in the cycle conforms to work shifts
and the whole cycle is accomplished within 24 hours (the so-called
24-hour operative cycle). In the case of the 24-hour cycle schedule each
miner, at least for a certain period of time, works every day in the same
shift, which is very important for keeping up regular and rhythmic
operations.
When coal is extracted from a wall in two shifts and the third is
devoted to repairs and preparatory work, the introduction of the
one-cycle schedule in the face is conducive to adequate exploitation
of equipment and proper maintenance of mine workings and haulage
tracks.
In coal walls where, for geological, technical and other reasons,
it is possible to extract the planned daily tonnage of coal in one
shift, the remaining two are taken up by repairs and preparatory
10 *
work. This method of work has already been adopted at a number of

mines in the Donets and Kuznetsk coal fields inasmuch as it reduces
the number of auxiliary workers and facilitates still more running
repairs and inspection of machines.
If local conditions permit obtaining the daily planned tonnage in
one shift and another is sufficient for repairing and shifting equip
ment, it is possible, as suggested by engineer Kosenko, to alternate
production and repair shifts with the idle one in-between. This will
make it possible to perform 45 cycles per month (see Section 13, be
low).
10. Importance of Cyclic Operations
It is of extreme importance strictly to adhere to the cyclic opera
tion schedule. This is necessary to ensure the regimen of a coal wall,
section and the mine as a whole, the fulfilment and overfulfilment
of coal production plans, improvement of efficiency and reduction of
the unit-cost of coal mined.
When, for instance, the number of cycles performed per month
is less than planned, the advance rate of the working face also de
creases, that is, actual coal output will be less than planned. And
vice versa, the more cycles the greater coal output.
Compilation of work schedules helps establish efficiency standards
for all men engaged at the face, determine the actual capacity of
mine equipment and, consequently, of coal-wall output per cycle
and per month. These calculations should naturally be done on the
basis of optimal ratings for men and machinery over long periods
of time. Hence, keeping to established schedules of cyclic operations
makes it possible to achieve high labour efficiency, optimal utilisa
tion of mine equipment and greater coal output.
Cyclic work means systematic, coordinated mining operations
in the coal wall. Under the cyclic schedule, they are not performed
sporadically and as occasion offers itself, but at a definite time and
place. The cyclic method does not allow for rush work. It requires
the work place to be maintained in proper condition and the machines
and other face equipment to be given adequate attention and care.
The cyclic method ensures prerequisites for highly efficient team
work, since it essentially presupposes that each miner does the job
assigned to him. It ensures timely preparation of the work place and
maximal productivity of labour.
An important guarantee for the successful cyclic operation of a
coal wall is thorough preparation and organisation of work in con
formity with local conditions and due attention to requirements enu
merated below.
The cyclic method lends rhythm to the course of mining operations.
This contributes in a great measure to the safety of miners.
Planned Work Diagrams and Labour Distribution Charts 277
Accidents are most frequent when there are no order and regularity
in work. In the case of cyclic organisation, mining operations recur
uniformly and safety measures, therefore, become traditional and
stable. This is the best guarantee against accidents.
11. Planned Work Diagrams and Labour Distribution Charts

Proper work in coal faces, based on the cyclic method, should be
carefully planned out both technically and organisationally.
A mechanised coal face, particularly if it is long, is worked by
many miners of different specialities. It is equipped with machines,
mechanisms, electric and pneumatic tools, lighting mains and lamps.
Constant care should be exercised to ensure adequate support at the
face, supply of mine timber, roof control and ventilation. In addition
to this, work places in coal walls, and this distinguishes mines from
other industries, are not permanent but mobile, since they constantly
advance.
For these reasons distribution, sequence and coordination of min
ing operations in the wall should follow a work schedule, elaborated
in detail and often of a rather complex nature.
This schedule, determining the sequence of operations in a coal
face, is more comprehensible if presented graphically, in the form
of planned work diagrams and labour distribution charts. These
two are usually known under the common name of operation
chart.
The planned work diagram, showing distribution in time and space
of operations performed at a coal face, is compiled in the following
manner (Fig. 184):
m
---------- Cutting machine operation

—- — Lowering of cutting machine
Fig. 184. Planned work diagram for a coal face
The duration of the cycle in hours is plotted on a definite scale on

the horizontal axis. Consequently, with but one cycle a day it suf
fices to mark oil the 24 hours. To facilitate readings, vertical thin
lines are drawn through the points indicating hours. The day is split
into three eight-hour shifts: I —morning shift, usually from 8 a.m.
till 4 p.m.; I I —day shift, from 4 p.m. till midnight, and I I I —night
shift, from midnight till 8 a.m. It is best to start reading with
the beginning of the first shift, that is, 8 (or 7) o ’ clock in the
morning.
In the same drawing, the length of the wall is plotted on an arbi
trary scale along the vertical axis on the left, with divisions every
10 or 20 metres, from which horizontal lines are drawn. In Fig. 184
the coal wall is 1 2 0 metres long.
To have a better idea of the way mining operations are depicted
in a planned work diagram, let us, for example, follow the movements
of a coal-cutting machine.
Let us assume that, in given working conditions, the face is under
cut during the night shift and that at its beginning the coal cutter
is in the upper portion of the wall. Its operator arrives at the face at
midnight and spends an hour on checking and lubricating the machine,
minor repairs, changing of teeth, etc. Therefore, if the position
and operation of the cutter on a diagram are to be depicted by a
straight line, it will be represented by its section on the axis—between
midnight and 1 a.m. The descent of the machine starts at 1 a.m.
On the diagram this operation should be shown by an inclined line
(time goes and the machine moves along the wall).
If the descent of the coal cutter lasts an hour, the operation should
be shown as indicated in Fig. 184—by arrows. Let us further assume
that the initial cutting of the seam starts at 2.30 a.m. This operation
is depicted by a continuous inclined line. But, then, let us suppose
that, on account of local conditions, say, hard coal, the machine has
to be stopped in the middle of the wall for half an hour for a change
of teeth, lubrication, to cool the electric motor, etc. This stoppage
will again be depicted on a diagram by a short horizontal section.
The machine will then advance further and finish cutting the entire
wall, say, by 7 a.m. The line of its descent is steeper than that of
cutting because the machine descends at a higher speed.
At each given moment the cutting machine is engaged at some defi
nite point of the wall. Hence, its operational schedule in the face
can be represented by a straight line. The same also holds true with
respect to cutter-loading machines.
Identical operations carried out simultaneously along the entire
length of the face,or at least along a portion thereof,can be represent
ed graphically on the diagram by rectangular areas. The height of
£uch areas shows in what section of the long wall any given operation
Planned Work Diagrams and Labour Distribution Charts 279
is effected simultaneously, while the length of the horizontal side

shows the time interval in hours in which this operation is actually
performed. One illustrative example is hand-loading onto a conveyer.
Fig. 184 reveals that in the given case coal is loaded onto the con
veyer in two shifts:—in the morning from the lower portion of the
wall, in the day from its upper half. To make them more vivid such
areas in the diagram should be hatched.
Straight lines and areas, like the ones described above, can be used
clearly to represent all the other mining operations in a coal wall.
For clarity's sake, individual processes are depicted in a variety of
ways: by continuous and dash lines, crosses, etc. (Figs 185-187).
These conventional signs should be as simple as possible.
Thus, a planned work diagram depicts the progress of all the basic
mining operations performed in the wall in the course of a cycle.
It vividly demonstrates the sequence and coordination (combination)
of these processes in space and time.
To make the picture clearer, the face’ s position at Ihe beginning
of a shift is sketched alongside Lhe diagram.
Another, very important type of graphic illustration of work done
at the coal face, supplementing the planned work diagram, is the
labour distribution chart (Figs 185-187). Time distribution for one
cycle is shown in the chart as in the planned work diagram. The
horizontal lines are used to list the workers by professions, their
number in each shift and the whole cycle, and the duration of their
work. The latter is depicted by thick horizontal lines. The labour
distribution chart is best placed below the planned work diagram,
on Ihe same sheet.
The planned work diagram and labour distribution chart should
be supplemented by a table of technical and economic indices, which are
expected to he achieved in fulfilling cyclic operations on schedule, in
conformity with planned organisation of work (see below). These
figures are necessary for plans and estimates, as well as for Lhe
appraisal of Lhe ultimate results of the work done in the coal
face.
In addition to projected work diagrams, labour distribution charts
and technical and economic results there are also recorded work dia
grams and schedules, labour distribution charts and tables of tech
nical and economic indices containing data on the fulfilment of the
plan. The comparison of projected and recorded diagrams and charts
makes it possible to supervise mining operations, Lake note of any
possible shortcomings, expose their causes and Lake account of the
ultimate results of the work done.
12. Compilation of Planned Work Diagrams,

Labour Distribution Charts and Tables
of Expected Technical and Economic Indices
In general, cyclic operation schedules are compiled as follows.

The amount of work to be done and coal to be extracted are estab
lished with due account to the geological and mining conditions
prevailing in the given face. Then, comparing (see below) expected
labour efficiency and'the volume of diverse work, one proceeds to
calculate the number of workers of different professions required for
one operation cycle. After that these men and the mining equipment
are distributed according to shifts, an effort being made to combine
mining operations in a 24-hour cycle and to use the equipment as
fully as possible. For clarity’ s sake, the outlined organisation" of
work is shown in the planned work diagram and labour distribution
chart. Lastly, the expected technical and economic indices are calcu
lated and tabulated.
Let us now turn to details.
1. The geological conditions .to be considered in the cyclic organi
sation of work include: the angle of pitch of the seam; its thickness
(aggregate and minable, in metres); the structure of the seam (rela
tive position of coal benches and gangue intercalations); coal yield
in tons per sq metre of the seam; hardness of coal; specific designation
of wall rocks and characteristics of their stability; abundance of gas
in the seam (gas category).
2. Mining conditions: the length of the wall (in metres); coal-face
advance per cycle, that is, the width of the coal band broken in
one cycle (in metres). The determination of this magnitude depends
on the methods of coal breaking. With cutter-loaders (mine com
bines) it is their “
cutting range” , which is 15 cm less than the length
of the bar. In the case of coal cutters, it is the effective cut depth
which is approximately 15 cm less than the length of the bar
when the latter is below 2 metres, and 2 0 cm less with longer
bars.
The technical factors include the basic characteristics of mining
machines and other items of mechanical and electrical equipment
used in the coal wall. In other words, this requires knowledge of the
rated capacity of mine combines, coal cutters, pneumatic hammers
or electric augers, conveyers, coal ploughs, etc., their travel rate
loaded and idle, overall dimensions and modes of propulsion; time
required for lubrication, change of teeth and cooling of electric
motors (this refers to coal-cutters and cutter-loaders). If drilling
and blasting are resorted to at the face or in lateral entries (dummy
roadways) to break and loosen coal and waste, this must be done in
accordance with adequate technical specifications.
Compilation of Planned Work Diagrams 281
To determine the amount of timbering work to be done during

one cycle and the volume of metal and Limber to be supplied and
consumed per cycle (minus that used again), there should be a tech
nical specification for the support of any given face.
There should also be proper knowledge of the method of roof con
trol by artificial caving, partial filling from lateral entries or dummy
roadways, etc. The mode of special support (breaker props, metal
or timber cribbing, etc.) should be made known too.
3. The data above are necessary to estimate the volume of work
to be done per cycle.
Coal output per cycle is determined by multiplying the seam yield
in tons per sq metre of surface by the length of the coal wall and its
advance rate per cycle.
The amount of coal extracted from a wall in a month can be cal
culated by multiplying output per cycle by the number of workdays
in a given month, which depends on whether the weekly operation
at the face is continuous or not (see below).
To make sure of the fulfilment of the production programme, the
planned output of coal should be somewhaL below the rated one—by
about 10-15 per cent. Hence, if the coal wall works at its best, the
result is the accomplishment of one cycle per day and that will mean
overfulfilment of the production programme.
The rated volume of work for all the operation items enumerated
above is then determined.
4. Comparison of rated work volume per cycle and the men’ s ac
tual efficiency per shift makes it possible to estimate the required
number of man-shifts by occupation per one cycle and to assess the
actual operation time of the machines. It should be stressed that, as
stated before, it is the planned volume of work that is used in these
estimates, that is, the rated figures multiplied by coefficients 0.9
or 0.85, depending on the length of the coal wall.
In (he compiling of work schedules efficiency means factual
output per manshift but not less than the set production quotas.
The achievement of the planned and, all the more so, rated face
output would mean substantial overfulfilment of production
quotas.
Besides miners, whose number per cycle is calculated as explained
above, there are workers whose total number is determined by
their distribution among the work places, in accordance with min
ing operations performed by each shift. These are cutting-machine
and combine operators, their helpers, repairmen, blasters, motormeu
and chutemen.
This labour distribution should provide for the maximum mecha
nisation of odd and ancillary jobs, concurrent execution of several
jobs by one man and elimination of idle time.
In general, the procedure to be adopted in distributing men for

cyclic operation at a coal face is of particular importance.
In this way one can establish the total number of men actually
engaged in a wall per cycle per day. In order to determine the total
number on the pay-roll, the figure established should be multiplied
by the coefficient 1.31 in the instance of a continuous work week
and by 1.14 when the operation is carried out intermittently during
the week.
5. In assigning men and determining actual operation time of mine
equipment according to shifts, one should bear in mind the following.
A normal 24-hour duty cycle for a coal wall provides for two coal-
turning and one back (repair and preparation) shifts. This work sched
ule for the walls is a very important factor of an operation based
on one cycle per day. Two coal-getting shifts with the third devoted
to preparatory work and repairs are necessary to prepare equipment
and the work places.
Organisation of labour in a wall should also provide for possible
combination of individual operations. At the same time projected or
ganisation of work should not be too rigid, that is, it has to provide
for extra time and efficiency so as to prevent any possible short de
lays in individual operations from deranging the succeeding ones and
disrupting the whole cycle. In planning organisation of work, provi
sion should be made for cutting power off for two or three hours dur
ing the back shift to ensure inspection of electric apparatus and in
struments and repair of mains.
6 . Lastly, the outlined organisation of work in the coal face is
depicted graphically in planned work diagrams and labour distribution
charts. These should be as simple as possible and distinct, since it is
not only the members of the technical staff but miners too who should
be familiar with them. Typical specimens of diagrams and charts
are described below.
7. Graphic representations are supplemented by the principal
technical and economic indices.
For each coal wall worked on the basis of cycles they should be as
follows:
a) geological conditions (see above);
b) mining conditions: length of the wall; face advance per cycle;
specified drilling and blasting operations; specified timbering; method
of roof control;
c) mechanisation of the coal face: types of machines and their ca
pacities;
d) organisation of work is characterised by planned work diagrams
and labour distribution charts;
e) operative and economic results: coal' output per cycle (in 24
hours); number of cycles per month; coal tonnage obtained from a wall
Examples of Cyclic Work in Coal Walls 23.3
in a month (planned); coal output per man in one shift and in a month,
in tons; consumption of mine support materials—timber in cubic
metres and metal in kilogrammes per 1 , 0 0 0 tons of coal extracted;
consumption of explosives in grammes per ton of coal; prime cost
of one ton of coal in the wall.
These indices are also necessary for compiling analogous indices
for the whole of a mine section, which may include not one but two
and even several coal walls and stopes in development workings.
The cost of deliveries to the haulageway is likewise taken into account
in this table.
Planned work diagrams and labour distribution charts are usually
supplemented by a table of technical and economic indices which,
for Ihe sake of brevity, does not contain all of the above-cited indices
but only the most important (Figs 185-187).
8 . A feature characteristic of a mine face is its mobility. Hence,
conditions prevailing in a coal wall change with the passage of time.
For instance, when the angle of pitch in a slightly inclined seam
decreases by a few degrees, the wall becomes appreciably longer.
Consequently, all the earlier compiled work schedules and graphs
may prove unsuitable and should be revised in good Lime. Such revi
sion of work schedules should be done at the beginning of the month.
Planned work diagrams and labour distribution charts are compiled
in advance by the mine section superintendent for each individual
coal wall in conformity with the general mine schedule and are
approved by the chief engineer of the mine not later than five days
before the end of each month. After their approval the schedules and
graphs are made known to mine foremen, shift bosses and facemen .
13. Examples of Cyclic Work in Coal Walls

1. 24-hour cycle in a long wall. This example refers to the working
of a slightly inclined seam, 1.3 metres thick at the Lutugin Mine
(Donets coal fields). The coal wall is 210 metres long. Coal is under
cut by two coal cutters of the MB-60 type and then blasted out.
Holes are drilled with electric augers. Coal is brought out of the wall
by four CKP-11 chain-and-flight conveyers. Metal posts of CrK-2 type,
wedged against cap boards, are used to support the face. Roof control
is effected by building pack walls.
Operations in the wall are organised in the following manner
(see Fig. 185).
By the beginning of the morning shift the face in the lower portion
of the wall is undercut over a distance of 105 metres and holes in the
coal have been shot. In the upper portion of the wall drill-holes in the
lateral entries (dummy roadways) have already been blasted. All
the four conveyers are shifted to a new position. The operations
effected in the morning shift include extraction of coal in the lower

portion of the wall and delivery of mine timber. In the upper portion
of the wall the operations include undercutting of coal, drilling and
shooting of holes in coal and arrangement of pack walls. To preclude
any delays in undercutting, pack walls are built from 140 metres.
At first only two men are engaged at each pack wall and they build
four lower pack walls. After the lower rock walls have been backed
up to three-quarters of their height, the fillers leave the lower rock
wall one by one and go over to packing the upper ones. Having built
the lower rock walls, the four fillers help to complete the upper
ones.
The operations in the second shift include extraction of coal in
the upper section of the wall, delivery of mine timber and drilling
of holes in dummy roadways over the entire length of the coal wall.
The night, back, shift is used up for moving conveyers to a new
position, timbering dummy roadways and building pack walls. In
the lower section of the wall the cutting machine is lowered to its
initial position and holes in coal are drilled and shot. When needed,
mine equipment throughout the coal wall is inspected and repaired.
Distribution of labour and the ultimate results of mining operations
are illustrated in Fig. 185.
2. One cycle per 24 hours with a mine combine (Fig. 186). The work
schedule, labour distribution chart and table of technical and econom
ic indices are compiled for the following conditions: the coal seam
mined is a gently inclined (10°) one, 0.95 metre thick, yielding 1.22
tons per sq metre of the seam surface. The coal wall extends over
150 metres. Coal is mined by a Donbas cutter-loader (combine). The
undercutting and breaking operations, loading of coal onto the con
veyer and its transportation from the wall follow each other in a con
tinuous flow, and this makes the planned work diagram quite simple.
As can be seen from the work schedule, the combine extracts and
loads coal during the morning and day shifts, moving upwards. It
is lowered during the night shift. Before its operation special “
niches”
are blasted out and coal is loaded onto the conveyer from face
sections, each seven metres long (see hatched areas in Fig. 186). Mine
timber is supplied to the face from above. As in the previous example,
to obtain partial filling twelve dummy roadways (lateral entries)
are driven immediately behind the advancing face, furnishing suf
ficient waste for six-metre-wide pack walls. The upper portion of
the wall is packed during the morning shift, the lower in the night.
During the night shift holes are drilled and at the beginning and the
end of the morning shift explosive charges are shot in the rock of lat
eral entries. Occupational groups, numbers and distribution of work
ers according to shifts, are presented in Fig. 186 together with the
technical and economic indices.
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s : N rs. to Si 8 $ *• cm 3
CM 1 cQ CM «o 1 to CSi « Mto
\
1
1
\
I
\
Total I
I
| *£
indices
•w •C.
1 Shift electricians and service men
1 ♦
Ac 1
6 <i f
-*o L- c
1 Qj
Dally coal production program, t
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Technical and economic
O
■S
| Blasters and their helpers
t
I g «>
Cutting machine operators
o «5 a>
cA.
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Conveyer transfer men
»» £ 13
6 2 e b <A.
e 5 ? £
c *3
1 Timber supply men
Oj Q,
Operators*helpers
=f e 1 3 3
& C u
1 Drillers In stone
■ Is O 3 4> g ! 1
c. a S ’ ?
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i i ^ * i s b 1 Oi
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\ i ? £; S ; <> ^ •Q t3 £
1 Motormen
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t 3* w * ■» O e (S 3 <u 3 6
3 *c o t> O 'i Cl t,
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u «
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g § n §5 CJ 5 S 3 .6
3 5 i i I S
5 l i 3$ <3 s * S j : 5 |S Q- t o £ g
1
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|
I
Fig. J80. Work schedule diagram for one cycle in 24 hours with (he extraction of coal by the Donbas combine
Operation ch art
Value
Technical and econ om ic
so n
in d ice s Face
m
-
£ >5“
CDM ifoun e
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e
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CD
0.75
o f se a m area
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[Coal ou tpu t p e r operation cycle \
9 ft '°N S3DJ ______
w>
Number o f c y c le s p e r d a g \
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|Daily co a l p rod u ction program \
|R oof co n tro l \Gradual s e ttlin g down \
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9ft'ON 33DJ
h ou rs
walls)
5§
l wo coa l
c
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t: *- g
B la stin g in rock
F ig . 187. W ork s c h e d u l e d ia g r a m fo r 45 c y c l e s p e r m on th (three c y c l e s every 24 hours, in

^ o'
Labour distribution chart
'g 1 ^ Ch o' r ’ex o

TC3 ? s ^ §S i 3>-S t ?
Ji ? .5 fc
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Qj CJ O Q I*- :-u « <|n£<0 K
i
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O O O O O O O O O O O
» ° ° ° ° °
K °rfj “ 90 0
g * b o*~ o +dr -
o l f & OO o
3. In Section 9 we said that engineer Kosenko had proposed a

45-cycle operation schedule in coal walls in certain conditions. Fig. 187
illustrates an example of such organisation of work. It refers to min
ing two closely situated coal walls at the Vorovsky Mine in the Do
nets coal fields, where two anthracite beds are being worked, with
total thickness of 0.6-0:7 metre each and working thickness of 0.45-
0.55 metro. Each wall is 90-100 metres long and anthracite is under
cut by machines. These two coal walls are worked by nine teams:
three gangs of loaders, three complex preparatory teams and three
cutting-machine operators. The teams are engaged now in one and
now in another wall, in the order shown in Fig. 187.
Mining operations in each wall are thus repeated every eight hours,
and all the members of the teams, both those mining coal and prepar
ing walls, work in the same shifts throughout the month. According
to the work schedule, one cycle is accomplished in each wall during
the first 24 hours and two in the next 24 hours, thus making it 45
cycles per month.
In spite of the thinness of the seam, the walls yield 5,500-7,000 tons
of coal a month each, while output per one man per shift comes to
3.9-4. 8 tons.
14. Prerequisites for Successful Fulfilment

of Cyclic Operations
The fulfilment of the cyclic operation outlined and plotted in the
planned work diagram and labour distribution chart requires a num
ber of technical and organisational conditions, both at the production
face and outside it.
I. The following prerequisites are of importance technically.
1 . The coal face should be rectilinear, without bends. This is re
quired for the efficient operation of coal cutters and cutter-loaders,

as well as for the normal operation of conveyers. If the face is badly
curved, the combine or coal cutter may veer off its breast, and that
would diminish the depth of the cut. In a bent face it is impossible
to stretch out the rope of the cutting machine to any great length
and it is necessary frequently to change the position of the anchor
post. No belt or chain-and-flight conveyer can be employed in a non-
rectilinear face. A straight-lined production face is also of importance
for efficient roof control when mining involves artificial caving.
It is not the technical staff of the mine section alone that has to
see to it that the face remains straight. This is also the duty of the
mine surveyor, who is responsible for the shape of the coal
face.
2. In selecting the roof-control method, one should take account of
the properties of wall rocks. When it is the method of mining with
Prerequisites for Successful Fulfilment of Cyclic Operations 291
fill that is adopted, the packing should not fall behind the advancing
face more than stipulated by the specifications for mine support.
When roof control is effected by artificial caving, one should keep lo
the space interval or run of caving confirmed by practice.
3. The face should be limbered in accordance with the accepted spe
cifications, and the supporting sets should be put up in good time.
Metal or timber props should be arranged along the coal face in
straight rows. The condition of the roof should be constantly looked
after and all the sections exciting apprehension should be immediately
reinforced. A reversible-type chain conveyer can also deliver the mine
timber to the coal wall via a lower-lying entry. The question of mine
support stocks is discussed below.
4. The coal wall should be equipped with machinery—mine
combines, coal cutters and loaders, air hammers and conveyers with
rated capacities sufficient to achieve the goals set by planned work
schedules.
The length of the cutter bar should accord with the properties of
the seam, and the cutting machine itself should be operated properly.
The coal culler’ s teeth should be changed in good lime. For harder
grades of coal Lhey should be faced with hard alloys. The track for the
coal cutter or mine combine should be kept free of coal or rock debris
and the coal face should be smooth and have no benches or overhang
ings which might hinder the machine’ s motion.
The holes drilled in coal should not be shallower than the cuts, and
they should be properly spaced. The loaders should break off the
undercut coal over the entire area of the breast, leaving the face in the
shape of a vertical surface from Lop lo bottom. Moreover, if the
machine, because of the seam structure, cuts somewhat above the
bottom of the bed, the workers should break off all the coal lying be
low the cuL (bottom coal).
Maintenance of face machinery and other electrical and mechanical
equipment is discussed below.
f>. The coal wall should be well ventilated, in accordance with the
regulations. An effective air current is also essential for reducing
the time needed for blowing out the noxious gases created by the ex
plosion of charges in holes drilled in coal and dummy roadways. The
best lime for blasting is between two shifts. Since coal cutters and
loaders are apt to produce much coal dust, the wall should be
equipped with spraying devices.
0. Proper lighting at the face is not only necessary to ensure safety;
it also helps increase labour efficiency. All the loading stations near
the walls should have electric lighting.
7. The coal wall should be connected by telephone to the mine
despatcher’ s office. For convenience’ s sake, the telephone should be
installed at the loading station of the wall.
II. The following points are important for the organisation of

work:
1. Mining teams or gangs should be formed as stipulated in the
planned work schedule and labour distribution chart, both with re
gard to the number of men and their qualification.
2. Complex shijlwise teams are the best form of labour organisation.
In coal walls serviced by cutter-loaders, a mining shift team is com
posed of the cutter, his assistant, and helpers in timbering and shap
ing the face.
In walls worked by coal cutters, a complex team is made up of load
ers, timberers, drillers and timber-supply men.
A shift team for moving conveyers consists of conveyer transfer
men (fitters) and a shift electrician.
A coal-cutter team of the repair-preparatory (back) shift has a
coal-cutter operator, one or two helpers and a shift electrician.
Roof control in coal walls is effected by gangs made up of fillers,
rock drillers, rib- or break-line timbermen, cribmen and roofmen
(prop-pulling men).
Every team has a leader.
Workers not included in the above-mentioned teams are assigned
individual work places and jobs in accordance with the labour dis
tribution chart.
3. Each face man should be acquainted with the planned work
schedule and labour distribution chart and know his work place.
To this end, he must be appropriately instructed by the mine-section
superintendent, his assistants and team leaders. Each miner is famil
iarised with the labour distribution chart for the month a few days
before it comes into force.
4. In the case of operations proceeding uninterruptedly, the
miners of the succeeding shift relieve their colleagues right at their
work place.
5. Accomplished tasks are checked at the work places by the mine-
section supervisory staff after each shift.
6 . Efficient work by each miner, in addition to proper distribution
of labour and employment of suitable equipment, is a prerequisite for
the fulfilment and overfulfilment of the coal production programme.
The best possible organisation of work and employment of any
highly efficient device will be of no avail if, because of a poorly done
job, the schedule is not adhered to and the device is inadequately
utilised. Therefore, the members of a team should abide strictly to
labour discipline, bearing in mind that laggard often holds back the
others.
The slightest inrush of roof rocks on account of inadequate timber
ing delays the cutting of coal, and this will affect all the successive
mining operations.
Prerequisites (or Successful Fulfilment of Cyclic Operations 293
Besides abiding strictly to the work regulations, the members of

a team should all be highly conscientious. Their basic aim should he
maximum efficiency and best possible utilisation of mine equip
ment.
These aims are achieved by:
a) skill and ability to make proper use of the existing conditions
in attaining maximum efficiency;
b) full use of shift time;
c) assiduity;
d) economy of time through the elimination of unnecessary inter
ruptions in work;
e) proper maintenance of equipment (running repairs, timely
lubrication and cleaning, change of worn-out parts, etc.);
f) concern for both the quantity and quality of coal extracted;
each miner should keep down the ash content.
Good work brings high wages and better living conditions, which,
in turn, help further to raise efficiency.
7. The rates of wages in complex teams are worked out on the ba
sis of the following units: in mining shift gangs—per ton of coal ex
tracted; in teams engaged in shifting conveyers—per metre; in a roof-
control gang—per square metre of the stope area, measured once a
month by the surveyor.
III. Apart from adequate organisation of work in the production
face, successful winning of coal depends also on the following con
ditions:
1. The face should have a continuous supply of electric power and,
when necessary, of compressed air.
2. Mine timber of proper quality and size should be supplied in
good time.
3. Adequate provision should be made for preventive inspection
and repair of mine equipment and mechanisms, as specified in a
special schedule.
A mine section should have a plan for maintenance of equipment,
compiled in accordance with standards set for repairs of mine equip
ment, regulations for technical exploitation of mines, and the cyclic
work schedule. Running repairs are effected during the back (prepara
tory-repair) shift. There should be a sufficient stock of rapidly wear
ing parts and fitter’s tools available. For major repairs and overhauls
the machines are brought to the surface and sent to mine machine
shops.
4. Provision should be made for adequate transportation of coal
drawn from the production faces. This requires a sufficient stock of
empty mine cars in good repair always available at loading stations,
electric locomotives of needed power capacity, haulageways and mine
tracks in good condition.
5. Efforts should be made to prevent development work from

delaying the normal course of stoping operations in any way. In
breast stoping, particularly, the heading of the haulageway or entry
should always be driven in advance of the coal faces. The rate of this
advance should allow switching operations at the loading stations
near the coal walls.
6 . The airway or air entry should be kept in good condition to
allow not only free passage of the air current, but also to provide for
convenient delivery of mine limber to production faces.
7. Implementation of the cyclic work schedule is supervised
not only by team leaders and mine foremen but also by mine-section
superintendents and their assistants. If they are not present in a coal
wall at any given moment, they should keep in touch with it by tele
phone and come over when required to check on the implementation
of the cyclic work schedule and, if necessary, take measures to ensure
uninterrupted mining operations.
8 . Control over the actual fulfilment of planned cyclic operations
and registration of their results require working face records.
A working face record (Fig. 188) includes the following operative
data for every workday:
a) actual state of mining operation in the wall at the end of each
shift. There, conventional signs show the amount of coal undercut,
blasted and extracted along the length of the wall and the position
of mining machines (cutting, loading and mine combines) and convey
ers. Authenticity of the information is testified to by the signatures
of the shift manager on duty and the mine foreman;
b) statement on factual labour distribution according to shifts
and classes of work;
c) condition of the roof all along the coal wall, according to shifts;
d) entry in the face record of all possible instances of noncompliance
with the cyclic schedule of work, periods of idle time and the causes
underlying them;
e) finally, entry in the face record of assignments and accomplished
work per shifts and day—actual coal output, undercutting, drilling,
timbering, conveyer shifting, etc.
The forms of the working-face records are filled out by the mine-
seclion superintendent or his assistant on the basis of information
contained in the shift manager’ s report at the end of each working
shift (Fig. 188), or in the mine despatcher’ s report (Fig. 189).
9. The working-face records also serve for registering the results
of cyclic operations performed in a day, week or ten days, or month.
The data they contain are checked and compared every ten days and
every month with the results of the surveyor’ s measurements of the
face advances and with current information on the amount of coal
actually extracted.
Operation
Section Date
Chart
~WaiT Ishift
Wall Workers accord
length I I s h if t M shift length ing to shifts
Occupations
190 190 ]_ n_ perdag
Combine operators
170 170
(cutters)
150 150 Operator helpers
Face-men
130 130
Conveyer motormen
110 110 Conveyer transfer men
SO 90 Drillers
70 70
Blasters
Prop-pulling men
50 50
F illers
30 30 Timbermen
10 10 Timber supply men
Section
boss
on duty j
Mine Total f o r the wall n
foremar, Total en gaged in
S ection operation rep ort development work
Total en gaged in
a j Wall operation b) Operation o f developmentfa ce s other o p era tion s
S h ifts |<;g/-| ~ Shifls o f the s e c tio n
I | E I M \day\ g '
u* / in \m
\ Grand t o t a l f o r
the se c tio n
Mined, t Driven, m Causes o f noncom pliance with
opera tion schedule and Idle time
Undercut, m Mined, t
Footage
Repairs, m
drilled, m
Footage
Drlven.m
blasted,m
Footage Mined, t
timbered.m
Conveyer Repairs, m
shifted, m
Footage Driven, m
fille d , m
Organ Legend n Cutting
timbering Mined, m
□ Undercut “ machine
transferred.m
. Undercut
^ and blasted 0=3 combine
Repairs, m
Timber Cut coal Conveyer
supplied cleaned up position
rrrtinn rn
Operation rle started
cycle \ t.
(date) (shifty
Operation cycle completed: £_.......
Output per section (date) (shift)
Mine ch ie f engineer
Section ch ief
Fig. 188. Working face cyclic operations record

Dispatcher’
s Section Face number Date Operation chart
Time I sh ift 1 n s h ift | m sh ift Labour engaged in the operation

Operations 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 3 5 7
Numberafmkets
C lasses o f work iccordmtjtoshifts
I n in perdth,
O peration ana Combine operators
Lowering o f the (cutter runners)
m ining com bine Operator helpers
or cutting and Face-men
Lowering o f th e Motormen a t the
cu ttin g m achine conveyer
Conveyer transfer men
1. Coal unloading Drillers
(with hand o p e B lasters
ration) o r coal Prop-pulling men
m ining from
F illers
n ich es
2. B la stin g Timbermen
In coal Timber supply men
3. Conveyer
sh ift in g
I F illin g
o r ca v in g
2. D rillin g
In sto n e Total la b o u r
3. Blasting, a t th e f a c e
in rock Total la b ou r in
k Timbering developm ent work
Total labor engaged
in oth er o p era tion s
8 10 12 Ik 16 18 20 22 2k 2 k 6 8
o f th e s e c t io n
Task
Faces
Actual Total f o r th e section
^h.Otherstopesof Task
the section Actual Sketched actual f a c e p o s itio n atthe
ill
a Grandtotedfor Task
d o s e o f the sh ift
a Actual Wdll
I s h ift U shift IE shift
Section operation report length
a) Wall operation b) Operation o f development fa c e s 150
I S h ifts (per S h ifts per
\T\n\E\dau
am naaaa
I!
. 3.k
_£
a 1 day z
7 I T A r AT A
130
110
Mine.t Driven, m
Undercut,m Mined,t 90
Footagedrilled,m Repairs.m 70
Footageblastedjn Driven,m
Footagetimbered/n 50’
Mined, t
Cameyershfted.m Repairs.m 30
FaotagefUled.m Driven,m 10
Organtimbering Mined,t
transferred,m Repairs.m Operation cy cle sta r te d .......
(date) (shift)
• Operation cy cle com pleted. ........
TUnbersuppUed (date) (shift)
Name o f the mine foreman Mine c h ie f en g in e e r
Dispatcher’s signature S ection c h i e f
F ig . 189. D i s p a t c h e r ’
s w o r k i n g fa c e c y c l i c o p e r a t i o n s r e c o r d
Peculiarities o f Rock Pressure and S u p port of W orking Faces 297
The working-face records are very important documents which, if

kept properly and systematically, reflect all the cyclic operalimis
effected in coal walls, their results, shortcomings and the causes
underlying them.
15. Peculiarities of Rock Pressure and Support

of Working Faces in Steeply Pitching Seams
We have already seen (Chapter II) that highly inclined seams are
opened up by crosscuts (Fig. 190)—by haulage one a and venlilalion
one b, on both sides of which main level entries ac and bd are pushed
forward. When the breasts of these entries are several scores of me
tres ahead of the crosscut they are connected by break-throughs e and
/. Production faces can be b d
started from these break
throughs.
In the simplest case, one
rectilinear continuous work
ing face, similar to that
in slightly inclined seams,
can be established in a lev
el. This type of mining
is specific of the longwall
system applied in steeply
dipping beds. If, because of
geological disturbances or
insufficient stability of
wall rocks, one continuous
face should prove inconven a
ient, the level may, even Fig. 190. Opening up and development of
in a steeply pitching seam, a steeply pitching seam
be divided into two or sev
eral sublevels, each mined through a single production face.
When the pitch is heavy, however, continuous (fully or approximate
ly) dip faces are used only when coal is extracted by mine combines,
coal cutters or coal ploughs (see below). The breaking off of coal by
pneumatic hammers gives the faces the shape of an overhand slope
and this is due to the following reasons.
When a lump of coal, a block or a rock falls down in a working
face with a low pitch, it remains where it is. In a steeply pitching
seam a fallen object rolls down. On its way down it may happen to hit
other objects—props of support sets, etc.—and cause them to fall,
and that may lead to further caving of rocks and even to an accident
Strike On A-B in the face. For this reason it is

necessary to pay particular atten
tion to the support of the active
stope area.
In a straight continuous dip
face falling objects roll down di
rectly into the area in the vicin
ity of the face, and that is why
special safety measures should be
taken in mining such faces (see
below). Therefore, when coal is
extracted with pneumatic ham
mers production faces in steeply
inclined beds are subdivided
into benches (see Fig. 191).
The face 2-3 of each bench is
called the breast of the bench,
while surface 1-2, overlying it,
the overlap of the bench. Line
2-3 is called the bench height, while overlap 1-2 defines the advance
of the lower bench over the top. Angle 2 is usually referred to as
the “ corner”of the bench.
Coal broken off in each bench rolls down along the line of pitch
without hitting the men in the lower benches. The purpose of the
overhand stope is thus to safeguard men from falling coal (or other
objects) excavated in the benches above.
Fig. 190 shows how an overhand or overhead stope is gradually cut
until it is extended over the whole of the level interval (or that of
sublevel). The figures indicate coal areas worked in successive shifts.
At first one man mines out face area 1; during the next shift two face-
men work out two areas 2, 2 and so on.
The coal loosened in the benches, sliding along the bottom of the
seam, falls directly onto the lower portion of the face, or the floor
boards laid along the bench line. This facilitates its reaching the low
er section of the level where it is loaded into the mine cars through
chutes. The mined-out space is filled either completely or partially,
or not at all. In the first instance, the stub pillars of coal along the
entries may be either left or not, but in the second and third instances
they must always be left, except for the rare occasions when they
can be replaced by pillars of blasted waste rock.
Reliable support for the mined-out area in steeply dipping beds
19 also of particular importance because there is not only the possibil
ity of the hanging-wall rocks caving in, but also that of the foot-wall
rocks sliding down.
Active faces are supported by runs of posts following the line of
Peculiarities of Rock Pressure and Support of Working Faces 299
dip. It is only in the case of extremely firm wall rocks that posts
are set up directly in hitches cut in the floor and blocked against the
roof. Ordinarily, slabs a are first arranged on the hanging and foot
walls (Fig. 192) and the posts are then driven in between them.
To prevent timbering from sliding the slabs should meet e n d - t o - e n d
(and not overlap each other as is the case in gently sloping beds).
The posts should be placed at the ends of each slab and, in addition
to that, one, two or three supplementary posts should be put up be
tween the end props, this depending upon the properties of wall rocks
and the length of slabs.
Spacing between the rows of props varies, usually from 0.7 to
1 metre, depending on the stability of hanging and foot-wall rocks.
In the instance of weaker wall rocks prop and slab support is insuf
ficient, inasmuch as individual blocks of rock can fall from between
the rows of timber sets. In such cases short slabs (laggings) (b in
Fig. 192), are driven under the main slabs. The number of laggings
depends on the properties of rocks.
Since the overlap of each bench lies directly above the men work
ing in the bench below, it should be secured and lagged with slabs.
Cribbing is often employed in the stoping area. The cribs are
built on the sticks of usual sets (Fig. 193a), or else two additional
props are set up at the bottom of the crib (Fig. 1936).
In steeply inclined beds the delivery of mine timber to the produc
tion faces is a difficult job. For the top benches the props and slabs
are brought up in mine cars through the airway; for lower ones through
the lower haulageway. To deliver mine timber to benches of low
height, the facemcn take their places in every bench and relay the
OnA-B
F ig . M 2. B e n c h t i m b e r i n g F ig . 193 C r i b b i n g in steeply
pitch in g beds
props, slabs and laggings in numbers required for work during the
shift. These materials are piled on support posts in front of each bench.
In benches of considerable height it is possible to lower mine timber
in a special box with runners or skids with the aid of a hand-operated
or mechanised winch set up in the upper entry.
As said above, in steeply inclined beds both roof fall and bottom
slide are possible, and falling blocks of coal or rock roll down unhin
dered. This makes adequate support of the production face and wall-
rock control especially important. We have already seen that with
the caving methods of mining in gently sloping seams it is of particu
lar importance for systematic roof control to knock down the posts
of the face timbering regularly and move special support sets at preset
intervals. But in the case of a heavy pitch all this is actually ruled
out, for here it would be rather unsafe to knock down the props. Here
cribs are moved only occasionally. That is why, in the case of mining
steeply inclined beds with partial or complete caving, protection of
working areas from rock falls provides for careful arrangement of
mine supports and systematic building of cribs, whose number and in
terspacing are determined on the basis of previous experience. As a
rule, the cribs are abandoned in the worked-out area. In other words,
when mining steep seams with partial or complete caving, wall-rock
control is efTected by retreat from rock collapses or goafs. Besides,
in order to secure the stability of wall rocks it is sometimes necessary
to leave small pillars (stumps) of coal three to five metres wide and
high in worked-out areas. The abandonment of stumps increases coal
losses and tends to complicate the delivery of coal in the stope area.
The slumps are left somewhat below the centre line of the worked-
out area.
In conditions under discussion the most reliable method of lend
ing stability to wall rocks is by filling the mined-out space.
Packing materials needed in the mining of thin and medium-thick
steep seams can be obtained both underground and on the surface.
In the case of the former, they include interlayers or rocks of the
false bottom or roof in the working seam itself and rocks obtained
from newly driven or retimbered mine workings; in the latter case,
from quarries, concentration plants (tailings) and old rock dumps.
Heavier partings or intercalations met with during the extraction
of coal in benches are cut out separately and thrown over the floor
boarding into the goaf to pack it.
To let down the rocks of partings and thin bands contained in the
false bottom or roof, the usual practice is to tear of! one or two lower
boards of the flooring before cutting out the rock. The lumps of rock
then fall through the flooring into the goaf. The volume of rock ob
tained from intercalations and the false roof or bottom (if they are thin
enough to descend by themselves when coal is broken off) is nearly
Peculiarities of Rock Pressure and Support of Working Faces 301
always insignificant, and cannot be regarded as a major source of

mine-fill. These rocks can be thrown over the floor boarding only if
there is no danger of their self-ignition in the goaf.
There is much more packing material to be obtained from the brush
ing of entries. If the levels are not subdivided, filling material can
be obtained by driving a lower haulageway or an upper ventilation
entry. It is rather difficult to employ a filling material obtained as
the result of slashing in the lower entry because this requires either
building rock sill pillars over it, which is not always practised because
of the high cost, or else tramming mine cars with waste along the lower
haulageway towards the crosscut and the shaft, hoisting it up to the
ventilation level and tramming along the ventilation crosscut and
airway to the stoping area and, finally, lowering it into the mined-
out space. Barren rocks obtained in the process of driving the lower
entry and as the result of its repair are therefore not used for filling,
but brought to the surface and disposed of in waste dumps.
Appreciable amounts of packing material are obtained from the
upper airway. Except for the uppermost level, this entry, as a rule,
is pushed forward through the former haulageway goaf, and that is
why its drifting yields relatively large amounts of waste. It is much
simpler to use this waste for filling, for the distance over which it
has to be transported from the entry heading to the benches is short
and at the point of destination the mine cars can be discharged by a
tipper or directly through a side door into the worked-out area. The
same method is employed to deliver waste obtained from the repairs
of the airway.
In the case of incomplete (partial) filling, waste is not let down into
the lower portion of the level. On the contrary, it is retained in the
upper section (see Fig. 22G, below) with a view to protecting the air
way from excessive rock pressure, since maintenance services in this
entry arc rendered very difficult by the fact that the mined-out
areas of the upper levels lie over its entire length (barring the levels
of the top level). To keep the rocks in place under the ventilation
entries, special platforms or waste stulls are arranged in the worked-
out area, and it is on these that packing is placed.
The waste stulls should be so located as to leave ample room for
all the waste lowered into the level. The waste stulls are placed on
top of the props of the earlier installed support sets, which are rein
forced by additional posts and one or two runs of cribs. They are ex
tended as the production faces advance.
The fill in the gob lies at a certain angle to the line of strike.
The greater the pitch of the seam the smaller is the angle. Let us
imagine that the seam lies vertically and that packing material in
the gob rolls down freely, without being detained either by timbering
or friction with wall rocks. The angle it forms between the slope and
the strike, which is a horizontal line, will be the angle of repose of the
fill, that is, 38°-42°. If the angle of pitch is below 90°, the angle be
tween the slope of the fill and the strike will be greater. It will also
tend to increase because the fill is prevented from rolling freely by
timbering in the worked-out
area and by its friction with
wall rocks. Furthermore, the
initial height of the mined-
out space, which equals the
thickness of the seam, may,
by the time packing is pro
f j f ceeded with, be somewhat
F ig . 194. C a l c u l a t i o n o f a f i l l - s l o p e a n g l e reduced by the subsidence
of the roof and the bulging
of the bottom, especially in the central section of the level, and
that will also delay and even stop the stowing operations. These
phenomena become all the more pronounced as the coal seam grows
thinner. The job of levelling the fill is assigned to special workers.
Let us assume that line c in Fig. 194 represents the position of the
fill slope. If this line runs in space at y angle, which is somewhat great
Fig 195. F i l l i n g fr o m d u m m y roa d - Fig. 196. P a c k w a ll s d o w n the

w ays ( la te ra l en tries) in stee p ly , in- d ip in m in in g s t e e p l y p it c h in g
d in e d sea m s sea m s °
Coal Extraction in Benches 303
er than that of the fill repose, angle p, formed by the actual fill
slope and strike, can be found by applying the following formula
and the lead or advance of the lower end of the fill slope in accordance
with the formula
a cot P
f = b cot p sin a
It is desirable that the bench line be as parallel as possible to the

fill slope.
Some research workers hold that filling material can be obtained
from dummy roadways even in steeply dipping beds (Fig. 195)
or pack walls be built down the dip, for which the dividing boards
should he arranged along the rows of timber set props in the mined-out
area (Fig. 196). Both these methods are so far hardly used.
16. Coal Extraction in Benches

Mining of coal in steeply inclined seams is today done by 1) air
hammers; 2) coal cutters; 3) combines (cutter-loaders) and 4) coal
ploughs.
1. If the seam structure permits, coal is broken off by air hammers
(Fig. 197) without any preliminary cuts or with shallow cuts, since
it is dangerous to make typical deep cuts if the pitch is heavy. Actual
breaking starts with the top corner of the bench in order to protect
the faceman working on the lower bench from any possible hazards.
Advanced miners have wrought radical changes in the technique
and organisation of coal breaking at the faces of steeply inclined seams.
Fig. 197. Air hammer

A. Stakhanov, who initiated the popular emulation movement in the

coal industry, set his first famous record on August 30, 1935, at the
face of a steeply pitching seam in the Tsentralnaya-Irmino Mine in
the Donets coal fields by breaking 102 tons of coal with an air hammer
in 6 hours.
Prior to the introduction of the differentiated method of work in
breaking coal with air hammers, mining in overhead stopes followed
the hand-breaking pattern, that is, each bench was worked by one
man who both broke coal and timbered the face.
F ig . 198. A f a c e a t th e M a z u r k a s e a m
a —p rio r to a d o p t i n g a d if fe r e n tia te d m eth o d of w o rk ; b — af ter a d o p t i n g it
Stakhanov suggested a novel way of organising mining at the faces

of steep beds, assigning the breaking of coal and timbering to dif
ferent men. This made it possible to raise substantially the efficiency
of facemen and make a better use of the pneumatic hammer.
The new method of mining sharply increased per capita efficiency
at the face, 1.5-3 times and over on the average, this being a fact of
extreme importance. The length of the benches increased to 20, 30,
40 and more metres, depending on the firmness of coal and the thick
ness of the bed (Fig. 198).
High efficiency, of course, is achieved not only by an increase in
the height of coal benches and differentiation of labour, but, in this
instance, also by intensive and skilful work and by practical appli
cation of the principles enumerated in Section 14.
High benches have a number of other advantages.
The most difficult operation in working benches is the cutting out
of “corners”. In the case of high benches, their number in the level
is proportionally smaller, and this also reduces the total number of
corners.
To make better use of hammer weight, coal in the bench is broken

downward. Each long bench is serviced by one faceman and one, two
and sometimes more timbermen. The latter lag somewhat behind the
faceman (Fig. 199). To protect the faceman from falling timber
safety platform A is installed on support props over him.
Hammers are most effective in breaking coal of medium hardness,
or hard but fissured coal. It is of prime importance that air pressure
at the face should be kept at not
less than 4-5 atm, for if it drops
below lhat it would lead to a rapid
decrease of air hammer efficiency.
In good condition, thehammer con
sumes from 28 to 40 cu m of free
TLmberman
air per hour of net work, depending
on its size; air consumption increases
as it wears out. The depreciation
rate for an air hammer is $ advance
2,000-2,500 hours of continuous
operation.
The air hammer is better utilised Face man
in mining with high benches, since
the duration of its actual work dur
ing the shift is then much greater.
At the same time, the number of
hammers engaged in the mine sec
tion drops sharply, this facilitating F i g . 1 99 . Sequence of coal breaking
the laying of air lines, cutting down and timbering in high benches
the number of hoses, tee-pieces,
cocks, etc., and reducing leakage of air, its consumption, and the
quantity of lubricants used.
In the Ruhr coal fields (West Germany), where sloping and steep
seams predominate and coal and wall rocks are relatively soft, coal
breaking with pneumatic hammers is the principal mode of stoping.
The greatest disadvantage of pneumatic hammers is the high cost
of compressed air, whose production consumes much electric power
because of the low efficiency factor of pneumatic plants and tools.
Hence the efforts to design an efficient electric coal hammer. However,
the big and persevering efforts put in by designers (N. Shmargunov,
L. Grigoryev, N. Komarov and others) to this end have failed to
produce a coal hammer suitable for field work.
2. In conditions prevailing in steeply inclined seams coal cutters
are efficient only in individual instances.
The production face (Fig. 200), in this case, should be straight and
run on the dip. Its lower portion should have some lead so as to allow
the coal-cutter bar to penetrate under coal and provide enough room
11 —UC25
30f» Sloping in a Continuous Face
for storing broken coal. When undercutting, the machine moves

uphill, pulled by a feed rope. For safety’ s sake, there is yet another
rope, the lower end of which is fastened to the cutter and the upper
wound around the drum of a special hoist set up in the upper entry.
The safety rope is kept taut at all times so as to prevent the machine
from falling if the feed rope breaks. The machine is lowered on an idle
run by the safety rope. Soft coal breaks off by itself in the process of
undercutting. Hard coal is blasted by ex
plosive charges in drill holes. To facilitate
the breaking operation, curved cutter bars,
which make cuts of singular shape (b), can
be used instead of the ordinary straight ones
(Fig. 200, a). The method used in face tim
bering is shown in the figure.
Although possible, operation of coal-cut
ting machines in steeply pitching beds
presents many technical difficulties: it is
necessary to maintain a safety hoist, break
ing of undercut coal is inconvenient, and
no work can be done in a straight dip face
in the area below the coal cutter. The
result is that the efficiency of
these machines is far inferior
to that recorded in gently slop
ing seams. The worse the wall
rocks, the more inconvenient
it is to operate the coal cut
ter. It is particularly so in the
case of broken beddings. Be
cause of that the use of coal-
2 cutting machines in steeply
inclined seams is restricted to
exceptional cases, for instance,
Fig. 200. Mining of a steeply inclined when there is a combination
seam witli a coal-cutting machine of a regular seam occurring in
firm country rocks and coal
that is very hard but readily detachable from the back.
3. The KKII-1 coal combine (combine for steep seams, Model 1)
was introduced for mining steeply pitching beds in 1950. The first
pilot series of these machines for mining steeply inclined seams 0 .8 -
1.5 metres thick, containing medium-soft coal and occurring regular
ly in stable wall rocks at an angle of 50°-75°, was put out in the
following year.
This machine (Fig. 201) was invented by engineers A. Zasyadko,
A. Topchiev, V. Balykov and A. Pichugin. It operates downhill,
Viewin the* \\
direction o f arrow B
Face width 2.0-2.2m
Fig. 201. Diagrammatic representation of a KKIT coal combine
along the dip of a seam, and draws coal in a diagonal bench, separating
a band 2-2.2 metres wide. The combine’ s bed frame 2 (Fig. 201)
accommodates reciprocating breaking-down or ripping machine 1.
It consists of three-point rip bit 5, compressed air motor 6 with a
rated capacity of 32 hp and a reduction gear. The bit rotates at a
rate of 50-60 rpm. The ripping machine moves along rack 7 and
the bed frame over a distance of 2 . 2 metres at a speed of
17 m/min.
11*
Side frame 4, hinged to bed frame 2, and safety platform or cover
8 constitute the main body of the combine, which also has suspension
device 3 that can be attached to the rope of the hoist set up in the
upper entry.
As the bit, performing simultaneously rotating and reciprocating
movements along the bed frame, separates coal in strips 1 0 0 - 2 0 0 mm
thick' and it slides down the sloping bench, the machine is fed down
hill at the rate of 0.4-0.5 m/min. The hoist is started and stopped by
remote control, the operator being all this time on the combine un
der the protection of steel cover 8.
To prevent the combine from leaving the contours of the face,
there is lateral slide 9 pressed against the first row of face timbering.
Coal in the seam is broken, depending on its hardness, by the bit ro
tating in one or both directions. In the latter case the machine’ s
output may be brought to 50 tons per hour (in a bed 1-1.3 metres
thick).
The space freed by the extraction of coal bands has to be supported
by timber sets, with 0.9-metre intervals between rows. The back of
the seam should be lagged with slabs. The only unsupported thing is
a strip about a metre wide near the breast of the face, along which
the combine is brought to the upper portion of the coal wall after
the mining operations are over. When a combine moves ahead at a
rate of 0.4-0. 5 m/min, two or three timbermen do not always manage
to put up the supporting sets in the area near the face, and this causes
interruption in its operation. To remedy this, the designing organ
isations are now busy elaborating a mechanised or powered metal
support which would permit continuous operation of the combine
in absolute safety.
When the KKn coal combine was first introduced at the Surtaikha
Mine, inventor Babarykin suggested lowering a special suspended
metal stage or platform right after the combine to facilitate and ac
celerate face timbering. The platform accommodates a timberman
and a stock of mine timber. It is lowered and hoisted (folded because
its parts are hinged) by a rope from a hoist set up in the upper
entry, and is operated by a timberman with the aid of push
buttons.
After the extraction of a coal strip, the combine stops on the
bottom 6 -metre bench, the lateral slide is taken off, along with the
bit holders, and the frames are folded prior to its hoisting to the up
per portion of the wall by rope. The lifting power of the hoist is 4 tons,
the drum diameter—600 mm, and it accommodates 240 metres of 21-
mm rope. The combine is hoisted at the flitting or tramming speed
of 4-5.7 m/min. All operations connected with the dismantling, trans
fer and preparation of the machine for the next cycle are performed
during the back shift.
The combine and the hoist
may bo powered both by elec
tric (17 and 11 kw) and com
pressed-air (30 and lGhp) motors.
The overall dimensions of the
combine in the operating po
sition are: length (on the dip)
—3 metres, width—2.9 metres;
height, depending upon the thick
ness of the bed—0.70-1.04 me
tres; weight—3 tons.
In the average conditions of
steeply pitching seams in the
Donets coal lie Ids KKI1 combines
are capable of producing be
tween 9,000 and 11.000 tons of
coal per wall per month.
The Gorlovka works has put
out a pilot lot of y K U l- 1 com
bines (screw conveyer combine,
Model 1), designed by N. Ignatov
for working steep seams 0 .7-1.1
metres thick in coal walls 70-150
metres long with soft and medi
um-hard coal and firm and med
ium-stable wall rocks. The oper
ating mechanisms cutting coal
arc the chain bars and screws
with cutting bits and shearing
plates. Screw conveyers also re Fig. 202. K-32 coal combine
move gum from the face. The
combine is serviced at the face by six men (machine runner, his
helper, electrician, hoistman and two timbermen).
During the tests in a coal wall 82 metres long the machine complet
ed one cycle in eight hours.
Field tests of the K-32 type coal combine (Fig. 202), also designed
for mining of steeply inclined seams, are at present under way. The
operating mechanisms in this machine are the screw conveyers fitted
with bits (teeth) and ripping wedges. The rated capacity of the
electric motor actuating the combine is 30 hp, the weight of the ma
chine—3.7 tons and its range—1.05 metres.
4. Mining in sleep seams can also be done by coal planers. Techni
cally, this method of mining in the conditions prevailing in steeply
inclined beds includes a number of features differing from those of
slightly sloping seams: the conveyer is absent; broken coal descends
-8
O
Technical and economic indices
i03Ul{0
*m e
SON "
s»m 2 )
1 Wall length \
N
1 Seam thickness 1
5
1 Pitch angle of the seam j
a
1
e
8
i
o>
C3
c*> -5“
1
£
0
I Advance per round I
to
**>
1 Output per 1m2of seam area \
1
I Operation cycles per day \
3
&
s
3
0
K?
*5
T5
4>
4»
CL
£
S
§§§§§§§
5>
% »>
I Daily production program I
a
Hoof Partial filling 1
control and roof subsidena
£
B l Osi
llllllllls
J S p l,
« ||||
o S o o o p o g a j o
s s >: s
1 Labour actually engaged per day 1
-SSSSSSSH g
£
e
1
ts
!b
0
i0
<d
cs
!
1 "Vt
*4
<0
sdJ}9UJ
<0 N
S3 2?
1 Total number of mine workers 1
a
Planned monthly output
per man In the wall 150
<1
"S
In.
■s
■$
*C ■5
•=p
|
■5
fe i
Classes of work Shifts
a
a
S
son
?® w
Jo
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C5
CM
fO
»0
«0
S
<0
CM
<0
CM
CM
tN.
CM
Ea 1
I
Cq <*>
puojg <0
race men \
1
1
CM
I
CM
Air-line service men \
1
1
a
v - CM a
| umber supply and crib men \
q
"3
■*
*>
Oi
I
.
*0
\Loading chute transfer men |
1 N a
tS
0
1 o>
CM CN
«*>
1 <*>
oc
g
*0
oC
CO
£
ou
u
U
"3
a*
O
'OD
<O
ea
ed
B
IB
SJ
Cl*
bo
(>>
•
eu
S*
D
«
>»
Work in a Sleep Face 311
by gravity; when running idle the planer can move downhill by its
own weight.
Field trials with a coal plough in mining Pugachovka coal seam of
the Donets basin, 0.8 metre thick and dipping at 60°, were carried
out in 1949. The tested planer was the one designed by Y. Nekrasov-
sky. It was made of a solid metal frame placed on skids and fitted with
cutting teeth. Its weight was 1.7 tons. The face was straight, but
slightly inclined, so that its top corner was somewhat in advance of
the bottom one. The coal plough cut coal as it was pulled along the
face by a rope. When it ran loaded uphill, the rope wound around the
drum of a hoist set up in a cross heading parallel to the haulageway.
Adjustable idler pulleys were provided at the corners of the face
to guide the rope. The rope was also passed over special rollers on the
coal plough in order to press it against the breast of the face. The lat
ter was supported by props and cribs. Timbering was put up after
the face had been advanced by about 0.8-1 metre. When the plough
moved downhill by its own weight, the electric motor of the hoist
was shut off, and the speed of the descent was regulated by the brakes
of the hoist. There were no men present at the face during the opera
tion of the plough.
The field tests of the coal plough proved successful. Labour effi
ciency and coal tonnages increases were greater than those in the case
of air hammers. It is quite possible that the employment of coal
plough in steeply pitching beds will make it possible to work very
low seams.
17. Work in a Steep Face
Work in coal walls of steeply inclined seams should be organised
on the basis of a cyclic operation schedule. The main provisions relat
ing to the cyclic organisation of stoping operations, formulated before,
fully apply to the conditions prevailing in steep beds.
Fig. 203 is illustrative of a cyclic operation schedule drawn up for
one 24-hour cycle for the overhand stope of a steep seam worked by
air hammers.
CH A PTER XI [
CONTINUOUS METHODS OF MINING
A. G E N T L Y P I T C H I N G A N D M ED IU M -ST EE P SEAM S
1. Development Work
In Chapter II we have seen that the levels of gently sloping seams
are opened up through permanent inclines and slopes or directly
through inclined shafts, from which level drifts or entries are driven.
Fig. 204, for example, shows main hoisting shaft A with workings
adjacent lo it, air shaft B and break-through 1-2 between them.
The break-through is made mostly in the shape of two parallel open
ings connected by cross headings. This facilitates ventilation during
the drivage of the break-through. The completion of the break
through connecting the main hoisting and air shafts makes available
two independent exits to the ground surface, and this allows normal
ventilation of underground workings. One of the shafts is for the
downcast current of fresh air and the other for the upcast return cur
rent. No underground stoping is permitted before the two shafts
are properly connected and normal ventilation is ensured.
If there is more than one level in the up-dip portion of the mine
field, that is, in the section lying above the shaft station (in Fig. 204
there are two such levels), the break-through is used for arranging
permanent slope 1-3 to allow conveying the coal drawn in the upper
level to the shaft.
Lower haulageway 3-4 and upper ventilation entry 2-5 are run
starting from the break-through level drifts. The distance between
these two openings is equal to inclined level interval h. The entries
on the other side of the level are pushed forward in analogous fashion.
Entries running from the permanent incline in the mine held along
the dip are driven in the same manner.
The entries are timbered by supporting sets of different materials
and design as conditions require it.
The materials that can be used include timber, metal, concrete
and reinforced concrete. The sets themselves may be made of straight
or bent members, complete or incomplete, rigid or yielding.
Development Work 313
‘Ttr777)Jf>J 7S7JJJJJVJ/y w r w D ii - I I
Fig. 204. An example showing the opening up of a deposit

and development of levels
Timber sets of trapezoid cross-section (Fig. 205) can, when neces

sary, he reinforced with roof timbers (rafters) (Fig. 200). If rein
forced concrete pipes are employed as posts (Fig. 207), the head pieces,
to resist rock pressure, should be made of steel I-beams with saddles
covering the upper ends of the posts. The shape of metal supports
may be trapezoidal (Fig. 208), arched (Fig. 209), horseshoelike
(see Figs 221 and 222), and, in the case of unfirm bottom rocks,
even ring-shaped (Fig. 210). Figs 221 and 222 illustrate timbering
of entries in steeply pitching beds, but such supports can also be used
in slightly inclined and sloping scams.
Figs 205 and 208 depict dimensions of workings and the size of
support members used.
When entries are subjected to strong rock pressure, particularly
if they are in the vicinity of mined-out areas, the support should
be made yielding or pliable, allowing the workings to change their
dimensions and shape within a certain range. Rigid support, for
instance of the types depicted in Figs 207, 209 and 210, is permis
sible only when rock pressure is insignificant—if the opening is a
lateral drift or protected by safety pillars of considerable size, or else
when the rocks over the worked-out spaces have subsided complete
ly, Ihat is, when high rock pressure caused by the caving and set
tling of roof rocks has ceased to produce effect. Mine Limber of
F i g . 205. E n t r y t i m b e r s u p p o r t
F ig . 206. E n t r y t i m b e r s u p p o r t w i t h r a fter r e i n
forcem ent
F i g . 207. R e i n f o r c e d c o n c r e t e s u p p o r t p o s t s in an e n t r y
Fig. 208. Trapezoid metal support
Fig. 209. Bent metal support

316 Continuous Methods of Mining
ordinary design is capable of yielding somewhat under pressure, but

lo make this feature more pronounced the lower ends of the props
should be tapered (burring props), as shown in Fig. 205.
To make a metal support more pliable, its members are apt to
develop a certain play (see Fig. 222) under heavy rock pressure.
The entries are protected from the mined-out areas by coal pillars
or pack walls, that is, by filling materials. Permanent slopes, inclines
and their manways are also protected by coal pillars (see Fig. 204)
or, less frequently—in low seams, by pack walls. In order Lo block
out such pillars, crosscuts 6-7 (see Fig. 204) are made to run parallel
lo the break-through. As they advance, these crosscuts are connected
with the break-throughs by cross headings.
Sloping operations are started from crosscuts.
2. L o n g w a l l M i n i n g
If there is just one continuous straight dip face (wall) in the levell
this modification of continuous mining is designated as longwal,
workings. For example, Fig. 211 is illustrative of the longwall min
ing with a coal combine of a low slightly inclined seam. Roof control
involves complete caving. The lower and top entries are protected
by pack walls. The flight conveyer at the face loads coal directly
into the mine cars of a train driven by an electric locomotive.
In this system of mining, production faces are generally distin
guished by Lheir considerable extent. Long continuous faces possess
a number of major advantages:
1. They yield more coal.
2. They allow the maximum use of coal combines, cutting ma
chines and conveyers. When necessary, longwalls can be serviced not
by one, but by two combines or coal cutters. A face extending for
100 metres can be serviced by one conveyer. In walls of greater length
two or three conveyers can be put up in tandem.
3. In longwalls, all other conditions being equal, the production
programme can be fulfilled with a minimum number of active walls.
This reduces the number of development openings and, consequent
ly, the cost of their maintenance, and simplifies the transportation
system.
4. Supervision of mining operations is much simpler.
On the other hand, longwall mining may cause a series of incon
veniences:
1. Inasmuch as a coal wall of appreciable extent is a major pro
duction unit at the mine, any delays in its operation may seriously
affect the output of the mine as a whole. Hence the need lo keep
active longwalls in perfect order and, besides, to make provisions
for stand-by or reserve faces (Section 9).
2. One of the causes leading to hitches in the normal operation

of longwalls is the availability of geological disturbances: faults,
pinches or squeezes of the seam, abrupt changes in the angle of dip.
Therefore, continuous faces of considerable length can be worked
in regular and uniform beds only. Gradual, limited changes in the
angle of dip are no obstacle to longwall mining.
3. A disadvantage of longwall mining is the varying properties of
wall rocks, for it makes it necessary to change roof-control and face-
timbering methods, and to resort to reinforced support in some places.
4. In faces of great length there may be difficulties with ventila
tion. The longer the face the greater, generally speaking, should
be the volume of fresh air supplied for its ventilation, for there are
more men engaged in it, more explosives consumed (if they are used),
and more methane evolved (if the seam is gassy). Inasmuch as the
cross-section area of the space near the face ordinarily remains con
stant along the entire length of the wall, the velocity of the venti
lation current increases proportionally to the volume of air reaching
the face. According to safety regulations, however, this velocity
should not exceed 4 m/sec. Consequently, ventilation conditions
may become a factor restricting the length of a continuous face.
5. When, because of its length, a coal wall is serviced by two or
three conveyers set up in tandem but actuated by separate drives,
a stoppage of the lower one leads to the stoppage of the upper ones,
and this disrupts work in the whole of the wall.
6 . Passage of men and delivery of mine timber are made all the
more difficult by the length of the coal walls, especially in low seams.
Hence the use of longwalls of considerable extent requires: 1) reg
ular occurrence of the bed and uniform properties of the enclosing
rocks; 2 ) concurrence of the face length and permissible velocity
of air current; 3) equipment of the coal wall with mine machines
of sufficient capacity; 4) systematic roof control; 5) well-elaborated
organisation of work in accordance with the cyclic operation sched
ule; 6 ) availability of stand-by or reserve longwalls (Section 9).
When all these conditions are complied with, the advantages of
the longwalls described above become so important that in the pre
vailing geological and mining conditions the chosen extent should
be as great as possible. For this reason it is often with much success
that longwalls of considerable extent (100-150 metres) and even
more (150-300 metres) are used in mining practice.
3. Continuous Sublevel Mining

Since in mining gently sloping beds the inclined level interval
may be as high as several hundred metres, it is not always feasible
to practise the longwall method of mining as such, and one has then
Continuous Sublevel Mining 319
to resort to the more complex '//yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy/yyyyy/yy/yyyy/y

system involving the division of
the level into two or, though less
frequently, into a greater num
ber of sublevels (see Fig. 204).
Thus, in addition to level
drifts 3-4 and 2-5, so-called sub-
level entries 8-9 and 10-11 arc
driven within the boundaries of
the level. These are also called
intermediate entries. The dis
tance between intermediate en
tries, measured on the line of dip,
is called sublevel interval.
A sublevel, consequently, is a w ////////////-
portion or section of a level lying yyyyyyyyyyy///y/yyyyyyy.
between two neighbouring inter Fig. 212. Face advance in
mediate entries or between the main upper sublevels
entry and the intermediate level
adjacent to it. The latter naturally refers to the uppermost
or lowest sublevels of a given level.
When the continuous method of mining is employed, a single
longwall is usually started in each sublevel. Therefore, in this case
the sublevel interval, that is, the extent of the longwall, should
also be as great as possible in the existing conditions.
Within the range of each sublevel coal is mined in the correspond
ing independent longwalls. The distance between individual working
faces 9-12 is designated as face advance (see Fig. 204). Fig. 204
is illustrative of an instance when it is the longwall of the lower
sublevel that goes in advance, while Fig. 212 shows the face of the
lop sublevel advancing first.
When a level is divided into sublevels, a slope has to be arranged
within the boundaries of the level to allow the transportation of
coal from working faces. The longwalls of each sublevel are connect
ed with the slope by independent openings.
Intermediate entries are provided with mine tracks to haul coal
in mine cars or else with conveyers. For example, coal extracted in
working face 5-9 (see Fig. 204) of the top sublevel is loaded into
mine cars (or onto a conveyer) at point 9 and enters the slope at
point 8. When work proceeds according to the pattern given in Fig.
204, stoping starts in the lowest sublevel as soon as a crosscut is
made in it. Simultaneously, a coal heading is driven in the second
sublevel. The further advance of production faces will be on strike.
An analogous picture will be seen on the other side or flank of this
level.
Hence no development work is done in the solid mass of the mineral

in front or ahead of longwalls. This is the main distinguishing fea
ture of the method of continuous mining. But there is an important
reservation to be made in this connection: all we have said above
does not apply to the main entry, whose heading should be driven
considerably (by 70-100 metres) in advance of the production face
(that is, it should be in the position shown, for example, in Fig. 212).
This is necessary to make loading of coal delivered from the long-
wall completely independent from the drivage of the entry and to
facilitate train switching at the loading station of the longwall.
A high advance rate of the main entry heading is also of impor
tance for exploration and study of the details of the occurrence of
the seam and, if necessary, for the development of new production
places (longwalls).
The arrangement of the sublevels depicted in Fig. 204 is character
istic of the fact that the faces of the lower sublevel are ahead. The
reverse disposition of working places is depicted in Fig. 212.
The following are the advantages gained in the first case. The
ventilating air current, whose direction in Fig. 204 is indi
cated by arrows, sweeps the work
ing places when ascending and
thus contributes to the better
ventilation of stoping areas than
can be achieved in the second
instance, where it may leak
through the mined-out space,
seeking to reach the air shaft by
a short cut (dash arrows in
Fig. 212).
When water appears in mine
workings, it flows down the
maximum gradient, that is, to the
dip, and it is for this reason
that, in the first instance, it runs
from any sublevel directly into
the mined-out area, by-passing
the working places of the under
lying sublevels, and, in the sec
ond, it gets to thelongwallsbelow.
In continuous mining, the en
tries are protected from the dele
terious effect of rocks caving in
over mined-out spaces by rib-fills
(pack walls) of wall rocks blasted
F i g . 213. I n t e r m e d ia r y e n tr y p r o t e c
t io n b y r ib f ills o r c h a i n c o a l p i l l a r s during their drivage, built near
these openings, or by safety rib or chain pillars of coal left on bolh

sides of them (Fig. 213). This last method, however, is to be avoided,
for it is fraught wilh many inconveniences for the operation of mine
machines at the face, requires a great deal of additional development
openings and involves considerable losses of coal in safety pillars.
But in the case of unfirm rocks and medium-thickness seams, haul-
ageways somelimes have to be protected by safely pillars. This
method hampers the extraction of coal from a longwall, for it requires
Fig. 214. Intermediary entries and slope in goaf
two short supplementary conveyers to be put up along the cross

cut and coal heading.
The most favourable scheme for the transportation of coal is a
in Fig. 213. But in order to avoid tramming blasted rock from the
entry face and hoisting it up the rise at point 2, it is sometimes
preferable to put the entire amount of blasted rock into the lower
oblique heading right on the spot and to obtain the fill to be stowed
over the main entry by slashing gateway 3, which is specially made
for this purpose in the worked-out area.
As the production faces continue to move away from the initial
poinl in the flank of the level, the length of the intermediary en
tries increases and so do the costs of transportation and maintenance
of these openings. Therefore, beginning from a certain distance,
it is better to cease using intermediary entries for coal haulage and
to discontinue their maintenance. To make this possible slope 1-2
is made in the mined-out area (Fig. 214) and then coal is hauled
from production places along the intermediary entries only over

distance 2-3 and 4-5 to the slope and then through the slope to main
gangway 1-6. Sections 2-2' and 5-5' of the intermediary entries then
become useless and are abandoned. If there are rib pillars of coal
near them, it is recovered as far as possible. The tracks are torn off
and taken away. Whenever possible, some of the timber supports
are knocked down.
Down the slope coal can be transported in mine cars by rope-haul
age. But that can be done better by conveyers. This is especially
desirable when conveyers are used in the intermediary entries, too.
Fig. 215. Making a mine slope and manway in goaf
When the slope is serviced by a conveyer, the passageway for men

is provided in the slope itself, side by side with the conveyer. Mine
tracks for the delivery of timber and equipment to working places
and for the tramming of barren rock, etc., are laid in a separate
opening parallel to the slope. They are laid on the side of the slope
opposite the working face. In slopes equipped with belt-and-flight
conveyers, tracks can be laid in the slope itself, alongside the con
veyer, since timber supplies and, if necessary, waste rock can be
transported by the conveyer, and mine tracks are not often used —
only for the transportation of heavy objects. At this time men’ s
passage in the slope should be stopped.
The slope and its manway are driven in a more or less caved goaf
(see Fig. 215 which gives section A-B of Fig. 214 on a larger scale),
where back 1-2 has already subsided into position 3-4, in places
touching the bottom. That is why the removal of blasted rock from
openings made in goafs to mined-out areas presents many difficul
ties and is sometimes altogether impossible. This involves trans
porting considerable amounts of barren rock from the headings.
Besides, the country rocks in which openings are driven quite often
are seriously disturbed by previous cavings and subsidences. All
this makes driving of slopes and manways in goafs a costly and slow
operation.
When working faces move away to a certain distance from the
existing slope, a new one is arranged. To distinguish it from a per
manent slope, it is called intermediary. The part of a level mined
through any such intermediary slope is called mine block. Ordinarily
slopes are numbered in the order of their establishment and denoted
by cardinal points (for example, Western I, Eastern III, etc.). A por
tion of the mine block lying between two neighbouring entries and
slopes (for instance, 2'-2-5-5') is sometimes called working section.
This term should not be confused with mine section, which is a part
of the mine field in charge of an engineer (or technician) —the mine
section superintendent.
The higher Lhe cost of making and equipping a slope the greater
the distance between intermediary slopes; and the smaller iL is, the
higher the maintenance and haulage cost for each one of them. The
distance is usually 150-200 metres for the one-way slopes so far dis
cussed.
Basic knowledge of the way the distance between intermediary
slopes is calculated is presented below (ChapLer XIII).
Coal in intermediary slopes is transported by conveyers (bclt-
and-flight).
Arrangement of slopes in mined-out areas has a number of major
disadvantages:
1. As already stated, their driving in goafs is a costly and a rela
tively slow operation.
2. Openings run all the way amid caving zones and their upkeep
is therefore a costly affair—at least as long as the rocks of the back
do not come down to the bottom and caving and subsidence near
the openings do not cease altogether, a thing which generally occurs
after a considerable lapse of lime.
3. Slopes in goafs can be slarled only when working face 8-9 of
the bottom sublevel (Fig. 214) has advanced at least scores of metres
from initial slope-site 2-1 and the manway, so that their sinking
will not interfere with the operations going on in entry 6-8. Since
the working faces continue to move forward during the sinking of a
slope and manway, when slope 1-2 becomes operative throughout
its length, intermediary entries 2-7 and 5-9 will have advanced a
considerable distance. For this reason engineer A. Belinsky suggest
ed driving a long slope simultaneously by headings started from
several dummy roadways. This was done in 1937, at Shchcglovka
Mine No. 1 in the Donets coal fields. The slope was run along the
face of a 180-metre coal wall in a seam 1.3 metres thick, involving
the slashing of wall rocks. Its size was: width at the bottom—4 me
tres, at the top—2.85 metres, height—2.5 metres. Mining in the coal
wall was slopped for the lime. The slope was driven in a direction
determined in advance by the mine surveyor simultaneously through
seventeen raise slopes, each starting from a separate dummy
roadway. The waste from slabbing was stowed away in dummy
roadways. The job was done by 142 men divided into 17 teams.
In spile of its large section the 180-metre slope was completed in
two days.
Because of Lhe disadvantages of this arrangement of slopes in
goafs, continuous mining according to this modification has been
practised but very rarely in the past fifteen years. Today, however,
with the tendency towards greater level intervals, it is likely to be
employed more.
Use can be made of yet another method, the one of driving inter
mediary entries in an intact solid mass of coal. To accomplish this,
the entries—haulage and ventilation—are pushed forward far ahead
of lhe production faces (Fig. 216).
This system implies driving a series of development openings
in front of the working faces and the method can no longer be referred
to as one of continuous mining, but as a transitory one from
continuous to pillar systems. Its basic merits are: 1) slopes and
manways do not run in goafs, but in intact solid masses of coal,
which serve as safety pillars; 2 ) seam occurrences are thoroughly
explored through development openings run ahead of production
faces.
The system also has its shortcomings: 1 ) openings driven in' a
solid coal mass require a more complex ventilation system, especially
in gassy mines; 2 ) driving these openings ahead of time demands
considerable outlays. Nonetheless, Lhe method is used quite fre
quently.
In continuous mining, ventilation of development headings and
working faces is distinguished by simplicity. The pattern of air
movement is simplest in the case of the longwall variety of Lhe system.
With sublevels a simple ventilation scheme is achieved when the
same air current consecutively sweeps all the coal walls of the level.
But in this instance the upper walls may be swept by an air current
containing methane. For this reason any possible use of successive
(through) ventilation of coal walls with a single air current is subject
to the following conditions laid down in the Safety Rules:
" E a c h w o r k i n g fa c e a n d th e h e a d i n g s o f t h e a d j a c e n t d e v e l o p m e n t o p e n i n g s
s h o u ld , as a rule, b e v e n t i l a t e d b y a s e p a r a t e c u r r e n t o f fresh air.
“C o n s e c u t i v e v e n t i l a t i o n o f s e v e r a l s i m u l t a n e o u s l y o p e r a t e d c o a l w a l l s
( p r o d u c ti o n faces) is p e r m i s s i b l e in m in e s w o r k i n g s e a m s will) n o h a z a r d s o f
s u d d e n o u t r u s h e s a n d b l o w e r s a n d o n l y in f o l l o w i n g c o n d i t io n s :
“a) th e s p a c i n g o n s t r i k e b e t w e e n th e a d j a c e n t c o a l w a l l s m u s t n o t e x c e e d
20 m e t r e s in t h e c a s e o f m i n i n g l o w s e a m s a n d 40 m e tr e s in m e d i u m - th ic k n e s s
a n d h ig h seams. In th is i n s t a n c e s u c c e s s i v e v e n t i l a t i o n o f c o a l w a l l s c o n n e c t e d
u p th e d i p b y a v e n t i l a t i n g br ea k - th r ou gh is i n a d m i s s i b l e .
“In n o n g a s s y b e d s a n d in s e a m s o f g a s c a t e g o r y I, p r e s e n t in g n o d u s t hazards,
th e d is t a n c e o n s t r i k e b e t w e e n c o n s e c u t i v e l y v e n t i l a t e d c o a l w a l l s c a n b e as
m uch as 200 metres. In th is instance, h ow e v er , the n u m b e r o f s u c c e s s i v e l y v e n
t i l a t e d w a l l s s h o u l d n o t e x c e e d three;
“b) in g a s s y mines, th e air e n t e r i n g ea ch w a l l m u s t n o t c o n t a i n m o r e than
0.5 per c e n t o f m ethane:
“c) ea ch s u c c e s s i v e l y v e n t i l a t e d c o a l w a l l is t o b e s u p p l i e d w i th a s u p p l e
m e n ta r y c u r r e n t o f fresn a ir fr o m th e a d j a c e n t h a u l a g e w a y ( in t e r m e d ia r y entry);
“d) w h en b l a s t i n g is c a r r ie d o u t in th e b o t t o m c o a l w a l l , th e m in e r s e n g a g e d
in the c o n s e c u t i v e l y v e n t i l a t e d w a l l s l y i n g a b o v e s h o u l d b e ta ken o u t to w here
th ere are m ain o r s u p p l e m e n t a r y fresh a ir currents;
"e) all c o n s e c u t i v e l y v e n t i l a t e d c o a l w a l l s w ith a to ta l l e n g t h o f o v e r 120
m etr es s h o u l d be i n c l u d e d in the g e n e r a l o r intern a l t e l e p h o n e n etw o r k .”
Ventilation of two contiguous coal walls by separate air currents

is shown in Fig. 217. The current flowing along the main entry near
the slope is split into two currents at point 1. One sweeps the bot
tom coal wall; the other moves down the slope, then along the inter
mediary entry and finally circulates along the area near the face
of the fop coal wall. To split the air currents, coal pillars 2 are left
between the walls. The currents are directed by seals or stoppings
3-3 with double ventilating doors. Where air currents cross each other
(point A), air bridges have to be constructed. Coal pillar 2 may be
replaced by a pack wall built with clay mortar.
In the mining of beds evolving firedamp, the continuous method
has a number of major advantages and disadvantages. One advan
tage is the almost complete absence of dead faces and openings driv
en in advance of sloping, for it is in such dead headings that mine
Continuous Systems in Mining o[ Slightly Inclined and Sloping Seams 327
gas is likely to accumulate in dangerous quantities. But, as it often

happens with room-and-pillar methods of mining, the development
headings driven ahead of coal faces cut the solid mass of coal into
separate parts (pillars), which emit most of the firedamp before slop
ing is begun. In other words, the network of development openings
plays the role of drainage for the gas. Furthermore, in continuous
mining the air current sweeping the workings of the entire level
is either not split into separale secondary currents or is split much
less than in the case of the pillar systems. In the final analysis,
continuous mining may be regarded as quite suitable for working
gassy seams.
4. Continuous Mining with Raise and Oblique Faces

Before the wide introduction of coal-cutting machines and com
bines, continuous faces sometimes were advanced diagonally (Fig.
218) or even very close to the direction of slrike (Fig. 219). In the
latter case, the faces advanced up raise and were therefore called
raise faces.
Fig. 218. Continuous mining with Fig. 219. Continuous mining with raise
oblique coal faces faces
In both instances such disposition of coal walls was dictated by

a desire to facilitate breaking coal with hand tools or pneumatic
hammers.
At present this practice has fallen in disuse because it is utterly
inconvenient for the commonly practised methods of mechanised
mining. In faces of this type coal combines, cutters and conveyers
operate in an oblique position.
5. Continuous Systems in Mining of Slightly

Inclined and Sloping Seams
The longwall variety of continuous mining in conditions distin
guished by an easy and moderate dip is applied in working seams
of low and medium thickness which occur regularly and without
geological dislocations. Inasmuch as a continuous face is worked
by combines and coal cutters, coal in the bed may be hard. The
wall rocks should be steady or of medium rigidity. Thanks to its

simple ventilation, the longwall system can be employed in working
gassy seams, if the volume of the air supplied and the velocity of
its current allow for the length of a coal wall determined by the
level interval. This method is also suitable for mining beds with
self-igniting coal, since no coal pillars are abandoned in the mined-
out area in this case.
Generally speaking, this system should be chosen whenever the
nature of the occurrence and wall rocks of a seam make longwall
mining technically feasible. Fully provided with the necessary min
ing machines and with adequate organisation, longwalls yield the
best results in coal production.
The situation is radically different in the case of continuous min
ing in coal deposits divided into sublevels.
As pointed out above, this system has a number of major disad
vantages: 1 ) difficulties in making slopes in goafs; 2 ) high mainte
nance costs in intermediary entries and slopes in goafs; 3) absence
of development openings running in advance of working places,
precluding preliminary exploration of conditions of the occurrence
of the seam. Hence the possibility of unexpectedly encountering
geological disturbances which disrupt normal stoping operations.
These disadvantages are not inherent in mining with long pillars
(Chapter XIII) and it is this method that should be used in working
slightly inclined and sloping beds when conditions rule out mining
by longwalls.
An exception in favour of continuous mining in its sublevel form
may be made only for extremely thin seams (less than 0.7 metre)
with regular occurrence, when openings can be satisfactorily main
tained in goafs and protected by pack walls. Furthermore, contin
uous mining is preferable in working beds with bulging rock walls,
as well as seams dangerous by their sudden outrushes of coal and gas.
Finally, note should be taken of the following fact. In recent
years the Donets coal fields have made wide use of the damaging
practice of servicing each coal wall, not infrequently only about
1 0 0 metres long and less, by a special haulageway, as a rule, with
electric haulage, that is, without intermediary slopes. This has

led to unnecessary scattering of work places in the mine and increased
the length of the openings maintained. Now that there is a jus
tified tendency to increase level intervals, these shortcomings should
he eliminated and for that the question of applying continuous
sublevel mining in individual cases should be raised again, provided
the conditions stated above are complied with.
Continuous mining reduces coal losses to the minimum (to 3-5
per cent).
6 . Development Work
When the pitch is heavy, continuous mining acquires specific
features.
A general aspect of continuous mining with longwalls without
sublevels is shown in Figs 190 and 22G, and with division into two
sublevels in Fig. 227.
When cap and floor coal pillars are provided over and under the
entries, the openings are made in (he shape of monkey entries with
limber sets (Fig. 220), or else have composite Limber and metal
supports (Fig. 221), or only metal supports (Fig. 222).
The support shown in Fig. 221 is called
joint-shaped arch. Under the impact of rock
pressure it is capable of slightly changing
its form. In a larger measure this properly
is inherent in the so-called arch compres
sible support (Fig. 222). The latter con
sists of three steel members with a special
channel section. The butt end of one is in
serted into the other and the juncture is
tightly braced by two clamps, this causing
high friction between the two members.
It is for this reason that the support can
withstand considerable loads before it be
comes pliable.
To avoid any disturbances of roof rock
continuity, slashing is done at the bottom
of the seam. In the case of ordinary timber sets (Fig. 220), one post
is set up obliquely along the back of the seam, while the head
piece rests not only on the posts but has one of its ends inserted
into a hiLch cut out in the rock of the foot wall.
Abandonment of cap pillars over the entry causes losses of coal
and this, in mining scams containing spontaneously igniting coal,
may lead to underground fires. In the latter case, pillars of barren
rock obtained from driving the entry are erected over the opening
instead of coal pillars (Figs 223 and 224). To protect the posts from
the pressure of the waste pillar, an overlap support is set up at the
height of about a metre above the entry. This consists of twin props,
some of them in normal position with regard to the bedding and oth
ers serving as struts for the former (Fig. 224). The props have a
stage with a slab flooring to hold broken barren rock. The waste
pillars between which interstices are left to let the coal down from
the production face are held in place on their sides by a sheathing
Fig. 221. E n t r y in a s t e e p s e a m w i t h a c o m p o
site joint-shaped arch s u p p o r t
On A~A
--- 8 N
~ 7 00-\~ -7 00 -\ |*
Assembly K 5
N «
*
L
V
n
i\ \
f '*I1
L
______ L
__ 1
1.
i
___ i i n
m — 4
F ig. 222. C o m p r e s s i b l e a r c h s u p p o r t in a n e n t r y
1— to p s e c tio n ; s ^ b o t t o m section*; 3—longitudinal frame brace; 4—key
3 /2z/ zzz^za
f.
Fig. 223. Waste pillars over an entry in the mining of

a steep seam
of slabs nailed to the props. The waste pillars are usually about 3
metres high.
When there is heavy side pressure, a lateral strut is put under the
bead piece or cap of the timber set (Fig. 224).
Fig 224. Entry support Fig. 225. Support in

in a heavily pitching bed an entry with solid fill
underneath
If no floor pillars are left under the airway, the props of the tim~
bering along the hanging wall are set on struts Loo (Fig. 225), since
the waste pack then would not be a sufficiently reliable founda~
lion.
7. I . o n g w a l l s in S te e p ly P i t c h i n g B e d s
When Ihero is a single continuous face in the level in a heavily

pitching hod. such a system should be regarded as a variant of long-
wall mining. When coal is extracted by combines, coal cutters or
coal ploughs, (lie face is advanced along a straight line. When it is
pneumalic hammers that are used for breaking coal, the continuous
face in a steeply pitching seam is worked by the overhand method.
Sloping in an overhand face has already been described in Chap
ter XI and here we shall give only some supplementary explanations.
In heavy-pilch conditions, the fill under the upper entry (Fig. 226)
is quite often built of waste obtained in repairing and retimbering
underground workings. As already stated, a stage is arranged in the
open goaf to receive and hold this fill.
In Ihe case of heavy pitch, coal broken off in benches rolls by
gravity down the face and along short slopes (rise entries) between
coal or waste pillars, and thus can be loaded into mine cars via
chutes. To reduce the amount of fines at the face, it is betler to direct
the flow of coal through ground chutes (Fig. 226). They arc made of
boards or thick slabs nailed to props from top to bottom. In the
lower portion of the level, ground chutes are not brought up directly
to the coal or waste pillars. This is done to reserve room for coal ac
cumulating during mining, since it is not discharged through draw
ing chutes for further haulage in the mine uniformly, but as empties
arrive. In order better to direct
the flow of coal towards the draw
ing chutes, the bottom sec
tions of the ground chutes are
sometimes set in upright posi
tion, and complementary ground
chutes, forming an angle with
its vertex up (the so-called caps),
are installed over the pillars.
From the ground chutes coal
goes to the dumping chutes be
tween coal and waste pillars,
whence, whenever necessary, it
is dumped into mine cars. The
minimum distance from the
bench with ground chutes is
1-2 metres. As the working faces
advance, the ground chutes arc
shifted, this usually being done
Fig. 226. Mining of a steep seam every 4-6 metres. Since only
with partial filling thicker gangue intercalations are
Continuous Sublevel Alining in Steep Seams 333
cut out separately in bench mining, while the thinner ones fall onto
the ground chutes together with coal, and the latter, moreover, is
contaminated with lumps of wall rocks, Lhe ash content in coal
won in steeply pitching seams is, all other conditions being equal,
higher than in the case of gently sloping beds.
Sliding down the ground chutes, coal breaks up (the size of lumps
depending on its hardness). To reduce Lhe rolling speed in steeply
set ground chutes, cross planks are nailed to them every three metres.
The special measures applied in the mining of coal seams which
are subject to spontaneous outbursts of coal and gas (Chapter IX,
Section 12) are governed by the Safety Rules. In reference to steeply
pitching seams they are essentially as follows.
A coal measure which includes seams that are hazardous by their
sudden outbursts should not be mined before a protective seam is
drawn. The protective category includes beds occurring at a distance
not exceeding 35 metres perpendicularly from dangerous seams.
Sloping in protective beds should precede the advance of faces in
the dangerous seam by at least double the distance between Lhe
seams in question.
Before approaching a bed liable to sudden outburst, a number of
exploring boreholes not less than 5 metres long should be drilled
from the heading of an opening (for example, a crosscut). Direct
crossing of a seam by an opening is effected by blasting a solid mass
of rock not less than 1 metre thick. The blaster should be at least
2 0 0 metres from the breast of the face, in the way of an intake air
current.
Sudden rock falls during the driving of development workings
can be forestalled by setting up advance timbering, drilling explor
ing boreholes and, in firm rocks, by shock blasting. The heading of
a haulageway should be at least 50 metres ahead of the production
face. The driving of uphill openings should be preceded by the drill
ing of large-diameter holes with a heavy boring machine. The breast
of the face should be constantly supported and tightly lagged.
In steep beds the bench should be as high as possible and the ad
vance kept down to the minimum. The bench overlap is to be lagged
all the way by slabs and boards, and supplementary posts and in
clined struts should be set up in addition to usual face timbering.
8. C o n t i n u o u s S u b l e v e l M i n i n g in S l e e p S e a m s
When roof-pressure control in single-stepped coal face in a level

is difficult, the level can be divided in two or more sublevels. In
the latter case, the general front line of production faces in the level
is not straight and it is easier to prevent wall rocks from caving
in and sliding. Coal broken dowu in the wall of the upper sublevel
Continuous Methods of Minin
is transferred to the lower sublevel through the intermediary entry

and rolls down the ground chutes together with coal drawn from
the benches of the latter.
This method of mining, however, has a number of major disad
vantages: 1 ) coal transportation is complicated and the mineral
breaks; 2 ) communication with the intermediary entry is possible only
through working places and this presents many inconveniences;
3) ventilation of the upper sublevel is rather difficult.
These shortcomings are mitigated by the employment of advance
slopes a (Fig. 227). These slopes or dumping chutes, arranged every
Fig. 227. Continuous sublevel mining of a steep seam
50-100 metres, are utilised for the dumping of coal, delivery of tim
ber and equipment, passage of men and ventilation. Coal delivered
to the intermediary entry from the upper sublevel is transported
lo the slope in mine cars or by conveyers. There is less breakage and
dust production here than in ground chutes. The slopes can be used
for supplying fresh air to the sublevels lying above. The slopes con
sist of dumping and manway compartments. The manway compart
ment is separated from the coal-dumping chute by a strong, solid
partition with windows with bolts to allow jammed coal through.
The windows should be 0.2 x 0.2 metre, with 3- to 5-metre intervals
between them.
Mining with slopes is safer than without them, for in the event
of a collapse of the roof or wall rocks in the production face the work
ers can find shelter in an intermediary enLry, whence they can es
cape along the slope to the lower haulageway.
Stand-By Coal Face Front 335
The use of slopes has its negative aspects too. It requires a greater
amount of development work, and mining in coal faces, when they
cross slopes, presents considerable technical difficulties. At these
points coal is usually undermined on three sides and this may lead
to its caving and to the downfall of “ settled”rocks near the slope.
In view of the availability of slopes, the method above can be
regarded as a combined one—a crosscut between continuous (long-
wall) and pillar systems of mining.
9. S t a n d - B y C o a l F a c e F r o n t
When a coal face, especially a long one, becomes temporarily

inactive under any method of mining, it is liable adversely to alTect
the output of the entire mine.
Every coal wall produces considerable amounts of coal and Ihe
greater its share in the total mine output, the more its sudden
shut-down affects the production programme of the mine. A coal
wall may be put out of commission not only by the collapse of the
roof, but also by some geological dislocation. Therefore, apart from
the active faces, there should be stand-by faces and, particularly,
coal walls.
To be really a stand-by unit, capable at any moment of replacing
an active wall suddenly put out of operation, a wall must always
be kept in good condition, that is, it should have solid timbering
and the necessary machines and equipment. It is universally known
that when a working face is stationary, the rocks in it become “ set
tled” , fissures appear, the boundary layers or slabs of rocks come off
the back and fall to the floor, the posts begin to lose their initial
“ play” , the cribs compress, etc., and not infrequently the bottom
commences to bulge and swell. The nature of these phenomena be
comes particularly adverse in wet workings. In a coal face it may
be unsafe to resume stoping operations in such conditions. There
fore, a stand-by wall should periodically be “ refreshed”by being
advanced over a distance of several cuts.
The number of times a face requires “ refreshing”depends on the
firmness of rocks, quality of support and water-bearing capacity.
Hence the different methods of maintenance of stand-by faces. When
the rocks are hard, stable and dry, a well-supported stand-by coal
face remains in good order for a long time and coal production therein
may be resumed only in the event of trouble in active coal walls.
A stand-by face surrounded by country rocks of medium stability
should be “ refreshed”systematically, at intervals determined by
experience. And, finally, when the conditions are unfavourable for
the maintenance of an inactive face, the notion of stand-by or re
serve front of work places implies a greater number of active coal
walls than is actually needed, to ensure planned output. In this

instance, however, they should not all be operated simultaneously.
An operative schedule of alternate mining of walls is elaborated in
this case to enable the sum total of the active face front to ensure
planned coal output at any given time. This mode of mining provides
for the continued “ refreshing”of all coal faces in the walls.
According to the Exploitation Rules the stand-by coal faces should
account for at least 25 per cent of the total workings.
The disposition of stand-by walls depends on the adopted method
of mining, the number of working seams and the sequence of extrac
tion. When the beds are not all worked simultaneously, the stand-by
walls can be located in seams which, though developed, as yet have
no active working places. In this case, particular care should be made
to avoid undermining these seams (see Chapter XXII). Stand-by
coal walls may also be kept in developed but not yet mined sections
of a seam. In the instance of coal measures, stand-by walls must
not be provided in all of the seams, but only in those which are suit
able for this. And, lastly, when coal walls “ alternate” , as described
above, stand-by faces are concentrated within the limits of a single
mine section.
In conclusion, we should emphasise that the availability of stand
by coal faces must by no means serve as an excuse for slackening
attention in working active walls. Every effort should be made to
ensure normal and uninterrupted operations in active coal walls,
and that irrespective of the stand-by walls.
CHAPTER XIII
P IL L A R M E T H O D S O F M IN IN G
1. M a i n P o i n t s o f P i l l a r M i n i n g
The feature that chiefly distinguishes pillar methods from con

tinuous mining is that in the case of the former, before stoping is
proceeded with, the solid mass of the mineral in place is divided
by development openings into separate parts, the so-called pillars,
which are later recovered or robbed during stoping operations. The
pillars are rectangular. In the instance of pillar methods, the devel
opment workings are surrounded by coal pillars only and not by
mined-out areas, as is the case in continuous mining. Therefore, there
is no widespread subsidence of the roof over development openings
in pillar mining, they are subjected to much lesser rock pressure
and, consequently, timbering requires less repair.
Fig. 228. Long pillar mining on strike
The pillars may be shaped like rectangles, usually extended on

strike (Fig. 228), or, less frequently, up raise (see Fig. 241), There
may also be pillars shaped like squares, called short pillars (see-
Fig. 242).
Hence pillar mining includes:
1 ) long pillar method on strike;
2 ) long pillar method up raise;
12-3625
338 Pillar Methods of Mining
3) pillar-and-bord method.
The pillar methods can be applied in mining seams dipping at
diverse angles.
A. G E N T L Y P I T C H I N G A N D M E D I U M - S T E E P S E A M S
2. L o n g P i l l a r M i n i n g o n S t r i k e
As in continuous mining, development work is started from the

air connection, inclined shaft, permanent mine slope or incline.
The level is divided into panels or working sections, each serviced
by its own slopes or dumping chutes and successively developed
and mined outwards and inwards. The slopes may be unilateral
(Figs 228 and 229) or bilateral (Fig. 230).
From one of the above-mentioned permanent openings (AB in
Fig. 228) several level drifts are run simultaneously—haulageway
BC and airway AD and also intermediary (sublevel) entries 1-2
and 3-4. The sublevel interval is determined by the firmness of
wall rocks, the thickness of the bed, the angle of pitch and the adopt
ed method of mining, and usually ranges between 80 and 150 and
even more metres.
Intermediary entries extend only along the first panel AAX, BBi.
The driving of intermediary entries cuts up the panel into long
pillars on strike AAx-2-l\ 1-2-4-3; 3-4-BB,.
Nothing will change if working AB is not one of the above-men
tioned permanent openings, but some intermediary slope.
One can proceed with the extraction of coal as soon as the pillars
in the panel are cut (some of them, at least). Recovery of pillars
should be started in the upper sublevels (Fig. 228). Coal drawn from
working places can be delivered along sublevel entries either to
the back (Fig. 228) or the front (Fig. 229) slope.
Let us consider both cases in more detail. Recovery of pillars in
a panel should advance at definite intervals, for a broken line of faces
better supports the back.
Fig. 229. L o n e p i l l a r m i n i n g o n s t r ik e w it h coal

h a u l e d t o the f ro n t m in e s l o p e
Long Pillar Mining on Strike 339
The top pillars are mined first for the following reasons:
1. Mining of the upper sublevels is started and, consequently,
completed first, and the intermediary slopes are thus surrounded
by intact pillars all through their service-life. This facilitates their
maintenance. When the top pillar AAx-2-l is mined, the length of
the slope should equal 1-B.
When the robbing of this pillar nears completion, section 1-3
of the slope may be abandoned, for it is only its portion 3-B that
is needed for dumping coal drawn from the pillar.
2. When water appears in working places, and the faces of the
upper sublevels are run in advance, it flows to appropriate interme
diary entries and through them to the manway or slope, both of
which have drain ditches leading to the level haulageway.
The advance rate difference for these subentries is usually 10-20
metres.
As mentioned above, coal from production faces can be delivered
either to the back or the front slope. In the first instance (Fig. 228),
development openings in each panel are driven outwardly and stop-
ing is done inwardly. There are ordinarily two active slopes on each
side of the level: AB, which serves as a haulageway for coal extract
ed from the working faces of panel 1, and AXBX, which services
development work in neighbouring panel II.
When coal is brought to the front slope, each side of the level may
be serviced by only one active slope (Fig. 229). For this, coal derived
from work places is transported to slope AXBX. The latter is driven
so as to be ready to operate by the time entry 1-2 has been driven
and, consequently, the development of top pillar AAx-2-l is near
ing completion. It is at this moment that one can start recovering
this pillar and then mine all the other lying below as the faces
progress at the individually accepted rate of advance. The coaL
12*
brought from the work places will be delivered to slope A tB x on

one side (Fig. 229, on the left). This slope, at the same time, will
also be used for making development openings in neighbouring
panel II. In this case, coal (and in some instances waste also) from
the faces of intermediary entries will be hauled to slope A lBl from
the other side (Fig. 229, on the right).
Thus, intermediary entries are driven from slope AB to panel I,
while the pillars prepared by them are mined through slope A tB x,
which also serves the purpose of developing pillars in panel II, etc.
This mode of mining, however, presents considerable inconven
iences:
1. Coal hauled through intermediary entries to the front slope and
then brought along the slope to the level entry travels first from
the shaft, and then again covers the same distance in the opposite
direction, that is, to the shaft. This unnecessarily lengthens the
haulage distance.
2. Development work and stoping in a panel proceed in the same
direction, following the pattern of advance mining. But coal from
the headings of development openings and from the coal faces is
transported in different directions: in driving entries—to the shaft,
in stoping—from the shaft.
Long pillar mining on strike with bilateral slopes is illustrated
in Fig. 230. Here the slopes servicing panels 7, I I and I I I are not
run along the panel boundaries, but along their centre lines. Inter
mediary entries are driven within the bounds of their panels, on
both sides of each slope, that is, halfway between the neighbouring
slopes. These are made to develop pillars, whose robbing proceeds
in the direction from the panel boundary to their respective slope,
as shown in Fig. 228.
Hence, in the case of the method described, intermediary entries
are pushed forward from the central slope towards the boundary
of the panel, while actual stoping is done in the opposite direc
tion.
Level entries are driven either with cutting pockets in coal or on
a narrow front, the latter method often being preferred because it
makes the openings more stable. To provide protective sill pillars
over the level entries a parallel opening is cut either without slab
bing (a through-cut) or with it (entry), connected with the main
entry through crosscuts. The making of through-cuts and crosscuts
is usually called blocking out or subsidiary development of pillars.
The size of protective pillars ranges very widely—from 10 to 40
metres on strike and from 1 0 to 2 0 metres on dip, depending on the
properties of wall rocks, the cross-section of the entry and its service-
life. These pillars are meant for protecting entries from the collapse
of rocks capping the goaf for a period double that of the level's
Long Pillar Mining on Strike 341
service-life, for each level entry serves both as a haulageway for a

given horizon and as an air course for the underlying level.
Sill pillars over the haulage entry seriously inconvenience trans
portation of coal by conveyers from the lower sublevel, since it is
impossible to load coal directly from conveyers into mine cars spot
ted along the haulageway, and a supplementary conveyer has to
be set up in the through-cut or in the parallel entry.
To avoid these drawbacks, sill pillars are sometimes not left even
in pillar mining, and the haulageways are protected by a rib fill
of waste obtained from a dummy roadway pushed forward in the
wake of the coal wall.
Intermediary slopes are driven either on a narrow front or with
pockets cut out in coal. In the latter case, when rocks are relatively
weak, the slopes with their manways and the abutting intermediary
entries are sometimes driven on a narrow front at their intersections.
The slopes are driven to the airway or the intermediary entry. The
slope manways, however, should be run up the entire length of the
level interval to ensure communication between the haulage entry
and the ventilating course. In unilateral slopes the manways leading
to the coal faces are so built that the men going to and from work
do not have to cross the slope. In bilateral slopes the manways usu
ally flank them on both sides (Fig. 230). To avoid transporting bar
ren rock during the cutting of intermediary entries, they are almost
invariably driven with pockets cut out in coal, not infrequently
with a gateway or slant left. To ensure better ventilation, they are
quite often arranged jointly with a through-cut (break-through)
and crosscuts.
Intermediary slopes are almost always run from the level haulage
way to the ventilating entry. If the level interval is considerable,
this method may create difficulties in that development openings
in long slopes have to be driven far in advance of coal faces.
Thus, for example, with stoping going on in panel I, development
workings are excavated not only in panel I I but in panel I I I as well.
In seams producing large amounts of firedamp there is yet anoth
er inconvenience—gas is very difficult to remove from the rise
headings of the slope and its manways. Therefore, when the level
interval is considerable and there is appreciable evolution of firedamp,
intermediary slopes .4,5,, A2B2, etc., are sometimes started as in
clines not from the lower but from the upper level entry down the dip.
It is quite natural that in these conditions coal must be brought
up to the airway and special rooms are cut out for that at points
A, and At to accommodate air or electric hoists. Coal can be hoist
ed up by belt or flight conveyers. When water appears in the work
ings, a special pumping plant has to be provided for. Ventilation
here is a much simpler matter because, being much lighter than air,
firedamp leaves the stopes and ascends to the airway. Another merit
of this method is that, proceeding from an air entry, the panel can
be developed irrespective of whether the lower entry has already
been driven over the entire distance of B lBt (Fig. 230), the only
thing necessary is to time its completion to that of incline AtBt.
Opening A2B2serves as an incline only in the process of its arrange
ment, while during stoping operations it is used as a slope, that
is, for the delivery of coal to the lotver haulageway.
Pillars in continuous faces are stoped by methods described in
Chapter XI.
The most efficient method of coal transportation through inter
mediary entries and slopes involves the use of conveyers. Since coal
walls are also serviced by conveyers, this will help to achieve com
plete equipment of the m ine’ s working sections with conveyers.
Conveyers may be operated by remote control.
In pillar mining, ventilation of coal faces and development open
ings is much more complicated than in continuous, faces (longwalls).
Let us now study the pattern of ventilation applied in mining
with bilateral slopes (Fig. 230). The ventilating current enters an
opening in the given level wing through the lower haulageway.
It branches out at many points. At point I, for example, part of it
goes along the crosscut to the work places on the left side of the
panel, covered by slope A ,5,. Usually this air current is not deemed
sufficient to sweep all the faces, and it is supplemented at one or
several points by currents supplied via intermediary entries. At
point 2 part of fresh air is diverted from the main current, flows
along the manway over distance 2-3 and then along intermediary
entry 3-4, where it again merges with the main air current. The
two merged currents sweep production faces of the upper sublevels
and then escape into the ventilating entry. The other side of working
section or panel I, where stoping operations are in progress, is ven
tilated in similar fashion. A permanent stopping usually shuts out
the passage of air from the bottom portion of the slope.
In discussing the adoption of the scheme of unilateral ventilation
(successive aeration of working places), due account should be taken
of safety regulations, cited above in Section 3, Chapter XII.
The remaining part of the main air current is diverted to the main
haulageway to ventilate development openings. Secondary cur
rents are split from the main one at points 5 and 6 and directed into
manways at slope AtBt to ventilate advance headings in the inter
mediary entries. Air passes into the headings proper via special
parallel longitudinal through-cuts, or is directed by air partitions
or through ventilating tubes at the expense of the total mine de
pression or, finally, through individual ventilation facilities in ac
cordance with the separate aeration principle.
Spatial Correlation of Coal and Development Faces 343
The last portion of air enters heading 7 of the main entry, returns
along the through-cut, sweeps the heading of slope Bs and its man
ways, again descends to the through-cut, flows along it and through
one of the manways running parallel to slope AtBt, and escapes
into the ventilating entry.
If there is a considerable number of intermediary entries, the air
currents entering the headings must cover extremely long distances,
and this makes adequate organisation of mine ventilation difficult.
To reduce these distances, the pillars may be traversed by coal head
ings which, when necessary, can be arranged every few scores of me
tres.
When the air current circulating along the working places passes
from one sublevel to another, to divert it in the desired direction
when there are intermediary entries with pockets in the coal, pas
sageways in the fill of these pockets are made every few metres.
In the case of long pillar mining on strike, separate ventilation
of coal walls may be effected by measures analogous to those cited
above (see Fig. 217).
From what we have said above it follows that in working with
long pillars on strike the problem o/ ventilation is rather complex.
It requires a large number of ventilating facilities (air doors, par
titions, stoppings, ventilating tubes, etc.). Especially difficult is
ventilation of stub headings or dead faces in gassy mines.
On the other hand, it is desirable to split the main current (uni
directional ventilation) because polluted or methane-saturated air
then does not enter other workings. Besides, the depression required
for the movement of the air current is appreciably smaller than
in the case of a common, unsplit current.
The network of development openings pushed ahead of stoping
operations is a factor which contributes to the preliminary evolu
tion of large volumes of methane from the seam and its wall rocks
and thus reduces its amount in the production faces.
3. Spatial Correlation of Coal and Development Faces

When stoping by the long pillar mining method is in progress
in one working section, the neighbouring one or two sections or
panels are in the stage of development. A definite correlation must
obviously exist between stoping operations and development work,
viz.: stoping should be started in a given section when development
is nearing completion. Development should naturally not lag be
hind, for this might well delay the normal course of coal winning.
On the other hand, it would be useless and even harmful to push
development work far ahead of the planned schedule, that is, with
a long time interval between termination of development work in
344 P illa r Methods o f M in in g
a given section and commencement of actual coal extraction. This

would entail considerable premature outlays and uunecessarily
increase the cost of maintaining development openings. In estimat
ing the correlation of development work and stoping operations,
one should allow for a certain time margin, that is, development
work should be finished several months before coal winning actually
begins—to counter any unforeseen delays which might be caused,
for instance, by geological dislocations.
The estimate itself is to be made with two principal aims in mind:
1) to determine the eventual arrangement of development work
ings at a given position of coal faces and the adopted time
margin;
2) to establish the factual time margin available for the develop
ment work, proceeding from the actual position of coal faces and
development headings.
Let us turn to the first task. To solve it one should have the follow
ing information on hand: a) mining plan of an active or projected
mine or its section; b) adopted or envisaged order and sequence of
driving development openings; c) advance rates of coal faces and
development headings; d) time margin for making development and
permanent openings.
The Exploitation Rules do not set any definite schedule for the
arrangement of blocking-out or development workings, but with
regard to permanent mine openings they stipulate: “ The opening
and development of any subsequent level or horizon (driving of
permanent mine openings) should be effected well in advance so
that all preparatory work needed to ensure total planned output
is terminated at least five months before total stope footage in the
active level is reduced in the instance of shaft deepening, and not
M er than three months in all other cases.”
A greater time margin is recommended in the following cases:
for more complex systems of mining requiring larger volumes of
development work; for main openings, as contrasted to secondary
ones and blocking-out workings and in mining of faulted deposits.
In the latter instance, the advance rate of development headings
over production faces is relatively greater than in a regularly occur
ring deposit so as to allow for the exploration of any possible faults,
folds, pinches, squeezes, swells, etc., and to prepare new working
sections or panels in conformity with the results obtained in the
course of exploration.
The principle underlying the general approach to estimating a
normal correlation between working faces and development headings
implies the following: the mine plan of a section in the stage of min
ing envisages a time interval in the course of which stoping opera
tions in any arbitrarily chosen coal face and in a working section
Spatial Correlation of Coal and Development Faces 345
or panel are to be completed. The simplest way is to take the coal

face (though this is not obligatory) that will be worked out first.
When no time margin is envisaged, a new working face in the next
panel has to be made ready in place of the one closed down before
the interval mentioned above lapses, if the plan of mine output is
to be adhered to. But since in any estimates of this kind a certain
time margin is quite indispensable, the new production place is, of
course, to be prepared for stoping beforehand, in accordance with
the adopted time margin.
A definite order for the fulfilment of all development and blocking-
out work needed to open a new production face is outlined in the
mine plan. To determine the normal position of headings in these
openings, a position which would correspond to the initial position
of the coal face in the actually mined panel, we must estimate what
blocking-out and development openings (and of what length) can
be made in the section under preparation to allow establishing a
new production face within the time interval remaining until the
final exhaustion of the coal face under consideration in the actually
mined panel. In calculating the time necessary for driving the above-
mentioned openings, we proceed from the assumption that they are
made in the order and sequence reverse to the factual.
Example. The problem is to establish a normal correlation between produc

tion faces and development headings in the system of mining illustrated in
Fig. 231.
Not No.2 No.3
Fig. 231. Estimating the advance rate of development

headings over that of production faces
The basic parameters of the method are given in the drawing. The extent
of working sections or panels on strike, as it often happens in practice, is not
exactly the same for all.
Let us assume that the slopes (with manways) are raised from the bottom, the
intermediary entry is driven from the front slope and the through-cuts from a cor
responding sublevel. The face advance rates are as follows (in metres per month):
coal wall—40, level entry—88, sublevel entry—120, slope—60, longitudinal coal
heading—88. The time margin for secondary openings (intermediary entry and
coal headings) is two months and three months for the haulageway and slope.
346 P illa r Methods of M in in g
Let us find the normal position of the development headings at the time
when production faces are brought to the points indicated in Fig. 231, that is,
when the coal wall of the top sublevel is 150 metres from the safety pillar near
slope No. 1.
150
If we start from this moment, the top pillar will be recovered in =3.7
months. Since the adopted time margin is two months, a new wall in the upper
pillar of the next panel must be prepared for mining in 1.7 months.
Driving a coal heading (through-cut) 100 metres long will take ^^= 1.1 5
00
months. Considering the time necessary to prepare the new coal wall for stoping,
we increase it to 1.4 months.
Thus, the time left for driving the intermediary entry will be 1.7— 1.4=0.3
month. With the monthly advance of 120 metres, this heading can be pushed
forward 120 X 0.3=36 metres during this time interval. In other words, at
the moment under consideration the heading of the subentry should be 280—
—36=244 metres away from front slope No. 2.
Let us now determine the normal position at this same moment of the head
ing of the level haulageway. Inasmuch as the intermediary entry is driven from
the slope, the entry level must by this time be pushed forward to a point not near
er than slope No. 2. But since extraction of coal in the upper sublevel, covered
by slope No. 1, will take 3.7 months to complete (barring the time margin for
the time being), and complete recovery of the top pillar of No. 2 panel another
■
^q- =7 months, the top coal wall of panel No. 3 must be prepared for stoping
in 3.7 -(-7=10.7 months.
Development and blocking-out operations in panel No. 3 will last (calculated,
as we have already said, in the order reverse to their factual execution):
Through-cut coal heading and preparation of coal wall 1.4 months
intermediary entry—240 : 120 ........................ 2.0
slope— 120 : 60 ............................................ 2.0
Total 5.4 months

The available interval calculated without the time margin has been found
to equal 10.7 months. By introducing the time margin (which is absolutely in
dispensable) we cut the tiilie interval down to 7.7 months (since in our example
the time margin for major development openings is accepted as three months).
Hence driving the level entry till slope No. 3 may take 7.7—5.4=2.3 months.
With the accepted monthly advance rate of 88 metres, the heading of this entry
will move 88 X 2.3=202 metres in this period. In other words, at the moment
under consideration the heading of the haulage entry should be 280—202=78
metres beyond slope No. 2.
By employing an analogous method, we find that this position of the entry
heading can also fully ensure the timely development of panel No. 4 which, ac
cording to plan, is to extend 250 metres on strike.
We thus come to the following solution of the problem: with the production
faces in panel No. 1 in the position indicated in Fig. 231, slope No. 2 should be
completed over its entire length, the intermediary entry in panel No. 2 should
be driven 244 metres, and the haulageway heading moved 78 metres beyond
slope No. 2.
The second problem—determination of the factual time margin
for development work—is solved even more simply. For this it
suffices to compare time tt, after the lapse of which (he first coal
Estimating the Size of a Working Section or Panel 347
face to be discarded in a given panel will have been actually closed

down, with time tt—the time required to start a fresh similar work
ing face in the next panel.
All the calculations are done according to the mine plan and on
the basis of the actual position of development headings, with due
consideration for the adopted sequence of their driving and advance
rates. The difference between <, and tt will represent the time margin
available for stoping and development work. If necessary,
similar calculations can be easily made with respect to other
headings.
If the difference between f, and turns out to be inferior to the
fixed time margin and, what is more, proves to be a negative value,
it will mean that development operations lag inadmissibly behind
and it is necessary to take urgent measures to remedy the abnormal
situation.
Summarising, we see that the forcing of development work may,
generally speaking, be effected in the following ways:
1) by increasing the advance rates for headings;
2) by revising the order accepted for making development open
ings. For example, in the instance of the mining method illustrated
in Fig. 231, the future slopes may be arranged ahead of time if sunk
as inclines from the upper entry. Such measures do not always prove
technically suitable and economical, but they may be necessary
to speed up development work;
3) sometimes, to force the development stage of operations, it is
deemed advisable to change the planned parameters of the mining
method. For example (Fig. 231), to accelerate blocking out a new
panel when the driving of the level entry is delayed, a new slope is
arranged at a point somewhat nearer than the one set.
There is, however, absolutely no justification for recommending
measures connected with arbitrary deviations from the parameters
of a mining method considered most suitable for the given condi
tions.
The above-mentioned method of estimating the advance of devel
opment headings is commonly used, for it can be applied equally
well to any mining system and way of opening up deposits and win
ning any kind of valuable minerals.
4. Estimating the Size of a Working Section or Panel

Let us now consider the problem of spacing intermediary slopes,
that is, of determining the size of a working section or panel on
strike. By using the method of determining the size of a mine field
discussed in Section 14, Chapter II, we shall find the most economi
cally advantageous distance.
In other words, our task is to find the size x of a working section

which would reduce to the minimum the cost per unit of output
(1 ton), according to items depending on this size. With this aim
in view, let us sum up the corresponding expenses for the whole
of the working section and, to charge them against a ton of output,
divide the total by the sum of the workable reserves contained in
the section:
Z = hxpc
where, as before, h is the level interval;
p —average output per sq m of the seam in tons;
c—coefficient of recovery.
Of the cost items to be considered, we take only those incident
to the excavation and maintenance of openings and to haulage along
intermediary entries, and that for the following reasons.
The cost of stoping in the walls should be disregarded, for it has
nothing to do with the size of the section on strike. Likewise, of no
import for the solution of the problem is the cost of driving level
and sublevel entries, since they are made irrespective of the spacing
of slopes.
By K we will designate the full cost of arranging one slope with
its manways and level grounds at the crossings of these workings
and entries—in a word, all the expenses incurred in arranging each
new slope.
Let q2 be the cost of “net”haulage of coal in intermediary entries,
charged against a ton metre.
Further, let r and r' be the summary costs of maintaining a linear
metre of entry per year in rubles during stoping and development
operations. The annual advance rate of production faces let us
denote by L and that of intermediary entries by L'(m).
With these symbols the costs for the whole of the working section
according to the items enumerated above will be
K + TL + r£ + Z -2 ^
These costs per ton of output will be
& , rx | r'x | *9.

f y x > — h x p c ^ 2Lhpc~r 2L'hpc~f 2 *
Let us rewrite this equation as follows:
f( x ) = c tx + J-, (1 )
Estimating the Size of a Working Section or Panel 349
consequently,
'.-(r+£)£ +*:
K
C* hpc
Let us now find the size of a working section on strike x0 under
which the expenditure incurred per ton of output according to the
cost items enumerated above will be minimum. To do this, we have
to find the value for x which reduces function (1 ) to the minimum,
that is, equate its first derivative to zero:
By solving the equation above we have
x =
And in detail
X, =
+ hpcqt’
This last formula determines the optimal intervals between

slopes.
As we see, it depends on the cost of making slope K, maintaining
entries r and r', haulage qt, level interval h, output per sq m of the
seam p, advance rates of head
ings L and L' and, finally,
coefficient of net coal recov
ery c. Hence, the size of a work
ing section or panel should
be determined in each concrete
instance, for its value is liable
to change along with geologi
cal and mining conditions.
This problem can also be
solved graphically if function
(1 ) is represented to a certain
scale in a drawing (Fig. 232).
This graphic solution is espe Fig. 232. Graph ic m eth od of determ in ing
cially illustrative of one of th e s iz e o f a panel
the most important aspects of
the problem. The drawing shows that although there does exist
an optimal value of function (1 ) when the size of the section
is x0, the unit cost per ton is very close to that recorded at the mini
mum point because the length of the section on strike is close in
size to that of x0. In other words, the size of the section determined
by the formula above should be considered only as an approximation,
as a guiding value in determining the optimal interval between two
slopes. This inference is all the more true because all the values of
the parameters included in the calculation, as well as the functional
relations between them, are not exact but approximate.
The above-mentioned method of estimating the size of a working
section or panel may also be applied in mining by other variants
of the long pillar method, for instance, that involving bilateral
working sections; in establishing spacings between slopes in steep
beds, and with other methods of mining.
5. Long Pillar Mining in the Moscow Coal Fields

The conditions in which coal deposits in the Moscow basin occur
are rather singular. Despite their Carboniferous age, the sedimen
tary rocks enclosing coal there are represented by little altered clays,
sands and, occasionally, limestone. As far as their mining properties
are concerned, in most cases they are weak, unstable and ready to
cave in; the bottom is liable to bulge. Not infrequently the sands
are saturated with water which, during inrushes into underground
workings, may carry away large volumes of sand. In addition, in some
places there are quicksands, both over and under the working seams.
The hardness of coal is variable, but in general it is rather weak
and highly fissured. There is no firedamp in the now active mines,
but frequent evolution of carbon dioxide tends to complicate ven
tilation of underground workings.
The opening of mine fields in the Moscow basin has already been
described in Chapter II, Section 9.
The presence there of medium-thickness seams with rather weak
coal occurring in unfavourable conditions had led to the adoption
of pillar-and-bord mining (see Section 9), with pillars recovered
by employing this or that modification of stub or butt entry meth
od. But to make full use of the advantages of continuous face min
ing here too a change-over to long pillar mining with continuous
coal walls has been effected in the past two decades.
There are several modifications of long pillar mining practised
in the Moscow basin.
The system involving working of single walls (Fig. 233) implies
mining of a panel or working section with one extremely long pillar
blocked out by two butt entries and extracted in the reverse order.
One of these two butt entries, driven on the side of solid coal in place,
serves as a haulageway. Stoping in adjacent coal walls proceeds
independently. Partial recovery of the coal pillar between the walls
is effected parallel with the extraction of coal in the wall.
Long Pillar Mining in the Moscow Coal Fields 351
Panel airway Panel haulage entry

F i g . 233. E x t r a c t i o n o f l o n g p i l l a r s by s i n g l e c o a l w a l l s
Panel haulage entry

A ' rr~ _ i ______ \
> - . s w w s w w w s w w w k x x W s \ W \ N
.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ n \ v \ v VAV V \NV \\\\
■S \ 1 s
, \ A W W W >W W W W W w S 1
A W '\ i A \ \\\ ^ \ \ \ \ K \ \ W N
s jU U j- t c m r *
7 5 — 1--------- 1 '
v W W l W W V
v^V\\v A \ \ V \ \ \ \ X f A \ W \
M r 1 $
a K \ \ \ \ \ W \ \ \ \ \ \ \ V i \ \ \ V w \ K \ A W W W W V
1 N
^ 1 1
x K w W W W W W W W H W V O v\K \\ w w x w w v
m A V A I I A A A ' A M I M k V A l l l I V V V k M L M l V l VVSI L A J
• fic r v & v - -w ^ t z -x x j W V | | ^ v ^ v>V A tV ‘
-J‘
-=-Jl
Panel airway
F i g . 234. E x t r a c t i o n o f l o n g p i l l a r s b y tw in o r d o u b l e w a l l s
The system of long pillar mining with twin walls (Fig. 234) is a
modification of working a panel with two long pillars blocked out
by three butt entries and extracted in reverse order. The central,
mother entry is used for the haulage of coal coming from both walls.
The outside entries serve for the supply of mine timber. The walls
are worked alternatively.
The same modification as above but with independent organisa
tion of stoping operations, that is, simultaneous drawing of coal
from both walls is known as long pillar mining with double walls.
Experience and technical and economic estimates give ample
ground to assert that the best operative results in the Moscow basin
can be achieved by applying the double-wall modification. In small-

size, geologically dislocated panels of irregular shape with extreme
ly complex hydrogeological conditions, it is more expedient
to mine with single walls.
Because of weak rocks, the length adopted for each wall is of mod
erate order—around 50-70 metres, and the pillars extend over
300-350 metres.
Coal in walls is mined mainly by blasting, usually preceded
by undercutting with the aid of a coal cutter. In certain instances,
Donbas or BOM mine combines (see Fig. 147), or pneumatic ham
mers, are used.
F i g . 235. D r a in d it c h F i g . 236. P i l l a r i n g b y s t u b entries
Stoping in the walls of the Moscow basin is distinguished by the

pattern of timbering (described in Chapter XI, Section 3) employed
due to the unfirmness of wall rocks.
Coal is transported in the walls by chain-and-flight conveyers,
in haulageways by belt conveyers with flight conveyers installed
near their butt ends to facilitate their shortening as the wall faces
move on.
The Moscow basin is distinguished by its high water-bearing
capacity and the level occurrence of beds with bottom horsebacks.
Therefore, the arrangement of ordinary outfall ditches is not
everywhere feasible and special deep drainages have to be provided
(Fig. 235). Dewatering of rocks can be effected with the aid .of
stemmed biters. In recent years preliminary draining of mine
fields has been successfully done by deep-wall pumps.
Before the adoption of long pillar mining with continuous faces,
pillars in the Moscow coal fields were worked by various modifica
tions of the butt entry or shortwall method. One of them is illustrat
ed in Fig. 236. Cross coal headings 1-1 were driven from panel entries
Long Pillar Mining of Combustible Shale Deposits 353
spaced 8-10 metres from one another. From these cross headings
coal was drawn bilaterally by shortwalls. Stumps of coal had to be
abandoned near the goaf. The disadvantages of the shortwall method
are the necessity of driving many openings with narrow faces and
high coal losses. For this reason this method is now hardly used at
all.
6. Long Pillar Mining of Combustible Shale Deposits
The principal sources of combustible shales in the U.S.S.R. are
the Baltic (Estonia and Leningrad Region) and Volga basins.
Output of combustible shales and their utilisation in the nation
al economy grow year by year. They are used as fuel, especially in
powder form, for making gas, artificial liquid fuel and diverse chem
icals. The large amount of ash which remains when shales are
burnt may be employed for making bricks, slag-blocks and cemenL
for construction jobs.
Despite their different geological ages, Silurian for the Baltic
basin and Jurassic for the Volga basin, the conditions attending
mining of shale beds in these two basins are practically identical.
The beds are of complex structure and consist of a few benches of
shale separated by intercalations of limestone (Baltic) and compact
clay (Volga). The beds are about 2 metres thick. Both in the Baltic
basin and in the important Kashpirsk district of the Volga basin
i c
F i g . 237. L o n g p i l l a r m i n i n g o f a c o m b u s t i b l e s h a l e b e d
the beds occur almost horizontally. The roof and bottom country
rocks are either firm or of medium stability.
These natural conditions favour long pillar mining with recovery
of pillars by continuous mechanised walls (Fig. 237). Approxim
ately every 300 metres panel entries—haulage 2,2 and ventilating
3—are driven from the main entries. Their purpose is to block out
the panels which are worked by twin walls 4,4. The length of each
wall is 80-100 metres. Shale drawn from production places is trans
ported by conveyers to mother entry 5. In the drawing the course
of ventilating currents is indicated by arrows.
v///////////////
m m m
B n n 2
§ tt n
l\
;= ) n
777777777777777777777',
a 2
1
Fig. 238. B r e a k i n g a s e a m F i g . 239. P r o d u c t i o n fa ce in m in
o f c o m p le x structure in g c o m b u s t ib le shale
As stated above, the beds of combustible shale are of complex

structure. The relative position of shale bands and gangue partings
preconditions the order of stoping. Fig. 238, for example, shows se
quences I, II, III, IV of the undercutting and breaking of a bed
comprised of two shale bands 1 and 2, separated by gangue inter
layer 3. Since the cut is made in the interlayer to avoid excessive
breakage of shale, coal cutter 4 has to be set on special slides or run
ners 5. From the production face shale is transported by flight
conveyer 6. Breaking becomes complicated when the bed contains
two or more gangue intercalations. Rock from the latter is stowed
into the goaf. If there are large amounts of waste, the filling is
A pplication Fields for Long P illa r M in in g on S trik e 355
complete, otherwise pack walls 1 have to be built (Fig. 239). When

necessary, the back is supported by cribs 2.
Fig. 237 is illustrative of a modification of the method under which
twin walls are separated from the adjacent walls by boundary pil
lars 6. If the outside, or boundary, entries protected by pack walls
can be safely maintained in the mined-out area, no boundary pillars
are left, thus reducing the losses of the valuable mineral.
7. L o n g P i l l a r M i n i n g o n S t r i k e i n S t e e p B e d s
Section 8 of Chapter XII described a method representing a switch

over from continuous to pillar mining (see Fig. 227). However,
when the pitch is heavy one can also apply the typical system of
long pillar mining on strike
with an overhand (Fig. 240)
or straight face. This method
is suitable for working steeply
pitching seams of medium
thickness when, for one reason
or another, longwall mining
is impracticable.
From upper sublevels coal is
dumped along the slopes. In
termediary entries are main
tained in a solid mass of coal.
This method (shown in Fig.
240), for example, is employed
in the Kuznetsk coal fields.
An analogous system adopted
in the same region for working
thicker seams is described be Fig. 240. Lons? pillar mining
low (Chapter XV). In the in in a steep bed
termediary entries coal is
transported by flight conveyers. To facilitate cutting dump chutes,
special heavy boring machines are employed (Chapter XV).
8. A p p l i c a t i o n F ie ld s for L o n g P illa r M in in g on S trik e
This method has recently come to be very widely used, in many

instances supplanting continuous mining.
In slightly inclined and sloping seams, long pillars stretching on
strike are worked by highly efficient continuous, rectilinear faces.
Stoping operations in these faces have been explained in detail in
Chapter XI.
By its very essence, this method provides for driving develop

ment openings in panels prior to establishing any production faces.
That, as we have already seen, offers a number of major advantages:
1 ) making of entries and slopes helps obtain additional information
on the mode of occurrence of the bed within the boundaries of the

panel; 2 ) development openings are maintained amid a solid mass
of coal in place, which protects them from intensive rock pressure;
3) thanks to the network of development workings firedamp is
drained prior to stoping operations in the panel; 4) when necessary,
additional walls can be opened in prepared pillars; 5) the faces of de
velopment and production workings are independent of each other in
pillar mining, and that simplifies organisation of operations in panels.
In the past, when there was no efficient equipment for driving
development openings, the need for arrangement of intermediary
entries, slopes and other workings was considered a shortcoming
of the pillar methods. Today the problem is easily solved by adequate
mechanisation of this process.
For example, there is the HK-1 combine, designed in 1952, for
primary coal mining in slightly inclined beds 0 .8 -1 .5 metres thick.
It is equipped with automatic hydraulic controls and is capable
of driving openings as high as the seam is thick and 3 metres wide.
This machine makes it possible to drive openings to the rise, up the
rise and on strike in beds with various angles of dip within the range
of 25°. The daily rate of driving is as much as 8 linear metres.
The thinner the seam the more barren rocks have to be excavated
together with the useful mineral in the headings of development
openings. For this reason long pillar mining on strike may lose
its advantages over the continuous methods in cases when the thick
ness of the bed is approximately less than 0.7 metre because develop
ment openings can then he maintained in the goaf (the same also
applies to continuous mining) only if pack walls are built. However,
if the beds are irregular, preference should naturally be given to the
pillar method of mining, even if they are very thin.
The range of application of long pillar mining on strike is thus
very wide and includes thin and medium-thick seams of up to 2-2.5
metres. A description of the method of long pillar mining on strike,
employed in working thick beds, is given in Chapter XV.
This method can be employed in steeply pitching seams too.
Inasmuch as development openings in long pillar mining are
maintained in solid coal, the system is applicable to wall rocks
of different degrees of stability.
It has been already stressed that the necessity of providing for a
wide-flung network of development openings calls for strict obser
vance of precautionary measures against the accumulation and
ignition of firedamp, especially in rise headings.
Long P illa r M in in g to the Rise and Pillar-and-Bord Method 357
9. L o n g P i l l a r M i n i n g t o t h e R i s e a n d
P illa r- a n d - B ord M ethod
These methods, formerly widely used, are no longer of any import

and we shall, therefore, discourse but briefly on them.
Fig. 241 shows that in long pillar mining to the rise development
wcrk is similar to that done in long pillar working on strike, except
Fig. 241. Long pillar mining to the rise
/////////////////>/>>"/\ Y //77,
/ 'Mr 4 ■
V///r\ '////// vmiA

777P, 7 ™ , 777777,
V '
///////////At////// u 7///M v , / , i& A
'77777777////, 777/7/ 77777?/ 777777/
/ V '/ v /
H
/////"//// ////A ''m A 7////A /////. '/////• ( m u
I///////"////////////>>/////'//////>>//^ ^ 7 7 7 ^
Fig. 242. Pillar-and-bord method of mining
that each sublevel is divided into pillars to the rise by special raises.
Recovery of each pillar is started from the top by driving butt en
tries. From production faces coal is conveyed via the rise headings
(raises).
This, and the fact that coal is drawn by shortwalls, explains why
it is possible to use this system when wall rocks are poor. The pillars
are blocked out gradually, as the need arises.
This method has many disadvantages: 1) it requires many openings
to be driven with narrow faces; 2 ) production places are rather short,
this making the use of mine machines difficult; 3) ventilation is an
extremely complex affair; 4) the system is inadmissible in gassy
mines in view of the danger of methane accumulating in rise headings;
5) scattered working places; 6 ) high coal losses.
The main principles underlying the pillar-and-bord method are
illustrated by Fig. 242. As may be seen, this method is distinguished
from the previous by the availability of through-cuts between coal
headings and by the shape of pillars. The order of pillar recovery
(usually by stub entries) is indicated in Fig. 242 by numbers. This
system ’s shortcomings are similar to those of long pillar mining
to the rise.
CHAPTER XIV
C O M B I N E D M E T H O D S O F M IN IN G
1. B a s i c C o n c e p t o f C o m b i n e d M e t h o d s o f M i n i n g
We already know two exlensive groups of mining methods—con

tinuous and pillar. The characteristic feature of the first is the ab
sence of any development openings made in advance of production
faces (except for level entries). In the second group, before the solid
mass of the useful mineral is stoped, it is cut by development open
ings into pillars.
However, there may also be combined methods which possess
features common to both the continuous and long pillar
mining.
We are already familiar with the methods illustrated in Figs 216
and 227, which are a crosscut between continuous and pillar meth
ods, and which, in this respect, may be included in the category of
combined mining systems.
But, in the case of typical combined methods, production faces
within the limits of blocks or panels are opened without primary
or first mining in the solid mass of the mineral in place. With their
progress the working block is cut into pillars, which are recovered
at a later date.
Here we shall dwell upon two typical combined methods of
mining.
2. Mining with Twin Entries

This method is illustrated in Fig. 243, where the position of mine
workings in the first period is shown on the left, and the second pe
riod, marking the recovery of pillars, on the right.
Development and stoping operations with this method progress
in the following manner. The level is divided into bilateral panels
or blocks. Each side or wing of the block is worked out partly by
the advancing production faces moving away from the slope
3fi0 Com bined M ethods o f M in in g
(Fig. 243a) and partly by the pillaring in the direction from the
block boundary towards the slope (Fig. 243b). Working faces are
opened via sublevels with intermediary entries following in their
wake. Waste blasted in driving the entries is stowed into the open
goaf over the lower and under the upper entries. Both entries are
thus run simultaneously right after the common working face.
Hence the name of the method—“ twin entries” .
a) b)
Fig. 243. Twin entry method of mining
To secure a sufficient amount of blasted rocks for reliable protec

tion of entries from rock pressure, the thickness of the working
seam should not exceed 0 .8 - 1 metre.
When the headings of the even-numbered sublevels reach the
boundaries of the block, the odd-numbered sublevels lying intact
between them assume the shape of long pillars on strike. These are
mined by retreating.
Among the advantages of the method under discussion are the
possibility of an early start of stoping operations and the low coal
losses.
On the other hand, the system has also its disadvantages:
1 ) production places are isolated from one another and have poor
communications with the main entries;
2 ) entry headings closely follow the coal wall, thus creating con
siderable inconveniences for stoping;
3) with retreat mining of pillars edged on three sides by stoped-
out areas, the support of the entries becomes subject to strong rock
pressure;
4) the course of ventilating air currents is rather complex.
The author is of the opinion that, for these reasons, the method
of twin entries is now devoid of any practical interest.
Room-arid-Pillar Method of Mining 301
3. R o o m - a n d - P i l l a r M e t h o d o f M i n i n g
The basic principle of this method is illustrated in Fig. 244. Rooms

1,1, from 4 to 12 metres wide (usually 6-7) are run from the entries
and separated by rib pillars 2,2, from 4 to 15 metres wide (more of
ten 5-8). When the pitch is flat, the rooms can be excavated on both
sides of the entries, 80-100 metres in each direction.
In order to form stub pillars near the entries, the rooms are first
driven 6 - 1 0 metres with narrow faces (neck of the room) and are then
enlarged to their full width.
To ensure adequate ventilation, the rooms are connected by break
throughs 3,3 made in rib pillars. Each coal pillar between two rooms
is mined by retreating towards the entry.
The combination of rooms and pillars helps solve the problem
of roof control in an original way. The width of the rooms is deter
mined on the basis of experience in a manner precluding the develop
ment of considerable pressures by back rocks. The nature of rock
pressure bearing down on each room is similar to that experienced
by any individual mine working. Overall pressure of the overlying
rock masses during the mining of the rooms, on the other hand, is
borne by the rib pillars. Hence, the nature of rock pressure and its
control in room-and-pillar mining differ greatly from those in con
tinuous faces.
Rib pillars are robbed by retreating and that causes high coal
losses. It is only in isolated cases, when the back is very stable, that
it is possible to work pillars by using “ open end”method (continu
ous faces) 4. More often, however, they have to be recovered by cut
ting pockets 5 (pocket-and-stump method), this entailing consider-
Fig. 244. Outline of room-and-pillar method of mining

Fig. 245. Loading machine
able losses of coal in slumps. To ensure the stability of the roof it

is essential to keep the faces straight. In some cases, depending
on the nature of rock pressure in the rooms, weak timbering is
used, in others there is no limbering at all.
As said above, rib pillars are worked back, by retreating. Since,
during their recovery by pockets, coal stumps are edged on three
sides by the goaf, their extraction is attended with large losses of
coal, and that is the main drawback of the room-and-pillar method.
Coal in rooms and rib pillars is undercut by coal cutters designed
to work in narrow faces. After it has made an undercut in one of the
rooms, this machine, which is set up on a special self-propelling
carriage, is moved to other rooms, if the seam is flat or slightly
inclined. The power driving the motor of the machine is supplied
through a flexible cable.
Undercut and blasted coal is loaded directly into mine cars spot
ted in the room or onto a conveyer. The operation in both instances
is effected by overloaders or loading machines (Fig. 245).
The room-and-pillar method of mining is very widely used in
the U.S.A., where flat or very nearly flat rock occurrences predomi
nate in most of the coal Helds, the usual thickness of coal beds aver
aging about 1-2.5 metres and the wall rocks being firm and the seams
regular. In such favourable mining conditions and with adequate
equipment, the use of this method ensures very high efficiency of
Room-and-Pillar Method of Mining 363
labour and low consumption of mine timber. Nevertheless, the room-

and-pillar method of mining coal deposits in the U.S.A. is distin
guished by extremely high losses of coal, scattered nature of working
places and unsafe working conditions in gassy mines.
When beds occur at an angle of pitch, making transportation of
coal complicated and, particularly, when frequent transfer of
machines from one working face to another presents considerable
difficulties (when each produces little), the efficiency of this system
of mining drops sharply.
Im the U.S.S.R., the room-and-pillar mining of coal seams has
now come into an almost complete disuse and, it is apparently in
exceptional cases that one can expect good operative results from
its application.
C H A P T E R XV
M IN IN G O F T H IC K SEAM S
1. P r e l i m i n a r y O b s e r v a t i o n s
We have already seen that seams more than 3.5 metres thick are
called high.
Generally speaking, the methods employed in working high
seams are much more complex compared to those applied in mining
low and medium-thick seams.
The methods of mining high seams can be classified into two dis
tinct groups: a) those without slicing, and b) slicing systems.
The nonslicing methods are extremely variable, but by nature
of development work they can be classified according to features
analogous to those adopted in working low and medium-thick
seams. True, in mining high seams the sequence of driving develop
ment openings is by far not sufficient to characterise the method,
for the great thickness of the bed itself leaves its imprint on the
modes of stoping that present the greatest variety.
Since full-seam or full-breast mining of thick beds is fraught
with numerous difficulties, the slicing methods are very widely
used. The underlying basic principle is that a high seam is not
worked out at once over the whole of its thickness but gradually, by
slices, so that the extraction of each such slice can be likened to min
ing a medium-thick seam. In space the slices may be horizontal
or inclined (see below).
In view of the difficulties attending stoping, the level interval
in the exploitation of high seams is generally smaller than in the
mining of low and medium-thickness seams.
A. N O N S L I C I N G M E T H O D S O F M I N I N G T H I C K S E A M S
M I N I N G BY " S T R I P S ”
2. G e n e r a l C o n c e p t s
We have already seen that the feature distinguishing the contin

uous mining widely used in working low seams is the small number
of development workings driven ahead of production faces. In this
Mining by Strips on Strike 3C5
sense the so-called working by strips, which is applied in the extrac

tion of medium-thick and thick beds, is similar to continuous min
ing. This similarity, however, applies more to a coal block or panel,
for certain development openings are first driven to separate these
blocks within a level.
In essence, the method consists in extracting one strip or band
of coal in the block by working faces, before starting to mine another.
The working by strips can proceed on strike, up the raise, or diago
nally.
3 Mining by Strips on Strike
A typical example of mining by strips on strike is shown in Fig.
246. Coal blocks are bounded by level or sublevel entries and inclined
openings, which may be slopes or dumping chutes, depending
upon the angle of dip. Mining by strips implies complete filling of
sLoped-out space.
Coal broken in the working places slides to the lower entry through
the central dumping chute, while mine-fill from the upper entry
is passed down through the side chutes on the boundaries of the
block. Coal strips are extracted upwards. The width of the strips
(that is, their size on strike) is variable. With a smaller angle of
inclination, stable rocks and other favourable conditions, the strip
may be as much as 8 - 1 0 metres wide, while in steep beds and with
unstable wall rocks, its width decreases to the height of an entry,
that is, to 2.5 metres. Mining is done either with a continuous (right
side of Fig. 246) or stepped face (left side of the same figure), this
depending upon the width of the strip, the hardness of coal and the
nature of its cleat. Each coal strip is serviced by two entries—
the lower one for the haulage of coal, the upper for the supply of mine-
fill. The length of the latter increases progressively, while that of
the hauling entry becomes shorter. In the first half of its life each
entry is used for the transportation of mine-fill, in the second for
that of coal. Since the flow in both instances is in one direction,
the entry is driven with a normal gradient.
In order to increase the total footage of working faces the block
or panel is made with two wings (Fig. 246) with a moderate size on
strike and two or more subdrifts in each level, in which a single
strip is worked at a time or, finally, two or several panels are mined
simultaneously in each wing.
One major shortcoming of strip mining is the insufficiently large
breast front of production faces. This, however, is counterbalanced
by the following merits: small volume of development work and its
simplicity, safety of mining in working places of limited height
and simplicity of ventilation. Coal extraction with strips on strike
is most suitable for mining medium-thick and high seams, but wilh
36G Mining of Thick Seams
Fig. 246. Mining by strips on strike
the thickness not surpassing 3.5-4 metres, with self-igniting coal of

diverse hardness and poor wall rocks. It can be practised at various
angles of dip, but primarily in steeply pitching beds.
4. S trip M in in g to the R i s e
Fig. 247 is illustrative of this method in combination with shrink

age stoping of coal. The level is divided into two or three subs,
each 40-70 metres high (one of these is shown in Fig. 247). Each
strip or band of coal I, II, I I I ... is 6-12 metres wide and is worked
out from the bottom up. Broken coal is shrunk, that is, left in the
mined-out space as provisional fill. But since the volume of broken
coal is approximately one-third greater than that of coal in place,
part of it is discharged via chutes below the strip and loaded into
mine cars (in the haulageway) or into mine cars and onto conveyers
(in the subentry), which transport it to a coal dumping chute. The
pig. 247. Mining by strips to the rise with the shrinkage-sloping of

the coal
Mining with Diagonal Strips :?r,7
discharge of coal is done so as lo leave sufficient room between the

face breast and broken coal for undisturbed drilling of holes and
sorting of loosened coal. To make coal in Lhe shrinkage stope serve
as an efficient temporary fill protecting the space near the active
face, the portion contained in the strip contiguous to the one mined
should be left in place, and stored coal is discharged only from the
shrinkage stope of the preceding strip, as shown in Fig. 247.
When coal from the worked-out area has been removed, the wall
rocks are made to cave in or the area itself may be packed with
waste from the upper entry.
The method described can be applied only in steep seams 2-3.5
metres thick, wilh hard coal and stable wall rocks. Its practical
use is consequently very much restricted.
5. Mining with Diagonal Strips

The principal features of the method designed for working slop
ing and steeply pitching seams are shown in Fig. 248. In each sub-
level one diagonal (oblique) strip of coal, inclined at an angle to
Fig. 248. Mining by diagonal Fig. 249. Iron sheet troughs lower
strips coal and fill at the face of a diagon
al strip
the strike line sufficient to make coal and fill roll along the face,
is worked at a time. Coal and filling materials are lowered along
bent iron sheets (Fig. 249) or troughs. Coal is broken in one (upper
half of Fig. 248), or two (lower half of Fig. 248) benches. Backfill
in the strip is held vertically by a special boarding. The chief short-
368 Mining of Thick Seams
coming of this method is low total stope footage. Mining with dia
gonal strips is applicable to medium-thick and high seams, but nob
more than 3.5 metres thick, in medium and heavy pitches, with
weak wall rocks and self-igniting coal.
PILLA R M IN IN G M E T H O D S
6. L o n g P illa r M in in g o n S trik e w it h C a v in g
in S lig h t ly In c lin e d B e d s
When thick beds are worked, use is made of mining methods in

which the nature of development is analogous to the sytsems em
ployed in extracting low- and medium-thick coal seams. But thick
ness lends important peculiarities to these methods which are not
inherent in the systems described above in Chapter XIII.
There are modifications of long pillar methods involving caving
and filling. In the case of high seams, caving methods, as a rule,
present many disadvantages, and therefore we shall describe
them briefly, mainly with a view to exposing their negative
aspects.
The method of long pillar mining on strike with the subsequent
caving of the back has long been used in the Silesian and Dabrowa
fields to win coal from slightly inclined beds 4 to 10 metres thick.
It is called “ Silesian method” for short.
In this case, long pillars are set apart by first mining (Fig. 250).
Entries are run in coal, near the bottom of the seam. Long pillars
are mined towards the slope, with the upper pillars worked in ad
vance.
Each individual pillar is extracted by cuts to the rise, but the thick
ness of beds requires a number of special methods.
The cuts or pockets are usually 7-9 metres wide. Coal in each is
first drawn by being undercut along the section of the entry corres
ponding to the cut, with the simultaneous enlargement of the entry
up to 5 metres. This is done by firing shots. The enlarged section
of the entry with a slashed roof is timbered with caps (Fig. 251)
supported by props. The mine timber used here must be large in size
and this makes it rather difficult to handle.
The cut or pocket in the pillar is then mined over the entire thick
ness of the seam. In high faces ladders are used for boring holes
with electric hand drills (augers). When mining is in progress, a
temporary coal pillar is left on the side facing the goaf (the so-called
“ stum p” ). Likewise, the pocket does not reach the goaf near the
upper entry, where a portion of coal is also left (“ skin” ), which, in
cidentally, is pierced by small “ windows” , which make it possible
to evaluate the thickness of the “ skin”and the state of the goaf.
Long Pillar M in in g on Strike with Caving in Slightly I in lined Reds :M9
The pocket is supported by headpieces and props (Fig. 251) sol up

along Ihe strike.
The robbing of the slump is carried on strike, in Ihe direction of
the “goaf” , starling from lop. It would be dangerous to draw all
the coal in the stump, and therefore some of it is abandoned on the
side nearest the goaf. When the slump is robbed, the headpieces
are set along the strike. Fig. 250 shows various phases of pillaring.
When coal has been extracted as much limber as possible is with
drawn from the worked-out space, and the roof is then allowed to
cave in. Safety measures in
the form of cutting-off sup
ports are taken in the pocket.
Fig. 250. Mining of a thick, slightly Fig. 251. Face support with the
inclined bed by the Silesian method Silesian method of mining (plan)
If they are strong, these supports take on rock pressure, thus

establishing a distinct “ break” line between the falling rocks and
the coal remaining in place.
In the case of the Silesian method, the large size and considerable
weight of mine limber makes its withdrawal a difficult and hazard
ous operation which demands experienced workers and special meth
ods and equipment (described in textbooks on mine supports).
It is but natural that some of it is abandoned.
After the removal of timber but before caving is proceeded with,
a stopping in Ihe form of an organ or battery set, reinforced by
struts and braces, is arranged in the entry, near the mined-out
pocket. Its purpose is to preclude any possible outbursts of lumpy
rocks into the entry during the subsequent collapse of the roof.
If, a s Lhe r e s u l t o f t h e c a v i n g o f t h e h a n g i n g w a l l r o c k s , t h e r e is
a p o s s ib i l it y of w a te r - b e a r in g s a n d s r u s h in g in t o the w o r k e d - o u t
area, Lhe s l o p p i n g m u s t b e m a d e o f a f i l t e r i n g t y p e .
Ventilation of working places is depicted in Fig. 250.
13 -3025
The Silesian inclhod has many obvious shortcomings. Since a

high seam is mined over its entire thickness without any filling,
(he collapse and subsidence of hanging wall rocks manifest them
selves intensely and, moreover, reach the ground surface. Notwith
standing the presence of cutting-off supports, rock pressure near the
goaf is strong and this necessitates abandoning coal pillars. These
cause underground fires and to extinguish them the fire-stricken
sections have to be isolated by fire seals.
The overall losses of coal caused by the Silesian method are ex
tremely high, reaching 30-40 and more per cent of the total work
able reserves. Because of high faces, it is difficult to look after
the back of a production place. There is a constant danger of men
being injured by falling coal. Handling heavy and long timber is
a problem in itself, while its consumption and cost are extremely
high.
The mining of thick beds by cuts or pockets, which is sometimes
practised, is essentially analogous to the Silesian method and has
the same drawbacks.
The Silesian method is being used in Poland less with each pass
ing year, but in 1954 it still accounted for about 38 per cent of her
entire coal output.
7. Long Pillar Mining on Strike with Hydraulic

Filling in Gently Inclined Seams
The disadvantages of the Silesian method in roof control by cav
ing are eliminated by the use of complete hydraulic filling. An out
line sketch of this method is given in Fig. 252. "Extraction of long
pillars,”writes Prof. A. N. Sidorov in his book Wet Fill (1923),
“is effected by eight-metre-wide strips to the rise. To form protective
chain pillars a near entry 00, the primary mining of the first 3-5
metres is done by driving headings with narrow faces 2 metres wide
and 2 metres high; the face is then broadened to 8 metres and its
height is raised to 5 metres. The mining with this enlarged heading
(5x8 metres) is continued until the latter meets entry O tOx and
is accompanied by the simultaneous recovery of stump 1 over entry
Ot. The worked-out space is supported by headpieces at one- or
two-metre intervals, each backed by four props. When coal extrac
tion is completed, the worked-out strip is fenced off in its narrow
section near entry 00 by bulkhead 2 and in the upper entry Ox by
bulkhead 3.
“Canvas air-tube 4 is laid on the side of the coal mass along the
wall of the mined-oul strip to ventilate the next strip. After this,
the worked-out strip is packed with wet fill supplied via tubes 5,
laid along the upper entry, through bulkhead 3. The water first
Long Pillar Mining on Strike with Caving in Steep Seams :!7l
flows down through lower slopping 2

and then via upper stopping 3.
“The hratlice tube has a series of
wire rings, spaced at 0.5-0.7 metre,
around its circumference; their dia
meter is about 0.5 metre. When the
mining of the next coal strip is begun,
vent holes are made in tube 4, at cer
tain intervals. In this way the air
sweeping the working place of the
strip is directed to the nearest hole
in tube 4 and passes through it to
entry O r Tube 4, burst or broken, is
left in the fill and is considered lost.”
At present this method is not used in
the U.S.S.H.,but its employment in the
future is not ruled out, provided there
are abundant deposits of sand near a Fig. 252. Long pillar mining
mine and it is suitable for hydraulic fill. with hydraulic (ill
8 . Long Pillar Mining on Strike with Caving in Steep Seams

Chapter XIII describes the mining of low seams by long pillars
on si l ike with a stepped or continuous face. A method analogous
by Lhe nature of its development work is also applied in the extrac
tion of coal from medium-thick and high seams (not exceeding 4
metres). But the increased thickness of beds lends specific features
lo the methods of coal breaking, face timbering and roof control.
Let us familiarise ourselves with the variant of this system em
ployed in Lhe Prokopyevsk-Kiselyovsk district of the Kuznetsk
coal fields. Intermediary entries divide the level interval of 80-lUI)
metres into two (Fig. 253), three or more sublevels. Since, from the
thickness of 2-2.5 metres up timbering of a stepped face in a steep
seam becomes extremely difficult, the pillars are worked by con
tinuous faces. Coal is broken by firing shots. Coal, especially in
Lhicker beds, is usually drawn in a narrow (one metre wide) “ band” ,
from lop lo bottom. Broken off, coal moves along the face by grav
ity. In Ihesubenlry it is transported either by conveyers or in mine
cars. The face is supported by timber props and caps arranged on
strike. In view of the heavy and large-sized props, the Limbering
of the face is a labour-consuming operation. To keep the overhang
ing solid mass of coal reliably in place, roof timber is set up in the
upper section of the coal wall (Fig. 253, detail C). With roof control
effected by caving in thinner beds, rows of breaker posts on strike
are arranged (detail D). But in seams more than 2.5 metres thick,
ID
F i g . 253. L o n g p i l l a r m i n i n g w i t h c a v i n g in s t e e p seam s
the general practice was regularly to leave coal pillars on strike,

the so-called “rib pillars”, since they formed a “ break”line for the
caving roof. The distance between rib pillars on strike (usually 10-20
metres) corresponds to the “ space interval”of the roof break when
it caves in spontaneously. The abandonment of rib pillars entails
increased losses of coal and should therefore be avoided.
The above method has until recently been widely used in the
southern Kuznetsk coal fields in mining steep seams up to 3.5-4
metres thick. Attempts to apply it in thicker beds have caused
excessively high coal losses along their thickness. The facemen im
mediately engaged in breaking coal produced about 13-14 tons per
shift, but since 60-80 per cent of labour at the face was tied up in
timbering, average productivity per faceman was about three tons.
Mine timber consumption per 1,000 tons of coal produced came
to 35-40 cu m and more.
Because of all this particular attention should be paid to efforts
to introduce powered support (mechanised timbering) in coal walls.
So far, however, they have been unsuccessful.
Long Pillar Alining on Strike with Filling in Steep Seams
9. Long Pillar Mining on Strike >vitli Filling

in Steep Seams
An effort to reduce coal losses was made in the mines of the Pro
kopyevsk district in 1935 with a system of mining similar to the one
described above, but with a complete fill. During the war the work
was stopped, but today, following the switch-over to the mining
of high steep seams in the Kuznetsk coal fields, the method is being
applied again in its improved modifications.
1. The delivery of the fill along the subentries tends to create cer
tain inconveniences: coal from the faces of the overlying level and
the fill for the underlying level have to be delivered in opposite
directions. To eliminate this shortcoming, the following method
has been used in recent years (Fig. 254). The subentries are used only
for the delivery of the filling material. Coal coming from the produc
tion face of the overlying sublevel, the mining of which lags behind
the underlying one, is not delivered to the dumping chute on the
boundary of a given block, but is passed down along special coal
dumping metal or wooden tubes, laid in the mined-out spice of the
subjacent sublevel and then buried under the fill. From the wall
to the next coal-dumping tube coal is delivered by a short llight
conveyer. With the gravity fill, this is also supplied along the in
termediary entry by chain-and-flight conveyers.
2. The method fairly widely used in mining ore bodies (Chapter
XX and XXI) is that of working by “ subdrifts”, or sublevel mining.
On 2-2
On 1-1
00BQQaOQO0Q000Q0OQOQBQOaQQa
-50-
150-
0n3-3
~~ ' :f -'f ■
Fig. 254. Mining of a steep seam with coal passed down the tubes laid in
a solid mass of fill
::7/. Mining oj Thick Seams
This system consists in dividing working sections (blocks in mining

of ore bodies) into sublevels of a very restricted height and blasting
the mineral from the ends of the subdrifts. The worked-out area is
left unsupported and, if the dip is high, the mineral slides down into
the lower portion of the level and is then loaded into mine cars in
the lower haulageway. Such a method is permissible only in the case
Shield Mining Method in Highly Pitching Seams
of very hard country rocks, and the overall stability of the rocks in
the hanging and foot walls is secured by protective chain pillars
left near the workings, which causes large coal losses. In the instances
where the sublevel mining method is applicable, it presents one
major advantage: there is no need to support the stoped-out space,
and that is especially important in working highly dipping depos
its of considerable thickness.
There have been proposals to apply this method in working steeply
dipping coal beds. But since this system entails high losses of coal
and the wall rocks in coal seams have proved to be insufficiently
firm, nothing has come out of it.
In recent years Engineer P. Kokorin has made tests (so far unsuc
cessful) of sublevel mining with the aid of a special wi re net (Fig.255).
This arrangement represents flexible wire net a tightly spread
on steel frame b. As the working face advances, the whole structure,
according to the inventor’ s suggeslion, should be pulled by rope
lines wound around drums of the hoists set up in the entries. First
trials were carried out in mining with caving, but at present a
similar device is being designed, for uses involving the filling of
the mined-out areas.
The use of such a wire net is effective if the seams are moderately
thick (apparently not over 5-6 metres) and the pitch is very high.
10. Shield Mining Method in Highly Pitching Seams

By the nature of development shield mining is close to pillar
mining (long pillar to the rise) with extraction to the dip. But the
feature that particularly distinguishes it from all other systems is
the use of a specially designed shield for the protection of production
faces which is pulled down immediately after their advance. This
system, introduced by Prof. N. Chinakal, is an original creation of
Soviet mining technology.
The essence of the method is depicted by Fig. 256, which gives
one of its typical modifications. Development work is started by
raising up the entire level (or sublevel) interval of rise headings
(through-cuts), provided with ladder and timber compartments
(Fig. 257). If rock pressure is high, these through-cuts have to be
supported by cribs. Ventilation in the faces in through-cuts is fa
cilitated by holes preliminarily drilled along their centre line from
the lower entry with the aid of a special heavy “ break-through”
drilling machine (CBM), designed by A. Mogilevsky (Fig. 258).
From bottom up the hole is drilled with a diameter of about 400 mm,
and it is subsequently enlarged to 700-800 and sometimes more
millimetres. Drilling causes large amounts of dust. To eliminate it,
special dust catchers have been designed by the Kuznetsk branch
H e ta it D On 1-1
Fig. 250. Shield method of minim;
On C-C On A-A
Shield Mining Method in Highly Pitching Seams 377
Fig. 25S. Diagram showing tlie operalion of a heavy-type “

break-through" drill
ing machine
of the State Institute for Designing Coal Equipment on the proposal

of B. Vishnevsky. Rise headings are raised every 15-25 metres (at
greater intervals in individual instances), and thus delimit a working
(“shield”) section. The same machine then drills holes, intended for
the passage of coal broken down in workings under the shield, every
6 metres on strike.
The shield itself is a light metal structure made of channel and
angle iron, serving as a brace for a solid timber flooring. Its width
is determined by the thickness of the working seam (Fig. 259).
Lengthwise the shield consists of separate, adjoining sections 5-6
metres long. During the actual mining process the shield is moved
along the dip. For that reason, a special “ assembly”room is built
in the upper portion of the level of each shield section to facilitate the
erection of the shield (detail D in Fig. 256). For the erection of the
shield the mouths of the boreholes are enlarged in funnel-like
fashion. It is here that the actual breaking of coal is begun with pneu
matic hammers and, sometimes, by small charges of explosives.
At first, coal is mined chiefly near the foot wall of the seam to make
the shield, descending under its own weight, assume its regular work
ing position (Fig. 259). After this it starts gradually to come down,
;-(78 Mining of Thick Seams
its position all the lime being normal to the bottom and back of
the bed. The forward movement of the shield is regulated by the
sequence of coal breaking—now near the back and now close to the
bottom of the seam.
The shield, therefore, is a controlled movable structure capable
of protecting the active stope space and pushing forward with the
advance of a working face. It should be lowered to the very bottom
portion of the level, where it is dismantled and transferred to a new
working section. However, experience shows that some elements
of the shield are gradually disarrayed in descent and when the struc
ture covered by a layer of caved rocks is finally lowered, it is no
longer considered worth while dismantling it.
On1-1
Fig. 259. Shield in working position
The total length of the shield should be somewhat less than the
size of the section on strike and, therefore, as the faces advance down
the dip, coal pillars form on their side—between the active and
worked-out sections or between the active section and the rise heading.
As shown by Fig. 257, in the case of shield method of mining,
production faces have two exits—via the two rise headings delim
iting the working section. The ventilating current follows the same
course.
The shield in question is distinguished by the fact that the width
of its sections is equal to the thickness of a seam. A shield of this
design is usually called single-type. Single shields are employed in
beds up to 6-7 metres in thickness, and those of reinforced type in
beds 8-10 metres thick. For working thicker beds, it has been
suggested to use double- and even triple-type shields, whose sections
along the thickness of the bed are made up of two or three separate
parts. But control of the descent of double and triple shields has
proved an extremely difficult affair.
Latterly steps have been made to introduce a newly designed type
of shield, the so-called flexible nonsectionalised shield. It has but
one row of timbers (dead or counter floor), each of which is sawn on
Shield Mining Method in Highly Pitching Seams .17')
both opposite sides and all joined together by channel iron and
holts. The timbers are arranged perpendicularly to the bollom and
the roof of the seam. The top face of the shield is covered with a met
al net. This flexible shield is not divided into sections. As field
experience shows, a flexible shield is a supple structure, and that
makes it easier to control and handle. The metal wire netting pre
vents rock pieces from falling through the interstices between the
limbers. Unlike the ordinary shield, the flexible one greatly reduces
timber consumption.
The shield method of mining presents many important advantages:
efficient and safe work in production faces and coal is delivered to
the lower entry by gravity, requiring no lateral haulage.
On the other hand, the method has a number of important draw
backs. It causes considerable losses of coal. These are due to the aban
donment of coal pillars referred to above and to the waste of coal
over the entire thickness of seams. The fact is that the working thick
ness of a bed (that is, the height of the mincd-out space) is pre
determined by the design of the shield and the increase in the
thickness of the bed is liable to result in “
crusts”of coal being left near
the bottom and the back of the bed. Moreover, it frequently happens
that the shield comes into disarray before it reaches the lower por
tion of the level (“ danger section” ) and the affected part must be ex
tracted by the room-mining method (Section 11), which involves
extremely high losses of coal. Since the shields cannot be dismantled,
consumption of timber is as much as 20-30 cu m per 1,000 tons of
coal produced. On top of all that, some 1.5 kg of metal is lost per each
ton of coal mined. The extraction of coal and the descent of the
shield are followed by the dislocation and caving of wall rocks in the
stoped-out areas, among which there may be some abandoned coal,
and this can lead to the outbreak of underground fires.
The coal seams most suitable for the effective use of the shield
method of mining are those 4-7 metres thick, dipping at an angle of
not less than 55-00°, with regular occurrence and hard coal. In cer
tain instances, however, this system may also be employed in work
ing thicker and thinner seams starting with three metres.
In recent years the shield method of mining has accounted for
about 40 per cent of the coal produced by the Prokopyevsk-Kise-
lyovsk district of the Kuznetsk coal fields. Each shield section yields
around 6,000-8,000 tons of coal per month, and considerably more
in some cases. Output per man per shift in the section is as high as
0-7 tons.
One major disadvantage of the shield method of mining is the appre
ciable losses of coal. This is aggravated by the fact that the use of
the system involves the caving of the overlying rocks, which is
fraught with the danger of underground fires caused by the spontaneous
;:so Mining of Thick Seams
ignilion of coal. For this reason Prof. N. Chinakal and a number of

oilier specialists are working to improve the method by combining
it with filling. The solution of this problem is rendered difficult
chiefly by the installation of a reliable support for the upper portion
of the mincd-out area, which is necessary if the filling material is
In he supplied unhindered. Another means of reducing the waste of
coal when the shield method of mining is employed is envisaged
in the suggestion regarding the preliminary recovery of coal pillars
and their replacement by pillars of barren rocks cemented by cheap
materials (ground steel mill slags, for example). This second method
is still in the stage of research and planning.
The mining of the uppermost level is simple and original with
this method with filling. When the outcrops of the seam are covered
with overburden the lowering of the shield is accompanied by the
caving of the superimposed rocks which gradually fill the worked-out
space. This causes holes and depressions on the surface which are
filled with mantle rocks by bulldozers.
11. Room Mining

The room methods of mining are considered obsolete and ineffi
cient for working coal beds.
In the 1930’ s room mining was applied in the gently inclined
Verkhnaya Marianna seam of the Karaganda coal basin. It was about
8 metres thick and of a rather complex structure.
This method of mining was attended by excessive coal losses
(40-45 per cent) and the appearance of huge holes on the ground
surface. This prompted the discontinuation of this method and the
adoption instead of that of rill mining (inclined slicing) (Section
19). In 1931-36 room mining was widely used in the Kuznetsk coal
fields in working thick steeply pitching beds.
The distinguishing points of the system are as follows (Fig. 260).
From the main entry driven in coal closer to the bottom of the seam,
rise headings in the form of twin openings are raised every 10-12
metres and are later connected by crosscuts. Discharge chutes for
loading coal into mine cars are installed at the bottom of the rise
headings in the entry. Over the cap pillar of the entry the rise head
ings are connected by a break-through and then enlarged funnel
like to form a bottom for the future room or chamber. Coal is blasted
in the roof of the room. Thus loosened, coal is not drawn oil complete
ly from the chamber but only in amounts corresponding to its ex
pansion on breaking. The shrinkage method is meant to serve a double
purpose—broken coal is left in the face as a floor on which miners
stand while working the back and as temporary filling for the room.
Communication between the room face and other workings is only
Room Mining rtst
On 8-8 On i-t On SB
On 0-0
Fig. 260. Room min

ing in heavy dip
possible via ihe rise headings. These also serve as routes for venti
lating air currents.
Coal thus stored is ultimately drawn olT when the room has been
worked to the level of the upper entry. Fig. 2(50 depicts three rooms:
the one on the left is in the drawing-oil stage, the central—coal has
been broken and its shrinkage completed, the one on the right is in
the breaking and shrinkage phase.
When this method is used, interchamber or rib pillars of about
3 metres in width are lost completely and irretrievably. In the
process of drawing oil stored coal, the wall rocks and those overlying
the back of the room, as well as the ones adjacent to the pillar sides,
cave in and begin sliding down. Sometimes these phenomena become
violent before the drawing-off operations have been completed
(“spontaneous collapse of the room ” ).
Room mining practised in this way yields high coal output per man
per shift (6 - 8 and more tons), but it also has some major disadvantages.
excessive waste of coal —about 40 per cent in beds up to 5 metres
thick, and not less than 40-50 per cent in thicker seams;
consequently, increased danger of underground fires on account of
the spontaneous ignition of coal;
382 M in in g o f Thick Seams
impossibility of separating barren rock partings from coal during

the sloping process and this, in seams with abundant gangue inter
calations, increases the ash content of coal;
dislocation and movement of ground over the rooms cause heavy
damage to the surface;
work in weak and fractured coal is far from being safe in large
exposed areas.
During the Great Patriotic War this method accounted for up to
15 per cent of the entire amount produced in the southern part of
the Kuznetsk coal fields, but today it is prohibited.
The system under discussion should not be confused with the
Toom-and-pillar method of mining, which is distinguished by the
regular, though sometimes partial, robbing of interchamber pillars,
this appreciably reducing the overall losses of the mineral. But since
the application of the latter is characteristic of mining medium-
thick seams, it is discussed in Chapter XIV, Section 3.
B. S L I C E M I N I N G O F T H I C K BEDS
12. Division of a Thick Bed into Slices

The thickness of each slice should be such as to make its extraction
easy and convenient. More often it is 2-3 metres, less frequently—up
to 4 metres.
One can imagine many ways in which a thick bed can be divided
into separate slices by being cut in various directions with parallel
planes, spaced at distances equal to the actual thickness of the slice.
In practice, however, it is only the following four methods that are
known to be in actual use:
1) inclined slicing, with slices running parallel to the plane of the
bed (Fig. 2Gla);
2) diagonal slicing or rill cut mining (Fig. 2616). Here the position
of slices in space is also inclined. However, they do not extend on
strike, but across it, between the bottom and the back of the seam;
3) horizontal slicing (Fig. 261c), that is, working with slices limited
by horizontal planes;
4) the so-called “ cross-inclined ”or “transversely inclined" slicing
(Fig. 261cf), where slices are inclined at an angle of about 30°between
the hanging and the foot walls of the seam. Consequently, with a bed
dipping at around 60° such a “ cross- or transversely inclined”slice
lies normally with regard to the planes of bedding.
Separation of a bed into vertical slices , limited by vertical planes
running across the strike, is no longer practised.
Division of a Bed into Slices and Their Thickness 383
Fig. 201. An outline of slice posit ions

a—inclined slices; 0— diagonal slices; t —horizontal slices; d—transverse (cross) inclined slice*
INCLINED SLICING
13. Division of a Bed into Slices and Their Thickness
Inclined slices into which a thick bed is divided for mining pur
poses may be in the form of individual benches, if they have a per
manent structure, suitable thickness (2-4 metres) and are split by
interlayers of barren rock, or else a seam of a homogeneous structure is
artificially separated into several inclined or rill slices.
The thickness of slices depends on the following considerations.
To provide sufficient free room for men to stand in the face this thick
ness should not be below 2 metres. In inclined slices a man can stand
freely even if the slice is somewhat thinner. But this can be allowed
only when contiguous slices are confined to the separate benches of
a complex seam, split by partings of gangue.
The thicker the slice the smaller the number of slices into which
a given bed is divided, and this presents a sizable advantage in terms
of reduced volume of development work. On the other hand, a slice
of considerable thickness entails many inconveniences:
a) in high faces breaking of coal in the upper portion of the slice
becomes rather difficult;
b) the greater the thickness of a slice the more difficult it is to keep
a constant watch over the condition of the roof and the upper portion
of the face to ensure proper safety of mining;
m M in in g o f Thick Seam s
c) high faces demand the use of long, that is, heavy and hard-to-
handle timber or metal posts;
d) in the modifications of the method involving caving, roof con
trol becomes a complicated matter;
e) in working with filling it is also difficult to bring the pack up
under the roof of a given slice. This was a decisive factor in restrict
ing the thickness of the slice when filling was done by hand, but
its importance has diminished greatly with the advent of power stow
ing.
The sum total of the factors enumerated above prompts to restrict
the thickness of slices to 2-3 metres, the upper limit of 4 metres being
hitherto sometimes allowed only in instances of hydraulic filling.
The utilisation of stowing machines or pneumatic fill also tends
somewhat to increase the thickness of slices.
The above-mentioned considerations not only apply to the selec
tion of the thickness of inclined slices, but are also valid for the
comparison of conditions in which seams of different thickness are
extracted. They explain the fact, paradoxical as it might seem at
first, that the maximum output per faceman per shift is generally
achieved not in thick beds, but in those of medium thickness (around
1 .8 - 2 metres).
14. Order of Slice Extraction

The order of slicing may be ascending (that is, from the bottom to
the roof in sequence 1,2, 3 in Fig. 2G2a), or descending (from the roof
to the bottom in Fig. 262d). Each has its advantages and shortcom
ings in different conditions.
Let us first consider the features peculiar in this respect to mining
with caving and backfilling.
Let us assume that a certain thick, slightly inclined seam has to
be divided into three inclined slices (Fig. 262a) to be worked. With
the ascending order the first to be extracted will be the lowest slice
(Fig. 2626). Its Door is the bottom of the seam and roof—the coal of
the overlying second slice. Generally speaking, the first slice will
be extracted in conditions similar to those pertaining to mining indi
vidual seams of medium thickness. Therefore, the methods of min
ing and modes of extraction already described can be applied here
too.
But it is obvious that ascending slicing excludes caving, for after
the extraction of the first lower slice and its subsequent caving coal
in the superjacent slices would be so fractured (Fig. 262c) that it
would be impossible to work these slices.* Besides, self-combustion
may cause underground fires in the solid mass of fractured coal.
* True, there have been rare cases when, in ascending slicing without back
filling, coal and rocks in the first slice do not cave in, but fend to come down grad-
Order o j Slice Extraction :i85
If, in mining with caving, the inclined slices are extracted succes
sively downward (Fig. 202d), the working of the uppermost slice
does not present any special difficulty, since the back of the seam
will be its roof and the coal of the subjacent slice its floor. But when
this slice has been extracted and its roof caved, the conditions for
Fig. 2G2. Sequence of inclined

slicing with the slicing-and-ca-
ving method
mining the second slice from the top will be quite different. Its floor
will include coal from the next slice, but the roof will contain caved
rocks belonging to the back of the seam (Fig. 262e). The extraction
of a slice under such a roof is usually difficult. However, the degree
to which these difficulties make themselves fell depends, in a great
measure, on the properties of the rocks in the roof of the seam, on
the availability, properties and thickness of gangue intercalations
between the slices, the angle of dip of the seam, the percentage of
coal recovery in the superimposing bed and the time interval be
tween the actual mining of the subjacent and overlying slices. The
ually and their continuity remains intact. This gradual subsidence is facilitat
ed by the physical properties of the rocks and the availability in the goaf of
pliable cribs built of tnin sticks.
386 M in in g o f Thick S eam s
influence exercised by all these fac

tors is discussed below.
With complete filling both the
ascending and the descending
slicing is possible.
When the lowest slice of a thick
bed is extracted and properly filled
(Fig. 263a), its fill serves as a floor
for mining the second slice, whose
roof is made of coal in the third
slice. The other superjacent slices
can then be worked out successively
in the same way. But this depends
on the quality of the mine-fill. The
less its shrinkage the lesser the de
Fig 203. Sequence of inclined slic gree of disturbed continuity in coal
ing with the slicing-and-fllling in the overlying slices and the more
method
normal the conditions for Iheir
extraction.
The contraction of the fill is minimal in the case of hydraulic
and pneumatic stowing.
The thicker the bed and, consequently, the larger the number of
slices it is divided into, the higher the absolute value of the shrinkage
of the fill block. This explains the paramount importance of having
a proper, tight filling in thicker seams.
The abundance of fissures in coal, caused by its settlement follow
ing contraction, may greatly complicate its winning. On the other
hand, slight cracks, unavoidable even in a fill block of very high qual
ity, may conversely be a positive factor and facilitate the breaking
of coal.
However, in seams subject to spontaneous combustion, fissures in
coal present a considerable danger, for, allowing air into the solid
mass of coal, they may lead to fires caused by self-ignition.
The reverse, descending order of mining is depicted in Fig. 263b.
Here the uppermost slice is extracted in conditions identical to those
in mining a medium-thick seam, but the roof of the next, subjacent
slice will contain the mass of filling materials. Since these are loose,
they may, despite the huge pressure exerted by the subsiding rocks,
retain their quality of looseness and will form, generally speaking,
a very poor roof. For this reason the extraction of inclined slices with
filling from top downward is practised very seldom. The main reason
which sometimes motivates the use of this order is the susceptibility
of coal to spontaneous combustion, a feature which prevents the
application of ascending slicing on account of the hazards of
underground fires that may arise following the fracture of a coal
Effects of the Angle of Pitch and Wall Rock Properties 387
Mock. The fitness of a solid mass of mine-fill as a roof in the working

slice is determined by the quality of the filling materials used for
this purpose.
In ascending slicing, the slice has to he stowed with fill, chiefly
for the purpose of preserving the continuity of coal in overlying
slices and also in order to have an artificial floor in the process of
extracting it. But in working the last, uppermost slice, these consider
ations obviously drop off, for it can be mined with caving even if
all the underlying slices have been extracted with filling.
Hence, here we have to deal with the combined mining of inclined
slices based on filling and caving. This method cuts the cost of
filling materials considerably.
The problems of extraction with complete filling or roof caving
have been considered exclusively from the viewpoint of the influence
these methods exercise on the merits and disadvantages inherent in
this or that order of mining mineral beds. But these methods cause
movements of varying degrees in the superjacent ground, and are apt
to manifest themselves in diverse ways on the ground surface. Mining
thick beds with roof caving causes a considerable movement of the
ground, leading to the formation of hollows, conical depressions,
gaping rents, etc., on the surface. There are cases when, to protect
the surface and ground structures from any possible damage, one has
to renounce caving methods. In this connection it may be noted that
even a good filling material merely attenuates the subsidence and
movement of the ground, but does not eliminate them completely.
15. Effects of the Angle o f P i t c h

and Wall R o c k P r o p e r t i e s
Let us see how much the applicability of inclined slicing depends
on the pitch of a seam.
In methods involving caving this system is unsuitable for the ex
ploitation of steep beds. Caved rocks in the roof of a slice, barring the
uppermost, would constantly threaten to slide and collapse. An
attempt to win thick, steeply pitching seams by inclined slices with
caving in a descending order was madein 1930 at the Prokopyevsk mine
of the Kuznetsk coal fields and, as should have been expected, (lie
result was definitely negative. For this reason, inclined slicing with
caving of thick seams without gangue interlayers, whose thickness
and position could make them serve as slice boundaries, should not
be resorted to in beds pitching at an angle exceeding 30-35°. If
there are gangue partings separating the slices, this system can he
adopted even if the angle of dip is somewhat greater.
The U.S.S.R. has so far accumulated limited experience in work
ing thick steep seams with filling. But there are already two trends
:vs8 M in in g o f Thick Seams
manifesting themselves: descending slicing in the Chelyabinsk

coal fields (Section 21) and ascending slicing in the Kuznetsk coal
basin (Section 20). This difference is presumably due to the properties
of wall rocks and filling materials. In the Chelyabinsk coal fields
wall rocks are plastic while the filling materials of argillaceous rocks
lend to become compressed and compact, and thus form a satis
factory roof for an inclined slice. The conditions prevailing in the Kuz
netsk basin call for filling materials that are less coherent and com
pressive, and although this makes it possible to have a filled slice
in the bottom of the next slice to be mined at a given moment, it
does not permit us reliably to hold the fill in the roof of the slice in
its place, a feature that is indispensable with descending slicing.
When contiguous inclined slices are mined from top to bottom
with caving, it is the rocks of the back of the seam, earlier caved into
Ihe workcd-out space of the upper slice, that form the roof of the next
slice. The properties of this artificial roof largely depend on the phys
ical and mechanical features of the caved rocks, the time interval
between the extraction of the upper and the lower slices, and the per
centage of coal actually recovered from the top slice.
To facilitate the mining of a slice under the caved area, the impor
tant thing is that the caved rocks should be a more or less compact
mass. If the back of a seam contains hard rocks (sandstone, hard
slates), they form a very good roof for extracting the uppermost slice.
But after the caving, these rocks are broken by numerous fractures
into large individual lumps, and it may prove extremely difficult to
hold them in the roof while the second slice is worked. It is be
cause of their hardness that these rocks do not become compressed
and so form a weighty and collapsible roof for the underlying slice.
If, on the other hand, the back of a thick bed is made of soft, plas
tic shists or slates, which require stronger and more elaborate sup
port when the uppermost slice is mined, these shists become well
compressed and compact when they collapse under the immense pres
sure of the subsiding rocks and may prove to be a quite satisfactory
roof for working the second and consecutive slices.
Thus, to assure successful extraction of an inclined slice under the
superjacent one that has caved in, it is more propicious to have the
back of the seam consisting of plastic argillaceous shists than of hard
slates and, especially, sandstone.
16. The Effect of the Time Element and Percentage

of Coal Recovery
The above-described compaction and compression of rocks do not
occur at once, since their caving and settlement take some time.
The subsidence of rocks at any given site of a mined-out area largely
The Effect of the Time Element and Percentage of Coal Recovery
depends on the position of the production face with respect to the

site. A zigzag outline of the production face front helps keep the roof
in place near the face area. Roof rocks break completely only when
the faces have been pushed forward to a certain distance. The caving
process at first does not affect the whole mass of undermined rocks,
but their individual layers or groups tend to come down one after
another. Incidentally, the latter phenomenon is more characteristic
of hard stable rocks, while in soft plastic shists caving and subsid
ence rapidly extend vertically affecting thick strata. Finally, some
time is necessary for the caved rocks to become compressed after
maximal pressure has already set in.
As the result of this, the subjacent slice under the caved rocks of
any given inclined slice can be mined only after a certain period,
usually from several weeks to •
»
several months.
The property of rocks caved
after the mining of any given
slice, viewed in their capacity
as a roof of the slice underly
ing it, is very much influenced
by the percentage of recovery
of the useful mineral in a giv
en slice and the manner in
which the abandoned coal is
distributed in it. If the extrac
tion of the mineral entails Fig. 2t>4. Adverse elTecl produced on (lie
losses in the shape of “stum ps”, roof by a layer left in the top slice of coal
“pillars”, “ skin”, etc., these
impede the complete subsidence and compaction of rocks settling over
themined-out areas. Moreover, these abandoned portions of the min
eral produce an extremely unfavourable effect on the stability of the
roof in the subjacent slice, transmitting concentrated rock pressure not
only to the timbering of the slice that is mined, but even to the devel
opment workings driven in the next slice (Fig. 264). As revealed, for
instance, by the experience gained in the Chelyabinsk coal fields,
the change-over from inclined slicing by stub entries, open-end
mining, etc., all of which systematically caused numerous
losses of small coal pillars, to working by continuous faces, where
the losses of coal are much less frequent, has markedly im
proved conditions for the mining of subjacent slices (as regards
the quality of their roof). In continuous mining, compaction
(compression) of rocks takes less time and is more complete
and it is, therefore, possible to start working a subjacent
slice under the mined-out space of the one lying over it much
earlier.
390 M in in g o f T hick Seam s
A high percentage of coal recovery is also a factor of paramount

importance for reducing the hazards of underground fires through
the spontaneous combustion of coal. Crushed and loosened, the small
pillars of coal abandoned in the worked-out areas become self-ignit
ing. The numerous fractures and voids forming as the result of the
“abandonment”of a portion of coal in working faces and the conse
quent incomplete caving and subsidence of the capping facilitate
the access of air. And conversely, complete extraction of coal min
imises the danger of fire, and that not only because there is no or
little coal left in the mined-out area but also because the process
of the caving and subsidence of rocks ends quickly, thus isolating
the worked-out area from the inflow of air (it should be borne in
mind that it is not only coal that is subject to spontaneous combus
tion hi® also carbonaceous wall rocks).
As far as the high percentage of coal recovery is concerned, inclined
slicing with continuous faces (longwalls) is considerably superior
to the pillar-and-hord or open-end methods of mining.
17. Effects of Interslice Gangue Partings

and Coal Strata
Tt has been earlier mentioned that with an appropriate structure

of seams contiguous inclined slices may be divided by intercala
tions of gangue. The availability of such intercalations greatly fa
cilitates the extraction of subjacent slices. When the rocks cave in
in the process of the extraction of the overlying slice, the parting
remains intact (though in some instances its original position and
properties may be deranged somewhat by the “ bulging”and pene
tration of mine timber into itsmass) and thus separates the superin
cumbent broken rocks from the stoping area of the given slice. The
thicker the parting and the harder the rocks it is made of, the more
significant the part it plays.
When there is no gangue parting, the bottom of the mined slice
is sometimes laid out with slabs or boards This flooring permits
it better to hold the broken rocks in the roof of the slice. During
the mining of the subjacent slice props can be blocked against the
slabs (or round timbers) of the flooring. The size and position of
slabs are chosen to conform to the mode of timbering adopted for
the underlying slice. This method is known as temporary or prelim
inary timbering (for detailed description see Section 19). This
temporary timbering can be employed in slicing-and-filling, as well
as in descending slicing. In similar conditions, prior to filling the
mined-out area, the bottom of a slice is sometimes covered with a
layer of clay about 0.5 metre thick. The immense pressure exerted
Development Order 391
by the settling rocks compresses this clay and thus helps hold the
fill in the roof over the active stope area.
In recent years there has been a growing tendency to use metal
wire netting instead of flooring, or together with it.
In view of the difficulties encountered in mining slices whose
roofs contain caved rocks, it is the practice sometimes to leave an
interilice stratum of coal about 0 .2 -0 .5 metre and more thick, even
when working undiluted seams. This facilitates stoping operations
and makes it possible to begin them earlier, without waiting for the
caved rocks of the upper slice to compress and compact. But this
practice is absolutely inadmissible from the viewpoint of coal losses
and fire hazards.
18. D e v e l o p m e n t O r d e r
In inclined slicing, the order adopted for driving development

openings depends primarily on the sequence of slice extraction.
Since, according to the very principle of the method, each slice
is regarded as a medium-thick seam, it would appear at first glance
that all development workings should be consecutively re-run in
every one of the slices extracted. That, however, would require driv
ing too many development openings and their subsequent main
tenance. Hence the natural tendency to make most, or at least some
of them, serve two or several inclined slices.
As a rule, level haulageways and airways are made to serve all
the slices and are usually driven in coal near the foot wall. Willi
heavy rock pressure, they can be made as lateral entries running in
foot wall rocks at some distance from the seam.
To connect the level entries with inclined slices, crosscuts are
driven over distances predetermined by the method adopted for the
development of each individual slice. In the case of slicing in flat
or very gently sloping beds, it is necessary to raise a blind shaft
instead of crosscuts.
The simplest thing is to run independent development openings
within the range of a given slice in accordance with the method of
mining used for its extraction. After the slice has been worked and
subsequently filled or caved and after a lapse of an appropriate period
of lime (see above), the miners set to work the next slice, which is
developed independently and in good lime, except for the level en
tries. One advantage of this order is the independent position of
development openings in adjacent slices, which facilitates the plan
ning of work.
By making some openings serve two or several slices, it is possi
ble—though it somewhat complicates the pattern of work—to
decrease the number of development openings and, consequently,
the cost of their maintenance.
392 M in in g of Thick Seams
Each slice is extracted by one of the mining methods applied in work

ing medium-thick seams. As a rule, this is one of the modifications
of long pillar mining on strike with the recovery of pillars by
continuous faces or, with a small level interval, the longwall system.
Sections 19-22 cite typical examples of mining thick coalbeds by
inclined slices in different conditions.
19. Inclined Slicing-and-Caving in Gently Sloping Beds

Brown-coal (lignite) occurrences in the Chelyabinsk coal basin
belong in the Jurassic age category. The coal beds, usually separated
by numerous intercalations, occur amid relatively weak wall rocks,
represented by soft plastic clay shales. These deposits include seams
of varying thickness. The angles of dip range from horizontal to very

steep, with slightly inclined and sloping pitches predominating.
In this area inclined slicing is very widely used. In slightly in
clined and sloping beds slices are worked with caving in descending
order. Each is extracted by continuous mechanised faces, this fa
cilitating the mining of the subjacent slices (see above). When the
inclined height of the level interval is not too great (not exceeding
approximately 150 metres) the predominant method is that of long-
wall mining. When the vertical distance between levels is greater,
they are divided into two sublevels (stepped longwalls), with the
blocking out of long pillar on slrike.
Inclined Slicing-and-Caving in Gently Slop in g Beds :w.i
Fig. 265 is illustrative of the method employed in working a slight

ly inclined seam of 6.5 to 8.5 metres in thickness. To draw it, I he
seam is divided into three inclined slices, each 2 .2 -2 .7 metres high.
These are extracted by walls whose length generally ranges between
70 and 150 metres. Lower haulage entry 1 and upper airway 5, com
mon for all the three slices, are driven in the central portion of Ilie
seam which, however, is not recommended, for it is bettor to run
main entries near the foot wall of the bed, or in Lhe country rocks,
as stone workings. Each slice has its own independent entries 4.
From the upper slice entry coal is brought along short dumping
chute 3 to rise heading 2 to be subsequently loaded inlo mine cars
spotted on the haulageway. In the walls the coal is transported by
chain-and-flight conveyers.
Since work is done by descending slicing-and-caving, lhe walls
in the overlying slices are run about 60-70 metres ahead, this corres
ponding to about three months of actual mining.
Coal is drawn by a mine combine or with preliminary undercutting
effected by a coal cutter. The space interval between two consecutive
breakings or cavings of the roof equals one cut. In recent years metal
posLs (Fig. 266) have been introduced in the Chelyabinsk coal Helds
for the support of coal walls, since, because of the low stability of
the roof, consumption of mine timber is excessively high-up to
60 cu m per 1 , 0 0 0 tons of coal produced.
To create propicious conditions for the subsequent extraction of
a subjacent slice, a preliminary support is set up on the floor of lhe
upper slice. The arrangement is shown in Fig. 267. This support con
sists of sills (round or sawn Limbers) a, laid upright of the breast of
the coal face. The sills are 2.66 metres long arranged at intervals
of 1-0.8 metre. Boards b form the flooring of the sills (the boards
are also 2.66 metres long and 3 cm thick). Each board rests on three
sills and their ends overlap one another. To make the board flooring
contiguous to coal, the sills are placed in recesses (ditches) cut out
in coal. To prevent rock pieces from falling through the interstices
between boards during the extraction of Lhe second slice the flooring
is covered by short boards c. Experience shows that such flooring
greatly facilitates mining operations in the lower inclined slice. As
the drawing of coal in this slice progresses, it suffices to block ordi
nary props against the gradually denuding sills. Furthermore, lhe
flooring prevents coal from being contaminated by gangue. Roof
control in the lower slice is effected by caving caused by the shifting
of cribbed supports.
Thick, slightly inclined coal seams are also mined by the inclined
slicing-and-caving method in the Kuznetsk (Tom-Usinsk district),
Karaganda, Cheremkhovo and certain other coal basins.
39'i M i n in g of Thick Seams
Fig. 266 Details illustrating production face support with

metal posts and timber cribs
--- -—2.66—^
408-1.0 a
oH
"ii ~ 1 TI cfl| nllll
_i b- -rl—
:f§S;
nn
-1-
T
Fig 267 Temporary support in an inclined

slice
Inclined Slicing-and-Cavi ng in Gently S lo p in g Beds 305
39B Alining o f Thick Seams
20. Mining of Sleep Seams by Inclined Ascending

Slicing-and-Filling
This melhod is practised in the Kuznetsk coal fields. A 100-metre
level is divided into two (Fig. 268) and three sublevels. Depending
on its thickness, the bed is separated into two or three slices which
are extracted in the ascending order.
Working sections or blocks may be unilateral (Fig. 268) or bi
lateral, their size on strike equalling 150-200 metres in the first case
and 250-300 metres in the second. The
disposition of development workings is
depicted in Fig. 268.
The upper slices are usually extracted
15-25 metres ahead of the underlying
ones.
Fig. 269. Lagging-off to hold All at the face
Since mining conditions in individual slices differ, the overlying

slices are sometimes designed of lesser thickness.
For example, in a seam divided into three slices the lower one is
2.5-4 metres thick, the central—2.3-3. 6 and the upper—2-3.2 metres.
The mined-out space in all of the slices is stowed with fill, and it is
only the top that may be worked with caving.
The extraction of an individual slice with filling is effected by the
method applying to the case depicted in Fig. 254. The production
face of the lower sublevel is 18-24 metres ahead of the upper one.
This corresponds to two-three fill “ runs" or “ intervals”.
In the conditions prevailing in steeply dipping beds the filling
material in the worked-out area tends to slide down at an angle of
repose. Therefore, to hold the edge of the fill mass in place near the
face, which in this instance stretches along the dip, a reliable lagging-
Inclined Downward Slicing-and-Filling in Steeply Dipping Seams !07
off is arranged, reinforced by

struts, stays and even rafter
limbering (Fig. 269). A partic
ularly thorough support is
needed near the “ banks”of the
solid coal mass, its overhang
ing portions in the upper part
of the face (Fig. 270).
Proper application of this
method, as shown by Fig. 268,
reduces mining losses of coal
to 12-15 per cent.
As far as the geological
conditions are concerned, the
above-mentioned method has
restricted areas of application
and this for the following F i g . 270. Rafter edge limbering
reasons. The thicker the seam

the more numerous the slices into which it has to be separated
and the greater the discontinuity in the coal block overlying
the slice under extraction at the given moment. This is paral
leled by growing difficulties in coal extraction and increased losses
of the mineral. For this reason it is recommended to employ this
system in working seams requiring division into not more than three
slices. Ascending slicing is also limited by the angle of dip, for
when it exceeds approximately 60°, the stability of coal in the
upper slices cannot be secured even by complete filling.
21. Inclined Downward Slicing-and-Filling

in Steeply Dipping Seams
This method has been used in mining a section of a seam at Mine
No. 18b of the Emanzhelinsk district (Chelyabinsk coal fields). The
normal thickness of the seam was 20-30 metres, but in the section
under discussion it was as high as 35-50 metres because of an anti
clinal turn (Fig. 271). A part of the seam, near its outcrop, was extract
ed by the open-cut method down to the depth of 30 metres. The
height of the level interval was 42 metres. Crosscuts were run from
main level entry 6 and from these common (mother) entries 5 with
slice entries 4 with cross headings over them. The entries and cross
headings were connected by rise headings every 5-6 metres.
The inclined slices were 2-2.5 metres thick. Each of them was mined
by the retreating method to the crosscut. To start the actual extrac
tion a break-through with the bottom of the open-pit was made
near the boundary of the working section. Coal was drawn by “ strips”
Application Fields of Inclined Slicing noo
2 melres wide, from top down. Coal was first blasted loose and then
broken with pneumatic hammers. One faceman was engaged in each
“strip”.
In view of the very sleep (70-80°) position of the slice, the tilling
material in its roof and weak coal, it was necessary Lo provide a very
strong support in the production places (Fig. 272).
A protective canopy was arranged over the breast of the face
(bench). Parallel with timbering, a lagging-off for the subsequent
filling was made along the central row of posts in the strip under
extraction. The erection of the lagging-off and the extraction oT the
coal strip were completed simulta
neously. Timber for the support and On 1-2
lagging-olf was supplied from the
surface with the aid of rope lines.
.n ', ' -0 O
'o ■y • \fc>' W '
O ' .% V o . c • \0
'*e?A
. Ok
m
085
iV •
. •
;o ■
\
-J 2
F ig 272. Details of a
The mine-fill—clay and sandy rocks obtained from the bottom

of the pit or the hanging wall of the seam—came from the conveyer
by gravity, and for this the mouth of the bore pit over the strip
was given a funnel-like shape. The fill of such materials compacted
and compressed very well.
The application of this method made it possible to work out the
section under discussion in extremely unfavourable conditions—
great thickness of the seam, very high dip, weak wall rocks and coal.
Although output per faceman in the slice proved high (25-30 Ions
per shift), the overall efficiency of the section was very low in view
of the extremely small footage of active working places in the slice
and the fact that only one slice could be mined at a time, and this
was the main disadvantage of the method discussed.
22. Application Fields of Inclined Slicing

All that has been set forth in Sections 13-21 gives ground to con
clude that, in certain conditions, modifications of inclined slicing
are suitable for mining thick seams occurring at various angles of
•
'j(JI) Mining of Thick Seam s
(lip. Bui this presupposes more or less regular occurrence and uniform
si met ure of Ihe seam. The workable beds may be separated by gangue
partings of considerable thickness.
If Ihe dip is slightly inclined and sloping each slice has to be worked
by continuous mechanised (with coal-cutting machines or mine
combines and conveyers) faces by the longwall or long pillar on strike
methods of mining. In the latter case, the properties of the back in
Ihe subjacent slices extracted in the descending order appear to be so
favourable that the inclined slicing-and-caving method may be em
ployed even in mining self-igniting coal. That is why this system has
been widely used in the Chelyabinsk, Kuznetsk (Leninsk-Kuznetsk
and Tom-Csinsk districts), Kizel (Gubakha), Karaganda and
other Soviet coal fields in the past few decades.
Generally speaking, the successful mining of thick, slightly in
clined seams by the method of slicing-and-caving with mechanised
walls may be regarded as a major achievement of Soviet coal in
dustry. One past drawback of this system was the abandonment of
interslice coal strata.
In mining steep seams, the situation is quite different.Experience
and theoretical considerations show that sleep beds can be worked
by (he inclined slicing-anil-filling method only. Ascending slicing
here is admissible only with seams that have to be divided into not
more than three slices, that is, of 8-9 metres in thickness, with the
dip not exceeding GO'1, firm coal that is not subject to quick self-
combustion, stable wall rocks and insignificant contraction of the
filling. The last slice can be mined with subsequent caving if this is
not rendered impossible by the unavoidable dislocation of wall rocks
(and Ihe solid mass of filling).
In the case of descending slicing, and provided the properties of
Ihe fill are adequate to ensure proper stability of the fill in the roof
of the slices, the thickness of workable seams may be quite appre
ciable (Section 21). But the total working place footage in the slices
is so low that one should make a proper choice between inclined and
horizontal slicing.
MINING WI TH DIAGONAL SLICKS
23. Diagonal Slicing

The position of slices in respect to the elements characterising the
occurrence of a seam is explained in Fig. 2616.
In the U.S.S.R. this method was first introduced in the Kuznetsk
coal fields in 1936 and underwent tests for a number of years.
Fig. 273 illustrates the mining of a 6 -metre-thick seam occurring
at 60°. The level, with a vertical interval of 50 metres, is divided into
Diagonal Slicing 401
F ig . 273. D i a g o n a l s l i c i n g
two sublevels. The drawing clearly depicts the progress of develop

ment. Stoping in the upper sublevel is done in advance of the faces
in the lower sublevel. Diagonal slices lie across the strike, but with
an inclination of 35-40° to the horizontal line. This ensures the flow
by gravity of broken coal and filling materials in each diagonal slice.
To facilitate the breaking of coal and installation of timbering, the
slices are usually made about 2-2.5 metres thick.
Production place support in diagonal slices is distinguished by its
complexity. The roof of each is made of coal and the bottom of mine-
fill. The timbering includes props erected upright to the plane of the
slice and blocked against the headpieces. Since the surface of the
fill is not a sufficiently firm base for the props, they are put on sills.
If weak, the country rocks of the hanging and foot walls are held in
place by inclined struts. To facilitate the setting up and reinforce
ment of the support, the back of the slice, that is, the overhanging
undermined inclined surface of coal, should be as smooth as possible.
Since the features of this surface, unlike the ordinary inclined slices,
14-3625
are different from those of the structure of the seam (that is, its bed
ding and cleavage) the back of each slice has to be levelled out as coal
is broken, and that is a labour-consuming operation indeed.
To provide communications between the entries and bring the coal
broken in a new slice down, a special “ clearance”is left during the
mining process. The slice to be filled is not packed completely:
free space (“ clearance”) is left near the roof whose height normally to
the plane of the diagonal slice is 0.5-0.7 metre. To this, a board floor
ing is arranged at a corresponding distance from the back of the
slice to limit the height of the fill in the upper section of the slice to
be stowed. This same flooring is utilised for dumping coal and serves
as a base for the support during the extraction of the next slice.
With this method, the top ends of the props of the preceding slice
usually stick out from the flooring. Attempts have been made to
take advantage of this in order to pull them out with the aid of a
lever device and use them again.
Coal is broken with pneumatic hammers after having been blasted
loose. Actual breaking is effected by strips 1.5-1. 8 metres wide. The
broken coal slides down the flooring and iron troughs to the lower
entry of a given sublevel, where it is loaded onto a conveyer. The
filling material is supplied to the production place from a conveyer
set up in the upper entry. Mined-out space cannot be gobbed up above
the level of the entry floor with the filling material delivered by
gravity alone. Since it is discharged from the conveyer in all direc
tions at the angle of repose, there remain voids near the foot and,
especially, near the hanging wall of the seam. The thicker the seam
the greater the voids. Therefore, the top portion of each diagonal
slice has to be stowed additionally right up to the roof. And this
requires special stowing machines (Fig. 274).
Generally speaking, the top portion of a diagonal slice, and espe
cially its connection with the upper entry, is regarded as a critical
section. Here it is essential to have a special support consisting of
long props and stulls. Sometimes another method is employed instead
of the one described above for the support of the interconnection
between the diagonal slice and the entry (Fig. 274): sectional or
split solid beams made up of squared timbers tightly held together
with iron clamps are laid horizontally over the top of the diagonal
slice near the entry walls. One end of the beams rests on the
floor of the entry and the other on the fill in place. These beams
serve as carrier pieces for the support props set up over the diagon
al slice.
It cannot be overemphasised that complete and timely supple
mentary stowing of this area is a paramount prerequisite for the
stability of the interconnection between the diagonal slice and the
upper entry.
Diagonal Slicing 403
F ig . 274. Reinforced timbering of the top portion in a

diagonal slice and slowing machine setup
The field tests of diagonal slicing carried out at the mines in the
Kuznetsk coal fields in 1936-40 revealed that this system of mining
had a number of major drawbacks. Despite complete filling, the total
coal losses reached 36-38 per cent, and that is inadmissibly much.
Timber consumption was also high: 40-50 cu in per 1,000 tons of coal
produced. The constructional elements of the method were complex,
while the front of the production faces was small.
Among the advantages of the method are the gravity flow of coal
and filling materials in the production faces and the relatively low
volume of main and subsidiary development work. A particular stress
should be laid on the fact that any modification of this system cannot
be successfully applied unless one indispensable condition is met —
early and complete filling of the worked-out space. Any, however
partial and temporary, lag in filling operations and especially late or
incomplete supplementary stowing of the sublevel lop portion in
evitably cause interruption of work in diagonal slices and possibly
a breakdown. Considerable coal losses and the consequent fire
14
hazards, considered the system ’ s drawbacks during field trials in

the Kuznetsk coal fields, were in fact due largely to the lag of the
filling operations, this being contrary to the very principle under
lying the system. When the mines of the Kuznetsk coal fields go
over to working thick steep beds with the use of filling, it is not ruled
out that the tests of diagonal slicing will be resumed in mining seams
dipping at least 55-60° and containing firm coal, with insignificant
gangue partings which lie regularly and are geologically unfaulted.
H O R IZO N TA L SL IC IN G
24. Order of Slicing

The disposition of horizontal slices with respect to individual ele
ments of bed occurrence is shown in Fig. 261c. To facilitate work in
the production faces, the horizontal slices should be 2-3 metres thick
and occasionally somewhat more.
With horizontal slicing, the level is divided mostly into two or
several sublevels. The number of slices in each sublevel and, there
fore, the number of sub-
levels in a level are closely re
lated to the accepted order of
slicing—ascending (upward) or
descending (downward)—as
well as to the area in which
coal is “ undercut” (see be
low).
Successive upward slicing
is possible only with filling.
But the fill mass contracts
F i g . 275. U p w a r d h o r i z o n t a l s l i c i n g somewhat, this depending on
the properties of filling mate
rials and the adopted method of stowing. The larger the num
ber of slices in a sublevel the greater the absolute value of con
traction. The result is that after the extraction of lower slices the
coal meant for mining by subsequent slices may fracture and begin
subsiding (Fig. 275). The fracturing of coal not only creates danger
ous working conditions at the face, but may be the cause of fire
through spontaneous combustion. These conditions are aggravated
still more by the nonuniform settlement of coal, for the mass of fill
tends to subside faster near the back, being compressed by the rocks
of the hanging wall (Fig. 276). The smaller the angle of dip, the great
er the thickness of the bed, the worse the quality of the filling ma
terial and the larger the number of slices in a sublevel, the greater
is the lack of uniformity. Coal splits intensively in the upper slices.
Order of Slicing 405
particularly in the last of a given sublevel. A big role in these phe

nomena is also played by the degree of stability of coal itself.
The effect exercised by the size of the undercut coal area upon the
permissible number of slices is seen in Fig. 277, representing in an
outline form the vertical sections on strike of two levels (or sub
levels) worked by upward horizontal slicing. In both instances pro-
/•',g. 270. Mine-fill compression under the weight of the subsiding hanging
wall rocks
duction places are connected with the lower entry by inclined open
ing b and with the upper entry by opening c. Hence, distance cb
characterises the size of the working section or block on strike, but
in the first case this distance is small (for instance, 10 metres) and
in the second it is considerable—for example, 50-100 metres. In
i n
Fig. 277. T h e effe ct o f th e s iz e o f th e w o r k in g s e c tio n on str ik e u p o n

th e s t a b il i t y o f the u n d ercu t s o li d m ass o f co a l
both cases mined-out and filled space A is overlaid by a solid mass

of coal B in the shape of a cantilever (true, this cantilever is in some
measure held in place by adhesion with the rocks of the foot and
hanging walls and rests upon the resilient ground formed by the
mass of fill). But it is clear that, all other conditions being equal,
the mass of coal in the shape of a shorter cantilever will be much
more stable and consequently pattern /, again provided all other
conditions are equal, will allow adopting a greater number of
m Mining of Thick Seams
slices in the sublevel than does pattern II. Thus, the set of factors
capable of influencing the number of horizontal slices in a sublevel
with ascending slicing is distinguished by its extreme complexity.
This explains the big choice of number of slices that can be worked
in practical conditions (see below). The greater the number of slices
in a sublevel, the smaller is the number of sublevels and the simpler
and less costly their development.
When a level is divided into sublevels, the latter are worked from
top down. Sometimes, when the sublevel interval is small, it is pos
sible simultaneously to mine two and more sublevels, but the min
ing phases in the upper ones still have to precede those in the lower
sublevels.
In the case of downward horizontal slicing, both the caving of the
roof and the filling of the mined-out areas are feasible. It is quite
common in mining ore bodies to work thick deposits by horizontal
slices in a descending order with subsequent caving. But this is prac
tised rarely and only in isolated cases in exploiting coal seams (see
Section 31).
Downward horizontal slicing-and-filling has the following disad
vantages: 1) the roof of each slice contains a mass of fill which
requires particularly strong support; 2) the slices are not undercut,
and this complicates the breaking of coal.
On the other hand, this order of slicing also has considerable
advantages: 1) it completely eliminates the fracturing and subsid
ence of coal, as noted above in dealing with the ascending order, and
this broadens the margin of safety and is the best guarantee against
fires caused by the spontaneous combustion of coal; 2) it does
away with the hazards attending the undercutting of a large coal
area, and in this respect there are no obstacles towards increasing
the size of a working section or block on strike, which makes it
possible to widen the front of active production faces. Moreover, pre
liminary timbering opens up the possibility of working unhindered
under the mass of fill.
The result is that in recent years the method of mining thick beds
by horizontal downward slicing with preliminary timbering has been
constantly gaining ground, with the slices being worked by contin
uous faces. Metal wire netting can be used (Section 26) as prelimi
nary timbering too.
The cross-sectional shape of a horizontal slice depends on the pitch
of a seam. The smaller it is the sharper the corners of the slice at
the floor and the roof of the bed, and this complicates the drawing of
coal and face timbering. For this reason horizontal slicing is more
effective in working of steep beds. But in the case of medium dip
the following approach is also possible (Fig. 278): when extracting
any of the slices—for example, I I —coal prism 1 is left in it near
Upward or Ascending Horizontal Slicing 407
the roof of the seam and, conversely, prism 2 is drawn at the bottom
of the next slice subsequently packed with waste during the filling
of slice I I . Analogously, in mining slice I I I prism 3 is left and prism
4 extracted, and prisms 1 and 2 are packed, etc., during the filling
of this slice. This approach
Fig. 278. Slice extraction at the bottom and back of

the seam
The contours of a horizontal slice in plane may obviously be quite

variable in nature. This also makes the system suitable for exploiting
extremely irregular deposits.
In the Kuznetsk coal fields horizontal slicing is notably used for
mining anticlinal and synclinal turns of folds with inclined axes,
where horizontal contours of the slices are of irregular form.
Constructionally, horizontal slicing has a variety of modifications.
The most typical are described below.
25. Upward or Ascending Horizontal Slicing

When mining steep thick beds with filling was introduced in the
Kuznetsk coal fields, there was a method designated locally as "zo
nal”extraction. This incorrect but brief term denotes the method
of upward horizontal slicing-and-filling with the use of so-called
square sets.
Fig. 279 illustrates the application of this method in working the
Moshchny Seam. The latter is remarkable for its outstanding thick
ness (usually 14-16 metres) and the purity of coal. The bottom of
the bed contains an intercalation of coal-clay shale 0.3-0.5 metre
thick. The floor of the bed is weak, the roof strong and the coal hard.
A level with an interval of about 30-50 metres was cut into blocks
extending on strike over 50 metres or so. The number of such si
multaneously mined blocks was determined by the production pro
gramme. The blocks were extracted by working sections (locally —
zones), their size on strike being about 10 metres (Fig. 279).
These zones were worked by upward horizontal slicing, with each
slice extracted in the direction from the foot to the hanging wall.
The slices were 2.2 metres thick. The mining method involved the
use of square sets (their description is given in Chapter XXI, Section 5)
and complete filling.
In the example under discussion coal was broken by explosives.
When the drawing of coal in the two first slices from the bottom
of the zone was nearing its completion, work began on filling the first
slice. When the first slice was filled, work was started on extracting
the third, and the second was filled, etc. Actually, however, filling
operations were often allowed to lag and this tended to hamper the
regular delivery of planned tonnages.
Coal and filling materials were transported within the boundaries
of slices in wheel-barrows and mine cars, but these can very well be
replaced by conveyers and stowing machines. Coal was hauled to a
dumping chute in the section bordering on the one under extraction.
As the drawing of slices progressed, this dumping chute was gradually
extended. The filling material was supplied through another chute
on the other side of the worked section, which during the extraction
of the preceding one served as a dump for coal.
Mine timber was delivered to the slice working places by chutes
downwards or upwards, depending on what slices were mined at the
moment. The chutes were provided with ladder compartments.
The advantages of the method are: 1) its possible application in
a variety of conditions; 2) high degree of safety; 3) convenient con
ditions for facemen to work in; 4) relatively small area of undercut
coal, a factor favourable for the overlying mass of coal in place
(see Fig. 271).
The principal disadvantages are: 1) simultaneous use of complete
filling and square sets, which is very costly; 2) complexity of support,
which requires much labour force and timber (50-55 cu m per 1,000
tons of coal); 3) haulage of coal and filling materials along level work
ings in each slice; 4) low working face footage, both in the slices
and in the block as a whole.
In view of these drawbacks, it is held at present that the “ zonal”
system has failed to stand the test of field experience, but in the au
thor’ s opinion, it is not yet entirely ruled out that the question of its
applicability in conditions of complete and adequate mechanisation
will not come up again.
Figs 280 and 281 are illustrative of the horizontal slicing with
hydraulic or float fill of the Reden Seam in the Dabrowa coal fields
(Poland). Being 10-20 metres thick it dips at 18-20°. Coal is extracted
by blocks extending over 400 metres on strike (Fig. 280). The inclined
height of the level interval is 200 metres. The horizontal slice is 4
metres thick.The level has about 15 slices and is not divided into
sublevels. A slope with a manway is arranged in the centre of the
block. The slices are mined in ascending order. A capping of coal
Fig. 2 . H o r iz o n ta l s l i c i n g w ith h y d r a u lic All

l —malD bauiagewayi a —airway) 3—mine slope
6 metres thick is provided over the main haulageway. As a rule, the

slices are drawn from the boundaries of the block to the slope. The
slices are mined by crosscuts. Since the production faces advance
across the strike, this method of extracting slices is usually termed
“ transverse”.
One of the modifications used in extracting and filling crosscuts
is shown in Fig. 281. The width of crosscuts is 8 metres and the height
,4.5 metres. During the coal-mining process each crosscut was serviced
by two entries: a for the haulage of coal produced and b for venti
lation. At a later date entry b is used for laying flushing pipes. The
support in crosscuts is illustrated in Fig. 281. From the disposition
of limber caps one can see that the crosscut is first worked at a widlh
of 5 metres, Lowards the hanging and the foot walls, and then Ihe
remaining 3 metres are extracted by driving the faces along the strike
in (he direction of the formerly mined and already filled adjacent
crosscut. In approaching the latter, the amount of coal that has to
he abandoned is not large, and that in spile of hydraulic filling;
there is only a wedge of coal that is left in the end portion of the cross
cut. The same drawing shows knee-braces employed to strengthen
the roof of the seam. The flushing pipes are laid along entry b, sit
uated on the level of the crosscut roof, this making it possible to
bring the pipes right to the top of the working. Timber is abandoned
in the fill or removed but partially. The crosscut is filled from the
back of the seam.
In order to distribute the filling material uniformly over the entire
area of the crosscut, the end of the flushing pipe is turned now to the
right now to the left. As more fill is delivered to the place, the pipes
are shortened. The pipes are handled from special platforms arranged
on the timber pieces of the crosscut. In entry a, near the crosscut to
a wood stave drain pipe

fig. 281. Face support with hydraulic fill
be filled, a bulkhead is built to keep the fill in place. The bulkhead

is pierced by a stave pipe with perforations through which the water
emitted by the fill runs out.
26. Horizontal Descending Slicing

The main points characterising this method are illustrated by
Fig. 282, which depicts mining of a thick (10-14 metres) steep seam
in the Kuznetsk coal fields.
The blocks on strike are 150-200 metres long. Horizontal slices of
about 3 metres in thickness are extracted in downward order. Devel
opment openings for communications with working places, dumping
of coal, delivery of filling material, ventilation, etc., are made in
the central portion of the block which, therefore, is a two-way (bi
lateral) one. It would be difficult to maintain dumping chutes for
the filling material in the already stowed portion of the level and
for this reason a coal pillar is left in the centre of the block to protect
the above-mentioned development openings, or else lateral workings
are driven in the foot wall of the seam (Fig. 282).
The slices are extracted by the retreating method, that is, from the
block boundary towards its centre. Slice entries are driven to develop
the slices for actual mining. In thick beds slice entries are run at
the foot and hanging walls (Fig. 282), while beds of minor thickness
are serviced by one slice entry. Each slice is extracted by production
faces advancing across the strike. The length of working faces is
thus determined by the lateral thickness of the bed.
Mining by longwalls extending on strike with the view to increas
ing the total footage of working places has the following disadvan
tages (Fig. 283): 1) the considerable length of time required for devel
oping such a wall; 2) complex nature of timbering and difficulties
presented by its mechanisation; 3) short period of actual mining;
4) difficult coordination of coal-breaking and filling operations com
mon to a longwall; 5) difficulties engendered by high rock pressure
in a longwall run along the strike.
The slice can be worked in a variety of ways, this depending
on the type of mining equipment, timbering and the mode of
filling.
Since walls are very short, no coal-cutting machines or mine com
bines can be employed in them and coal is mined chiefly by blasting
and ultimately broken by pneumatic hammers.
Coal in the wall (Fig. 284) is loaded onto short chain-and-flight
face conveyer 7 and is then fed to chain conveyer 6 for transportation
along the entry to a coal dumping chute.
With blasting employed for mining in a horizontal slice coal can
be successfully self-loaded, onto a face conveyer.
-514 Mining of Thick Seams
To accomplish this, prior to the shooting of the charges, deflecting

shields of iron sheets or wire netting are suspended from the last row
of timber posts near the conveyer and from these blasted coal is
thrown back directly onto an active flight conveyer.
If the face of the wall is run not across the strike, as shown in Fig.
284, but obliquely, at an angle of approximately 45° to the strike,
F i g . 283. H o r i z o n t a l s l i c i n g w i t h a l o n g w a l l a d v a n c i n g o h s t r ik e
the length of the wall and its output per cycle tend to increase. On
the other hand, the timbering of the interconnection between the
wall and the slice entries is made more difficult.
Downward horizontal slicing-and-filling is distinguished by the
fact that there is coal at the bottom of each slice, while the roof is
2 3 i s
» -----------------------------------------c i r *
■■O'b.
--0
■
> o flo e ■
HI * * V
HI * * v
HI * * ff
; o o
. ' o '
* 1• • B
>
f- • •
1 0 c \» * * * H
* * * H
l* a 0
: • a • U ) ■ ■ ■"............ 1..........................
Fig. 284. P r o d u c t i o n f a c e in a h o r i z o n t a l s l i c e w i t h
m echanised s to w in g
made of a mass of fill belonging to the superjacent slice. This neces

sitates special measures to prevent the fill from falling through into
the working slice. That is needed not only to preclude any deteriora
tion in the stability of the fill lying over the working slice, but mainly
to avoid any dilution of coal with the filling material.
For this reason timber or wire-net floorings are arranged between
individual slices which are sometimes connected with preliminary
timbering, as mentioned in Section 17.
Fig. 285 is illustrative of one of the construction types of prelim
inary timbering. Production faces of slices are supported by rows
Horizontal Descending Slicing 415
of posts 1 spaced 1.45 metres. The interval between posts in the row
is 1 metre. At the phase of the work set forth in Fig. 285, space inter
val I I accommodates a conveyer; space interval I I I is being filled;
and interval IV and those coming after it are already filled.
To install preliminary timbering, ditches are cut out at one-
metre intervals in the bottom of working slice n to accommodate
3.3-metre-long sills (round or sawn timbers) 2. The top surface of these
sills is flush with the bottom of the slice, making' the flooring lie
directly on coal. The flooring is made of boards 3 which, to speed
up their laying underground, are preliminarily joined on the surface
into panels 4, 2.5 metres long and 0.65 metre wide. Interstices are
left between these board panels, along the runs of posts, and they
are closed by short plates 5, placed on boards 6 to prevent the fill
from falling through.
Horizontal Descending Slicing 417
With the progress of coal extraction pick-up caps 7, each 4 metres

long, are put up against the roof of the slice, with four posts 1
set up under each. As the fill is liable to contract, the lower ends of
the posts are tapered with a view to making them pliable.
Preliminary timbering tends greatly to simplify the support of
a working slice, and this enhances the efficiency of facemen. The
flooring protects the face from inrushes and the fall of filling mate
rial, which is of importance for promoting safety and maintaining
the purity of coal.
To prevent spillage of coal, a wire netting (Fig. 286) can be employed
instead of timber flooring. The diameter of the wire is 2 mm,
with meshes 20x20 mm. To the face the netting is delivered in rolls.
When it is laid out, the rolls are spread out between rows of posts—
some of them along the strike, others across it, with the “ strips”
of the netting overlapping each other. The result is a solid flooring.
The use of such wire floorings considerably cuts consumption of mine
timber.
The fill can be built with the aid of stowing machines or the pipes
of a special compressed-air unit.
The operation of a stowing machine in the face of a slice is illus
trated in Fig. 284. Feeder 5 supplies the filling material to belt gate
conveyer 4 set up in the slice entry, and from there it is loaded onto
intermediate sectional conveyer 3, then goes to face conveyer 2 and
is finally fed into throwing machine 1. The space interval of filling
is 6 - 8 metres.
Fig. 286 shows how filling materials are supplied via pipes from
a stationary filling plant. Filling pipeline 1 in the face is in a
somewhat uplifted position, this increasing the distance of the throw.
A deflector is used to direct the flow of filling material. The space
interval of filling on strike is 6 - 8 metres. When so required, the fill
ing pipeline at the face is shortened. A board lagging-off is provided
to separate the rib to be filled from the active stope space. In order
to eliminate dust formation
and to increase the compact
ness of the fill, the latter
is sprayed with water. Sup
plied through pipe 2, water
is fed into the filling pipe
line 1 via a special sleeve,
entrained by the air current
and then brought to the
breast of the face.
The timbering of the work M etal p r o p
ing places is illustrated by Fig. 287. Metal posts face support in a
the figures. To reduce mine horizontal slice
timber consumption in horizontal slicing, B. Skory has proposed

using metal posts, whose design allows their removal from
the fill for re-use, for the support of working places. A metal
tubular post (Fig. 287) is furnished with two bosses hinged to its top
end to support round timber headpieces. The face of the slice is sup
ported partly by timber 1 and partly by metal posts 2. The latter can
be pulled out from the mass of fill in the overlying slice with the aid
of a tugger hoist or the driving unit of a coal cutter. The hinged bosses
of the post are folded for this purpose and do not hinder the with
drawal of the post.
27. Application Fields of Horizontal Slicing

The method is suitable for mining thick beds and deposits of any
shape and thickness, containing both hard and weak coal, self-ig
niting and emitting firedamp.
The stability of wall rocks is of no particular importance. In
gently inclined seams horizontal slicing presents some inconvenience.
It is much better suited for the exploitation of highly dipping beds
and less so for the sloping beds. If a deposit is particularly large,
horizontal slicing is possible even when it is fiat. In drawing coal
from the faces of horizontal slices one comes across diverse coal
benches and gangue intercalations (if there are such), which lie ob
liquely with respect to the coal face. These partings have to be segre
gated or, if they are too thick, by-passed through additional develop
ment and subsidiary openings.
Consequently, except for the above-mentioned reservations, hori
zontal slicing in its diverse modifications may be used in various
conditions of occurrence. In short, it is universal.
But to reduce the amount of labour consumed in its employment
it requires, as much as in the case of low seams, thorough mechani
sation of basic mining operations. Moreover, since filling is of prime
importance in horizontal slicing, equally much attention has to be
attached during the preparation of plans and their implementation
both to the mechanisation of coal extraction and its transportation
and to the whole cycle of filling operations. With the increasing
switch-over to mining coal deposits with complete filling there will
be a great deal of work to do in improving horizontal slicing practised
on the basis of complex mechanisation.
28. Fundamentals of Mining by Transversely

Inclined Slices
It has already been said (Section 12) that transversely inclined
slices are the slices whose spatial disposition is outlined in Fig.
261d. The simplest way of forming an adequate idea of the pattern
Fundamentals of Mining by Transversely Inclined Slices 419
characterising this method of mining is to compare it with horizontal

slicing in the direction of the strike (that is, when the production
face of each slice lies across the strike, see Fig. 282). In mining by
transversely inclined slices the general order of development is iden
tical to that in horizontal slicing, but the slices, instead of lying
horizontally, are inclined at an angle of about 30° to the horizontal
plane, and this inclination is generally in the direction opposite to
the dip of the bed. Consequently, as pointed out before (Fig. 288),
OnA-B Ones
F i g . 288. E x t r a c t i o n o f c o a l in d o w n w a r d
o r d e r b y t r a n s v e r s e ly i n c l i n e d s l i c e s
when a seam dips at 60° the transversely inclined slices appear to

lie normal to the bedding of rocks. The reasons for this position of
slices are to be sought in the desire to ensure the gravity flow of coal
and filling materials in the working faces. At the bottom of each slice,
near the foot wall, a butt entry is driven for the transportation of
coal to the dumping chute, while filling materials are supplied through
another, which is left at the time of stowing in the upper part of the
fill, near the hanging wall. Inasmuch as slices are extracted by the
retreating method from the boundary of the block towards the dump
ing chute, the slice entry and the flight conveyer put up in it become
shorter as the working face moves forward. From an airway horizon
of a given level the filling material is passed down via the dumping
chutes put up near the boundary of the block, and the length of the
slice entry used for the transportation of the fill increases as stoping
operations advance. Filling material can be delivered either by com
pressed air or conveyers.
Fig. 288 roughly depicts the pattern of mining by transversely
inclined slices with the descending order of extraction. The upward
working of these same slices with hydraulic fill is illustrated in Fig.
289. The position of working places and development openings is
shown clearly in the drawing. In mining thick, steep beds by this
method, the space interval of filling on strike comprises 8 - 1 0 metres.
To hold the fill in place, the goaf is preliminarily lagged off by a
boarding arranged along the face and nailed to the posts of the breaker
F i g . 289. U p w a r d m i n i n g b y t r a n s v e r s e l y i n c l i n e d s l i c e s
row. A 150-mm stowing pipeline runs along the upper entry. Despite
the use of hydraulic fill, consumption of mine timber with this meth
od of mining is as much as 60 cu m per 1 , 0 0 0 tons of coal produced.
Ascending slicing with hydraulic fill is possible only in beds
containing strong coal. In the case of weaker coal it is the downward
order of slice extraction with filling by flushing or pneumatic fill
that is preferred.
Alongside the advantages noted above, such as gravity flow of
coal and filling material in the production face and minimal volume
of subsidiary development work (blocking-out), the discussed method
also presents a number of major drawbacks. Other conditions being
equal, the total front of working places is shorter than in horizontal
slicing. Setting up of timber in an inclined slice is more difficult
than in a horizontal one. Despite the filling, mine timber consumption
is exceptionally high. Injuries caused by sliding objects must be
reckoned with. All this makes it highly improbable that this method
will be widely used.
29. Comparative Evaluation of Inclined,

Diagonal and Horizontal Slicing
Sections 22, 23 and 27 outline the spheres of application of the
methods of mining envisaging the division of a seam into slices of
different shapes.
By briefly recapitulating and summarising earlier conclusions, we
arrive at the following general inferences.
Comparison of Mining Methods with and without Slicing 421
Slightly inclined thick beds with uniform or relatively uniform

structure should be extracted by inclined slices. Since this method
admits mining with caving (Section 3), the slices are extracted down
ward. When a slightly inclined deposit is very thick and its shape
and structure are irregular, horizontal slicing may prove to be su
perior to the inclined, even in conditions of gentle dip.
Both inclined and horizontal slicing is possible in sloping beds.
The utilisation of the former method is given preference in the case
of persistent structure and occurrence of the seam, availability of
considerable gangue intercalations and the not-too-great thickness
of the bed.
In the case of high dip, the most universal of the slicing systems
is that of horizontal slicing. In beds of moderate thickness, which
limits their division to three slices distinguished by persistent atti
tude and structure, upward inclined slicing-and-filling can be
employed. If the fill is readily compressible, the inclined slicing-
and-filling method can be applied in mining extremely thick, highly
dipping seams, in which the slices are extracted from the hanging
to the foot wall, that is, in the descending order.
The possibility of using diagonal slicing is very limited. It is
employed in mining steep seams which dip at an angle of not less
than 50-55°, are moderately thick with hard coal and devoid of any
considerable gangue partings.
In selecting a mining method for a concrete deposit, one should
first establish the technical possibilities available for the applica
tion of this or that modification and, where several are possible,
compare the expected operative, technical and economic results.
30. Comparison of Mining Methods with and Without Slicing

When assessing the methods of mining thick beds without their
division into slices, that is, by breasting, we see that, as a rule, these
methods entail extremely high coal losses, with all the consequences
ensuing therefrom. In the final analysis, this is attributed to the
fact that the required stability of wall rocks near the working places
is achieved by abandoning solid masses of coal in the mined-out
area in the shape of rib pillars, stumps, etc., and by leaving coal
pillars near various mine workings. Since the active faces are high,
the solid masses of coal to be abandoned are of considerable size.
In such conditions, mining by breasting in extremely thick beds
(over 1 0 metres) is impossible even technically.
Mining of high faces is both inconvenient and hazardous. To
keep a constant watch over the back and the walls of the working
space is a difficult thing. Hence the permanent danger of facemen
being injured by lumps of coal and rock falling from the breast of
the face or its back. Coal should be broken and holes drilled from
special scaffoldings or ladders. Another difficult job is to shift and
set up long and heavy timber pieces at the faces.
The above cited disadvantages are fully or in a considerable meas
ure eliminated by the slicing methods, and for this reason, they ought
to be given preference in exploiting coal deposits of thick beds.
One exception is gently inclined beds of nonuniform thickness
(not over 4-5 metres) and irregular attitude and structure, that is,
with a varying disposition and thickness of gangue partings that
could be worked by pillar mining with stub entries, since in the con
ditions described above their division into two inclined slices would
create considerable difficulties. In the case of high dip, breast min
ing may be resorted to in extracting beds which, because of their
thickness and attitude, can be worked by long pillars on strike or
by the shield method of mining.
31. Comparison of Methods Employed for Mining Thick

Beds with Filling and Caving
Mining of thick coal beds with complete filling has a number of
important merits, especially in conditions of high dip.
1. Complete fill appreciably reduces coal losses, thus preserving
the country’ s natural resources.
2. Construction of mines requires certain capital outlays, and the
less the waste of the valuable mineral in the mine field the longer
their service-life and the smaller the share of amortisation charged
against production unit. This also applies to the cost of driving main
development openings.
3. One great evil ensuing from large coal losses is the hazard of
underground fires caused by the self-ignition of coal. Mining with
filling is the principal measure for controlling the danger of such
fires. Since some waste of coal is unavoidable even in mining with
fill, this method does not entirely eliminate the menace of fires,
though it does minimise it. The fires occurring on rare occasions are
limited to small areas and can be isolated and controlled more easily
than in the case of mining with caving.
4. Mining with complete fill reduces the movement of ground over
worked-out areas and rock pressure bearing down on mine workings.
It also reduces consumption of timber and the amount of labour
expended to set up supports at the face.
After the roof has caved in, the movement of ground over the
mined-out area may reach the surf ace and cause its subsidence, cracks
-and sinks. All this is attended not only by the vertical settling of
surface areas, but also by horizontal shifts. When these accidents
-assume sizable proportions, it becomes impossible to do any new
Methods for Mining Thick Beds with Filling and Caving 123-
construction work or to keep edifices and other structures intact.

Large cracks and deep sinks tend to destroy the ground surface and
sometimes make it impossible to utilise it even for agricultural pur
poses. Cracks and sinks present a great menace for people and ani
mals and must therefore be either fenced off or backfilled.
5. Cracks and sinks facilitate the infiltration of surface water into
underground workings, especially after the thaw or downpours,
though the amount of precipitation over the areas afTected by cracks
and sinks is relatively insignificant. What is dangerous, however,
is that water, because of land topography, collects in some other
places and then flows in torrents over such areas. Such torrents may
bring large volumes of water into underground workings and render
it too difficult for the pumping plant to handle and even create
a serious danger of flooding.
6 . Mining with fill rules out such dangerous phenomena as air
bumps. With an open goaf and strong capping subsidences of ground
occurring periodically over large areas may be spontaneous and in
tensive and accompanied by dangerous air blasts which injure men
engaged in adjacent mine workings, destroy air doors and partitions
and hurl back mine cars and other objects.
The numerous fractures breaching the ground when thick beds are
mined with caving of rock walls may intersect underground aqui
fers whose water then penetrates into underground workings and
thus increases the overall influx. This lowers the subsurface water
level to a point where the water-bearing strata disappear completely,
and that is bad for the water supply.
Mining with fill tends to diminish the significance of the acci
dents described above and thus helps reduce the inflow of mine
water and regulates its distribution throughout the year.
There have been instances of mined-out and unfilled spaces becom
ing inundated and presenting a danger for headings approaching
them from deeper horizons.
7. To prevent and control fires caused by the spontaneous combus
tion of coal, silting pulp is quite often introduced into the goaf
when beds are extracted with caving of wall rocks. It may accumulate
in large amounts in caved areas and fractured enclosing rocks and
presents a source of dangerous inrushes into the approaching mine
workings. Such pulp inrushes have been observed, for example, in
the Kuznetsk coal fields during the mining of thick sleep beds by
rooms. Filling prevents these accidents.
8 . Filling is instrumental in improving the ventilation of mine
workings. Caving may cause air to leak through the open goaf and
fissures in the ground, thus upsetting the adopted ventilation scheme.
Such air circulation, difficult to keep track of and control, is capable,
as pointed out before, of causing the self-ignition of coal abandoned
in the* worked-out areas or rekindling a fire put out before. Circula

tion of this nature is most intensive in winter months on account
of the vast difference in the air temperature underground and on the
surface. This circumstance explains why most underground fires
caused by the spontaneous combustion of coal occur or, at least,
manifest themselves, in winter, especially in regions with cold weath
er (Kuznetsk and Chelyabinsk coal fields).
Unfilled voids may serve as reservoirs for firedamp which, if there
is a sharp drop in barometric pressure or extensive and rapid breaking
of the back, may unexpectedly rush into active mine workings.
H. Since in mining with the caving of wall rocks the movement
and jointing of ground are quite intensive, this may undermine the
superincumbent seams and thus complicate their subsequent extrac
tion. Therefore, such seams should be worked out earlier. The
need to extract coal measures consisting of contiguous seams in
a definitely set sequence complicates elaboration of time schedules
for underground operations. Filling opens up possibilities to take less
notice of these factors.
10. Filling reduces the consumption of mine timber.
11. When work with filling is well organised, all routine opera
tions in the mine proceed more systematically and regularly.
The enumerated advantages complete filling has over caving meth
ods can be achieved more or less in accordance with the quality and
compactness of the fill, since different grades of filling materials
contract differently.
Despite the above-described important merits, the method of com
plete filling demands setting up a special service whose technical
and organisational features and composition are rather complex,
require a considerable labour force, and involve capital outlays and
running expenses.
To stow completely the worked-out area, the amount of filling
material must weigh approximately the same as coal. This means
that, along with the extraction and haulage of coal, one has to exca
vate and transport similar quantities of waste. Since it is impossible
to obtain adequate amounts of waste material from underground
sources in mining thick beds, it is necessary to open up quarries on
the ground surface to excavate the needed materials. In the case of
large-scale coal production involving complete filling, the basic
operations of excavation, transportation and preparation (crushing,
screening, etc.), the delivery to the mine of filling materials, their
subsequent underground haulage and stowing in working places have
to be thoroughly mechanised.
This is an indispensable prerequisite for enhancing the efficiency
of the men engaged in all phases of filling operations and for making
these operations economical. Their mechanisation, however, requires
Methods for Mining Thick Beds with Filling and Caving ■425
considerable capital outlays and running expenses and a special stall

of workers, and complicates the problem of management.
There is no doubt that these outlays and working expenses are
fully or partially compensated for by the advantages inherent in
the complete fill method which, in the final analysis and depending
on local conditions, may not only prove technically inevitable or
convenient but economically profitable.
Deciding whether any given seam should be worked with filling
or caving is a rather complicated matter. In doing it, one should
consider the existing local conditions, taken as a whole. Filling oper
ations are closely connected not only with the actual method of
mining but with all of the mining operations performed at the mine.
That is why deciding whether work is to be done with fill or caving
necessitates first elucidating which mining methods should be em
ployed to exploit a given deposit with filling and which with
caving and then drawing conclusions on the effect exercised by each
method upon the functioning of the mine as a whole from the techni
cal, organisational and economic viewpoints.
In selecting a method for mining a coal deposit, with filling or
caving, one has to take into account that the angle of dip of the bed
is a prime factor. In the case of slightly inclined or sloping dip, a
thick seam can be worked by inclined slicing, each slice being mined
by continuous mechanised walls with caving. We have seen earlier
that in mining with continuous faces the advantages include reduced
coal losses and rapid and complete settling of the roof rocks. This
largely counterbalances the numerous shortcomings of the method
of mining without fill, referred to above, and makes inclined slicing-
and-caving of relatively uniformly occurring thick beds with per
sistent structure quite possible and feasible. This was the way taken
in the U.S.S.R. in developing systems of mining thick, gently in
clined beds, that is, by inclined descending slicing-and-caving.
In mining thick, highly pitching beds the situation is quite the
reverse, and here the basic feature is the application of filling. All
the experience so far accumulated definitely prompts to discard the
practice of working thick steep seams with the caving of wall rocks.
It should be emphasised that the decision to work with complete
filling should be carried out systematically, in full and according to
schedule.
Any lag in filling operations leads to extremely objectionable
consequences: coal losses, fires, spontaneous caving-in of coal and
rocks in prodqction faces, increased consumption of mine timber,
reduced coal output, etc. When, in the case of the filling method,
stowing operations are behind schedule, this may prove to be more
hazardous than the system involving the caving of rocks in the same
conditions.
C H A P T E R XVI
UNDERGROUND GASIFICATION OF COAL
1. Historical Background and Importance of Underground

Gasification of Coal
To be utilised coal is extracted from the bowels of the earth.
But it can be utilised in another, entirely different way—the one
involving its conversion into gas at the place of its occurrence under
ground and subsequent use of this gas on the ground surface as fuel
or raw material for important chemical products.
The idea of such underground gasification of coal was first put
forward back in 1888 by the great Russian chemist, D. Mendeleyev,
who, having studied underground fires caused by the self-ignition
of coal, wrote: “ As far as these underground fires in coal beds are
concerned, it seems to me that they may be made use of if controlled
and managed so that combustion proceed in the same manner as in
a gas producer or generator, that is, with low access of air. This
would produce carbon monoxide and the bed would give generator
or producer gas. Several holes should be bored in a bed, some of them
destined for introducing and even blasting air into the bed and others
for the exit and even exhaustion (for instance, with the aid of an in
jector) of combustible gases which can then be readily fed to furnaces
even at long distances.”
The same idea came to the English scientist, Sir William Ramsay,
and was highly appreciated by V. I. Lenin.
In an article entitled “One of the Great Victories of Technology”
Lenin wrote that the new method of direct production of gas from
coal seams “ transforms coal mines into something like huge stills
for the production of generator gas. The latter drives gas motors,
which make it possible to use twice as much energy contained in
coal than it was possible in ordinary steam machines. In turn, gas
motors serve to convert mechanical energy into electricity which
modern techniques are now capable of transmitting over huge
distances.
“The cost of electric power would, as the result of such a technical
revolution, decrease to one-fifth and perhaps even one-tenth of its
present level. An immense amount of human labour now employed
Basic Notions on the Methods of Underground Gasification of Coal 427
for extracting and transporting coal could be saved. Use could be

made of the poorest and at present unexploited coal deposits.
Expenses for lighting and heating of dwelling houses would be
greatly reduced.
“The industrial revolution brought about by this discovery would
be of tremendous importance.
“But the consequences of this revolution for public social life
under the present capitalist system would be quite different from
those entailed by this discovery under socialism.
“Under capitalism the ‘ release’of millions of miners engaged in
coal production would inevitably engender mass unemployment,
a great deal more misery and deterioration of workers’living stand
ards. The profits from the great invention would go into the pockets
of Morgans, Rockefellers, Ryabushinskys, Morozovs and into those
of their retinue of lawyers, directors, professors and other lackeys
of capitalism.”
Continuing, Lenin indicated that under socialism the use of the
new method “ ‘releasing’millions of miners would make it possible
immediately to shorten the working day for all workers from 8 to,
say, 7 hours and even less. The ‘ electrification’of all factories,
plants and railroads would make working conditions more hygienic,
free millions of workers from smoke, dust and filth, facilitate the
conversion of dirty, abominable shops into clean, well-lighted
laboratories, worthy of man. The electric lighting and heating of each
dwelling house would spare millions of ‘ household slaves’the need
to spend three-quarters of their life in a foul-smelling kitchen."
The first to advance a pattern of mine workings for underground
gasification of coal was Prof. B. Bokiy who published it in an article
“Ways for Further Progress of Coal Industry in the Donets Basin”
in 1921 (Iron and Coal, 1925, No. 1).
In 1933-34 experiments on underground gasification of coal were
carried out near the towns of Lisichansk and Shakhty in the Donets
coal fields, at the Krutovskaya Mine in the Moscow basin, and at
the Lenin Mine in the Kuznetsk coal fields.
In February 1935 an experimental mine was opened at Gorlovka
(Donets coal fields) and in 1940 a large pilot station for underground
gasification of coal was commissioned in the Moscow coal fields.
2. Basic Notions on the Methods of Underground

Gasification of Coal
There are two basic methods of underground gasification of coal
Loday: 1) through mine openings and 2) from the surface.
The first method (Fig. 290) envisages running two inclined pas
sageways (or large-diameter boreholes) a, which are connected by
428 Underground Gasification o f Coal
entry b. The solid mass of coal delimited by these openings is called

gasification panel.
Coal is first ignited directly in kindling working b, and this creates
a fire face. The process of coal gasification is conducted in such a man
ner that one of the passageways (airway) lets in the air blast which
then passes on to the fire face and, sweeping the bed, burns the coal.
Gas escapes to the surface via the second, gas-tapping passageway.
The top portions of the passageways are sometimes replaced by
boreholes c. Consequently, there is no need first to break or crush the
bed, for coal is gasified “ in situ”. Advancing up the rise, the fire
face gradually assumes a curved, concave shape (as shown by the
dash line in Fig. 290).
The amount of coal in the panel under gasification depends on the
size of the panel and the thickness of the bed. In selecting the length
of the panel, account is taken of the blasting equipment available
(blower or compressor capacity and air delivery head), the chemical
composition of the coal and the strength of the roof r-ocks. Usually
the length of the panel ranges from 100 to 300 metres. Long panels
are split into sections which are serviced by separate passageways.
During the exploitation of a panel the bottom ends of the passage
ways are in direct contact with the fire area or space. The air and
gas passages are lined with iron pipes, whose ends gradually burn
out. To prevent coal near the gas passage from igniting prematurely,
the pipes are protected by a waste pack.
It was Soviet specialists who elaborated and introduced another
method of underground gasification under which the underground
gas producer is prepared and exploited from the ground surface.
With this method, the mine openings necessary for the operation of
Fig. 290. U n d e r g r o u n d g a s ific a t io n o f c o a l th r o u g h m in e o p e n in g s

Basic Notions on the Methods of Underground Gasification of Coal 429
the underground gas producer are replaced by holes bored down from
the surface. Some of them serve as openings for the delivery of the
air blast and others for the withdrawal of the gas obtained.
To form an initial channel for the gasification process in an un
derground gas producer prepared by this method, it is necessary to
connect the inlet blast and outlet gas holes through the coal bed.
The formation of such a channel or, as this process is usually called,
the connection of boreholes through the coal bed, may be effected
in different ways. The most widely used is so-called fire infiltration
break-through.
If an air blast is forced under a head into a coal bed via one of the
two holes bored from the surface, a certain portion of this blast will
escape through the second hole. The blasted air will then penetrate
through the pores and cracks in the coal bed or, as it is said, infiltrate
through the latter.
The velocity of such gas movement depends on the gas permeabili
ty of a coal bed. As is known, different coal beds possess a varying
degree of gas permeability.
Experience has borne out the feasibility of such an infiltration
fire break-through and at present the Moscow suburban station of
underground gasification operates exclusively by this method without
employing any men underground.
The composition of the gas obtained in an underground gas pro
ducer depends on the quantity and quality of the air blast and also
on the direction of the air blast and gas currents in the underground
generator. With an ordinary air blast, the caloric value of the gas
received reaches 1,100 cal/m*. A higher caloric value may be achieved
by increasing the proportion of oxygen in the blast, adding steam
to it, changing the rates of blast and appropriately orienting the di
rection of the blast and gas in the underground gas producer.
In general, an underground coal gasification station has the follow
ing basic installations: 1 ) mine openings or boreholes; 2 ) an air
blast unit (compressor blower or an oxygen plant); 3) boiler plant;
4) surface pipelines (steam, air, oxygen and gas); 5) water plant and
facilities.
The degree to which this or that section of the station is developed
depends on the method and system of gasification, the output of
the station and the local consumers. If gas consumers are far from
the station, the latter is equipped with an additional gas blowing
plant. The Lisichansk station, for example, has special gas blowers
to supply remote consumers.
The theory of underground gasification of coal is being further
elaborated. Although the types of stations have not yet been fully
decided upon, the problem, as a whole, is nearing solution.
CHAPTER XVII
HYDRAULIC MINING OF COAL
1. Basic Notions of Underground Hydraulicking

The considerable successes achieved in hydraulicking by open-cut
methods and in hydraulic earth work during the construction of
hydropower plants and structures have prompted using this method
for underground mining of coal and ores.
On the initiative of Engineer V. Muchnik the first tests in the
coal industry were conducted in 1935, in the Kizel coal fields in the
Urals, then a pilot hydraulic mine was commissioned in the Donets
basin. Its operation was suspended by the nazi invasion. After the
war experimental hydraulicking was resumed in the Kuznetsk coal
fields.
Essentially, the method consists in that coal or any other mineral
is loosened in the working places by powerful jets of water from the
nozzles of hydraulic giants (monitors) under a head of 35-50 atm.
The broken and ground coal becomes mixed with water and is trans
ported from the production face to the shaft by the water current
along special troughs (sluice boxes) or pipelines laid in underground
openings. If the mixture of coal and water (pulp) is brought to the sur
face by “ coal suckers”, the winning of coal at the working place, its
transportation in underground workings and delivery to the surface
are effected by a water stream in a single continuous process, this
greatly simplifying the whole pattern of underground and surface
mine plants and arrangements and ensuring a high degree of labour
efficiency. On the surface coal is segregated from water in special set
tling tanks or goes to dressing and concentration plants. Having
made a full cycle, water is fed back to the mine for further hydrau
licking.
2. An Example of Underground Coal Hydraulicking

Large-scale experimental hydraulicking of coal has been carried
on since 1949 in the Kuznetsk coal fields, at the Tyrganskie Uklony
Mine where a steeply pitching seam is being mined (Fig. 291). Since
the workable bed is high and contains self-igniting coal, its develop-
An Example of Underground Coal Hydraulicking Vi I
Fig. 291. Underground hydraulicking of a thick, highly dipping coal seam
ment for extraction is done via panel (intermediary) crosscuts driven

from an entry running along a neighbouring low seam. Fig. 291 is
illustrative of the method of mining by subenlries, a modification
of the method of long pillars on strike employed in this instance.
To facilitate loosening of coal by the hydraulic giant the sublevel
intervals are very small — 6 metres. Since the mined-out space re
mains unsupported, a flexible flooring made of wire netting is laid to
prevent coal loosened by the water jet from mixing with wall rocks.
The netting is made of 2-mm steel wire with meshes measuring 20X
x20 mm. It is delivered to the mine in rolls one metre wide and
15-20 metres long. When the flooring, comprised of four wire-net
layers is arranged, the ends of the rolls are made to overlap each
other.
The flooring covers the top and the sides of the solid coal to be
hydraulicked. The flexible flooring is initially laid out as follows.
A slot, representing a vertical opening across the strike of the bed
and over its entire thickness, raised to the height of three sublevels,
is cut in the coal seam on the boundary of the working panel. The
slot, supported by timber sets, is fitted with a wire-net flooring,
and is about one metre wide. In addition to the slot the flexible
flooring is also laid on solid coal. For this purpose a horizontal slice
of coal is drawn at the level of the upper entry and four layers of
wire-netting are laid crosswise upon its bottom. This horizontal
slice is also supported by timber sets. As the wire flooring is laid,
coal loosened by the water jet in the roof of the slice falls on the ready
sections.
432 Hydraulic Mining of Coal
Strictly speaking, the excavation of the slot and the drawing of

the horizontal slice are operations preceding the actual stoping,
since these openings serve only to accommodate the flexible flooring.
The sublevels are mined in a descending order and the process be
gins when the flexible flooring on coal extends over 30 metres. The
advance rate of production faces in sublevels should not be less than
15 metres.
Coal is extracted by the hydraulic giant through cuts or stub
entries three metres long on strike, from bottom upwards and from
the foot to the hanging wall of the bed. After the extraction of each
cut, the hydraulic giant is shifted three metres back to start drawing
the next cut, while the trough sections for the transportation of coal
and the water-supply pipelines are correspondingly shortened.
The headings of the cuts are unsupported. Prior to their extraction
the timber of the entry is removed. The part of the flexible flooring
hanging down from the back to the floor of the face and thus forming
a protective partition separates broken coal from barren rocks falling
into the mined-out area. As the extraction of cuts progresses, the
flexible flooring thus keeps descending from the roof of the sublevel
to its bottom. Good care should be taken to prevent the flooring
from shifting onto the bottom of the bed, this being eliminated by
the changed order of coal extraction. Since the flexible flooring
gradually wears out and falls into disrepair, the wire netting lasts
for the extraction of only three sublevels, after which it becomes
necessary again to draw a horizontal slice at the level of the third
subentry and arrange a new flexible flooring.
Attempts at extraction without the use of wire flooring have re
sulted in the reduction of labour force but in higher losses of coal.
Coal loosened in production and development faces by the hydraulic
giant goes together with water to troughs or sluice boxes, along which
it is conveyed to a coal-dumping chute and passed down to the lower
entry, where a stationary screen with 60-mm mesh is set up under
the dumping chute. Screened or undersize coal is then immediately
transported together with water along a line of troughs put up in the
lower entry, while oversize coal is Grst broken in a nearby crusher.
To facilitate the transportation of coal by a water stream, the entries
are made to slope 0.03-0.05. To the surface the coal is lifted by hy
draulic elevators, the high head “ coal suckers” .
When the coal bed is more than 10 metres thick, two entries are
made in each sublevel—one at the foot wall and the other at the
hanging wall. If the bed is thinner, it suffices to drive but one entry,
in the centre of the seam.
Underground hydraulicking of coal in the Kuznetsk coal fields
is practised in a slightly inclined seam at the Severnaya-Polysaev-
skaya Mine.
General Flowsheet for Underground Hydraulicking 433
The technical and operative indices of underground hydraulicking

of coal have yet to be precisely determined, but in the above-named
mines labour productivity is two to three times higher than in ordi
nary mines.
3. G e n e r a l F l o w s h e e t for U n d e r g r o u n d H y d r a u l ic k in g
In modern and planned hydraulically operated mines all the coal

produced is brought to the surface by a hydraulic lift. This is done
by specially manufactured high-pressure “ coal suckers” operating
under a head of 120-130 metres; new ones of a still greater head are
now being designed. The flowsheet of a hydraulically operated mine
will then be as follows (Fig. 292). Coal entrained by water is delivered
along troughs 5 and pipes 6 to pulp collector 9, set up in the coal
lifting chamber near the shaft. It is then sucked into pulpline 7
and brought by “ coal suckers”S via a pipeline to the surface and fed
to coal-concentrating mill 7, where it is dressed, dewatered and dried.
The cleared water is fed back to pump station 2 on the surface which
is equipped with high-pressure pumps, and from these, through hy
draulic giants 4, it is supplied to production face 3.
The underground hydraulicking of coal is a new progressive method
capable of considerably heightening labour efficiency and reducing
mining costs.
Fig. 292. Hydraulically operated mine flowsheet (with hydraulic lift)

/—dewatering plant; 2—high-pressure delivery pump station; 3— production lace; /—hy
draulic monitor; 6—coal transporting troughs; 6—water supply pipeline; 7—pulpline!
8—pulp pump; s —pulp collector
15-3625
434 Hydraulic Mining of Coal
Technically, the basic merit of underground hydraulicking is the

combination of mining and transportation operations achieved with
the aid of relatively simple mechanical equipment. The main draw
backs are high power consumption (about 25-30 kwh per ton of coal
output, as against the usual 1 0 - 1 2 kwh), increased humidity in mine
workings and, with the methods actually employed, considerable
losses of coal.
D E P O S IT S O F NATURAL SA L TS
C II A I ' T E R XVIII
M E T H O D S O F M IN IN G ROCK AND POTASH SALTS
1. S h a p e s o f R o c k a n d P o t a s h S a i l D ep osits
Natural sail deposits are of sedimentary origin, and for this reason
in geologically undisturbed or slightly dislocated regions they occur
in beds of diverse thickness dipping at a low angle. One example is
the Artyomovsk district of the Donets coal fields where rock-salt
beds of up to 40 metres in thickness extend regularly and almost
horizontally over very large areas. The famous Solikamsk deposit of
potash and magnesia salts in the North Urals is also generally flat
and spreads over a huge area, although in places it has folds, compli
cated by displacements with rock ruptures. Valuable minerals here
are represented by sylvinite (a mixture of potassium chloride KC1,
sylvite, with rock salt) and carnallite (KCl-MgClj-OHjO).
Carnallite also serves as a source of magnesium and its com
pounds.
As compared to many other rocks, rock and potash salts are distin
guished for their high degree of plasticity, and for this reason many
deposits occur in the shape of salt domes or plugs (Fig. 293). These
original forms of salt occurrence have in all probability appeared as
the result of their extrusion, facilitated by the plasticity of salts
under the pressure of surrounding rocks. Usually, though not always,
salt domes are of an oval shape in plan, their long axis extending over
1.5-3 km, steeply dipping down into the earth crust. During the for
mation of domes the circumjacent rocks, one may assume, were
depressed and somewhat uplifted. In the U.S.S.R. a typical salt dome
is the one at Sol-Iletsk (Southern Urals). Its geological structure
conforms to the pattern shown in Fig. 293. The extent of the dome
along its long axis is about 2 km, and around 1 km along the short.
Continuous occurrence of rock salt in this dome has been confirmed
directly by exploratory borings made down to a depth of 500 metres
from the surface. Judging from data obtained through geophysical
15*
4.16 Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
prospecting, salt occurs down to the

depth of not less than 1.5 km.
Many salt domes are of a much more
complex geological structure than
the one shown in Fig. 293.
A large number of salt plugs, so far
not mined, have been found in the
course of geological surveys on an ex
tensive territory north of the Caspian
sea coast.
The selection of a proper method
of working rock salts is influenced
mainly by two factors: 1 ) because of
^'ig. 293. Outline of a salt their ready solubility rock salts must
dome be mined so that no water penetrates
into mine workings from the ground
surface and underground aquifers; 2 ) the reserves of natural salts
are so great that there is practically no need to be too cautious
about the losses during their exploitation. As the result of the
combination of these two factors, rock and potash salts are almost
invariably mined by the method involving abandonment of support
pillars. The latter help completely eliminate any movement of the
ground overlying the mined-out areas. Salt deposits can be worked
with continuous faces only in gently inclined low and medium-thick
beds, particularly in those of complex structure, for the gangue
from partings can then be utilised as a fill for stowing worked-out
space, at least partially, through ensuring gradual settlement of roof
rocks. In such exceptional conditions of occurrence, salt deposits are
mined by methods similar to the methods of working coal seams de
scribed earlier.
2. Methods Employed for' Mining Rock Salt

Rock-salt beds in the Artyomovsk district of the Donets coal fields
lie 120-200 metres below the ground surface. The principal of the
working beds, the so-called Bryantsevsky bed, is 30-40 metres thick.
In the mined areas the angle of dip is about 4°. Salt reserves are prac
tically unlimited.
Either rooms A lie parallel to each other in one direction (Fig. 294),
or two sets of parallel rooms traverse each other (Fig. 295). Inter
chamber support pillars of salt a play the role of columns holding up
the superjacent ground and are therefore never recovered. Thick depos
its of rock salt are mined so as to prevent the roof from caving
in. Such cavings are not only very dangerous by themselves, especial
ly if one bears in mind the immense width and height of the workings,
Methods Employed for Mining Rock Salt 437
7 On IP-IP
W SM
X On fl-E
r --|h-- a 1
yZ/Zw//Z\
'1 X
X
----- 1v- -------- *-
A
VX X
V//////J7,
1
1
1
X
i n
On I-I
‘
<i
mm
■aT\
4x
A
M. X ‘
ML
% tit
tit X
■
'A
A
x
%
w w wriiwfmwwt*
Fig. 294. Mining of rock s with support pillars shaped

like proI re walls
63
Fig. 295. Mining of rock sail with rectangular support pillars
438 Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
v
but are liable to lead to the formation of fractures through which
water from the overlying aquifers can penetrate into the mine. In
certain conditions these fractures and cracks may even reach the sur
face and create openings through which surface water can get into
mine workings, as is the case, for example, in nearly all coal mines
and pits. Because of the ready solubility of rock (and potash) salt
the appearance of water in the mine is fraught with grave danger.
The size of the pillar and the width of the room (chamber) should
be properly selected to prevent cavings. The pillars should be suf
ficiently big to bear the weight of all the superimposing rocks.
There have been instances abroad of pillars of inadequate size leading
to serious catastrophes. At the same time, to preclude unnecessary
losses of the mineral, they should not be excessively strong or big.
Computation of the size of the pillars based, on the one hand, on the
estimated stresses they are exposed to and, on the other, on their
sLrength, is discussed below (Section 4).
The maximal permissible width or span of rooms (chambers) is
determined purely by experience since there is so far no reliable theo
retic approach to this problem. Now that power undercutting (see
below) has been introduced in development headings, better utilisation
of the explosive power of charges requires a width of 17-25 metres,
whereas formerly, when the operation was done by hand, it was
12-15 metres.
Depending on the disposition of rooms, pillars have the form either
of protecting walls (interchamber pillars), separating neighbouring
rooms (Fig. 294), or of rectangular support columns (Fig. 295).
There are practically no square pillars in the Artyomovsk district.
To connect adjacent rooms, the pillars arc intersected every 30-60
metres by break-throughs 2-5 metres wide and 2-3 metres high, with
vaulted or arched roofs.
The rooms are excavated in the rock salt only. In other words,
it is necessary to leave a protective ceiling of salt (usually 1-3 metres
thick) and a salt layer in the floor of approximately the same thick
ness. Quite often, to preserve the level nature of the floor in rooms
extending along the dip or diagonally to the strike larger layers of
salt, 10 and even 15 metres thick, unfortunately, have to be left in
the bottom. The abandonment of salt masses in the bottom and roof
is desirable because rock salt, from the standpoint of mining, is a
very firm and compact rock. But if there is anhydrite (and not clay)
above a salt bed, the roof of a room, particularly in a bed that is
not too thick, is sometimes raised until it reaches anhydrite. It is
made arched, and often quite low.
If beds dip insignificantly rooms are made to extend on strike
and to the dip, or in oblique fashion.
Methods Employed for Mining Rock Salt 4.'19
In rooms lying on strike the floor is horizontal* (see Figs 294 and
295, section ///-///), with the thickness of protective ceiling and
bottom layers of salt as well as the height of the rooms themselves
remaining uniform. The disadvantage of such a layout lies in the
fact that break-throughs x, running across protecting walls and con
necting the rooms, slope markedly, and that makes haulage of mine
cars somewhat difficult. If the rooms were extended down the dip
and the salt strata left in the roof and floor were to remain uniformly
thick, they would have to he made to slope at the same angle as
the dip, and this would make the rail transport inconvenient too.
For this reason the floor of rooms in the whole of the mine field, or
at least in most of it, is made horizontal, and that is why, with the
thickness of the protective ceiling remaining stable, the height of
the rooms and the thickness of the bottom layer gradually alter (see
Fig. 295, sections /-/ and //-//). Since the existing methods of
mining do not provide for the recovery of salt left in the floor of the
rooms, the above-described way of levelling out the bottom of rooms
is regarded inefficient in spite of all its merits.
In view of this, and notwithstanding the handicaps referred to
above, the arrangement of rooms along the strike is more advanta
geous. The diagonal position of rooms possesses features half-way
between those of the two methods described earlier. When the rooms
extend on strike, mining operations in the mine field progress schema
tically as follows (Fig. 296). Openings AB and AC are made along
the dip, away from hoisting shaft A. The type of haulage for the
transportation of salt in opening AB depends on its gradient. Open
ing AC runs sloping from the shaft. In order to reduce the track grad
ient and thus facilitate transportation, two diagonal haulageways
ABi and AB 2 may be driven instead of one opening AB, whose
angle of slope to the horizontal plane would be smaller. Ventilat
ing shaft D is usually near hoisting shaft A. A ventilation scheme
with pillars in the shape of protective walls intersected by low break
throughs is shown in Fig. 296. Mining proceeds in all directions from
the shafts of the mine more or less uniformly.
Let us now see how development work and stoping are done in the
case of the Bryantsevsky bed, which, it may be recalled, is 40 metres
deep and occurs with a slightly inclined dip at 150 metres
from the surface. The system used in working this bed is shown in
Fig. 297.
The width of rooms 1 is 17 metres, while the thickness of inter
chamber pillars 2 is 8 metres. The pillars are cut by break
throughs 3 every 30 metres, that is, their size at the bottom is 8x30
* Barring the slight slope given to the floor of the room to facilitate rail
haulage.
Fig. 296. Layout of workings in a salt mine field
Fig. 297. Extraction of salt in a room
metres. The rooms are 25-27 melres high, since they have protective
ceiling 5 and bottom 6 salt layers.
Before proceeding to stoping, development openings are made id
each room.
Methods Employed [or Mining Rock Salt M,t
Development opening 4 is run over the entire width of the room,

but only to the height of 2 metres. The face is undercut with a coal
cutter to a depth of 2 metres. Aslope with an overall area of 32 sq m
is undercut in one shift. Parallel with undercutting, 25-mm holes
are drilled with electric augers. These holes are made in two stag
gered rows—one near Lhe back of the working face and the other
somewhat lower. The driller and his helper bore 300 metres of holes
in a shift. Shooting is done with the aid of a bickford fuse. A blast
in the development face yields about 150 tons of salt at a lime. To
transport it mine tracks are laid to the face.
Actual stoping sLarts after the heading of a development working
has been advanced over the distance of Lwo break-throughs from the
“ neck”of room 9.
In order to make the room 25-27 metres high, the roof of the devel
opment working is first underholed near the initial site of the room,
an operation someLimes termed “ raising the roof". The face is broken
so as to assume an overhand form. Going up gradually the face is
enlarged in all directions. Drilling is effected from a pile of broken
salt. To facilitate it, free space the height of man is maintained con
stantly between the breast of the face and broken salt. This is done
by shovelling salt away.
When the face is brought to the planned height of the room, the
pile of broken salt has two slopes, both with an angle of repose at
38-40°. The first 8 (anterior) faces the slope and the second 7 (pos
terior) is opposite the initial point of the room. Salt is further won
from slope 8. The pile of salt gradually grows in the direction of the
room extraction, while the loading and delivery of the excavated
salt are effected at slope 7. Since salt broken from its solid mass
increases in volume, a certain amount must be removed from ante
rior slope 8 too so as Lo have enough free room for drillers Lo work
in and lo provide passage for the ventilaling air.
The height of benches or steps in a sLope should be 1.5 metres.
The monthly advance rate of room faces is of the order of 15-20 and
more metres. The amount of explosives consumed in Lhe mine is
around 170-180 g per ton of salt mined.
From slope 7 salt is removed by scrapers. Each working room is
serviced by two scraper hoists. They are set up on movable metal
platforms 12-15 metres from the pile. They are operated by a team
of six men: Lwo at the hoists, two tending the scrapers themselves
(chiefly breaking up large lumps of salt) and two—“ slopemen” —on
the pile. The team produces up to 600 tons of salt per shift. Salt at
the front slope is loaded in the same way.
Since the breaking of rock salt requires a large amount of explo
sives and the working rooms are very high, Lhe pattern of under
ground ventilation should provide for efficient air circulation.
-542 Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
Of interest in this respect is the ventilation scheme adopted at

the above-mentioned Iletsk rock salt mine in the Urals.
The method of mining practised there (Fig. 298) is analogous to
the one described above; the rooms are 25 metres high. The air en
ters the mine through hoisting shaft 1, flows along haulageway 2
and then enters the rooms. Since airway 3 runs along interchamber
pillars near the top of the rooms, the air current ascends via rise
headings (break-throughs) 4 into airway 3 and is then cast up air
shaft 5.
The huge rock salt dome at the Iletsk mine, briefly described in
Section 1, was worked for a long time, first by the open-cut method.
/
Fig. 298. Ventilation scheme at the Iletsk salt mine
From 1889 on rock salt was mined only in the so-called “ old” room.
In 1925 stoping operations there were suspended because there was
a serious danger of the ceiling of the room caving in, caused by water
leaking through cracks and dissolving salt. This abandoned room
deserves mention because of its extraordinary size: it was 106 me
tres high, 14.5 metres wide at the top and 25 metres wide at the bot
tom, and 245 metres long. Inasmuch as salt was extracted by un
derhand stopes, the height (or rather the depth) of the room increased
year in year out. The salt was hoisted up through a vertical “ shaft”,
cut out in the wall of the room in the form of a vertical recess, which
was deepened correspondingly. The room had no support, except
for rafter timbering forming a canopy just under its ceiling.
When rock salt deposits are mined with support pillars of ade
quate size, the rooms, though of considerable dimensions, have no
Mining of Potash Salts 443
olher artificial support. This makes it possible freely to use various

machines for the sloping, loading and transportation of rock salt.
In addition to ordinary cutting and loading machines and conveyers,
extensive rooms may also be worked by small electric power shov
els. Efficient operation of these shovels and mechanised loading
equipment in general requires use of large-capacity mine cars, the
size of the underground workings favouring this. Skip hoisting,
however, requires setting up an underground coarse crusher plant.
3. Mining of Potash Salts

The Solikamsk deposit of potash salts is worked by mines extract
ing sylvinites and carnallites.
Occurring at the depth of 270-310 metres from the surface, the
deposit has three workable beds: the Krasny II sylvinite bed—6-8
metres thick, AB sylvinite bed—2.5-3 metres thick, also called
“particoloured”or “ rich” , and a carnallile bed, or rather, carnallite
strata 70 to 100 metres thick. The pay beds are separated by inter
calations of rock salt 3-6 metres thick and of sylvinite 1-1.5 metres
thick.
As a rule, carnallites occur in the upper portion of the potash salt
zone. It is usually capped by a layer of “ cover”rock salt 40-70 metres
thick which, in turn, is overlaid by an association of highly aquife
rous argillaceous-marly rocks. Consequently, the cover bed of rock
salt serves as a protective layer against the penetration of sweet
water into the underlying strata of potash salts.
The deposit has a flat pitch with a regular general dip of 4-7°,
but the rock series are very much plicated and, therefore, the bottom
of the beds is distinguished by horsebacks.
The adopted method of mining is by rooms. The room axes are
usually oriented in the direction of plication axes.
S y lv in ite beds
Carnal-
AB lite
K rasn y II
W id th .................... 15-16 15-16 S

H e ig h t.................... 3-4 6-8 6-8
Length .................... 150 150-200 75
Thickness o f inter
chamber or rib p il
lars ................. 10-12 10-12 18-19
Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
Plan
Robbing of floor pillars

F ig. 299. Room mining of sylvinile
The reduced room span is adopted in carnallites because they are

weaker and more water-adsorbing than sylvinites. The height of
6-8 metres adopted in the case of carnallites facilitates work in the
rooms.
To make rib pillars stable, the axes of the rooms are exactly above
one another in all the three beds.
When the sylvinite bed is 6-8 metres thick, its extraction is done
in two slices, starting with the lower one (Fig. 299, I). The second
slice is broken from a pile of blasted sylvinite (Fig. 299, II). As
it accumulates, scrapers begin to haul the mineral towards the
neck of the room. At the same time drillers in the interior of the
room go on with ripping or slabbing the “ ceilin g”
. In this way the
pile of sylvinite shifts from the neck of the room to its opposite end.
Carnallite is worked in the same manner, but from the top slice.
This sequence of breaking carnallite is safer, for it makes it possible
carefully to treat the roof of the room, to prevent it from caving in.
This method of mining is highly efficient: output per faceman per
shift is as high as 25 tons, but it involves high losses of the mineral
(about 50 per cent), chiefly in support pillars.
A different pattern of hole rounds is being tested to enhance the
efficiency of drilling and blasting operations in the mining of pot
ash salts. The new method implies driving a development opening
4 metres wide and 2.5 metres high along the room from which a fan-
shaped round of long holes (locally called blast-holes) are drilled
(Fig. 300). The holes are made with electric augers with hard alloy
bits.
Development openings are driven fasLer and at a lower cost by the
11JBM tunnel-boring machine (Fig. 301), with the aid of which a
circular horizontal opening with a diameter of 3 metres is driven at
a rale of 400-500 metres a month. The direction in which the machine
F ig. 300. Fan-shaped round of blast-holes
moves (sec arrows in Fig. 302) is chosen conformably to the dispo

sition of the rooms. Fig. 302 shows the position of rooms: I is in
the stage of stoping with the mineral slushed by scraper hoist 1 to
ore chute 3; //—the room prepared for stoping; I I I —the room
being prepared for stoping by tunnelling machine 4\ I V — worked-
out room. Since the tunnelling machine is 6.25 metres long, special
circular openings 2 have to be made on a radius of 5 metres to enable
it to turn round near the ore chutes.
Fig. 301. UIBM tu n n e ll i n g m achin e

In Germany potash sail deposits are invariably mined with com

plete fill. This is done because potash salts and, particularly, carnal-
lile are not so strong and firm as rock salt. For this reason support
pillars, especially if mining goes on at a great depth, are by them
selves incapable of bearing massive rock pressure. Hence the pur
pose of abandoned pillars is here to maintain the stability of ground
only during the actual extraction and slowing of a given room.
Mass movement of ground after a large number of rooms have been
worked out is prevented partly by Lhe abandonment of intercham
ber support pillars, but chiefly by the complete filling of the goaf.
In mining potash salt deposits, prevention of rock from caving
in into the worked-oul areas also assumes particular importance
because, due to the high solubility of salts, the penetration of water
into salt workings results almost invariably in the complete de
struction of the mine.
The filling materials are either the waste remaining after process
ing of potash salts on the surface or rock salt, both that obtained
from various development openings driven outside the mined potash
salt deposit, more often than not in the foot wall, and especially
mined for filling purposes. Very frequently a mixed filling material
is used—a combination of rock salt and tailings remaining after the
chemical processing of potash salts. The filling can also be made by
slushing (float-fill), but in that case saturated salt solutions
(brines) are used instead of water. In the U.S.S.R. hydraulic (float)
fill is employed at the Kalush potash salt mine.
The mining melhod applied varies, depending on Lhe dip of a de
posit. Fig. 303 outlines Lhe method employed in working a gently
inclined thick bed of potash salt. The development of a level pro
vides for arranging slopes on strike every 200 metres. Protective
pillars 5-6 metres thick are left on both sides of the slopes. These
pillars are cut through by drifts run from the slopes every 20-25 me
tres. Outside the pillar such a drift is enlarged to the full width of
the room (approximately 1 2 metres), with the height remaining at
about 2 metres. This heading is run over the entire length of the
room (around 60-80 metres), and after that the room is mined by the
shrinkage method. As may be seen from Fig. 303, Lhe floor of each
room is flush with the level of the corresponding drift.
If a deposit is capped not by rock salt, but by anhydrite or saline
clay, that is, by friable and readily breaking rocks, a protective
mineral ceiling 1-4 metres thick is left in the roof of the room, as
indicated in the figure. The cross-section of each room has then a
characteristically trapezoidal shape. Between adjacent rooms on
strike are support pillars which are later abandoned and, in addi
tion to these, pillars 1 0 - 1 2 metres wide are left mid-way between
two slopes. Triangular prisms of salt are also lost under each room.
m Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
Pig 303. Potash salt mining in a gently dipping

deposit
The rooms arc mined in the ascending order. When the stored salt
has been removed from the rooms, they are filled. The filling mate
rial is brought down along the slope, first to the superjacent room,
thence through a special rise heading in the pillar down to the one
requiring filling.
The fill is put in place as compactly as possible and for that rea
son special stowing machines are sometimes used to bring it up
under the roof. Fig. 303 shows room 1 already filled, room 2 in the
stage of being filled, room 3—broken salt is being hauled away,
room 4 is in the stage of shrinkage-stoping.
Room mining in a steep bed is illustrated by Fig. 304. From
shaft 1, sunk in the foot wall of the deposit level, crosscuts 2 are run
towards the bed. The vertical level interval varies from 30 to 75 me
tres. The levels are divided into sublevels /, II, III..., with vertical
intervals of 6-10 metres. The sublevels are developed by short cross
cuts 5, 6, 7..., driven consecutively from blind shafts 4, raised to
the entire height of the level with certain intervals on strike. The
sublevels are worked in the ascending order. The operations pro
gress in the following sequence. Level drifts is run from main haul
age crosscut 2 in the rock salt of Lhe fooL wall of the deposit, from
which short crosscuts 5 are driven to the site of future rooms in the
lower sublevel. When a crosscut like that is cut right into the midst
of the deposit, a development opening about 2 metres high is first
Mining of Potash Salts T19
driven in sail over the entire length of future room 10, extending all
the way through the lateral thickness of the deposit (except for the
protective ceiling of potash salt 1-4 metres thick sometimes lefl in
the roof). Salt drawn from this opening is cleaned up, followed by
the breaking and shrinkage-sLoping of salt (as described above). The
ultimate height of the room corresponds to the sublevel interval,
that, is, 7-9 metres.
Insofar as the other dimensions of the rooms are concerned, they
depend on the thickness of the working deposit, Lhe strength of salt
and the firmness of wall rocks. Normally, the overall area of a room
should not exceed 600-1,000 sq m with the more cavable and less
viscid salts, but in more favourable conditions it can be increased
to 1,500 sq m.
Support pillars 8, measuring 12-15 metres, are left between rooms
though more often G- 8 metres on strike. Cross headings(break-lhroughs)
.9 are cut near the foot wall of a deposit to connect neighbour
ing rooms. Interchamber pillars in individual sublevels are imme
diately one over the other throughout the whole of the level inter
val. Sometimes reinforced (oversize) pillars up to 25 metres in length
on strike are left every few rooms, which are separated by ordinary
ones of the size indicated above.
When salt stored in shrinkage stopes has been withdrawn, the
rooms are stowed with filling material. The latter, brought down
from the surface or obtained un
derground, is delivered to the
top level of a given room. Thus, in , ..
for room 10 the fill is supplied . Ijnjj || ||||| ||n|||
via intermediary crosscut 6‘ . I1 l l'l .......
Tin
<=>it
to
Fig. 304. Potash mining in a steeply dipping deposit

Rock salt, mined in glory holes, that is, in special chambers

worked exclusively for mine-fill, is sometimes used as a filling mate
rial. This is illustrated in Fig. 304 (on the right side of the vertical
section). It may be seen that the glory holes lie at the foot wall of a
deposit, on a horizon overlying the sublevel room which is being
filled. The interval between individual glory holes in one and the
same sublevel is about 150 metres, while in adjacent sublevels along
the dip they should not lie one over the other. The glory holes must
not exceed 100 metres in length, 25 metres in width and 9 me
tres in height. Ordinarily, however, the actual dimensions are
smaller.
The room to be filled is stowed so as to leave a free space about
2 metres high between its roof and the lop of the fill. This space is
for the drillers engaged in breaking salt in the superjacent room
(room I I in Fig. 304). The extraction of the overlying sublevels
proceeds in similar manner, but salt is passed down to the main haul
ageway through intermediary drifts and slopes. Over the top sub-
level room a pillar 5-8 metres high is left to serve as a sublevel floor
pillar. The delivery of broken salt from the rooms and its loading
into mine cars is usually done by a conveyer. The main strike drift
is serviced by electric haulage.
In the case of very thick deposits, the above-described method
of mining is modified: the slopes advance not along the strike but
across it. In other words, the longitudinal axes of the rooms are
turned 90°with respect to the line of strike.
The drawing of salt in rooms may also be effected from “ subdrifls”,
in a manner analogous to that applied in mining ore bodies (see Chap
ter XXI, Section 3 below).
A specific modification of room mining is shown in Fig. 305. It
is employed in working thick and medium-thick steeply dipping and
inclined deposits. The underlying idea is to reduce the cost of haul-
OnA-B
Fig. 305. P o ta s h s a l t m in in g b y in c lin e d r o o m s

Mining of Potash Salts 4.'iI
ing broken salt to the main level and to cut down the miml er of
development openings by an oblique layout of rooms and inter
chamber pillars.
In this case a level with a vertical interval of 40 to 60 metres is
not divided into sublevels. Crosscuts 2 are driven from main strike
drift 1 in the foot wall of the deposit, and then merge into cross
drifts, from which strike drift 3 is made in the centre of the deposit.
From the drift inclined raises 4, 5, 6 are put up every 12-15 metres.
The first, after being carried 3-5 metres away from the strike drift,
is extended over the entire thickness of the working bed, that is,
across the full width of future room 7. This inclined raise plays the
role of a development opening, for it serves to undermine salt by
firing explosive charges in its back. Its height should be sufficient
to ensure efficient execution of this task. The raise must have a slope
corresponding to the angle of repose proper of broken salt and fill
ing material.
The inclined development opening is raised to the top level drift,
but its last 5-8 metres are driven with a narrow face to provide for
protective pillars under the drift. When this development opening
is completed, inclined working 10 is cut out across the entire width
and height of the future room at the bottom of the first, near the foot
of its broader section. The undermining of salt in the room is then
proceeded with. Salt is shrinkage-stoped in the room to the extent
necessary to continue undermining the back from a pile of broken
salt, and surplus salt is discharged periodically as the need arises
down to the lower drift through an inclined slope. In this way the
room is gradually worked out to its full height of 8-12 metres. The
rooms are usually 60-100 metres long, depending on the level inter
val and their inclination. When salt in a given room has been extract
ed, the mineral is removed from it and the room is stowed with
filling material supplied to it through the upper drift. Owing to the
inclined position of the room.it is distributed throughout it by grav
ity. In this instance too the room is not filled to its roof. Sufficient
free space is left between its inclined back and the top surface of the
fill to permit initial undermining of salt within the bounds of the
next room. Overlying neighbouring rooms 8 and 9 are worked in
the same way as the first room, but the floor is made of mine-fill
and not potash salt in situ.
To preclude massive subsidence of ground, inclined protective
pillars 11 are left unrecovered every three-four rooms, their size
depending on local conditions.
4r>L' Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
d. Estimating the Size of Support Pillars
The abandonment of support pillars entails considerable losses

of valuable minerals and for this reason the method should be used
for mining only the deposits whose resources in nature are practi
cally inexhaustible, or those whose underground working it is imper
ative to protect from water inrushes at all costs. A typical combi
nation of these two conditions is the mining of deposits containing
rock and potash salts that dissolve readily in water. These salts are
still mined everywhere by the method providing for the abandon
ment of support pillars (with the exception of low beds). In the
U.S.S.R. all the major deposits of potash salts (Solikamsk, West
ern Ukraine) and rock salt (Artyomovsk district in the Donets
coal fields, Sol-Ilelsk, etc.) are worked according to this principle.
Whenever any given deposit is exploited by the method involv
ing the complete abandonment of support pillars, determination
of their size is a matter of prime importance. Excessive strength leads
to unnecessary high losses of the useful mineral and tends to increase
operative costs, for expenditure is charged against smaller recover
able tonnages. Insufficient rigidity of support pillars, on the other
hand, is a source of numerous calamities, such as rock cavings, de
struction of mine workings, surface plants and structures, and even
the entire mine. Mining history in France and Germany has known
catastrophes which sometimes acquired extremely large propor
tions, particularly in rock and potash salt pits.
A special method for estimating the size of support pillars in room
mining was proposed a long time ago. Pillars are regarded as columns
submitted to vertical loads corresponding to the entire weight of
overlying rock, up to the surface (Fig. 306). This is, of course, a criti
cal case, but it does occur when the total mining area is consider
able compared to the depth of the mine.
In view of the immense thickness of salt beds and relatively small
output of mines, the stoped-out area in a minefield increases rather
slowly and rock pressure on the pillars therefore increases not over
years, but over decades, and the size of pillars should be calculated
beforehand so as to make them capable of withstanding this ulti
mate load. If this point is neglected, the pressure may crush them
and destroy the whole mine.
Below is a series of formulas for computing the adequate size of
support pillars (for details see the author’ s book Fundamentals of
the Theory of Coal-Mine Planning).
Let us denote (Fig. 306) by:
H —distance between the top of a support pillar and the ground
surface;
h—height of support pillar;
Estimating the Size of Support Pillars 'i.VS
s—horizontal cross-section area of a support pillar (area in plan);

S —horizontal cross-section area of rocks per one support pillar
(area in plan);
q — average unit weight of overlying rocks;
7 ,—unit weight of support pillar rock;
fl—compressive strength of support pillar rock;
n—margin of safety adopted in calculating the size of the sup
port pillar.
Observations on Ihe significance of Ihe margin of safety or safely
factor may be found below.
Fig. 306. Diagram for estimating the size Fig- 307. Calculation of wall
of a support pillar shaped support pillars
Taking into account all that has been said before, we find that
the conditions for the computation of the adequate size of a support
pillar will be as follows:
SH q+shq^ — . (1 )
Hence, for the critical case it is

S_ _ _ f l ____ hq,
s nflq Hq ’ (2 )
The algebraic form of the proportion — depends on the configur

ation of the horizontal section of support pillars and that of their
circumjacent mine workings (in particular, rooms).
Let A be the width or span of a room, x—the width (that is, the
shorter side of the rectangular area in plan) of a support pillar.
From (2) we obtain the following formulas for computing the width
of support pillars:
1. Pillars in the shape of walls (Fig. 307);
S A -\~x
s x
A
lienee
~ B hq, (3)
nHq Hq
2. Square pillars:
s (A+x)*
s x1 ’
and accordingly.
x= (4)
hH\ ■
l
V
V —
nHc
nHq Hq
3. Pillars have a length of L (Fig.
308):
■? (A+ x)(A + L)
s xL
At
t + a
X = (5)
_R___
nHq Hq L
4. Pillars with the proportion of
Fig. 308. C a lc u la t io n o f c o n —= c = const; since here
s ta n t- le n g th s u p p o r t p illa r s
(A + x) + ^
then
2/lc /p\
5. Pillars with the length of L are surrounded by rooms of un

equal width A and B (Fig. 309):
S (a + x)<B+L)
s xL
Accordingly,
X= (7)
R hq, B
1
nHq H7~L
In the formulas (3)-(7) it may be assumed that h = 0, if the height
of pillars is insignificant compared to the depth of mining.
In the above-mentioned formulas the width of rooms is taken to
be predetermined. So far there are no reliable methods of determin
ing the width of rooms and this is established in a purely empiri-
Estimating the Size of Support Pillars •135
cal way, most often within the range of 10-17 and less frequently
23-25 metres (Sol-Iletsk mine).
Let us make some remarks on the significance of the values of
the above formulas. Compression strength R of the material con
tained in the support pillar is estab
lished by the laboratory tests of rock
specimens under a special press.
It should be noted that compression
strength (in kg,cm1) depends on the ab
solute size and shape of the tesLed speci
mens. For instance, if it is cubes with
edges 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm long that are
tested under a press, it becomes evident
that the value of R for the same material
is apt to rise. Therefore, it is better to
take cubes whose edges are not less than
15-20 cm long.
Still more conspicuous is the effect Fig. 309. Diagram for estimat
of the shape of specimens. For prismatic ing the size lars
of support pil
specimens the greater the ratio of — (It —

height of the specimen and a the length of the edge in the square
base) the smaller R. In the introduction of correction factors for
the shape of specimens the following data may be accepted as guid
ance:
Ratio — ........... 1 2 3 4
a
Correction factor 1 0.8-0.7 0.6-0.5 0.3-0.4
In using the formulas (3)-(7), it is necessary, after the determina

tion of the size of the pillar and the establishment of the ratio — ,
to effect, when needed, a conversion by introducing a correction
factor for the shape of the specimen. A. Penkov and A. Vopilkin
have proposed a grapho-analytical method of calculating the size
of support pillars with due account of their shape.
The value of compression strength (in kg/cm2) for the cubic spec
imens of rock salt is about 300-450, for sylvinite 270-360, and for
carnallite 60-160. It should be noted, however, that the compres
sion strength of a mineral should not be adopted from handbooks
in making concrete estimates, but established by laboratory
tests because the strength properties of rocks maybe quite variable.
Considering that the loads pressing on support pillars are
completely static in nature, the safety factor n may be adopted at
its minimal value—2.5-3.0.
4">(i Methods of Mining Rock and Potash Salts
The average unit weight of cover rocks (capping) may be taken

at 2.3-2.5 t 'm\ The unit weight (qt) of rock salt is about 2.2 t/m*
and that of potash salts 2 .1 -2 . 2 t'ms.
Formulas (l)-(7) for flat deposits also hold good for the gently
inclined. The above-mentioned conditions are applicable to all the
major deposits in the U.S.S.R. worked by the method of abandon
ing support pillars and, therefore, any special discussion of in
stances involving deposits with a sloping and high dips, though desir
able, is nevertheless of a lesser interest.
If the depth value H changes along with the dip of the deposit or
the uneven nature of the ground surface, the formulas (3)-(7) may
be applied to individual sections of the mine fields in which the
value H may he considered to be approximately uniform.
When the deposits occur at a considerable depth or the useful
s
mineral is weak or the ratio - actually adopted is too high, mining
with support pillars alone is either impossible or, because of large
losses of the valuable mineral, irrational. Critical depth H may he
found from the inequation (1). Support pillars have to be reinforced
by filling from this depth.
5. A F ew R e m a r k s o n th e P r o d u c tio n of R ock
S a lt b y D is s o lu t io n
The capacity of rock salt readily to dissolve in water may be util

ised for its mining.
The boreholes drilled from the surface down to the rock salt bed
are lined with casing pipes throughout the strata of rocks capping
the bed. Another set of internal inlet pipes is inserted in those pipes
to feed the water dissolving the salt, while the brine ascends to the
surface via an annular clearance space between the two sets of pipes
and is then delivered for processing to chemical, usually soda, plants.
Despite its simplicity, this method has serious drawbacks: the
percentage recovery of salt reserves from a deposit does not exceed
5-10; leaching is very difficult to control and apt to cause breakdowns;
the brine is contaminated by other admixtures; the dissolution of
salt over large areas may cause sinks and pits on the surface, etc.
For these reasons it is better to use the system of mining by shaft
openings, that is, underground leaching of rock salt in rooms.
6. M i n i n g o f B u ild in g S to n e s by U n d e r g r o u n d M eth od s
Besides rock and potash salts, the method of room mining with
abandoned pillars of the mineral is used for working limestone, gyp
sum, roofing slate and other building material deposits.
Mining of Building Stones by Underground Methods
Around Odessa and in many

parts of the Crimea there are large
deposits of Tertiary limestone
which is a building material widely
used in urban construction in the
south of the U.S.S.R. One of the
varieties of this limestone—coquina
— is so soft it can easily be sawn
by both hand and power saws
(Fig. 310). Occurring flatly, coqui
na beds are mined predominantly
from valley slopes through adits
and a network of rooms (“ galleries” )
4-5 metres wide with rib pillars
in-between.
The stone in rooms is detached Fig. 310. Sawins a coquina block
first from the breast of the face in with a power saw
large blocks, the size made to con
form to that required for the ashlar. To protect blocks from break
ing, brushwood is laid out at the site of their fall. Special Victor-
Ragozinsky machines are employed for winning coquina blocks. After
their extraction, they are sawn up into 51 X 25X 21,5-cm pieces.For
this work electric saws of the types applied in the timber industry
are now widely used. They are driven by 1.3-1.6-kw electric motors.
The width of the cut is 9 mm and the overall weight of the
saw—17 kg. Coquinas can be sawn with electric saws both in
underground and open-cut mining. The sawn stones are stacked
up on the surface, where they gradually dry and become markedly
harder.
Fig. 311 is illustrativeof the room mining method applied in working
a thick steeply dipping deposit of roofing slate. It is extracted by over
hand stoping which makes it
on5S-78 ont-2-3■« possible to obtain slabs of con
siderable length and width.The
usual size of rooms: length on
strike—up to 30 metres; that
across the strike should conform
to the lateral thickness of the
deposit; height—up to 20-35
metres. To make the roof of the
room sufficiently stable, it is
Fig. 311. Room mining of roofing slate made arched.
O R E D E P O S IT S
C H A P T E R XI X
C H O IC E O F M E T H O D S F O R M IN IN G O R E D E P O S IT S
1. Preliminary R em arks
General concepts relative to the methods employed in mining

valuable minerals and the basic requirements an appropriate work
ing system should meet concerning safety, low costs and minimal
losses of the mineral, have already been discussed in Chapter VII.
Below we shall dwell briefly on the properties of ore deposits
which are of technical significance in choosing the appropriate meth
ods of mining.
The geological structure and texture as well as the matter composi
tion of ore bodies are extremely manifold due to the diversity of
their g e n e s is and subsequent te cton ic phenomena.
The external sh a p e of ore bodies has already been discussed in
Chapter III, which described the methods employed for their open
ing. We have seen that by their external shape ore deposits may
be classified into b e d s, sheet or b la n k et-lik e d e p o sits, p la c e r s , lenses,
v e in s and lo d e s and o r e b o d ie s o f ir r e g u l a r o u t l in e .
2. T h i c k n e s s o f O r e O c c u r r e n c e s
The thickness of ore. deposits varies extremely widely—from a

few centimetres and even millimetres (for instance, cinnabar veins)
to hundreds of metres. The thickness of a deposit is one of prime
factors borne in mind in selecting the proper method of mining.
Both in the instance of beds and of ore bodies of other shapes there
may be a tru e th ickn ess, that is, measured along the normal line
to the foot and hanging walls, and h o r iz o n ta l, or la te r a l, measured
from the hanging wall to the foot in the horizontal plane. Inasmuch
as ore deposits are quite frequently characterised by variations in
thickness over short distances, the definite values of true and later
al thickness refer mostly to individual parts of the ore body, or
Angle of Dip -IVI
else denote its average or mean thickness. In the latter case, mini
mum and maximum thickness should also be indicated.
From the standpoint of mining, it is customary to classify ore
deposits into the following groups:
I—very thin (less than 0.7-0.8 metre);
II—thin (from 0.7-0.8 to 2 metres);
III— medium-thick (from 2 to 5 metres);
IV— thick (from 5 to 15-20 metres);
V—very thick (over 15-20 metres).
In his book Mining of Ore Deposits (1954), M. Agoshkov substan

tiates this classification as follows:
1. Very thin deposits include those where the driving of develop
ment openings and sloping proceed simultaneously with the blast
ing of the enclosing country rocks.
2. Thin deposits are those where sloping can be done without
the blasting of enclosing rocks, though the drivage of lateral devel
opment openings requires blasting most of the time.
3. In medium-thick deposits the blasting of enclosing rocks is not
done either in stoping or in development work. The maximum
thickness for the use of stull timbering in these deposits is 5 metres.
4. Thick deposits include those where stoping in high dip can be
done over the entire thickness of the ore body on strike.
5. Very thick deposits are the ore bodies measuring over 15-20 me
tres. In stoping they are separated or cut into blocks along their
thickness or else extracted across the strike.
The classification of ore deposits according to their thickness
should not be too rigidly adhered to, for many ore bodies are apt
to vary in thickness over short distances.
To form a proper judgment of the size of an ore body, especially
one with an irregular outline and high dip, one should consider its
area, that is, the area of the horizontal section of an ore body in any
of its levels.
3. A n g l e o f D i p
For genetic and tectonic reasons, ore bodies or individual parts

can occur at greatly varying angles of dip. Hence there are flat or
flatly sloping deposits with an angle of dip of up to 30° (particular
attention in this group should be paid to horizontally occurring
deposits); inclined or sloping deposits with an angle of dip of
30-45°, and steep or high-dipping (45-90°) deposits.
Most ore deposits are distinguished by a steep dip. This applies
especially to veins on account of the nature of their geological ori
gin. Tectonic cracks and fissures, marking the lines along which
the disruption and shifting of the ground occurred, usually, though
400 Choice of Methods for Mining Ore Deposits
not always, assumed a vertical or steep position in the earth crust.

Correspondingly steep, therefore, are the veins which originated
when these cracks were filled with ore matter. True, sometimes flat
veins and underlying lodes have to be mined too. This is due, first
ly, to the fact that the veins arising sometimes were not steep and,
secondly, to the fact that the old veins, originally nearly vertical
in space, as is characteristic of veins in general, became inclined
or Hally dipping in the course of subsequent tectonic displacements.
The biggest Soviet deposits of iron ore, worked by the under
ground method (Krivoi Rog, Vysokaya Mountain in the Urals, Gor-
naya Shoriya), occur at sleep angles of dip. Cupreous pyrite lenses
in the Urals are as a rule steeply dipping ore bodies too.
On the other hand, gold placers, some copper ore deposits (for
example, Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan), iron ores (central regions of
the U.S.S.R.) and the largest manganese ore deposits in the
Nikopol and Chiaturi districts, are horizontal or rather flat.
Typically sloping are the bauxite deposits in the Northern Urals
and a number of ore deposits in Altai and Kazakhstan.
The angle of dip of some ore bodies varies substantially over
short distances.
k. Depth of Ore Occurrences
The depth oT ore deposits is extremely manifold. There are depos
its which, because of their geological origin, are very shallow-seat
ed. One example is the ore bodies whose formation is linked with
alterations' (weathering) of rocks and minerals near the surface.
Thus limonite or brown iron ore deposits sometimes appear near the
outcrops of limestone; suitable for pig-iron smelting, but being noth
ing but surface formations, they vanish at a depth of a few scores
of metres. Gold placers formed in the existing river valleys arc
also shallow-seated. If the ore deposit of a sedimentary type occurs
in rocks of an older age but lies in an area which has not been subject
ed to any considerable tectonic movements of the earth crust, it
may be shallow-seated too (for example, manganese ores in the Ni
kopol district). But since the sedimentary deposits and ore accumu
lations (bodies) in the rcsidium (and placers) formed in the remote
geological ages and were later subjected, together with the entire
set of rocks enclosing them, to orogenic processes, they too may now
be found occurring at great depths. A striking example are the iron
ore deposits of Krivoi Rog which, as it has now been established,
were originally of a sedimentary nature, but were gradually subject
ed to metamorphism and tectonic influences and, occurring steep
ly, sank to a depth so far not determined by geological investiga
tions. Nor is there any definite information as to the maximal depth
of the steeply dipping deposits of cupreous pyrites in the Urals.
Matter Composition of Ores 4(11
Also very deep-seated are most of the lode deposits. The prospecting
data available at present and geological considerations suggest that
the gold strike reefs of the Berezovsky deposit (in the Urals) occur
at considerable depths.
It should be borne in mind that if some veins or ore bodies in gen
eral in a deposit do pinch out at a greater depth there may be other,
blind ore bodies, which do not reach the surface.
5. Matter Composition of Ores

Sometimes the metals contained in a deposit are in a native or
natural stale, such as gold, platinum, platinoids (for instance, osmi-
ridium), at times copper. Ordinarily, however, the ore comprises
metals combined chemically with other elements.
There are simple ores—containing but one metal and complex
(polymetallic) ones, when one and the same ore carries two or several
metals in quantities making them suitable for commercial utili
sation.
Simple ores are encountered much more rarely than those contain
ing two or several metals. Major iron ores (magnetite, hematite,
limonite) are generally iron oxides, but even these sometimes carry
other valuable constituents (for example, titanomagnetites contain
ing vanadium). Among the typical polymetallic ores are galeno-
plumbic and argento-plumbic ones, cupreous pyrites of the Urals,
which often contain, in addition to copper, zinc, gold and some trace
elements.
Many nonferrous ores are distinguished by the fact that they are
sulphides, that is, sulphurous compounds.
There have been instances of technological progress causing the
revision and reassessment of the industrial importance of ores. Baux
ites, now used as a raw material for alumina for the subsequent
manufacture of aluminium by electrolysis, were in the past consid
ered lean iron ores. Carnallite, which some time ago was regarded
merely as a raw material for fertiliser, has now become one of the
ores from which magnesium and magnesite compounds are derived.
The proportion of valuable components rendering the ore suitable
for commercial utilisation depends on the actual state of technol
ogy and economic conditions and, therefore, cannot be expressed
in definitely set figures. To give a rough idea, let us quote the Geo
logical and Prospecting Glossary.
“The approximate minimal content of metal in an ore allowing
its commercial utilisation is as follows: 1) iron ores—ferrum 30 per
cent; 2) copper ores—copper 0.5-0.7 percent; 3) plumbic ores—lead
2-5 per cent; 4) zinc ores —zinc 20-25 per cent; 5) gold ores—gold
in primary deposits 3 g per ton, in placers 0.1-0.15 g per ton;
All'i Choice of Methods for Mining Ore Deposits
6 ) mercury ores—mercury 0.5-1 per cent; 7) cassiterite—proportion in

placers 0.1-0.5 per cent. Due account should be taken, however, of
the relative nature of the figures listed, which may vary depending
on the complex set of present-day economic conditions.”
From the standpoint of mining, the changes which the matter
composition of ores undergoes near the surface, in the weathering
zone, are of importance. Superimposing the occurrences of hematite
and magnetite are aggregations of limonite. The gossans originat
ing over iron-bearing sulphide deposits contain concentrations of
metals that are found but in small amounts in unaltered (primary)
ores. The gossans overlying cupreous pyrite lenses in the Urals, for
example, present an elevated proportion of gold, and copper is no
longer contained in sulphides, but is found in the form of oxides.
Extraction of metals (copper, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, etc.)
from normal (nonoxidised) sulphide ores is as a rule done by flota
tion, but to treat oxidised sulphides other concentration and pro
cessing methods are necessary. Consequently, to secure successful
concentration one should establish a clear-cut demarcation line at
depth between oxidised and nonoxidised ores during the mining of
the deposit and to make provisions for their separate extraction
and delivery from the mine.
Since the oxidation of sulphides begins with the appearance of
very thin films on the surface of ore lumps which, however, may
impede the process of flotation, to keep sulphide ores long during
their shrinkage-stoping can unfavourably affect all the subsequent
dressing operations.
Of prime importance for mining operations is the capacity of
some sulphide ores to grow hot and self-ignite. This phenomenon has
many features in common with the spontaneous combustion of coal.
Underground fires caused by the spontaneous combustion of sul
phide ores break out when mining entails substantial ore losses, when
the abandoned ore has been broken, and its aggregations are exposed
to outside air. These conditions arise in working sulphide ores
with caving. The presence of timber in the abandoned ore masses
increases the hazard of self-ignition. The best prophylactic measure
against underground fires in mines with spontaneously igniting ores
is mining with complete filling. Underground fires caused by the
spontaneous combustion of ore are controlled by sealing off of fire-
stricken sections (building of fire-breaks) with subsequent silting.
Spontaneous combustion of ores is a feature of great importance,
particularly in mining cupreous pyrite deposits in the Urals.
Contacts, that is, interfaces between the ore body and the enclos
ing barren rocks, may be sharp (distinct) or indistinct (poorly de
fined). In the latter case, the regular assaying of enclosing rocks has
to be effected in the stopes to determine the proportion of the use-
Hardness and Strength of Ores and Enclosing Rocks 403
ful components they contain and to avoid their loss. Sometimes

valuable metalliferous components are disseminated in the enclosing
rocks—small and minute inclusions whose presence can be estab
lished only by chemical analysis or by the examination of mineral
sections under microscope. Such minute disseminated inclusions of
ore in country rocks are known as phenocrysts or impregnation ores.
The useful constituents may be distributed in an ore body quite
irregularly. If there are any specially enriched portions or sections
of a vein or an ore body in general, they have to be extracted and
taken out of the stope separately (selectively). The term selective min
ing is also applied to cases where two or several useful minerals
occur together in the deposit and each is extracted separately from
the others. Finally, in mining very thin veins or beds, it is necessary
to blast the enclosing country rocks to obtain an active stope area
of sufficiently large size. If the useful mineral and barren rocks are
drawn and taken out from the stope without any preliminary sepa
ration, this is designated as bulk or wholesome mining. If, on the oth
er hand, the valuable mineral is broken and hauled from the bar
ren rock separately, the stoping is said to be selective. In the latter
case, separatestoping requires sharply marked contact and the ability
of the mineral to become readily segregated from the enclosing rocks.
The admixture of barren rock to the ore during the stoping proc
ess results in dilution or contamination of the ore, and that is dele
terious to mining operations in general. The significance of dilution
is to be viewed in a somewhat different light when wall rocks include
impregnation ores. Dilution is then attended by an increase in the
total amount of useful constituents through the addition of pheno-
crysls. The maximal level of wall rock admixtures is in such cases
determined by technical and economical estimates, with due con
sideration of both mining and concentration operations.
The value of useful components in the ore expressed in money per
unit weight of concentrates and metals recovered may vary consider
ably.
6. Hardness and Strength of Ores
and Enclosing Rocks
The hardness of ores and wall rocks may be assessed with the aid
of the special scales elaborated by M. Protodyakonov. The scales
used at present to evaluate the drillability of ores and rocks are
based on drilling rates. They have been established for individual min
ing enterprises and even entire areas (for instance, Krivoi Rog and
the Urals). Since, with few exceptions, ores and enclosing country
rocks in ore deposits have to be blasted out because of their hard
ness, proper evaluation of their hardness is a matter of prime impor
tance in mining ore bodies.
m Choice of Methods for Mining Ore Deposits
Of equal importance is adequate evaluation of the degree of rigid

ity or stability of ores and wall rocks. This notion refers not only
to the hardness of the valuable mineral or the enclosing rocks but to
their jointing and ability to exfoliate, as well as to their moisture
content. In general, rigidity (stability) means the capacity of ores
or rocks to stand firm without caving in spontaneously as the result
of exposure from below or on the sides. Such a definition of rigidity
is of course incomplete and insufficient for practical use because it
fails to indicate the degree of rigidity. To bring some clarity into the
issue of quantitative determination, there have been suggestions to
assess the extent of rigidity or firmness by the maximal area of ex
posure from below, under which the rock retains equilibrium and
does not cave in. Such a definition, however, would be defective,
for firmness depends not only on the size but also on the configuration
of the exposure area, and particularly on the ratio of its length to
its widLh. For these reasons one has to content oneself with a quali
tative appraisal of the rigidity of rocks and valuable minerals.
M. Agoshkov treats this issue as follows:
“The choice of minim; method and appropriate mode of supporting worked-
out areas requires the following classification of rocks in accordance with their
stability (rigidity):
“1. Very unstable ground allowing no exposure of the back and walls of a mine
working without support. Advance timbering of the roof and sometimes of the
walls is imperative in driving openings in this ground. In working ore deposits,
one rarely comes across friable, loose and running, and water-saturuted
ground.
"2. Unstable ground, permitting small areas of exposure in the back and
walls and requiring strong support to be set up immediately after sloping; it
occurs more frequently than rocks of the first group.
“3. Rocks of medium stability, allowing us to leave large areas of exposure
with no support following stoping operations. The need to support this ground
arises with lime, not at once.
“4. Stable rocks, permitting very extensive areas of exposure to be left both
from below and on the sides, without any support. The rocks of the third and
fourth categories are encountered in ore deposits most.
“5. Very stable ground, permitting a very large area of exposure both from
below and from the sides without any support. It is encountered in the mining
of ore deposits somewhat less than the preceding two categories.
“The nature of caving is of prime importance for making a proper appraisal
of ground firmness in the choice of the mining method: does it occur suddenly
and instantaneously over an extensive area, or gradually,coveringsmall sections;
in relatively small lumps and layers or in large blocks: can its onset and extent
be predicted by outward signs, or not, etc.?
“Quite often the ground does not reveal any signs of instability immediately
after its exposure, but becomes weak and starts rushing in in lumps orlarge blocks
at some later date under the impact of atmosphere and water; occasionally, with
time, it develops a tendency to swell or bulge.”(M. Agoshkov, Mining of Ore
Deposits, 1954.)
Size Grading of the Ore 4B5
The degree of stability of any given ground or ore plays a major

pari in the selection of the mode of supporting mined-oul space and
the evaluation of the possibility of the ore being diluted during slop
ing operations.
It should be noted that the possibility and nature of ore and ground
caving must be viewed not merely from the standpoint of the
harm they bring to mining and of elaborating adequate measures to
forestall this harm, but in some cases also of profitably utilising the
property of rocks and ore to cave or break. Thus, inChapterXXI below,
we shall have an opportunity to discuss a system of mining thick de
posits by horizontal slicing with the caving of cover rocks, its success
ful application depending, in particular, on the ability of the
ground to cave in rapidly and regularly right after the ore has been
extracted. Furthermore, there are highly efficient methods of mining
involving the block caving of the ore whose application presup
poses the breakage of the ore into small pieces in the process of
caving.
The ore should be blasted in such a way as to prevent its pieces
and lumps from being stuck in the discharge openings of chutes
when they are loaded or in the goaf during the shrinkage-sloping
process. The cross-section of discharge openings in the ore chutes
must be 4-5 Limes as large as the biggest of the ore lumps.
Large blocks of ore undergo secondary breaking or block-holing to
make it possible to load them into mine cars.
Some ores, containing clay or a high proportion of fines, especially
moist ones, are liable to compact when stored in stopes. This proper
ly should be taken into account in choosing mining methods, for
it may present an obstacle to the employment of shrinkage sloping.
7. Size Grading- of the Ore

Size grading of the ore denotes its granulometric composition, that
is, quantitative proportions of the various lump sizes it contains.
The specifications set up by modern industry concerning the size
grading of valuable minerals are rather stringent. Permissible
percentages of fines and oversize (coarse fractions) are fixed for ores
supplied by individual mines and basins, with a limit placed on the
maximum size. According to market specifications, in the case of Ba-
kal iron ores the proportion of fines up to 3 mm in size should not
exceed 5-8 per cent; the maximum permissible size of a lump (the
so-called marketable piece) for the same ores is 300 mm. An increased
content of fines entails a sharp rise in fuel consumption in blast
furnace smelting and tends substantially to lower furnace efficiency.
This also harmfully affects the smelting of many nonferrous ores.
Moreover, the augmented yield of undersize increases the amount
16-3C25
4f)G Choice of Methods for Mining Ore Deposits
of melal waste during the mining and transportation of the ore, since
the finest ore fractions, the ones most likely to be lost, as a rule con
tain the highest percentage of the metal. Equally undesirable are the
unnecessarily large ore pieces, for they cause serious difficulties in
mining and impair labour efficiency during the extraction of the ore
and its subsequent processing at the concentration mills. In modern
underground mines the size of the marketable piece varies widely—
from 200 to 900 mm and even one metre. In most of the mines the
size ranges from 250 to 400 mm. Lumps of considerable size are en
countered in large mines employing mass-production methods. The
trend in recent decades has been towards augmenting the size of the
marketable piece, for this permits eliminating labour-consuming
block-holing operations. The drawing of ore of larger size, however,
requires the installation of especially strong and well-equipped ore
chutes, powerful haulage facilities, large-size crushers, and that is
justified economically only in large-scale mining.
The capacity of the ore to break into pieces of different size fol
lowing its detachment from the solid mass should be taken into
account in selecting mining methods. It has been observed, for exam
ple, that in the process of chuting the smaller pieces filter
through the larger ones and come out faster through the discharge
opening. Therefore, if the overlying ground breaks into smaller
Pi eces than the ore during the spontaneous breakage, it is not
advisable to apply the spontaneous-caving methods. In this
instance, it is necessary artificially to break the ore to obtain
sufficiently small pieces.
The main and most efficient means of obtaining the desired size
grading of the ore is proper adjustment and control of the parameters
accepted for drilling and blasting operations in stoping. The basic
factors influencing the size grading of the ore or barren rock
obtained by blasting are:
1 ) physical and mechanical properties and, above all, jointing
and degree of disruption of the solid ore or ground;

2) method of breaking. The best (uniformly fine) breakage is en
sured by heavy blasting (in holes or long blast-holes), and the worst
by coyote blasting, when the ore or ground in the sections immediately
bordering on the charge is ground to powder, while that farther away
is detached in large blocks;
3) the undercut area and the number of exposed surfaces in the
solid block subject to blasting. The larger this area and the greater
the number of these surfaces, the higher—all other conditions being
equal—the yield of the oversize;
4) total size, division and uniform distribution of explosive charges
i n the block subject to blasting. The more dispersed and uniform
ly distributed the given quantity of explosives in the block, the
Some Other Factors Affecting the Choice of Mining Method 467
smaller is the size of broken ore, provided the amount of each indi
vidual charge is sufficient to ensure normal detonation;
5) brisance of explosives, sequence of their firing (instantaneous
or consecutive) and proper conduct of blasting operations.
8 . Some Other Factors Affecting the Choice

of Mining Method
In most ore deposits the abundance of water plays no particular
role in the choice of mining method. But in some instances it is a
factor of considerable significance. In mining placers, for example,
it is often necessary to provide for preliminary drainage and runoff
of water and to apply methods of driving mine openings and stoping
which preclude inrushes of water-saturated ground. There is a great
abundance of water in the deposits linked with karsts and occurring
in depressions (for example, bauxite deposits on the eastern slopes
of the North Urals). Also abounding in water are the occurrences
containing hard but badly fractured rocks lying in lowlands. One
example is the Beryozovsky gold ore deposit in the Urals.
The presence of firedamp in ore deposits is a rare exception. There
are some known cases of local methane accumulations in placers
worked by the underground method and other instances of this
gas penetrating into underground ore workings from nearby coal
seams.
The drilling of holes may cause fine dust to accumulate at work
ing places, and inhaling it may entail an occupational disease cal
led pneumoconiosis. The most dangerous form of this disease is si
licosis, caused by silica dust. In addition to the usual measures
against this very grave menace (see manuals on industrial hygiene for
miners), there is one of considerable importance in coping with the
silicosis hazard and Lhat is the choice of the mode of ore breaking.
Blasting by long holes is in this respect better than the shallow-hole
method of mining.
Consumption of mine timber is by far not the same for all methods of
mining. Therefore, in considering the modes of wall-rock control,
one should take into account the total cost of mine limber, including
its delivery to the pit. This problem acquires special importance
when one has to choose a mining method for deposits occurring in
mountainous regions, where the delivery of timber is particularly
dufficult and costly, and where, consequently, preference should be
given to the methods involving the least possible consumption of
timber.
16*
468 Choice of Methods for Mining Ore Deposits
9. Effects of Mechanisation on the Choice

of Mining Method
As in coal mining (see Chapter IX, Section 15), the choice of the
mining method and mode of stoping for working ore bodies requires
that particular attention be given to the selection of machines and
equipment necessary to ensure the all-round mechanisation of ex
traction operations.
The considerable hardness of ores and enclosing rocks frequently
encountered in working ore deposits makes drilling of holes and
blast-holes particularly important. Today holes are everywhere drilled
with the aid of pneumatic jacks or air-legs, which facilitate the
work of drillers and enhance the efficiency of air-hammers. The holes
are flushed with water (wet drilling). Conditions in the stopes permit
ting, the drilling machines are set up on jumboes. The jumboes used
in the United States are railless, and have automobile wheels or
caterpillars.
To raise the efficiency of air-drilling, it is important to increase
the pressure of compressed air (up to 7 atm in the stope), this demand
ing its increase at the compressor plant and reduction to the mini
mum of pressure losses in the supply lines leading to the stopes.
This gave birth to a tendency to set up compressors underground and
to arrange special “ hydropneumo-storage batteries”to maintain uni
form air pressure. At one of the mines in the Urals there is an instal
lation like that with a capacity of about 500 cu m, while the Roedsand
iron ore mine in Norway has a hydropneumo-storage battery with
a capacity of 2,000 cu m. For underground drilling of long holes
with a diameter of 60-130 mm Soviet industry manufactures special
rotary drilling machines.
Ore is hauled from the stopes largely by scrapers or slushers provid
ed with hoists powered by electric or air motors; low-power
motors (about 1 0 kw) are in many instances replaced by ones of
20, 45 and more kw.Thus, in the West-German iron ore industry there
are scraper hoists driven by 180-kw motors. For stopes with low out
put and short haulage distances small scrapers driven by motors of
4-5 kw are quite satisfactory. Special “ tugger”or service hoists are
used for hauling mine timber.
Low-capacity mine cars are still widely used in the ore industry.
In the Krivoi Rog mines, rocker-type self-tipping mine cars with a
capacity of 1 cu m and carrying power of 2.5 tons are used almost
universally. With the size of the mines growing and the introduction
of highly effective systems of mining, there is a tendency to adopt
large-capacity doorless or self-dumping cars, with a capacity of 2
and 4 cu m and carrying power of 5 and 10 tons.
In the United Stales there are mine cars with a load-carrying capac-
Concomitant Exploration During the Exploitation of Ore Deposits 409
ily of 25 tons used in underground mining. Also used are self-propel

led mine cars with electric or diesel engines and devices for automatic
discharge.
The ore in the slopes is loaded into mine cars by loading
machines, mostoften of the types similar to those manufactured by the
Soviet industry (I1MJI and YMII models).
When the ore is mined in continuous slopes-walls, it can be trans
ported by flight or drag conveyers.
The type of mechanisation adopted greatly influences the sloping
methods. The change-over from shallow holes to long holes, for
instance, has decisively influenced the increase of sublevel intervals.
10. Significance of Concomitant Exploration During

the Exploitation of Ore Deposits
We have seen that the geological structure, matter composition
and conditions attending the occurrence of ore bodies are extremely
variable. Consequently, preliminary prospecting and detailed ex
ploration effected in deposits with a view to determining the reserves
according to the classes of the pay ore and the conditions of their
extraction are by far not always sufficient for steady current mining
operations. Therefore, these data have to be constantly kept up to
date and supplemented by exploration work effected parallel with
actual mining. This is done by observations in development openings
driven in the deposit and by regularly subjecting the ore to chemical
and other analyses. If and when necessary, special workings may ho
made for exploration purposes, but with a view to their ultimate
utilisation in actual mining. Another convenient method of current
mine exploration is by driving prospect holes from underground work
ings with core sampling.
Information obtained through exploration can be properly inter
preted only when one has a clear idea about the genesis and peculiari
ties of the geological structure of the deposit. This emphasises the
importance of good knowledge of everything pertaining to the geol
ogy of the deposit both for selecting proper mining method and for
the conduct of current operations.
C H A P T E R XX
MINING OF THIN AND MEDIUM-THICK ORE DEPOSITS
A. F L A T A N D M O D E R A T E D IP
1. Pillar Method of Mining Manganese Ores
Manganese ores in the Nikopol district occur in rocks of the Ter

tiary age. The ore-bearing bed 1-3.5 metres thick lies in general hor
izontally, though its bottom is somewhat undulating. The depth of
occurrence is insignificant—a few scores of metres. The roof of the
bed contains green plastic clay, while the bottom has sand, sandy
clay and kaolin and occasionally disintegrated granite. The bottom
is subject to strong “bulgin g” . The ore-bearing bed is soft, except for
occasional partings of a richer hard ore. In the stope the rock of the
bed breaks quite easily. These natural conditions, that is, weakness
of wall rocks, require, firstly, limitation of the size of mine fields
and, secondly, adoption of a mining method involving the minimum
number of workings and stoping by individual and narrow strips.
The opening up of a mine field and the layout of its main develop
ment openings were described in Chapter III, Section 2.
The mine field is worked by the retreating method, from the bound
aries to the shafts. As the enclosing rocks are weak, all the develop
ment openings are supported by four-piece sets made of timber 3040
cm thick.
Stoping is done by cuts (Fig. 312) five metres wide. From the open
goaf these are separated by an ore pillar 1.5-2 metres wide. To start
a cut, two “ room frames”are set up in the extraction drift, then the
props of the drift sets are removed five metres away and the face of
the cut is established. Its support is shown in Fig. 312,1. The stope
of the cut is advanced over a distance of 15-20 metres. The broken ore
is hauled from the stope in mine cars. The cut is usually serviced by a
faceman and two trammers. This team performs all the operations—
breaking of ore by pneumatic hammers, loading it into mine cars,
timbering of the cut and laying of mine tracks. Mine-car haulage of
ore is giving way to belt-conveyer transportation.
Pillar Method of Mining Manganese Ores 471
Section a-a
P l a n b-b
'wmmmwS
Room frame
Fig. 312. Active stope in mining a manganese ore bed
The ore pillar is robbed by retreating with the method of support

shown in Fig. 312, II.
After this the timber in the cut is knocked out and the roof is al
lowed to cave in. When this work is done, it is the turn of the next
cut to be extracted in the same manner.
The ore mined in each cut per shift comes to 35-60 tons, with the
output per worker engaged in the stope amounting to 12-18 tons.
Mine timber consumption is about 50-55 cu m per 1,000 tons of the
ore mined.
The extraction of the ore bed by cuts has many disadvantages,
which are common to this method in general. Therefore, experiments
have been going on in the past two decades with long pillar mining
with continuous faces—walls 25-30 metres long. Roof control in long-
walls has proved a difficult task on account of the properties of the
cover rock, and the tests of the continuous face method have so far not
led to the substitution of this more progressive method for that of
extraction by cuts. According to Y. Shishov, longwall mining methods
472 Mining of Thin and Medium-Thick Ore Deposits
can also be widely used in the Nikopol manganese district, pro

vided there is an adequate organisation of mining operations—uni
form rate of face advance, proper stope support and regular roof con
trol by its caving along the breaker or rib lines.
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War underground hydraulicking
tests were carried out in this same district. As shown by Fig. 313, the
sloping involved cutting the bed into 2 0 -metre-wide pillars and
loosening and washing the ore bed by powerful jets of water emitted
by hydraulic giants (monitors) at a head of 22-24 atm. The stope re
mained unsupported and the roof rocks caved in as the strips were
extracted. As is usual for hydraulicking, the broken ore was transported
along pipelines in the form of pulp. This mode of mining proved high
ly efficient. But the method had also a specific drawback—“ under
washing”of the ore at the bottom of the bed on account of the hori
zontal occurrence of the deposit and considerable waste of valuable
oversize ore, as well as the loss of the mineral in protective pillars
(not shown in Fig. 313).
The difficulty of underground mining in the Nikopol manganese
district engendered by the weakness of the enclosing rocks, strong
F ig . 313. M a n ga n ese o r e h y d r a u lic k in g

7—-water condulti 2— hydraulic elevatori 3—hydraullo glaot| 4—pulp collector
Pillar Method of Mining Manganese Ores 473
Fig. 315. A rest to facilitate knocking down timber props

rock pressure and shallow occurrence of the ore bed is an impelling

reason for urging open-cast methods there.
In another major manganese ore district, deposits near the town of
Chialuri (Georgian S.S.R.), the ore bed is 1-4 metres thick and has
a very flat dip. The enclosing rocks are of medium stability and, in
places, aquiferous. The modifications of the pillar mining method em
ployed, and the room-and-pillar method of working, depend on local
conditions. In mining by pillars, the latter have to be about 30-35
(and up to 50) metres wide. One of the varieties of pillar mining is
shown in Fig. 314. In the faces of both development and production
workings (he ore is broken by blasting, the holes being drilled with
mounted electric drills (augers). The ore in stopes is hauled by slush-
ers. Roof control is effected by induced caving. To facilitate the
pulling out and preservation of mine timber, special rests (Fig. 315)
made in some mines of the district are placed under timber props, as
suggested by G. Tsulukidze. These rests represent round cylindrical
steel boxes cut obliquely into two parts. In withdrawing a prop, it
suffices to knock out the wedge holding together the two parts of the
rest Io make the upper part slide down the lower one. This releases the
prop from the pressure exercised by the roof and it can be removed
from the mined-out area.
2. Pillar Mining of Phosphorites

Mined near the railway station of Shchigry, Kursk Region, is a
phosphorite deposit belonging to the Upper Cretaceous age and dis
tinguished by the following features of geological structure. The
phosphorite bed, occurring horizontally at a depth
of 20-30 metres from the surface, consists of two
benches (Fig. 316): upper 1—a strongly cemented
sandstone phosphorite plate 0.15-0.27 metre thick
and lower 2 made of a green sand layer with phos
phorite inclusions measuring 4-100 mm. The lower
bench is 0.22-0.4 metre thick. The aggregate thick
ness of the phosphorite beds is 0.4-0. 6 metre.
The back of the bed is soft, fissured sandy chalk 3.
The bottom of the phosphorite layer contains a strata
of green sand 4, and is somewhat undulating in
nature. The ground is fairly moist, but there is no
influx of water. The deposit has been mined by long
pillars, which are recovered by continuous faces
(longwalls). As the bed is of insignificant thickness,
rie oji to obtain a sufficiently high room near the produc-
phnrite '' bed tion face Lhe roof of the ph°sPhoritc 'ayer.has to
structure be somewhat slashed. The slabbed ground is used
Placer Mining 475
for complete filling, and this best solves the roof control problem.
The phosphorite plate is much harder than the floor rocks and (o
facilitate breaking the phosphorite a bottom draw cut is made
under the latter.
It should be noted that most of the major phosphorite deposits are
shallow-sealed, this permitting them to be worked by the open-cut
method.
3. Placer Mining
Gold-bearing placers as a rule occur at a very flat dip close to the

surface and in unstable ground. This favours their surface mining,
whose field of effective application is extending progressively thanks
to the successes achieved by the Soviet mining machine-building
industry. In the underground working of placers it is the pillar meth
ods that are exclusively applied. The opening up of mine fields was
discussed in Chapter III.
Since most gold-bearing placers are aquiferous and occur in valleys,
the vitally important problem is that of surface water runoff
and preliminary dewatering of the placer.
The sequence of drainage operations in dewatering a placer depends
on the minable placer outline with respect to the stream valley.
The placer hydraulic and drainage operations include:
1 ) diversion of the river beyond the contours of the pay placer
so as to preclude the influx of water into underground workings dur

ing the mining process;
2 ) removal of phreatic water;
3 ) elimination of any possibility of rain and snow water pene
trating into underground workings.

Diversion of the stream channel is necessary when the placer lies
within an area affected by a river whose water may penetrate into un
derground workings during the mining operations. To this end a dam is
built beyond the minable section of the placer down to the compact
water-tight ground (see Fig. 317) and the water is directed along an
outfall or water-diversion ditch. The distance between the ditch and
the outlines of the pay placer should be 1 0 0 - 2 0 0 metres so as to pre
vent Lhe former from being affected by ground movement caused by
the mining of the placer and also prevent the water running along
the ditch from infiltrating into underground workings. The possibil
ity of such infiltration depends on the nature of the ground, depth
of mining, mining method and local conditions.
The removal of subsurface water during the systematic dewatering
of a placer is effected with the aid of drainage mine workings made in
bedrocks and in the placer itself, the water being subsequently di
verted to the surface by a free runoff or pumping method.
o
c
a
u
bo
cfl
a
N.
£
Placer Mining Ml
Fig. 317 depicts the dewatering of a placer by Ihe method of driv

ing an off-lake drift in bedrocks 2-3 metres below the bottom of the
placer, in a zone of rock fracture or in the bedrock strata at a depth of
G-10 metres. In the first instance subsurface water enters this work
ing all along its length through cracks and fractures as it advances.
In the second case the off-take drift is made in compact solid ground
and gets water from the placer only via through-cuts 1 driven towards
the placer from crosscuts!?. The distance between the through-cuts is
80-200 metres. Advance heading 4 is run in sufficiently drained sands
of the placer, 150-200 metres behind the face of the off-lake drift,
and from this heading crossdrifts 3 are driven towards the lateral
boundaries (edges) of the placer.
The lime required for the drainage of the placer depends on the
intervals between these drifts. The water entering the off-lake drift
flows to the surface by gravity through a drain adit. To prevent silt
ing, these openings are made with a gradient of 0.0015, and much
less frequently—0.001. When the placer occurs at a greater
depth, the valley slopes slightly and the water is less abundant,
artificial drainage is used and for that purpose a central pump
ing plant is installed in a shaft sunk some distance down the
valley.
In both cases offset “ technical”hole 5 from which the water flows
to the off-take drift is bored during the sinking of the shaft to drain
the stope.
The diversion or runoff of rain and snow waters in placering is effect
ed by excavating hillside ditches of a section sufficient to ensure
the maximal inflow of water during the spring and storm floods. When
a stream-channel diversion ditch runs along one of the valley slopes
(Fig. 317), the hillside ditch is excavated only on the opposite slope.
When large inflows of water are expected, wooden troughs (staves)
are laid along one of the slopes.
As stated before, placers are worked by pillar mining methods. The
pillar-and-bord system has by now almost lost its significance, and it
is various modifications of long pillar mining with the recovery of
pillars by continuous faces (longwalls) or, in the more difficult natur
al conditions, by slab drifts (strips) that are now employed. In the
main, this mining method involves caving, and less frequently par
tial filling.
The development of a mine field begins with the driving of the main
drift (Fig. 318) along the thalweg of the placer. When it is driven,
this drift is called advance heading. When highly aquiferous placers
are worked, an off-take (draining) drift is simultaneously excavated
in the bedrocks. In placers of considerable width, a service (auxili
ary) drift is made parallel to the main drift, 1 0 - 1 2 metres from it.
It is designed for the passage of men, timber delivery, etc. The main
V alley s l o p e
F ig . 318. D e v e l o p m e n t o f a m in e fi e l d in w o r k i n g a p l a c e r b y l o n g p i l l a r s
1, z —‘
waste packs') 3—main drift; /—extraction drifts .
drift has strong timbering (Fig. 319); in unstable rocks even limber
sheet piling is used (Fig. 320).
Extraction (cross) drifts are run every 10-20 metres from the main
drift to the boundaries (edges) of a placer. To protect the main drift
from rock pressure and reduce the losses of metal, waste pillars are
built on the sides of this opening, with spacers (interlayers) of timber
and brushwood (Fig. 321).
Pillars are recovered (Fig. 322) by slab entries or slabbing cuts
(strips) 1, 2, 3, etc., each 3.3 metres wide. As a rule, in one pillar un
der simultaneous mining there are three slabbing cuts: in one—
gold-bearing sands are extracted, the second is in the stage of being
“cleaned up” , and the third is either being prepared for caving or is
being caved.
The clean-up of the placer bottom is a specific job in the mining of
gold-bearing sands. Due to the geological structure of placers, gold
particles quite frequently accumulate in large amounts in the bed
rocks underlying the placer and penetrate into hollows and cracks in
the bottom. The clean-up is done with picks, shovels and metal
brushes. In favourable conditions, the number of slabbing cuts
extracted at one time is higher than usual and pillaring is sometimes
done on two sides, from the neighbouring extraction drifts.
The sands in the stope of a slabbing cut are either drawn by hand or
blasted out. The sequence of extraction in weak ground is illustrated
by Fig. 323. More efficient extraction from bottom up (Fig. 324) is
possible with a good back of the bed and proper drainage, and provid
ed there are no large boulders in the placer. The slabbing cuts are
F ig . 321. P r o t e c t i o n o f the m a in d r if t by " w a s te - p a c k s ” (pillars)
Volleu H o p ?
F i g . 322. S e q u e n c e o f s t o p i n g o p e r a t i o n s in p l a c e r m i n i n g
a—'waste packs'| b—service drifts; c—main haulage drift) i —conveyeri
e—extraction drift) /—service shaft
Placer Mining 481
a ©JCff*
____
Removing sand from top area Setting up of an anchor stay
of vrorRinq face
T p T V r z f ' \ - - - u ■
Sequence in the order
of prop setting
sands from side-space ana
centre of working face
Fig. 323. Sequence of sand extraction in the slab enlry (cut) of a
placer in weak ground
Fig. 324. Drawing of sand from bottom up
supported by strong timber sets, similar to those used in drifts

(Fig. 325). Hand tramming is being progressively superseded by
conveyer delivery.
Roof caving in mined-out slabbing cuts is necessary not only to
withdraw some of the mine timber but also to reduce the rock pressure
bearing down on adjacent cuts in the stage of stoping. As said above,
the caving of a slabbing cut is preceded by a thorough clean-up of
the bottom. Before the roof is allowed to fall, the pieces of mine tim
ber are knocked down and extracted by special hooks. The props in the
cut facing the slope are not knocked down to obtain a break or rib
d=16
U
7 7 /7 /7 7 Z V7/7/ / / / / 9 V / 7 / / / "
B
On A-B
F ig . 325. S l a b e n t r i e s s u p p o r t
line for the caving roof. When the crossings are caved, timber is
removed by blasting, for these sites are very much squeezed together.
In the Lena gold fields 60-80 per cent of mine timber is recovered,
with 30-60 per cent of it suitable to be used again. Total timber con
sumption per 1,000cu m of sands is in the region of 100-140 cu m.
If the back of the placer has not been drained sufficiently, caving of
slab entries is not allowed because there is then a danger of silt-ground
inrushes. Pillaring with partial filling of the goaf, involving the
building of waste pack walls and cribs, may be employed in this case.
If, not so long ago, underground mining of placers was done almost
exclusively by the method of long pillars (and before that by the pil-
lar-and-stall method), in the past few years it is the system of contin
uous faces (longwalls) up to 40 metres in length (Fig. 326) that is
being increasingly applied in extracting long pillars. Mechanised
stuping makes it possible greatly to raise the productivity of labour
in long-face mining.
Conditions favouring long-face mining are: thickness of cover
rocks up to the surface of not less than 1 0 metres; permafrost ground;
dry, stable roof with thawed ground; even bottom and insignificant
proportion of boulders in the placer.
The mine field is worked in retreating order. The position of the
development openings is shown in Fig) 326. Sloping proceeds in four
long faces simultaneously.
Placer Mining 48.1
The metals and ores in the placer are usually so distributed that
they make breast or continuous mining possible. If, in exceptional
cases, the thickness of a placer exceeds 3-4 metres, it can be extracted
by slices, starting with the bottom where the placer is usually richer
in valuable components. When the bottom slice has been extracted
and fully filled, one proceeds with development and sloping in the
overlying slice.
In permafrost conditions, the sands are blasted or thawed. The most
popular method is by blasting with subsequent thawing of sands on
the surface. This method of working frozen sands is simpler and more
effective.
The holes should not be less than 1.6 metres long. The height of
an active slope or face equals the thickness of the minable portion of a
placer, but should not be less than 1.4 metres.
The cycle or round of stoping operations includes drilling, blasting,
drawing (mucking) and transportation of sands, timbering and roof
control. Stoping is done on the basis of one cycle per 24 hours.
Thawing of sands is effected with steam by means of steam-points
or pipes. The old methods of thawing by open fire have been almost
completely ousted by more perfect and effective ones. One of the
modes of sand thawing with good prospects is that of underground
hydraulicking.
A steam-point is a hollow round steel piece with a diameter of
about 25 mm. It is tapered to make it easier to. ram into the ground.
The steam-points used in stoping are 2-2.5 m long and 3 m long in de
velopment work.
F ig . 326. P i l l a r r e c o v e r y b y c o n t i n u o u s f a c e s ( l o n g w a l l s ) in a p l a c e r
/—shaft! 2—main haulageway; 3—air pit; /— fringe drifts; .5—extraction drlfti
«—wall face; 7— caving; *—conveyer; #—cribs; JO—breaker timbering
484 M ining of Thin and Medium-Thick Ore Deposits
The method of steam-point thawing requires preliminarily boring

ft hole to a depth of 15-20 cm. The point is then driven in and steam is
passed through. In the course of the thawing process, the point is
rammed into the sand to a depth of 1.5-2 metres (Fig. 327). When the
points have been driven in to the full length, they are withdrawn
from the holes and replaced by pipes. The mouth of the hole is
calked and a maximum amount of steam is let into it. The duration of
the individual sand-thawing operations is as follows: driving in of
steam-points—2-6 hours; passage of steam via the pipe— from 4 to
12 hours; “ sweating”of the ground—10-24 hours. It takes two to
four shifts to'complete the entire cycle.
F ig . 327. T h a w i n g o f fr o z e n s a n d b y s t e a m p o i n t s
J—steam point; 2—stcain pipeline; .3—carriage; i —boundary
line of thawing
When the face is 2.2-2.5 metres in height, the steam-points are

placed at 0.75-0.8 metre above the bottom at intervals of 0.6-1.2
metres. If the stope faces are lower, the points are driven in nearer to
the floor. The steam is supplied by pipelines from a boiler on the sur
face. To avoid losses of heat through condensation, the pipes have
special thermal insulation. In a more extensive mine field a portable
boiler plant moves along with the wall face and steam is delivered
there via specially bored holes.
The steam is generated in boilers with a heating surface of 12-36
sq m and more, at a rate of 1-1.5 sq m per one steam-point. The steam
pressure in the boiler should be maintained at 6 atm. At the face the
steam is distributed among the points through a special carriage and
its supply is controlled by special valves.
The advance rate of the wall face per cycle is 1.2-1.7 metres. The
output per faceman per shift is in the region of 3 cu m of sand and more.
If the placer contains large proportions of clastic material and es
pecially boulders, the efficiency of thawing is liable to drop sharply.
Fig. 328 is illustrative of the pattern involving thawing with pipes.
At a height of one-third of the stope face (0.6-1 metre) a cut is
Placer Mining 18.')
made 1.7-1.25 metres deep into which a piece of gas pipe 2-4 melres
long with an inside diameter of 18-50 mm is inserted. The two ends
of the pipe are closed tightly; the surface facing the slope has 2-3 mm
holes perforated in it. The pipes arc laid along the face at intervals
of 0.3-0.5 metre and then covered by a “ pile”of sand. To secure the
uniformity of thawing, steam is supplied to the centre of each pipe
through tubes and rubber hoses. The laying of pipes takes 3-4 hours.
“Steaming" takes G-7 hours and “ sweating”8-9 hours.
The duration of the whole cycle is 17-20 hours. The advance rate
of the face per cycle is 0.4-1.2 metres. Output per man per shift is
4 cu in and over.
-3
Fig. 328. Thawing of frozen ground by pipes

/ — p ip e s ; 2 — r u b b e r h o s e ; J — s te a m p ip e lin e s
To the main haulageway the sand is transported by scrapers, con

veyers loaded by hand or machine, or by mine cars. Along the main
haulageway itself the sand is hauled by mine cars or conveyers. Fig.
329 gives a diagrammatic illustration of scraper haulage along the
wall to the haulage drift. A scraper ramp is set up for loading sand
into mine cars. Slusher haulage is employed in faces with an even
floor and not too great length (20-30 metres).
In walls of considerable extent and productivity the sand is hauled
to the main drift by a machine-loaded conveyer (Fig. 330). Mov
ing along the face, the loading machine puts the sand onto a convey
er, which feeds it into mine cars or to a conveyer running along the
haulageway. The capacity of the loading machine is 12-25 cu m per
hour. The small overall size of the machine makes it possible to use
it even in stupes of only one metre in height. The face conveyers most
widely used at present are those of the belt and drag types.
The sand brought out of the mine is stock-piled until the seasonal
washing.
When sands are mined by blasting, the roof is supported by provi
sional pillars measuring 5 x 3 , 4 x 5 and 4 x 6 metres (Fig. 331),
spaced at 1 0 - 1 2 metres across the placer and at 1 0 - 2 0 metres along it.
F ig . 329. M ec h a n is ed m i n i n g o f s a n d b y lon gw a lls

/ — scraper; 2 — scra per-loa din g ram p
F ig . 330. L o a d i n g m a c h i n e in a F ig . 331. P r o v i s i o n a l p i l l a r s in
lon gw all in p l a c e r m i n i n g permafrost placerin g
I —loaden 2—props; 3—crlbsi < -
face conveyeri 6—conveyor
Lode Mining 487
To maintain the haulageway, similar pillars are left every five me
tres. No pillars are left in narrow placers below 30 metres. As the
stopes move forward, the provisional pillars are robbed with the sub
sequent caving of the roof.
In the thawing of sand by steam, the worked-out space is supported
by cribs and temporary face limbering. When the back is sufficient
ly strong, the timbering includes rows of cribs spaced at 2-3 metres,
while runs of props with pads are set up along the face. The roof is
broken by removing every third row of cribs and sometimes by
preliminarily setting breaker props along the future rib line.
Extraction by longwallsin nonfrozen ground (taliks) is not applied
widely so far but has fairly good prospects.
Recovery of pillars by the long-face method has a number of advant
ages: it creates favourable conditions for mechanised sloping; the
volume of development work is low—16-18 per cent; the stopes are
well ventilated; the cost of mining is low compared to working by slab
cuts; consumption of mine timber is reasonable—20-40 cu m per
1 ,0 0 0 cu m of sand; output per faceinan is fairly high.
B. HIGH DIP
4. I.ode Mining'
Extraction of highly dipping low and medium-thick veins is gener
ally effected in overhead stopes, horizontal and inclined slicing and
underhand stoping being practised much more seldom.
Preparation for stoping provides for cutting the level by raises
into working sections, which are termed “ blocks”in the mining of
ore bodies. Fig. 335, for example, shows a working section extending
over 60 metres on strike and 50 metres to the rise, in this instance con
forming to the level interval.
Since most of the ore deposits occurring at a steep angle are distin
guished by strong ores and firm gangue, the drilling of holes is of ex
ceptional importance in working veins and shoots. Depending on the
structure of the ore body, the types of the drilling machines employed
and the outline of stopes, the holes may be either horizontal (as
in Fig. 337), vertical (Fig. 339) or inclined (Fig. 338). It is more
convenient to drill vertical or up-holes with stopers, horizontal
and inclined ones with drilling machines mounted on vertical columns.
The systems used in mining steeply dipping lodes differ, this depend
ing largely on the mode of supporting enclosing rocks: the worked-
out area may be supported by ordinary or reinforced mine timber, it
may be filled with waste, or mining may be done by shrinkage-stoping.
The modes of conveying the ore from the stopes to the lower haul
ageway depend on the method accepted for supporting country rocks,
On 1-1
F ig . 332. R a i s e s w i t h l a d d e r a n d o r e p a s s a g e c o m p a r t m e n t s
the disposition of stopes and the wholesale (bulk) or selective mining

adopted.
If the mined-out area is supported hy stulls, the ore broken in
stopes can slide directly down the level. Fig. 332 is illustrative of a
raise with compartments for dumping ore and with ladders.
To protect the lower drift, one may employ either ore pillars or
only reinforced timber with a round stick flooring (Fig. 334).
Ore (and, if necessary, barren rock too) can be drawn off from the
mined-out space through special chutes (Fig. 333).
Below are some typical examples of methods for working low steep
veins.
5. Stull-Set Method of M ining
Fig. 334 depicts a system applied in working a quartz gold-bearing
lode about one metre thick. The position of the overhand stope is clear
ly shown in the drawing. The ore is very hard, according toProto-
dyakonov the relative hardness equals 15. The enclosing rocks—dio-
rites—are hard too but capable of forming loose slabs in the back. The
stoped-out space is supported by stull-sets, that is, by posts blocked
against the hanging and foot walls. Inasmuch as the vein has a steep
On 1-1
496 Mining 0/ Thin and Medium-Thick Ore Deposits
F ig . 335. O v e r h a n d s t o p i n g in a v e i n fr o m o p p o s i t e d i r e c t i o n s
dip of about 50° to 80°, the miners stand with their drilling machines
on laggings temporarily laid down the posts of the sets. The broken
ore slides down into the worked-out area where it is loaded into mine
cars through ore chutes. Since the rock is strong and the ore valuable,
no floor pillars are left over the haulageway.
The output per faceman per shift is 1.25 cu m, explosive consumption
per 1 cu m of ore—1.34 kg, and mine timber consumption per 1,000
cu m of ore — 1 1 0 cu m.
When ore is strong and wall rocks are firm, the overhand stopes
can be carried in the opposite direction so as to enlarge the face front
line (Fig. 335).
The stull-set method of mining has substantial disadvantages: the
necessity of performing work from a temporary flooring laid over the
mined-out. area requires a great deal of attention and circumspection
on the part of the men engaged in the stopes; setting of timber and
its delivery to the stopes are rather difficult; blasting often knocks
down old timbering; sticks falling down the level may hamper the
drawing of ore from the chutes.
6 . Mining with Reinforced Support

The support of mined-out space with stu 11-sets alone can be adequate
only in hard and stable rocks of the hanging and foot walls. Strong
er support is required if these rocks are liable to cave in, An example
1-
t-
+
+
■t-
inr
I- I 25-----------
Fig. 330. Stull-

and-square set
timbering
is given in Fig. 336. It shows the mining of a gold-bearing steep

quartz vein of an average thickness of 0.35 metre, occurring amidst
fissured, altered and unfirm granites. The support in the worked-out
area in this case consists of stringers reinforced with upright props.
Here individual pieces of timbering are made to support each other,
thus ensuring the general stability of the set as a whole. This design
is used fully in the square-set supports described below (Chapter XXI,
Section 5), which are sometimes employed in working of thick depos
its. The type of support depicted in Fig. 336 is therefore called
stull-square-set timbering. A drawback of this mode of support is
the very appreciable consumption of mine timber, amounting to 2 2 0
cu m per 1,000 cu m of ore mined. Ore losses, on the other hand, are
low ( 5 per cent) and, considering the high value of the mineral, this
is of prime importance.
7. Filling Methods of Mining

Yet another method of maintaining the equilibrium of the rocks
enclosing a lode, besides timber support, is the filling of stoped-out
space. In the working of narrow veins, the filling materials may be
the rocks of the hanging and foot walls blasted during the extraction
of the vein. Fig. 337 is illustrative of a system applied in working a
narrow highly dipping vein (averaging 0.2 metre). Some of the blast
ed wall rocks are used for filling. The waste pack walls are separated
by laggings-ofT. The ore is lowered to the haulage drift by the
Filling Methods of Mining 403
ore chutes left between the pack walls. These chutes are put up every 10
metres. The ore is extracted in individual benches, each served by
its own ore chute. The use of filling appreciably cuts down mine tim
ber consumption and at the same time ensures a low proportion of ore
losses (up to 5 per cent).
If the vein is more than 1.5-2 metres thick and the ore body has no
gangue inclusions, the use of filling makes it necessary to bring it to
the stoping area from outside. An example of this system is shown in
Fig. 338, which depicts the mining of a sulphide ore deposit about 2
metres thick, dipping at an angle of 45-80°. On strike the block extends
over 60 metres and is 30 metres high, the floor 60 metres high being
divided into two sublevels. Work with filling has been adopted in
this case because of unfirm wall rocks. A sloping fill pass is driven
in the centre of the block to deliver the filling material from the up
per drift. The stope is made inclined to facilitate passage of ore by
gravity to ore chutes set up near the boundaries of the extraction
block, as well as the distribution of the fill in the mined-out area.
Consequently, in this case the ore is extracted by inclined or rill
slices. To the haulageway the ore is likewise lowered through ore
chutes arranged in the fill itself. The distance between the surface
of the mine-fill and the ore stope is such as to leave sufficient space
for work in the area near the active stope.
If the amount of waste obtained in blasting wall rocks or gangue

inclusions in the ore body is not sufficient for the complete filling of
the stoped-out area, it may be stowed partially, the waste is then
placed on stulls covered with lagging, as shown in Fig. 347 (see below).
8. S h r i n k a g e - S t o p i n g
In certain conditions, the back in the worked-out area (and in steep

dip the bottom as well) can be supported by ore temporarily kept in
the stope instead of work fill. This ore serves as a temporary fill and
at the same time as a floor for the stoping area.
An example of shrinkage-stoping applied in working a narrow
(0.7 metre), steeply dipping (40-60°) gold-bearing quartz vein is shown
in Fig. 339. The rock contained in the vein is very hard; the hanging
and foot walls include firm granites. The ore is broken in an overhead
stope and then kept in it. As the ore disintegrates, its volume increases
approximately by one-third. Consequently, some of the shrinkage-
stoped ore has to be drawn off at the bottom of the level and discharged
into mine cars through ore chutes. To ensure that the ore is com
pletely drawn off and eliminate its overhanging, special funnel-shaped
hoppers made of timber are arranged over the chutes. Shrinkage-
stoping continues all through the process of block extraction. This
is followed by the drawing off of the stored ore. To ensure proper dis
charge, the ore body must have a steep regular dip and the enclosing
Fig. 339. S h r in k a g e - s lo p in g o f a narrow , s te e p vein

Shrinkage-Sloping 495
490 M in in g of Thin and Medium-Thick Ore Deposits
barren rocks must be firm, as is the case in the example under dis
cussion. After the ore has been drawn off, the mined-out space re
mains without any [ill at all. For this reason, to prevent any mass
movemen t of the ground, which might also involve the adjacent extrac-
lion blocks in the stage of stoping, the raises delimiting each block
on strike are put up with protective pillars on their flanks. The size
of the extraction block on strike should be such as to eliminate any
possibility of wall rocks caving in within its bounds, at least until
the ore has been drawn oil completely.
An interesting example of shrinkage-stoping is illustrated by Fig.
3/i0. In this case the size of the extraction block on strike (40 metres)
is limited by the natural structure of the deposit. The passageways
serving for communication with the stopes are therefore driven with
a certain slope along the contacts of the vein with enclosing country
rocks. In view of the small size of the block, the central raise serves as
a connection with the upper drift.
The ordinary method of ore breaking in a stepped face of the shrink
age-slope becomes hazardous and therefore inapplicable if the ore is
liable to cave in because of its physical and mechanical properties.
In instances like this, the ore can be broken from preliminarily driv
en raises. An example of this method is shown in Fig. 341. Here the
vein is 1-3 metres wide and dips at an angle of 70°. The ore is weak
and liable to cave in spontaneously. Although the enclosing rocks of
medium stability do not exclude the application of shrinkage-stop
ing, the tendency of the ore to cave in makes it necessary to break
it from raises put up every 5 metres, as shown in Fig. 339. The driv
ing of raises increases expenditure, but then the drillers are safe.
The block is 50 metres long and 42 metres high. The output per
faceman per shift reaches 2 cu m; because of the need to support the
raises, timber consumption is somewhat high—up to 0.3 cu m per
1 cu m of ore.
Mining conditions needed for successful shrinkage-stoping of nar

row veins include: relatively stable enclosing rocks, angle of dip of
not less than 55-60°, thickness of the ore body at least 0.7-0. 8 metre,
regular attitude. Besides, when stored long in a shrinkage-stope, the
ore should not be allowed to compact and oxidate.
9. S h r i n k a g e - S t o p i n g by S lic e s
The Institute of Mining of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences

(M. Agoshkov, D. Bronnikov, A. Nazarchik and Z. Terpogosov) has
proposed, elaborated and introduced in a number of mines an original
variation of shrinkage-stoping—so-called shrinkage-stoping by slices.
The main points of this modification, which, like the preceding ones,
is intended for working narrow steep veins, are explained in Fig. 342.
Shrinkage-Sloping by Slices 497
’Qnl-I
17-3G25
Shrinkage-Sloping by Slices 499
17
In this modified form of shrinkage-stoping the ore fills only a part

of mined-out space. The broken ore is placed on special floorings
made of round timber (“ dead floor” ), resting on purlins. The latter
arc put on tightly wedged stull-sets. These floors are spaced 4 metres
apart. Hence, the massif of shrinkage-stoped ore is shaped as a strip,
equal in length to the size of the extraction block on strike, and 4-6
metres high. The ore is broken partly from the stulls and partly from
the surface of the stored ore. In the process of drawing the ore is passed
down through the flooring which is stripped of some of the lagging
hoards to make “ windows” , via which it slides down to the lower drift
along the worked-out area. Fig. 343 illustrates the sequence of drill
ing, shrinkage-stoping and drawing operations: I —the beginning of
ore breaking with stoper drills from temporary floorings; I I and I I I —
drilling of the stope face from the surface of broken ore; IV —shrin
kage-stoped ore before its drawing; V—drawing of the ore and build
ing of lagged stulls (floorings) for the extraction of the next strip.
This variant of shrinkage-stoping may be employed in mining con
ditions similar to those in which the stull-set method and ordinary
shrinkage-stoping are practised. In contrast to the first of them, the
work is done in safer conditions, this contributing to the higher effi
ciency of the facemen. Moreover, the method makes it possible
constantly to have available a certain reserve of broken ore. But this
reserve of stored ore should not be so great as in an ordinary shrin
kage-stoping, and its drawing off is less complicated.
10. Mining with Shrinkage-Stoping of W aste Fill

As stated earlier, the extraction of narrow steeply dipping veins
may be wholesome (bulk) or separate (selective).
Bulk extraction of the ore and enclosing barren rocks in very nar
row (not more than 0.3-0.4 metre) veins entails considerable dilu
tion of the ore.
Separate mining of mineralised vein and its wall rocks in thin lodes
is technically difficult and causes losses of ore. When this method
is employed, rich ore has to be broken and passed through discharge
chutes separately from gangue. If excessive, the latter is partly used
for filling and partly sent to the lower drift via waste dump chutes.
To avoid losses of rich ore and its mixing up with the barren rock,
special floors of boards, iron sheets, etc., are arranged in the stope.
Rich ore fines, however, penetrate into the fill through interstices
in the flooring and via chinks in the ore-passes lining.
For these reasons, the Institute of Mining of the U.S.S.R. Acade
my of Sciences has proposed a novel method of mining providing for
separate extraction of ore and shrinkage-stoping of the enclosing
waste rocks.
Mining with Shrinkage-Sloping of Waste Fill 501
In this instance (Fig. 344), the ore is excavated separately and

transported to ore passes along a flooring laid on the pile of the fill
because the broken gangue is stored in the same fashion as the ore in
shrinkage-stoping. In other words, the broken barren rocks enclosing
the vein are used to fill the worked-out area, but instead of being
passed down via dump chutes, the surplus is discharged at the bottom
through waste passes directly into the lower drift. If the enclosing
rocks include any ore matter in quantities warranting its profitable
extraction, the filling material can be drawn off from the shrinkage-
stope on the completion of block excavation. Ore drawing chutes are
put up every 3-6 metres.
To break the vein, up-holes 0.8-1.2 metres deep and 0.3-0. 6
metre apart are drilled in the stope (Fig. 345). The holes should pref
erably be of smaller diameter—around 30 mm—and explosives sticks
correspondingly smaller. The vein filling is blasted onto a flooring
made of steel sheets 8 mm thick, placed end on end. Pieces of an old
conveyer belt may also serve as flooring.
The broken ore can be taken out of the stope along ore passes
nr via steel (with a 0.5-metre bore) or wooden (not shown in
Fig. 344) pipes which are gradually extended in the mass of the
fill.
When the vein has been extracted, the rocks of the foot (Fig. 344)
or hanging walls are broken and are subsequently partially utilised
for filling.
The system is distinguished by the following advantages: selective
excavation and drawing of rich ore; absence of labour-consuming
work in driving a large number of ore chutes; possibility of a large
number of drillers working to good advantage in one stope; low
losses of ore; insignificant consumption of mine timber.
11. Sublevel Back Stoping

A drawback of selective extraction lies in the fact that, notwith
standing separate breaking and drawing of ore, it is necessary to blast
and slash the foot or hanging wall of the vein in order to obtain suf
ficiently large space in the stope for men to work in. Interesting in
this connection is the method proposed by engineer V. Mertsalov.
It involves breaking of the mineral from subdrifts without blasting
the enclosing rocks. As shown in Fig. 346, the subdrifts are driven
immediately behind the stopes, 4-5 metres apart. This small distance
is chosen in order to facilitate breaking the vein matter by drilling
up- and down-holes from the subdrifts. The shorter holes are drilled
first, the longer ones after. The broken ore slides down to the bottom
of the level via the worked-out area. The barren rock blasted in sub-
Sublevel Back Sloping 503
drifts may be lowered to the section of the open goaf no longer used
for the dumping of the ore.
This method enhances the efficiency of facemen. widens the working
front and keeps the consumption of mine timber down. On the other
hand, the application of the system causes greater ore dilution thaD
in ordinary selective mining.
12 Basic Notions of Underhand Stoping

While an overhand stope resembles an overturned staircase, the
uruierhand one (Fig. 347) may be compared to a staircase in an
ordinary position.
LJ
F ig 347. An e x a m p l e o f u n d er h a n d s l o p i n g
Basic Notions of Underhand Sloping 505
Blasting in an underhand stope is less effective than in an overhead

one. The ore in benches has to be reshovelled. The men in the face
have mined-out space over their heads and not solid ore, as is the
case in overhand stoping.
For this reason, work with underhand stopes is practised very sel
dom, almost exclusively in extracting small portions of ore bodies
which peter out somewhat below the lower haulageway and which
can be mined out down the dip more easily, thus eliminating devel
opment work on the next floor.
Fig. 347 represents a scheme of this mode of mining. The stopes
are opened from a blind shaft. If the work involves filling, the waste
is placed on heavy stulls covered with lagging. The latter also serve
to protect men working in stopes from falling rocks and other objects.
Drifts are left in the pile of fill for the haulage of ore to the hoisting
plant. The ore is hoisted in low-capacity skips by an electric or air
hoist set up in the upper drift. The blind shaft is also furnished with
ladders. In the case under discussion, abundance of water in the de
posit requires the installation of a pumping plant.
The method described should not be employed in deposits more
than approximately 3 metres thick, since the arrangement of lagged
stulls to hold the fill would then be dufficult. True, underhand
sloping is sometimes also used in working thick ore bodies, but then
only with very firm rocks and in unsupported stopes (see Fig. 351
below).
CHAPTER XXI
METHODS OF MINING THICK ORE DEPOSITS
1. Particular Importance of Enclosing Rock

Control in Working Thick Ore Deposits
In a thick deposit the size of mined-out space becomes correspond
ingly greater. If, on top of this, the shape of the ore body is irregu
lar, the contours of stoped-out space likewise assume a rather complex
outline. In this case control of enclosing rocks in working thick de
posits becomes a matter of paramount importance.
Common in ore mining usage is the expression “ support of exca
vations”, which is synonymous with “ control of enclosing country
rocks” . The first of these terms, however, can hardly be regarded as
sufficiently apt, since there exist, for example, methods of mining of
a very high practical importance (described below) whose basic prin
ciple is that the excavations are not supported at all because the
ground capping the depositor the ore itself are systematically allowed
to fall.
Methods employed in the control of enclosing rocks during the min
ing of thick deposits play such an outstanding part that, as we shall
see in Chapter XXIV, they usually serve as a basis for the classifica
tion of systems employed in mining ore bodies. Therefore, the descrip
tion of the principal systems applied in mining wide veins and thick
ore bodies in general is made along the lines based on the modes of
enclosing rock control: 1 ) leaving natural support pillars, tempo
rarily or completely abandoned; 2) artificial support; 3) filling; 4)
shrinkage-stoping of ore; 5) caving of cover rocks; 6 ) caving of ore,
induced or spontaneous; 7) the combination of these methods.
2. Mining with Natural Support Pillars

A very simple method of controlling enclosing rock in the space
surrounding the excavation is by leaving support pillars containing
the mineral. If such pillars are of appropriate size, the country rocks
do not displace noticeably.
The support pillars in this instance can be left at random, in thin
ner sections of a deposit or at the sites of the occurrence of lean ores,
if both are made possible by the geological structure of the deposit.
Mining with Natural Support Pillars 507
We have already had occasion to discuss an example of mining

with the natural support pillars depicted in Fig. 50 (Chapter III).
Now we shall list some data on the actual extraction of ore. Thick
flat-dipping deposits of impregnation copper ores, occurring in strong
rocks of sedimentary origin, are mined in Dzhezkazgan, Kazakh Re
public. The back is supported not only by abandoned ore pillars
(Fig. 348) but also by the rock masses surrounding the ore bodies,
for their width is relatively small. Except for natural pillars, the
excavations have no other support.
Actual mining is done by blasting in underhand stopes. The ore is
hauled by scrapers. Because of underhand stoping, output per face-
man per shift is rather low—around 2 cu m. Although ore pillars are
abandoned, the ore losses are relatively low—about 15 per cent, this
being due to the strength of ore and firmness of country rocks.
The mode of stoping, shown in Fig. 348, has one substantial dis
advantage: the scrapers, depending on the site where they have to
handle the ore across the stope, must travel in different directions. In
recent years, consequently, a modification of the same system has been
introduced (Fig. 349). It involves the use of central working trench 1,
which is driven, prior to stoping, to a width of 3 metres up the entire
height of the deposit by the overhand method with shrinkage-stoping.
Surplus ore is slushed by scrapers into ore passes 3. The hulk of the
ore is drawn from underhand stopes 2, with the broken ore falling into
the working trench, and is then hauled to ore passes. Circular support
pillars 4 are set up simultaneously with extraction in a manner making
most of the ore obtained during the breakage fall into the central
trench too. The rest of the ore getting into the previously mined sec
tion is carried away by scrapers during the ultimate clean-up of the
worked-out area. This modification of mining with a central working
trench ensures a large front of working faces and uniform direction
of scraper travel. However, the system also has important drawbacks:
a considerable time is required for the development of rooms for stop
ing, control over the state of the back along the full length of rooms
is difficult, and passage of men and delivery of materials on the
benches are rather inconvenient.
The ore in rooms can also be mined by shooting blast-holes (Fig.350).
From ore passes 1 break-throughs 2 are driven on the level of the
room floor and from these raises 3 are put up. All these workings run
in the vertical plane along the axis of the projected room. The raises
3, 3 are connected by break-through 4, driven near the roof of the
future room. The break-throughs of the adjacent rooms are connected
by manway 5. Stoping is started by “ cutting”a room across its full
span near the roof, to a height of 2.5-3 metres. To speed up the work,
the cutting is done by two headings advancing from the opposite
ends of the room towards the centre. The ore in the cutting is mined
508
O n l- I O nM -m
Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
Fig. 348. Continuous breast-sloping with natural support pillars

M in in g with Natural Support Pillars 509
Fig. 349. Mining with a ccnlral working trench
by blasting of ordinary holes. On the completion of the cutting job

over the entire area of the room, further stoping is done in just one
bench 6, the ore being broken by vertical deep blast-holes. Communi
cations between stopes are then maintained by manway 5. The
broken ore is hauled by scrapers.The principal parameters of the system
are shown in Fig. 350.
The method just described is sometimes designated as room mining.
This term is not quite to the point, for in this case there are no typi
cal “rooms” . Nor would it be right to call it room-and-pillar mining,
£10 Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
On l-l
Fig. 350. L o n g h o l e b r e a k in g o f o r e in r o o m s
the name under which it sometimes goes, for it does not provide for
the robbing of pillars. Hence, the method may be termed mining
with natural support pillars.
In the working of thick ore deposits with flat-dipping occurrence
involving the abandonment of support pillars, the mined-out areas
are distinguished by their extensive size and absence of artificial
support. In the U.S.A., in these conditions, use is made of highly
M in in g with Natural Support Pillars 511
efficient heavy equipment, such as loading machines, power shovels

(of small capacity), drill jumboes with automobile and caterpillar
drive (they were mentioned in Section 9 of Chapter XIX), bulldozers
and large-capacity mine cars, both ordinary and self-propelling.
Fig. 351 depicts an instance involving mining of a flat-dipping
deposit (angle of dip 10-15°) by a similar method. The ore is of medi
um strength with relative hardness of 6 -8 , according to Protodya-
konov’ s scale. The bed is capped by firm limestone, allowing large
exposures of the back. The bottom includes limestone too.
Because of the firm back, unsupported rooms have to be 12 metres
wide. Natural support pillars measure 4x4 metres and are 4 metres
apart. The length of the rooms is 60 metres. Ore losses in pillars come
to 18 per cent of its total reserves. The ore from stopes is hauled by
scrapers. The amount of explosives consumed per 1 cu m of ore and
rock is 1.4 kg. Consumption of mine timber is quite insignificant—
4 cu m per 1 000 cu m of ore mined. Output per faceman per shift is as
high as 3.3 cu m.
r.12 Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
Methods of mining, like the ones described above, are sometimes

included in the group of “ open stope”or “ open goaf”systems. The
author, however, holds that these designations are not particularly
suitable, inasmuch as the classification of methods employed in min
ing ore bodies according to the mode of wall-rock control provides,
in this instance, for a specific feature, namely, the leaving of natural
pillars to support the enclosing country rocks and not leaving of the
vvorked-out area without support.
3. Sublevel Stoping
The basic points underlying the method are explained by Fig. 352.
The latter refers to the working of a steeply dipping pyrite lense ex
tending over 70 metres on strike and about 40 metres down the dip,
and of a thickness of 19 metres. Along the boundary of the ore body
raises or “pull-holes”are carried up from the lower haulageway from
which subdrifts are driven in the centre of the ore body every 1 0
metres (in plan) over the entire length of the lense on strike. The most
outstanding feature of the method is the mode of ore breaking. This
is done from the ends of the drifts adjacent to the room (on the left in
Fig. 352). No men are engaged in the room itself. Cross headings are
driven from the end of each subdrift to make possible the breaking of
the ore up the entire thickness of the ore body. Only one side of these
cross headings, however, opens into the room, and that is why they
are commonly designated as “ slabs”or “ open-end cuts” . They accom
modate drillers and drilling equipment. To prevent them from fall
ing, the men here are provided with safety belts. The holes are
drilled both from these slabs and directly from the ends of drifts up
wards and downwards. The blasted ore drops into a chamber whose
bottom is shaped like a funnel like opening with discharge chutes be
low.
The lag of the stoping operations in the upper sublevel behind
those in the underlying ones, shown in Fig. 352, that is, the presence of
unbroken ore hanging over the room, is permissible only in the case
of very strong, firm and jointless ores.
The example of sublevel stoping shown in Fig. 352 deals with an
exceptional case, where the size and the shape of the ore body allow
its mining with a single room or chamber, the ore being broken from
sublevel drifts. If, on the other hand, the deposit is more extensive, it
has to be preliminarily divided by development openings into separate
extraction blocks. One example of this is the modification of the sys
tem illustrated in Fig. 353 where, to widen the front of working
faces, the block is extracted in two directions from the central raise.
Let us consider more closely this latter modification of the
method.
Sublevel Sloping r,i3
Fig. 351!. Mining of a single pyrile lense with the breaking of ore from sublevel
drifts
The lateral width of the ore deposit comes to 12-20 metres, its angle
of dip is 50°. The vertical level interval is 56 metres. Two rooms 1,
1 are mined in the block, each being 30 metres long. Rib or intercham
ber pillar 3 is 8 metres wide. Uphill opening (raise) 4 is driven along
pillar 3 axis, near the foot wall, to connect the haulage and airway
levels and to ensure the progress of development work.
From lower haulage drift i, cut in ore, ore passes 2 are arranged ev
ery 6 metres all the way to the scraper or secondary breaking level.
The bottom of the room is widened to form funnel-shaped openings
to receive the broken ore.
From working 4 cross drifts (crosscuts) are driven and from these
sublevel drifts 5, at vertical intervalsof 9-11 metres.
The general direction of ore extraction is from the block bound
aries towards its cenLre. The ore is broken from side-cuts 6.
Upon the extraction of the ore inside the rooms (the so-called room
slocks or reserves) the rib pillar is destroyed by explosives filling
holes 7 in it (see section CC in Fig. 353). Lastly to knock down the floor
pillar or “ceilin g” , deep horizontal blast-holes 8 are first drilled above
514 Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
Sublevel Sloping 515
the rooms. These are made from special drill chambers 9 in Ihe ceil
ing over the rib pillar.
If any sill pillars had been left above the drift on the air horizon
above the ceiling, they are shot down together with the ceiling.
Since it is in the room that the mining is most productive, the size
of the room, as well as that of the rib pillars, ceiling and sill pillars
should be so chosen that they contain the biggest possible ore slocks in
the room. But this depends on the degree of the stability of ore and
enclosing rocks.
Figs 352 and 353 refer to an instance when the general direction of
mining is on strike. But if the ore body is of lateral width in excess
of approximately 2 0 metres, the axes of the rooms mined from sub-
level drifts—in this case crosscuts—run across the strike (Fig. 353).
Depending on local conditions, the ore can be excavated by the va
rious methods indicated in Fig. 354:
1) holes 2-2.5 metres long are drilled up and down when the gen
eral line of working faces extends vertically. The vertical subleve-
distance in this instance should not exceed 5-8 metres;
Fig. 354. M eth ods o f o re b rea k in g

510 Methods of M ining Thick Ore Deposits
2 ) the type of holes are the same, but the faces are established in an
overhand fashion, which is possible only in very strong ore;

3) long-hole drilling with sectional steel in a sublevel stope. This
makes it possible to augment the vertical sublevel interval to 10-15
metres and more. In individual cases—for instance, at the Vysoko-
gorsk mine in the Urals—the depth of blast-holes with the method
of mining under discussion comes to 45 metres.
One disadvantage of the method is that the ore may break off in
big blocks (the so-called oversize), complicating its drawing;
4) for this reason underhand stoping is possible when ore is very
strong;
5) to reduce the number of slab entries, the holes may also be
drilled in fan-shaped order.
Long-hole rounds have a substantial advantage, for they make it
possible to increase the vertical sublevel interval, that is, cut down
the volume of development work and enhance the efficiency of drill
ing (from 40-50 to 00-70 tons with shallow-hole round and from 80-
100 to 150 tons with sectional steel per man per shift).
The broken ore drops down to the bottom of the room. Its imme
diate discharge through the chutes is possible only when the ore is
broken into pieces of adequate size. Otherwise, a breaking or grizzly
level has to be provided for. An example of how the grizzlies are ar
ranged is given below.
Scraping can be used for conveying the ore to the main loading sta
tion.
When the room stocks have been extracted, the mining of ore
from floor and rib pillars and the sill pillars over the drifts follows
along two basic lines: 1 ) by preliminarily filling the stoped-out area
in the rooms with waste, or by transferring the latter from the over-
lying sublevels, and 2 ) with unfilled rooms.
In filled rooms, the pillars can be recovered by the methods of
top slicing discussed below (Section 8 ) or sublevel caving (Sec
tion 9).
If the room is not stowed with filling material or waste, the floor
and rib pillars may be destroyed by explosive charges. One of the
methods of such shooting is explained by Fig. 355. This refers to the
mining of a very thick ore body and for this reason the 16-metre
wide rooms run across the strike. The floor and rib pillars are shot
down by deep blast-holes drilled in the ceiling in fan-shaped rounds
to obviate driving additional workings to accommodate drilling ma
chines and their shifting after the completion of each hole.When the ore
obtained following the mass blasting of the floor and rib pillars and
the spontaneous caving of the ground has been drawn, the sill pillar
over the main level is usually robbed by sublevel caving (Section 9).
A substantial drawback of the recovery of floor and rib pillars in an
Sublevel Sloping 517
unfilled room is the high loss of ore and its dilution during Ihe
drawing process.
Sublevel stoping has a number of important advantages, such as:
1 ) safety of work, for the men are engaged not in rooms, but in work
ings of a small section and are supplied with safety bells lied to a
rope; 2) high efficiency of ore breaking; 3) wide general front of work
ing faces; 4) high tonnages yielded by one production block; 5) no
timbering in the rooms; 6 ) delivery of ore to pull-holes by
gravity.
On the other hand, the system has some serious shortcomings:
1 ) driving of a large number of development and subsidiary openings;
2) a complex method of pillar recovery; 3) large total losses of the min

eral; 4 ) high losses and dilution of ore during the robbing of pillars;
5 ) the waste in the stope cannot be separated from the ore and the ore
is not delivered according to grades; (i) the hazard of the spontaneous
caving of the ceiling and wall rocks when the parameters of the sys
tem are inadequate.
According to Agoshkov, “ the most propitious conditions for the ap
plication of this system are: high dip, thickness from 1 0 to 15 me
tres; medium-hard and strong ore of relatively low value with no
Fig. 355. Shooting down rib and floor pillars by long holing
inclusions of gangue; compact and firm wall rocks”

. The level inter
val usually ranges from 45 to 80 metres.
Sublevel stoping is employed very widely, especially in mining
iron ore deposits.
4. Breaking of Ore by Deep Horizontal

Blast-Holes and Coyote or Tunnel Blasting
There are methods of mining generally analogous to sublevel stop
ing. except that the breaking of room stocks of ore is effected by
firing explosive charges in deep horizontal blast-holes or by coyote or
tunnel blasting.
The first of these methods is shown in Fig. 356, depicting the min
ing of a Lhick steeply dipping occurrence of iron ore. The level in
terval is GO metres, the width of the rooms—30 metres. The ore is
broken by a series of horizontal blast-holes bored by drilling ma
chines set up in special “ drill chambers”2.The pattern of hole rounds is
similar to the one shown in Fig. 373 (see below). Development open
ings are made in rib pillars or in foot wall 3. Temporarily abandoned
pillar 1, near the hanging wall, is recovered later, before the caving
of the ceiling.
If the ores are very strong and viscid, use can be made of the highly
efficient method of mining which involves breaking the ore by con
centrated (coyote) explosive charges (Fig. 357).
Development and subsidiary work in the block is as follows.
Lateral foot wall drift 1 and ore drift 2 are run on the haulage
level. Block raises 3 are put up to the subjacent horizon along the axis
L o n g itu d in a l
s i d e e le v a t io n Section A-A
U— 30.0 —
Fig. 356. B r e a k in g o f o r e b y d e e p h o r iz o n t a l b la s t - h o le s
Breaking of Ore by Blast-Holes and Coyote or Tunnel Blasting 519
Fig. 357. Coyote blastin'? of ore
of rib pillars. At a height of 7-9 metres above the haulage level drift
4 of the secondary or grizzly horizon is run and it is connected with
ore-pass raises which open into the haulage drift and are put up every
8 - 1 0 metres.
From the grizzly level twin inclined dump chutes are driven at an
interval of 8-10 metres to the height of 7-9 metres, their top por
tions extended. Cut-out raise 5 is put up the full level interval from
the grizzly level drift (usually along the axis of the room).
From the raises in pillars and along the axis of the room powder
drifts 6 are run in the plans of each sublevel. The sublevel interval
(the line of least resistance ) is generally 8-10 metres. The section of
powder drifts is kept as small as possible, usually 1.5 x 1.5 or 1.5 x
x 1 . 8 metres.
When these openings are driven, only 50 per cent of the ore is
cleaned up, the rest being left in the workings to be used for stemming
tunnel charges. The layout of powder drifts and crosscuts should
ensure uniform distribution of explosive charges in the solid mass

to be blasted and a more uniform size grading of broken ore.
Stoping involves breaking ore within the bounds of the room.
In the case of sectional breaking, a slot 18-25 metres wide and as
high as the room is first formed by coyote blasting. After this the ore
in lateral sections (up to 15-20 metres wide) is coyote-blasted on both
sides of the cut-off slot.
In the case of slice breaking, no cut-off or opening slot is made, the
ore within the sublevel being broken simultaneously all over the room.
For coyote blasting ammonites Nos. 6-7 are employed.
After being charged the powder drifts and crosscuts are stemmed
with ore left over from the driving of these openings. In order to pre
vent the destruction of other workings in the production block by the
air wave, the site of coyote blasting is tightly sealed off.
In tunnel blasting, concentrated charges are fired simultaneously
with the aid of a detonating fuse and electric caps.
Ammonite consumption in primary breaking for the mine as a whole
averages 0.8-0.9 kg per ton. Coyote blasting, however, yields a con
siderable number of large ore blocks, requiring a great deal of second
ary breaking or block-holing. The amount of explosives consumed in
secondary breaking is as high as 0.1-0.25 kg per ton and more, and that
constitutes one of the major disadvantages of coyote blasting.
The 8-10-metre-thick floor pillar is also shot down by coyote blast
ing, the concentrated charges being placed in openings made ear
lier.
Quite often the floor pillar is shot down and the last ore slice in
the room is broken simultaneously.
Interchamber or rib pillars are recovered either by employing the
“ room over pull holes” variant, in thicker deposits, or by coyote
blasting simultaneously with the floor pillar.
Output per faceman per shift is 20-22 tons, while the tonnage pro
duced by one driller for the entire block per shift may be as high as 80-
100 tons.
Factual ore losses reach 8-12 per cent and dilution amounts to 4-6
per cent.
The typical parameters for this method of mining are shown in
Fig. 357.
5. Square-Set Stoping
The extensive worked-out areas appearing after the extraction of
thick deposits cannot be supported by ordinary posts or stull sets.
Therefore, mine timber employed for supporting stopes in such ore
bodies is framed into spatial square sets.
The main idea behind the construction of square-set support in a
slope is to set up mine timbering in the farm of space lattice made of
Square-Set Sloping
round sticks or bars. The elements (Fig. 358) of such a lattice are 12
units placed along the edges of a parallelepiped. Two vertical (pi.sls)
and four horizontal members meet in each joint of the lattice, with the
two horizontal running parallel to the stope usually called caps and the
two perpendicular braces. The size of the square-set members depends
on the expected rock pressure and varies widely, while the height of
the posts in the clear of the set usually comes to 1 .8 -2 .5 metres, the
length of caps to 1.5-1. 8 metres and that of braces to 1 .2 -1 . 8 metres.
It is very important for the members of a square set to fit together
perfectly.
Fig. 358. Square sets
The units of square sets can obviously be used to fill a space of any
shape and size (Fig. 359). To make the square set stable, its upper
members, lying for the time being near the surface of an unblasled
solid mass of the mineral or wall rocks, are reinforced by knee braces,
wedges, temporary posts and stulls. The horizontal members or girts
of the square sets are covered with provisional flooring for the work
ers to stand on, and to transport mineral, filling materials, etc.
The broken ore is lowered to the haulageway along the dumping
slopes arranged in square sets.
The mined-out space supported by square sets may remain un
filled or be stowed with waste. Experience shows, however, that al
though the adjacent members of square sets should hold each other
in the definite position they are made to assume when they are set
up, a square set as a whole is a very “ delicate”structure, which is
easily disarranged by heavy rock pressure and consequently loses its
capacity of withstanding the weight of the ground. Square sets with no
Funnel-shaped gt waste filling are, therefore,

loading chutes
On A-C employed only in working ore
deposits containing particu
larly firm ground and then only
serve as a scaffolding. If used
otherwise, the sets are filled
with waste to make them suffi
ciently strong. When any indi
vidual members of the set be
come displaced it must be re
inforced immediately by ad
ditional posts, stulls, diagonal
braces and even cribs.
The availability of square
Fig. 359. Square-set sloping sets does not eliminate the
danger of ore cavings in the
course of the undercutting of extensive areas of the ore body.
Therefore, the square-set stoping of the ore—naturally done
from bottom up—should involve the undercutting of a small
area of the ore body. Hence the mining of large steeply dipping ore
deposits with square sets is effected in vertical sections 4.5 metres
wide of a length equal to the lateral width of the ore body. Such
working sections are called long working sections or cuts. When
the ore is weak, the area of these working sections may be limited
not only along the strike, but across it (short working sections or
cuts).
If practised by vertical sections or cuts, square-set stoping with
filling helps minimise ore losses even in working ores and rocks of
medium stability. Moreover, it creates favourable conditions for sort- .
ing ore and leaving the gangue picked out in the mass of the mine-
fill. On the other hand, this method is distinguished by low labour
efficiency and high consumption of mine timber, and for that reason
it should be employed advantageously only in working valuable ores.
6. Cut-and-Fill Method of Mining Thick Ore Deposits

It depends on the structure of an ore body whether the filling ma
terial is obtained from the country rocks enclosing the ore or, in the
case of monolith ores, is supplied from outside via the upper
drift.
For example, Fig. 360 is illustrative of mining a complex silver-
lead (plumbagine) vein, whose extraction yields a large amount of bar
ren ground which is subsequently used as filling material for stowing
worked-out space. If there is a surplus of gangue, it can be lowered
Cut-and-Fill Method of Mining Thick Ore Deposits 52.'!
through dumping chutes (or ore chutes) to the horizon below. Rich
ore is excavated separately (selectively) and passed down ore chutes
which are built of large lumps in the midst of the mine-fill and are
gradually extended.
Broken ore is conveyed by dumping chutes to the lower level
(Fig. 361). The filling material is supplied to the slope from the upper
drift and spread out with the aid of shovels or scrapers. The drawing
depicts a stepped slope with the holes
made in solid ore hy a column-mounted
drilling machine.
/ Level
: i : n s
in te v e i
mm
Fig. 360. Mining of a high Fig. 361. Cut-and-fill sloping
complex shoot with vein-rock i — la d d e r c o m p a rtm e n t; 2— w a s t e - f il l c h u t e ;
filling 3— b r o k e n o re ; 4— m i n e - f i l l ; <5— o r e - d is c h a r g e
c t iu t e
Here are two more examples of cut-and-fill stoping of large ore de
posits. Fig. 362 illustrates mining a highly dipping sulphide ore de
posit about 6 metres thick. The ore is jointed and susceptible to ex
foliation and formation of loose slabs. The level interval is 45 me
tres and the length of the block on strike comes to 25 metres. Since
the filling material is supplied from the upper drift through the
fill compartment of one of development openings bordering on the
extraction block, the surface of the mine-fill is made inclined to fa
cilitate its distribution in mined-out space. The flooring is also used
for the passage to the chutes of the ore broken in the inclined
stope.
The raises delimiting the extraction block and serving as a passage
way for the fill are put up in the hanging wall of the deposit, and the
chutes are cut in its foot wall. Filling eliminates the need for sill pil
lars over the haulageway and protective pillars near the raises. This
cuts ore losses to 2-3 per cent.
Fig. 363 illustrates the cut-and-fill stoping of a highly dipping ore

body of an average thickness of 25 metres. The ore is excavated in
rooms which are stowed immediately behind the advancing stopes with
filling materials supplied from the air level. The rooms are made with
a span of 1 2 metres, the width of the ore pillars temporarily left be
tween them being 9 metres. As the ore body is of considerable thick
ness, the long axes of the rooms run across the strike. Ore chutes
are arranged in the mass of the fill and have timber crib lining. Two
rows of ore chutes are put up along the room, at a distance of 6 me
tres between their axes. The raises are put up at the edge of each inter
mediary (rib) pillar. They serve as manways and for ventilation. Lat
er, in the process of robbing pillars lying between rooms stowed with
fill, they play the part of development workings through which ore
is recovered from pillars by methods described below, that is, by hori
zontal top slicing and sublevel caving.
Cut-and-fill stoping of ore deposits reduces ore losses to the mini
mum and, therefore, it should be applied in mining valuable ores. The
Shrinkage-Sloping r>25
system is particularly suitable for working deposits of self-igniting

ores (pyrite ores). There is a growing tendency towards wider use of
hydraulic fill (filling by flushing).
7. S h r i n k a g e - S t o p i n g
The preceding chapter described shrinkage-sloping as applied in

mining thin and medium-thick ore bodies. The same principle of coun
try-rock control is also widely used in working large ore deposits.
Here are two typical examples. Fig. 364 depicts mining a sulphide
ore deposit 5 metres thick, dipping at an angle of 65°. The deposit
is cut into extraction blocks by raises put up every 25 metres, with
a vertical level interval of 45 metres. The sill ore pillars left over the
haulage drift are 4.5 metres wide and at most 7 metres high. The up
per part of the pillars is chamfered to form pull-holes for the ore. The
position of the working face and shrinkage-stoped ore is shown in the
drawing. Small chambers are arranged above the drift, for the second
ary breaking of oversize ore drawn from shrinkage-stopes. After
;r
// A 11V /X B C //M S / / tm 'A 11? / /
o m - i
77. v////~
-.25.0: OnMS
Fig. 3G4. Shrinkage-sloping

of ore
the ore has been drawn off, the mined-out area is stowed with fill
supplied from the upper drift. The use of filling minimises ore losses
(3-5 per cent) and ensures low consumption of mine timber. The
efficiency of facemen is quite satisfactory.
The layout of raises flanking the extraction block, as shown in
Fig. 364, is admissible only in an ore body of moderate thickness and
good-quality fill.
In more complex conditions, the raises are made in rib pillars, as
depicted in Fig. 365, which illustrates shrinkage-stoping of an exten
sive ore body shaped like a dike made of igneous rocks with impreg
nation ores. The dike dips almost vertically and its thickness ranges
between 9 and 30 metres. The ore-bearing and country rocks are very
strong.
The vertical level interval, which is not divided into subfloors, is
50 metres. The shrinkage-sloped rooms are very extensive, exceeding
40 metres in height, the span (along the strike of the ore body) is 20
metres and the length equals the thickness of the deposit. The pillars
between shrinkage-slopes are 6 metres thick. In these pillars rise
headings are carried up, and from the headings crosscuts are driven
every 6 metres along the height and are connected with shrinkage-
rooms by short break-throughs. These openings are used for the pas-
Shrin kage-S top ing 527
sage of men, air supply and the delivery of drilling equipment from
the lower drift.
As usual, the distance between the face of the shrinkage-stope and
the surface of the waste Dll is maintained by drawing off the ore to
leave sufficient working space for handling stopers. In other words,
il should be somewhat higher than the man. Because of the exten
siveness of shrinkage-rooms and hardness of ore, breakage may yield
large blocks. For this reason a grizzly level is provided under the bot
tom of shrinkage-stopes (the bottom is in the shape of a series of fun
nel-like holes) and above the haulage horizon, where large lumps of
ore drawn through hoppers (discharge holes) may be broken up into
smaller pieces before being dumped into loading chutes (see Section
10 below). Since in this instance the long axis of shrinkage-rooms
runs across the line of strike (on account of the thickness of the ore
body), the loading chutes are not arranged directly in the haulage
drift but open into crosscuts connected with it.
When an overlying level is approached, a floor pillar of ore 3
metres thick is left in the shrinkage-stopes.
Shrinkagc-stoping makes it possible to recover floor pillars and pil
lars left near the haulageways and grizzly level of the overlying hori
zon. Just before the extraction of ore in the shrinkage-stope has been
completed (see the right half of the vertical section on strike in Fig.
365) its face is carried up right through the floor pillar to the former
upper haulageway.Numerous holes are drilled in the face of the shrink
age-stope in the Lop workings driven in the pillar adjacent to it, and
their simultaneous shooting breaks the ore and adds it to that already
stored in the stopes.
Ore tonnages yielded by this system of mining are rather consid
erable: output per man per shift is as high as 6 cu m; con
sumption of explosives is moderate although the ore is hard and comes
to 0.75 kg/m3, while that of mine timber is insignificant. The losses of
ore are low (5 per cent), but its dilution is high (up to 15 per cent).
Shrinkage-stoping of large ore bodies is warranted only in the case
of strong ore and firm country rocks. With these modibcations of the
method, when ore is drawn only at the bottom of shrinkage-stopes,
selective extraction of ore according to its grades is impossible and
ore should not have any sizable inclusions of gangue.
8. C a v i n g M e t h o d s o f M i n i n g
The most typical case of working a large deposit by caving cover

rocks involves horizontal top slicing.
The principle underlying this method is elucidated by Fig. 366,
referring to mining a steeply dipping lenticular ore body up to 1 2
metres in thickness.
Caving Methods of Mining 529
18 -J02i>
From a haulage drift made in the ore body inclined rise headings
are carried up at 25-metre intervals on strike.
The ore body is extracted in descending order by horizontal slices
2.5 metres thick. To accomplish this, a slice drift is run from the
rise heading along the strike of the lense intended for maintaining
communications with thestopesand for the passage of ore via appro
priate compartments. The ore in the slice is extracted on both sides
of this drift by narrow slabs, generally running in a direction oppo
site to that of the corresponding ore chutes. Each slab cut should have
very strong support, for the caving rocks exert appreciable pressure.
When a regular slab cut has been extracted, timbering in the preceding
slab is knocked down (shot down) and the ground is allowed to cave
in over the entire area of the slab.
Ore in horizontal top slicing is usually hauled to discharge chutes
by scrapers, although conveyers can be used too.
The use of scrapers to pull ore along the bottom of the slice presents
some inconveniences and their movement is hampered by timber
sets. To remedy this situation, special scraper or storage trenches,
that is, trench-like recesses, are cut out in the floor of the slice to serve
as a receptacle for broken ore. This scraper trench is used to slush
ore to discharge chutes. Another method is to arrange storage or
scram drifts 1, driven every two or three slices (Fig. 367). They are
connected with the working slices by small pull-holes2 for the draw
ing of the ore, which is also hauled to the main discharge chute
along the scram drift. Fig. 363 is illustrative of mining several
horizontal slices instead of one.
To avoid contaminating the ore with waste, a timber mat is laid
on the bottom of the topmost slice. As the slices are worked out, this
mat gradually sinks and in each slice is covered by the pieces of tim
ber which remain in the goaf after the timbering has been knocked
down in the process of slice caving, and by new layers of the mat.
This mat, separating ore from cover rocks, is called flexible mat.
It not only prevents smaller pieces of ore in the back of the slice from
falling through, but also helps even out the pressure bearing down
on the face timbering. The system is characterised by the immense
expenditure of mine timber—up to 100-150 cu m per 1,000 cu m of the
ore mined. Other disadvantages are low output per man per shift
and high consumption of explosives—usually 1.5-2 kg per 1 cu m of
ore. The latter is attributed to the fact that the weight of ore proper
does not help the explosive force. This method complicates ventila
tion of slopes. The storage or scram drifts described above also
improve ventilation conditions in the stopes.
In order to enhance the efficiency of facemen, A. Gmbin and
N. Yenikeyev have proposed extracting slices not by slab cuts but
by .long faces (walls) with the use of conveyers.
Caving Methods of Mining 5.H1
Blind drift
18*
5.52 Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
Sublevel Caving 5!3
Among the positive aspects of the top-slicing method are the possi
bility of applying it for weak cover rocks and the insignificant ore
losses (not more than 3-4 per cent when operations are properly con
ducted). The presence of firm country rocks and a strong ore makes this
system unsuitable, since in this case the ground fails to cave imme
diately after extraction, while later there is a danger of spontaneous
mass breakings. Horizontal lop slicing may be employed in working
extensive thick ore bodies of irregular shape, provided the layout of
the raises and ore chutes conforms to the contours of the ore body.
The application of the system may also prove necessary if the prop
erties of the ground and ore correspond to those mentioned above,
and in mining valuable ores where losses are to be kept down to the
minimum.
9. Sublevel Caving
A general idea of this mining method may be gleaned from
Fig. 369. A thick steeply dipping ore body is mined from Lop down
by sublevels at an interval of 7-20 metres. The working sublevels are
connected with the main haulageway by inclined rise headings (see
Fig. 369). Inasmuch as foot wall rocks cave in completely at a given site
of each sublevel after extraction, lateral raises have to be gradually
carried up to secure connection with the air horizon, and from these
raises short crosscuts must be driven to the ore body itself. In the
ore body these crosscuts merge into cross drifts. The actual stuping
of ore is done by a set of rather complex methods (described below).
Section C~C Section A-A
Fig. 369. Sublevel caving

534 Methods of M i n in g Thick Ore Deposits
Broken ore is hauled to discharge chutes, from whose gates it is load

ed into mine cars in the haulage level. Mining is generally done
from the hanging wall to the foot wall.
The sublevel caving system is very widely used in the Krivoi
Rog iron ore district. With time the modes of stoping here have been
modified to increase sublevel interval with the view to enhancing la
bour productivity and raising output in individual stopes, and to
reduce at the same time the number of development openings in each
sublevel. The sublevel interval has been increased by drilling longer
holes with the aid of sectional steel. At first, the sublevel interval
did not exceed 5-6 metres, while the actual extraction of ore was
effected by inefficient side or slab cuts.
The first variation to supersede mining by slab cuts involved the
use of “open rooms”(Fig. 370). Work in them, however, proved un
safe, and the method was therefore abandoned. As before, the sub-
level interval in the open-room method remained at 5-6 metres and
was later increased to 8-10 metres. The distance between the axes of
the rooms was 7 metres. From the room ore was pulled out and hauled
to an ore pass by a scraper. The trough-like shape of the room bot
tom made it possible for ore pieces to roll down to the scraper path.
Apart from the above-mentioned danger, work in open rooms without
mats entailed high ore losses and deterioration of its quality (30 per
cent and over).
Another alternative for the extraction of ore, feasible also in work
ing a weaker ore, became known as “ pear-shaped side cuts or slabs”
(Fig. 371). In this variant, small openings were cut at intervals of
7 metres on both sides of the crosscut or slice drift, and their
7.0
Fig. 370. “
Open-room" mining
Sublevel Caving 535
F ig . 3 71 . Extraction by “pear-shaped" slabs
F ig . 3 72 . “Closed fan” method of ore extraction
top portions were then enlarged to assume pear-like shape. The

remaining ore was blasted by simultaneous firing of several holes.
The method proved safer than that of “ open room s”, but it did not
eliminate large ore losses.
The modification of sublevel caving now employed in the Krivoi
Rog district is one called locally “ closed fan”(Fig. 372). It allows
increasing the sublevel interval to 12 and more metres and involves
driving up small inclined raises (“ pull-holes”) from the cross drifts,
at intervals of 7 metres. They are subsequently connected with each
other above these same cross drifts. From this break-through a se
ries of up-holes 6-8 metres long are drilled. Their subsequent shooting
53fi Methods o f M in in g Thick Ore Deposits
Sublevel Caving 537
F ig . 3 74 . Mining of ore by sublevel caving
77 Section
F i g . 375. A variant of sloping operations
breaks down the ore, which is then allowed to run into the cross
drift. The ore is slushed to the ore pass. No mats are used in these
operations.
Breaking of ore by deep blast-holes is being used more and more.
One of the varieties of the method is depicted in Fig. 373. A block
(locally “panel”) 30 metres long, 17 metres wide and 18 metres high
is mined at a time. The ore is drawn into two sublevel openings (drifts
and crosscuts). The bottom portion of the block is worked by a meth
od resembling the “ closed fan” , while the top is broken by horizon
tal or slightly inclined holes, which are also bored in fan-shaped
rounds to facilitate the installation of drilling machines.
538 Methods o f M i n in g Thick Ore Deposits
Sublevel caving, as it is practised today, is illustrated by

Fig. 374. The level interval is about 60 metres and this is divided
into sublevels 12-18 metres high.
The height can be increased still further if stoping is conducted in
the manner shown in Fig. 375, which is called “ stoping in rooms over
pull-holes”in the Krivoi Rog iron ore district. The distinguishing
traits of this alternative may be seen in the drawing.
The “ closed fan”modification raises output per faceman to as
much as 30 tons, while in long-hole blasting it is even 40-45 tons
per shift.
Sublevel caving may be applied to recover the rib or intermediary
pillars left between caved or worked-out and then filled rooms.
This is illustrated by Fig. 376. From the lateral rise headings driven
nr Section A -i'
Ptan B~B
Oreyehole
Manway anil ventilating
raise
Fig- B76. R-lb

covery b PUlars re.
coving Su^ eVel
Methods o f M in in g with Induced Caving o j Ore 539
in the country rocks of the foot wall, short crosscuts are driven every
12 metres vertically opposite the centre of the rib pillar, and from
these crosscuts cross drifts are run in the ore to the hanging wall.
Ore is broken in the way depicted by Fig. 376. Blasted ore is pulled
to discharge chutes by scrapers.
This mode of pillar robbing reduces labour efficiency, increases
consumption of mine timber and makes ventilation of the stoping
area difficult. Nevertheless, it makes it possible to cope with the
difficult task of recovering ore from pillars left between the rooms
worked-out earlier.
10. Methods of Mining with Induced Caving of Ore

(Block Caving)
It has latterly become a common practice in Soviet metalliferous
mines to use a method of mining involving mass caving of ore within
a level (or sublevel) by blasting column charges of explosive. These
are put into horizontally inclined or vertical blast-holes up to 40-45
metres deep, bored with the aid of special rotary drilling machines.
This highly efficient method of underground breaking of ore origi
nated in the Krivoi Rog iron district.
In this instance the natural process of spontaneous caving is re
placed by one induced by blasting; hence the name of the system.
The conduct of development work and stoping operations is illustrat
ed by the typical example discussed below (Fig. 377).
A level with a 50-metre interval is prepared for stoping by lateral
or fringe drifts made in the foot wall of the main and air horizons.
To provide for a “ loop”system of haulage a drift is run in the ore
near the hanging wall and connected with a lateral drift by crosscuts
and blind drifts (not shown in Fig. 377). The block of ore to be caved
extends over 27 metres on strike and 42 metres across it. The pillar
on the side facing a formerly worked-out block is 8 metres wide.
The development of the block starts with the driving up of air and
service raises 1 outside the boundaries of the zone to be caved, near
the hanging and foot walls. Carried parallel with this are ore passes 2,
at a distance of 11 metres between axes, along the strike. This is
followed by driving cross drifts 3 for scraping, 8 metres above the
haulage level, which are then connected by hanging and foot wall
drifts of a relatively small section, driven in ore and serving as air
and passageways to maintain the communication between scraper
cross drifts.
The driving of crosscuts 3, ore drifts 4 and the break-throughs
connecting them with raises 1 opens up a wide front for the sub
sequent running of subordinate development workings, such as ore
passes 5 and cross drifts on discharge or draw hole level 6.
W10 Methods of M i n in g Thick Ore Deposits
F i g . 377. D i a g r a m s h o w i n g i n d u c e d
(block) caving of ore
a — ore-b reak in g stage;
6— ore-dra w in g s t a g e
Methods of Mining with Induced Caving of Ore 541
Blast-holes are bored from drilling chambers (niches) arranged in

raises 1. These chambers accommodate drilling machines.
A small service hoist ,is installed in the air level to facilitate
lowering and lifting heavy equipment. An electric power cable and
water pipes are laid in raises 1 to Lhe drilling machines. Each block
has two to four machines to drill blast-holes.
Within the slice to be caved the blast-holes are arranged in fan
shaped rounds (Fig. 378), although the effect of blasting is somewhat
better when they are parallel. The fan-shaped arrangement is superior
to the parallel because it reduces the volume of labour-consuming
development operations and the number of drilling-machine transfers.
Krivoi Rog experience shows that the results of parallel and

fan-shaped hole blasting are about the same.
The vertical spacing of blast-hole rows depends on the diameter
of holes and the hardness of ore. Thus, in the case of ore of average
hardness and blast-hole diameter of 1 0 0 - 1 1 0 mm the distance is about
4-4.5 metres, and with 80-90-mm holes—3-3.5 metres, depending
on the strength of the ore.
The drilling of blast-holes is paralleled by the stoping of ore in
undercutting chamber 7 (Fig. 377), whose purpose it is to form an
exposure surface for explosive action and to compensate for the loos
ening of ore in the block subject to caving. The volume of the under
cutting chamber should come to about 30 per cent of that part of the
solid ore mass which is to be blasted. If the ore in the undercutting
chamber is insufficiently firm, temporary pillars are left, to be shot
down first in the process of bulk blasting. Ore passes 5 are widened
into hopper-shaped draw holes at the time when ore is drawn from
the undercutting chamber. On the termination of these operations
and after the thorough timbering of the mined-out scram level and
the drilling of all blast-holes, they are charged with explosives.
For this purpose use is made of special explosive sticks of an appro
priate diameter and up to 0.5 metre long, or else ordinary sticks of
ammonite or dinitrotoluene, bundled together into larger cartridges.
These are delivered into the blast-hole by wooden charging sticks
made of two-metre-long sections. A string (a strand of a hemp rope)
or a piece of steel rope 6 - 8 mm thick is fastened to the first section
of the charging stick. The explosive is charged in lots of two-three
special cartridges (or in bunches of two-three ordinary sticks). The
diameter of charging-stick sections is inferior to that of blast-holes.
The string attached to the first section extends in the blast-hole
on one side of the charging stick. After the delivery of the ex
plosives into the hole, the charging stick is pulled out by this
string.
The stemming is done with a mixture of clay and sand. When the
rounds are fan-shaped, some of the blast-holes are filled with stem
ming to a considerable depth to avoid unnecessary breakage of ore
in an area of their convergence near the drilling chamber (niche).
The length of the stemming in such cases is determined graphically,
the basic condition being the definite minimal distance between the
charges.
Blast-hole charges are fired simultaneously within the boundaries
of each slice with the aid of a detonating fuse. The charges in the
slice itself are fired in rotation at intervals of 1 or 2 seconds. For
slis purpose electric delay detonators are employed.
In the event a block to be caved borders on an earlier worked-out
section, the support pillar left for the period needed to arrange an
undercutting chamber is shot down together with the lop portion of

the block by firing the blast-holes drilled in it.
Fig. 379 is illustrative of a commutation pattern (connection
diagram) in blasting the charges. The knife-switch closing the elec
tric firing circuit is turned on on the surface, after the men had left
the mine and measures had been taken to prevent an air blast (filling
of draw holes with ore). Blasting operations are usually carried out
on a day-off. The ventilation of the mine lasts 1-2 work shifts. The
common practice is to call in a mine rescue station crew who take
samples of the mine atmosphere by descending periodically into
the pit with air-breathing masks. The samples are tested for CO,
NOj and C0 2 content. Permission to resume work and lower men
into the mine is given only when the level of obnoxious gases is
again normal.
The drawing off of caved ore is started when the mine workings
have been ventilated and put in order after the explosion. The
broken ore (see Fig. 377b) discharged from ore transfer raises 5 on
to the scram level is hauled by a scraper to ore pass 2, loaded into
6slice Hectric delay

detonators - Osec
5slice dilio 3see
g slice ditto 2sec
3slice ditto tsu
isttet
1slice flectrlc instant

detonators
1'slice
1‘suct
firing switch in me naulagt

drift of the mint
'c.B / C°yoLe Blast holt

on the surfact Fig. 379. Firing circuit com
mutation in deep blast-holes
mine cars in Ihe haulage leve
jwuumwmmtfa and then taken in electric trains
f/M utf/M /M /f,
to the shaft.
In addition to a horizontal
contact surface with barren cover
rocks, the second and third series
of extraction blocks have lateral
ones, on the side of the sec
tions earlier mined out and
caved. Fig.377« depicts an extrac
tion block with one lateral con
F i g . 3 3 0 . A. Minyailo drill ins; machine
setup tact surface, but there may be
two and even three. To reduce
ore losses in sloping the zone bordering on barren rocks, the number
of lateral contact surfaces should not exceed two. In mining the
extraction block shown in Fig. 377 ore from the draw holes under the
pillar is last to he discharged. The ore pillars left at the foot
and hanging walls are mined by other methods. Such combined
extraction within one level is less economical because the in
creased number of its stages is likely to impair the efficacy of
stoping.
Below are some details of the operations cited above. Blast-holes
in Ihe Krivoi Rog iron district are drilled by special machines
designed by engineer A. Minyailo (Fig. 380), the Ore-Mining Re
search Institute and others. The drill hits are made at the mines of
seamless steel pipes and tipped with tungsten carbide. Blast-holes
are drilled at a rate of 2 to 2 0 and more metres per shift, this depend
ing on the hardness and structure of ore and their diameter. In
asmuch as the increase in the length of a blast-hole requires a cor
responding increase in time for inserting and withdrawing the drill
steel, the efficiency of drilling somewhat drops.
The drawing of ore broken by bulk blasting is one of the most
responsible operations determining the ultimate results of the
method of mining with induced caving. In blocks with upright walls
the most rational method is that of uniform consecutive drawing of
equal portions of ore from all the draw holes in the bottom. In these
conditions, the contact surface between the ore and the caved cover
rocks subsides, but generally retains a horizontal position until
it reaches a certain critical point, determined by the physical prop
erties of ore, the diameter of the draw holes and their spacing.
This method of ore drawing makes it possible to extract maximum
pure ore before it becomes contaminated.
Successful discharge of ore requires an appropriate size of drawing
chutes. There are instances in the United States of Ihe discharge
openings of drawing chutes measuring 1.2x3 metres. Their sides
arc made of reinforced concrete with

steel plate stiffeners. These chutes
have air-operated gates.
Studying the phenomena occurring
in the drawing of ore, Prof. G. Ma
lakhov has staged numerous experi
ments with special laboratory models.
One such model was a box with a
glass side wall and draw-hole-like
openings in the bottom. The box was
filled with coarse sand divided by
horizontal bands of coloured charcoal
powder to facilitate the observation
of any shifts occurring in the sand
layers during the modelling. Some of
the tests aimed at drawing sand via
one chute (Fig. 381). It may be seen
that the mass of sand displaced during
the drawing process assumes the
shape of an ellipse, very much extend
ed upward near the glass side wall
of the model. Its spatial counterpart
would obviously be a discharge ellip
soid. Consequently, to be drawn off Fig. 381. Model testing of ore
from an entire block ore must be dis drawing through a single dis
charged simultaneously from a num charge chute (G. Malakhov's
ber of chutes. Fig. 382 shows the con experiment)
secutive phases of such drawing.
As seen in Fig. 382, in the case of uniform drawing, the strip of
charcoal originally (a) at the height of 30 cm subsides but retains
an altitude close to a horizontal (b) over a distance of 17.5 cm.
Below the critical height (12.5 cm), the contact surface acquires an
undulating shape (c) and in the course of further drawing (d) changes
into a series of funnel-shaped holes.
In pit conditions any further drawing of ore is accompanied by
its dilution. In our mines ore is drawn consecutively uniformly,
with the contact surface maintained horizontally.
Of much interest is the series of experiments conducted by Mala
khov in drawing ore in conditions of high dip (Fig. 383). Here one
sees the discharge ellipsoid grow in height vertically until it reaches
the hanging wall, and then shifts to the rise. The ore is held
up at the foot wall and so, when the dip is not too steep, ad
ditional workings with drawing holes have to be arranged in
the foot wall at some distance between the haulage and air
levels.
;/i(i Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
Fig. 382. Model testing of ore drawing through several discharge chutes
Methods o j Mining with Induced Caving o j Ore
MS Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
Before planning block caving operations, one must compile a

special ore drawing chart (planogram).
When “ chokes”are caused over a draw hole by ore hanging in large
blocks, they are blasted out. The explosive charges, in sticks weigh
ing 1-5 kg, are brought to the site of a choke on poles.
The variant of the induced caving (block-caving) system involv
ing the arrangement of an undercutting chamber with an extensive
exposure area, depicted in Fig. 377, is applicable in firm ore
only.
If mined ore does not allow large exposure areas, the undercutting
chamber should be replaced by vertical compensation slots with
a total volume equal to that of the chamber but lesser exposure of
the back (Fig. 384).
When the section of the deposit to be mined has been divided into
a series of zones 2 0 metres wide on strike, lateral drifts a and air
(and service) raises b are carried up. At the hanging wall these raises
are run from the cross drifts of the secondary breaking level. From
the raises, niches for drilling machines are cut out at definite inter
vals. Workings of secondary breaking level c, ore transfer raises r
and crosscuts in draw level o are driven at the same time.
On the completion of development work and the drilling of blast-
holes vertical compensation slots are formed in odd-numbered
zones. Ore in these slots is broken by blast-holes or sectional steel
long-holes from sublevel drifts. In the former case, the "catching”
draw holes are widened over the entire area of the slot before the
blast-holes are shot. In the latter case, the mining method is similar
to that accepted in sublevel stoping.
During the caving of even-numbered zones it is the pillar between
the compensation slots that is shot down first and then the overlying
block of ore. After this, vertical compensation slots are formed in
the even-numbered zones and these are also blasted. Ore is drawn
from over the entire area of the caved extraction block. The latter’ s
size differs from direction to direction. It is also possible to elTect
caving in only one zone.
Ore is discharged through draw holes on to grizzlies set up in
bilateral blasting chambers and from there, after undergoing second
ary breakage, it is loaded into mine cars in the main haulage level
via ore chutes with gates. From each pair of branch raises (chutes)
ore is drawn separately and as it flows by gravity slushing is not
necessary.
The choice of the proper method of bottom section preparation
(including the arrangement of a grizzly level or scram drifts) must
lake account of concrete mining conditions. To cut down the volume
of development work and running maintenance costs, miners in the
Krivoi Hog district usually give preference to scram levels.
Fig. 385 is illustrative of induced (block) caving in mining a flat

dipping ore body and breaking ore by deep vertical blast-holes
(up-holes). In this case, scram level 1 is arranged near the bottom of
the ore deposit. Scram cross drifts 1 are run as shown in Fig. 385.
On the sides of cross drifts niches are cut out and from there short
inclined raises (branch raises) are driven, followed by draw holes
receiving broken ore. Over the draw holes is the undercutting level.
Undercutting covers the entire area of the solid mass of ore to be
caved. To preclude premature downfalls, a portion of the ore block
is temporarily left in the form of pillars.
To facilitate the drilling of blast-holes, special chambers 2 are
excavated near the back of the deposit. Depending on the strength
of the ore, they are G to 12 metres wide and 3.5-4 metres high. Cross
cuts 3 are run level with these chambers in the upper portion of
temporary pillars to make it possible to drill blast-hole rounds in
them. The latter are drilled from the chambers and cross drifts with
shot-drilling machines, vertically downward, in rows spaced at
3x3 m both ways and with a diameter of 108 mm.
To obtain compensating space, only a part of the blast-holes are
fired at first, and broken ore flows through draw holes to the scraper
level. From there, via inclined ore passes (transfer raises) 4 driven
in the rock of the foot wall, it is passed further on to the main haulage
level. After sufficient compensating space has been obtained all the
blast-holes are charged and fired and broken ore is discharged from
all the draw holes.
The application o the induced (block) caving method allows an
appreciable increase in efficiency and reduces the consumption of
explosives. Mine timber consumption with this system is insignifi
cant. All this considerably cuts the primary cost of one ton of ore
stoped.
The percentage of ore dilution in induced caving amounts to 5-10,
but when wall rocks include valuable components the recovery rate
of available reserves may be as high as 1 0 0 per cent and over, with
the metal content in drawn-off ore somewhat reduced.
The advantages of induced block caving are:
1) High degree of safety, since the miners engaged in sLoping
work in openings of small section (grizzly level, drilling cham
bers).
2) Reduced dust formation in the atmosphere of the mine,
this being achieved through large-scale substitution of percussion for
rotary drilling, which is of vast importance for combating silicosis.
The secondary breaking (grizzly) level, however, continues to be a
serious source of dust production.
3) High rate of production and labour efficiency, insignificant
consumption of materials and low mining costs.
Methods of Mining with Induced Caving oj Ore 551
4) Abundance of broken ore in the mine, this making possible its

uninterrupted drawing.
The disadvantages of the method:
1) Considerable time required for the development of extraction
blocks.
2) Stringent regulations governing appropriate drawing of ore.
3) Large losses of ore and high rate of its dilution with waste as
the result of unsuccessful
Section I i blasts and inappropriate
Drilling Drilling machine drawing of ore.
machine rooms crosscuts
! Undercut levee
T'
j Scraper Level
\C/2 7 ^
Transfer
1 \ i ^ raises
_______ Vfl--------- ^ - =
P l a n H l'M
Pian D-D
vuw ,yyys,yyyyyyy/;//M *,/////////zfa

^i^ S cra p er crosscuts -
Transfer raises
F i g . 385. In d u ced caviDg o f ore and its b rea k a ge by the firin g o f ch arges in
v ertica l b la st- h o les
YY2 Methods of Mining Thick Ore Deposits
11. Methods Involving Natural (Spontaneous) Caving of O re
As in induced caving with this method of mining, the ore is prelim-.

inarily undercut, and after that it caves in under its own weight.
Fig. 386 depicts one of the current modifications of the system as
applied in the Krivoi Rog iron district. The drawing shows an
axonomelrically projected portion of the extraction block in a very
large deposit of weak ore (its coefficient of hardness, according to
Protodyakonov, is from 3 to 6 ). The country rocks enclosing the ore
body include hornfels, whose coefficient of hardness ranges from 6
to 8 . They contain 35-37 per cent of iron. The extraction block is
60 metres high, 70 metres long and 50 metres wide.
The block is developed from main drift 2 and crosscuts 1. At a
height of 7 metres above the haulage level lies a scram (scraper)
horizon, where drifts 4 and cross drifts 6 are driven every 10 metres.
Fig. 386. Mining by spontaneous block caving

Methods Involving Natural (Spontaneous) Caving of Ore 553
Ore mass 3, seven metres thick and lying between the haulage and
scraper levels, is called scraper sublevel. Lying over it is draw
hole sublevel 5, which is 8 metres high. Ore discharged through draw
holes (finger raises) is slushed to ore passes or transfer raises along
the scraper level and is then chuted down to the haulage level to be
loaded into mine cars.
The drifts and crosscuts in the scraper horizon are timbered with
three-piece frame sets and the points of their interconnection are
reinforced by metal square sets. To facilitate scraper travel, rails
are laid on the floor of the scraper level drifts and the set posts are
sheathed by an iron sheet at the bottom. The use of drag or plate
conveyers in lieu of scrapers would reduce the section of haulage
openings and that would increase their stability.
To weaken cohesion between the block to be caved and the solid
mass of ore surrounding it, the block is preliminarily cut off by
shrink drifts and crosscuts 8. These openings are run every 8-10 me
tres from cut-out raise 7.
Before it is caved, the block of ore is undercut. For that rounds of
deep horizontal blast-holes are drilled over the draw-off raises in
the undercutting level. To make possible their drilling and facilitate
the breaking and fracturing of ore, a series of drifts and crosscuts are
run in the undercutting level.
These are spaced so as to facilitate the complete destruction of
ore pillars between the undercutting openings after the blast-holes
have been fired.
As the blasted ore is drawn from the raises, the undercut block of
ore spontaneously subsides and caves in under its own weight and
that of the cover rocks (see Fig. 386). This is facilitated by the above-
mentioned shrink or boundary drifts and crosscuts fringing the
block. As it caves in and settles down, the ore fractures into finer
pieces and flows by gravity via draw-off raises to the scraper level
drifts, where scrapers haul it to transfer ore raises and pass it through
chutes into the haulage level.
By registering the amount of ore drawn from each chute, it becomes
possible to form a rough idea of the movement of ore occurring in
the block when it caves in and settles down. Fig. 387, referring to
the mining of the large Bolshevik iron ore deposit in the Krivoi Rog
district, demonstrates the progress of caving and the position of the
subsiding ore surface month by month in 1950. The first signs of ore
dilution appeared after 2/3 of the ore reserves undercut for spontane
ous caving had been drawn.
To prevent ore from being diluted by waste, it is drawn in accord
ance with an earlier compiled chart (planogram).
There are other variations of this method with no slushing opera
tions, with ore being passed down to the haulage level through
1.1.1950
Fig. 387. flavins' ore surface in different

periods of its drawing
Fig. 388. Branch ore raise system
Fig. 389. Underground grizzlies

Combined Methods of Controlling Enclosing Country Rocks
branch (finger) raises (Fig. 388), which we have already seen in

Fig. 385. This modification, however, requires a great deal of complex
development work in barren rocks.
If ore to be drawn contains large lumps, a grizzly or secondary
breaking level is arranged below the draw-ofT or finger raises. The
large pieces of ore may be broken in stationary grizzlies (Fig. 389)
with hand tools or, if necessary, by small explosive charges.
Quite a number of conditions are necessary to ensure successful
natural (spontaneous) block caving of ore. These are: 1) undercut ore
should cave in and fracture into pieces making its drawing possible,
and it must not be allowed to compact; 2 ) hanging wall rocks should
be stronger than ore and apt to cave in in large blocks; 3) deposit
must be large, not less than 20-25 metres thick with flat dip and not
less than 25-30 metres in steep dip; 4) since the application of this
method involves high ore losses (at least 2 0 per cent) and dilution
with waste (to 30 and more per cent), it can be used only in mining
poor ores; 5 ) the negative efTect of dilution is somewhat attenuated
when the enclosing country rocks contain ore matter (as is the case
in the example above); 6 ) the elaboration of this constructively com
plex method of mining necessitates thorough preliminary exploration
of the deposit.
If these rather rigid conditions are complied with, the system en
sures safety of mining operations, high production and labour effi
ciency rates (60-80 tons per faceman per shift and 15-25 tons per un
derground worker per shift), reduced consumption of explosives and
mine timber, low mining costs and the possibility of increasing the
overall output of the mine as a whole.
12. Combined Methods of Controlling Enclosing

Country Rocks
Underlying the classification of mining methods is the principle

of controlling the enclosing country rocks. In certain mining systems
these methods can be combined with each other.
Thus, quite distinct from other systems of mining is that of square-
set sloping. At the same time, as stated above, the square sets quite
frequently, though not always, are filled with waste to make them
stronger. Equally, in singling out stull-set mining, we bear in mind
that in most cases here the mined-out area is also supported by
a mass of mine-fill or shrinkage-stoped ore.
In the working of thick deposits shrinkage-stoped rooms may,
after ore has been drawn, be packed with filling materials, while rib
pillars in the second phase of mining may be recovered by horizontal
slicing or sublevel caving.
These examples are a good illustration of the fact that the choice
of a proper system of mining does not necessarily imply adopting
just one single method of country-rock control, for the combination
of two and even several different methods may, depending on the
conditions prevailing, prove quite justifiable.
13. Some Remarks on the Mining of Precious Stones (Gems)

Mining of the numerous occurrences of various gems is only in
exceptional cases well-organised and technically equipped. One of
the most important of these exceptions is the production of diamonds.
Of other precious stones apart from diamonds, sapphire, amber and
emerald are the only ones whose annual production comes tol- 2 million
nihies. For the other gems the figure is below that. Hence, with the
exception of the ones named above, the other precious stones are
mined on a small scale. If all precious stones were classified into
groups hy geological origin and the proportion of each in the total
vnlue of world output were estimated in per cent, Academician A.
Foisman says, 62.3 per cent of this value would be accounted by gems
(almost exclusively diamonds) found in peridotite and basalt rocks
and 35 per cent by those recovered in secondary bedding, among
sands and talus. Only 2.7 per cent of the aggregate value of gem out
put represents the share of all the other groups, the most important
being pegmatite veins in granites and granite contacts. This makes
it quite clear that, barring diamonds, most gems, taking their value,
are extracted from placers and the outcrops of pegmatite veins and,
as already stated, in small-scale mining operations.
Extensive information on the original discoveries of precious
stone occurrences, their search, prospecting and even mining may be
found in Fersman’ s capital monograph Precious and Semiprecious
Stones in the U.S.S.R.
In the Urals, gems are very often found when washing gold and
platinum placers (for example, demantoid garnet in the Tagil dis
trict).
In the U.S.S.R. emerald occurrences are the only ones that are
worked by technically equipped mining enterprises. Latterly, how
ever, extremely rich diamond deposits have been discovered in Eastern
Siberia and a diamond mining industry has now been set up.
Underground production of diamonds is so far biggest in South
Africa. The diamond-bearing rocks (kimberlites—“ blue ground”or
“blue earth” ) occur in the shape of singular vertical cylindro-conical
bodies (pipes). The average diamond content in this rock is 0.50-0.25
of a carat (0.2 g) per ton. The hardness of kimberlite is variable, but
generally this rock is not too strong and weathers easily. The vertical
spacing of levels is from 85 to 160 metres. The sublevel interval comes
Seme Remirks on the Mining of Precious Stones (GJtns)
lo 12 metres. The mining

pattern (Fig. 390) is as On A-A
follows. In the lower
part of each sublevel a
network of tramming
openings driven at light
angles to each other are
arranged at intervals of
40-70 metres. These cut
the sublevel into blocks
with square bases. The
workings have an arched
ceiling with no support.
Prior to extraction oper
ations, each block is di-
videdby subsidiary open
ings running perpendicu Plan
larly to the bounda
ries of the deposit at
7-metre intervals. Devel
oped “ blue ground”blocks
are mined by a com
bined method: partly by
blasting in overhead
slopes and partly by cav- __________________,-----------
ing the mineral. In the |V/////////M V ////7//\,A Y/////A
latter case, it is shrink- II 'A
age-sloped in produc 777\ B lu e e a r th "
tion faces. Kimberlite in
each sublevel is extract- ESI 'Blue earth"in shrinkage stop es .
cd from the boundary Country rock
of the deposit towards
the side nearest the Fig. 390. Method of mining diamond
bearing kimberlites
hoist ing shaft. Diamond
bearing rock is blasted
and then shrinkage-stoped (see bottom sublevel in Fig. 390), with
a portion of it, corresponding to the percentage expansion on
loosening, being removed from the stopes. The latter may be left
with almost no support. When these workings approach the top por
tion of the sublevel, part of the “ blue ground”caves in under the
weight of the overlying barren rocks. This is followed by the drawing
of the shrinkage-stoped “ blue ground” , whose place is gradually taken
up by the subsiding cover rocks.
A certain amount of diamond-bearing rock in the top portion of
the sublevel becomes mixed with waste and is lost. The caved ground
lies at an angle of repose (around 40°). The latter stage of mining

involves the overhand stoping of a new sublevel section, in the course
of which the broken kimberlite falls on to the caved ground (Fig. 390).
These operations are carried out simultaneously in several sub-
levels. The mined diamond-bearing rock is then brought to round
vertical transfer raises with a diameter of 1 .8 - 3 metres and goes
through them to the main haulage level.
The above described system may be included in the combined
group, since the mineral is extracted partly in overhand stopes by
the shrinkage method and partly made to cave in.
14. Mining by Glory Holes (Milling)

The idea lying back of this method implies driving a series of
horizontal workings communicating with the surface via some
permanent mine opening (shaft, adit, etc., Fig. 391). From these
lateral workings vertical ore-pass raises, equipped with discharge
chutes at the bottom, are carried up right to the surface. The mouths
of these raises are made funnel-shaped, their ridges gradually extend
ing to meet each other. The mineral blasted on the periphery of the
funnels slides down the raises. Ore should be broken so as to avoid
oversize pieces. Sometimes grizzlies made of solid poles are laid down
at the bottom of mill holes to hold up large lumps and facilitate
their breakage.
The method is a combination of open-cut and underground mining.
Glory-hole mining largely depends on climatic conditions. Safety
measures must be taken to prevent men working on the slopes of
mill holes (safety belts, delinite sequence of ore breaking, etc.)
from falling. Sorting of ore and picking out of waste on the sides
of mill holes are impossible. On the other hand, transportation of
ore at the stopes is reduced to a minimum and there is no need of
any kind of support. That makes it cheap to excavate ore.
Fig. 391 illustrates mining of an ore body with an irregular out
line, dipping steeply, of an average thickness of 50 metres. The
layout and size of glory holes are shown in the drawing. In this case
broken ore goes to a grizzly level. Output per faceman per shift is
3 cu m, explosive and mine timber consumption is 0.8 kg/m3 and
6 cu m per 1,000 cu m of ore, respectively. The underground work
ings are connected with the surface by an adit.
15. Basic Notions of Ore Leaching

It is common knowledge that mine water pumped from under
ground copper ore workings contains dissolved copper compounds.
Iron objects submerged in this water acquire a coating of metallic
copper. This method of obtaining copper is called cementation.
Basic Notions of Ore Leaching 559
Fig. 391. Glory hole mining (milling)
This simple and cheap method of concomitant extraction of cer

tain amounts of copper has been seized upon to obtain copper in old
abandoned mines, whose mining entailed high losses of the
mineral.
To extract large amounts of copper, one should not be satisfied
with the natural flow of water into the mine, but get supplementary
amounts of it to the old mined-out workings. To intensify leaching,
a weak solution of sulphuric acid is sometimes pumped into a mine
instead of water.
C H A P T E R XXII
MINING OF CONTIGUOUS BEDS
1. Undermining of Adjacent Beds
When beds, veins and ore bodies in general are close to each other,
the excavation of one may sometimes unfavourably affect the extrac
tion of the adjacent bed or ore body. This adverse effect on the con
ditions governing the mining of one bed, caused by the preliminary
excavation of another, is termed undermining the first from below
or from above.
Undermining has particularly dangerous consequences in the min
ing of coal deposits when, as is generally the case, a coal measure
includes several and sometimes numerous working seams, whose
extraction extends over large areas. Consequently, we shall devote
our main attention to the possibilities of undermining and the meas
ures to prevent this harmful practice and discuss in detail the prob
lems pertaining to the mining of coal deposits, and shall confine
ourselves but to occasional remarks concerning other minerals.
Working seams in a coal measure may lie at different distances
from each other (normally to the bedding planes). If these distances
are considerable, each seam can be worked by itself. If they are small,
the working of one may badly afTect the subsequent extraction of the
adjacent seams. This may undermine the seams lying over the one
to be extracted, and in certain conditions the movement of ground
may also affect the underlying seams, and in this case it is usual
to speak of excavating or “ undermining" the seam from above.
Let us assume that over seam a at a distance c, there is seam b
(Fig. 392, 7). If underlying seam a is extracted first, the ground
overlying it may be split by fissures. If the distance between the seams
is insignificant, the fissures will reach the superjacent seam
(Fig. 392, 11) and make it difficult, if not totally impossible, to
work it. In other words, seam b will be undermined from below.
If seam a is mined with complete filling, the caving and jointing
of the ground over the worked-out area will manifest themselves
insignificantly, and it will then be possible to excavate seam b.
In this case there are good chances that, with complete filling, the
Undermining of Adjacent Beds 501
cover rocks will not cave

in and develop consider
able fissures, and the overly
ing ground will come down
smoothly without disrupt
ing the continuity of seam
b and complicating its
extraction.
Whether or not the seam
is undermined depends not
only on the thickness of the
barren rock interspace be
tween the seams and the
method of controlling the
underlying seam roof, but
F ig . 392. Undermining a superjacent
also on the thickness of seam
the underlying seam itself,
its angle of dip and the properties of country rocks.
Should local conditions make undermining possible, to prevent it
stoping operations should be started in the overlying seams. This
is important both for the safety in excavating the superjacent seams
and for the preservation of the country’ s natural resources, since in
undermined seams coal is lost irremediably.
Hence the mining of the underlying seam must lag behind that of
the superjacent one. Let us determine the rate of this lag.
Fig. 393 depicts a vertical section on strike. Point d is the produc
tion face in seam b and point f that in seam a. The shortest critical dis
tance between the faces—xmjn, estimated along the strike, maybe
found provided the caving of the hack down to the working face in
the lower seam does not afTect coal-drawing operations in the upper.
To estimate this distance, line ge is drawn from the production face
along the lower seam a at an expected angle 6 of caving. For safety’ s
sake, this angle in hard rocks should not exceed 75°, 50-55° in weak
slates, and 30-35° in clays and sands. Point e must in all circumstances
lie on the other side of the special face timbering in seam b, so as
to prevent any possible collapse in seam a from involving the active
stoping area in seam b. Inasmuch as the coordination of the positions
and the advance rate of production faces in both seams may not be
quite accurate it is necessary to leave a margin of about 15-20 metres
between point e and the special timbering in seam b.
It should be emphasised that this may only help find the minimal
advance distance of the faces. That may prove insufficient, however,
for it is not only the top seam that can be undermined. Its extraction
may adversely affect the conditions attending the working of the
underlying seam. As a matter of fact, as seam b is mined, its cover
19-3625
N
rocks subside and settle down. These phenomena continue for a

definite period, depending on the properties of the back, the thick
ness of the seam, the size and shape of worked-out areas and the meth
od of roof control. In strong ground, the subsidence phase lasts
longer than in plastic slates, which are liable to sag or warp. The
settling rocks of the back in the upper seam may affect the interspace
between the seams not only by static pressure, but also by dynamic
impacts if settling and subsidence are brusque. With time these phe
nomena peter out and ultimately cease altogether, thus making it
possible to start working the underlying seam without fearing any
intense and unexpectedly growing pressure both from the rocks of
the interspace and the back of the seam. The period in which one can
•safely proceed with the extraction of the underlying seam usually
lasts several months. It may vary considerably because the thicker
the interspace, the more complete is the recovery of the upper seam,
that is, the smaller the coal losses during its mining and the weaker
its cover rocks, the sooner one can start mining the underlying seam.
The after-effects of the working of an underlying seam on the min
ing of those above depends on the degree of recovery of coal reserves
in the underlying seam, the size and shape of nained-out areas and
the rate at which the production faces advance.
This may be explained as follows. The fuller (without coal losses)
and quicker the recovery of coal in the seam over large areas, the
sooner the capping rocks subside completely. Moreover, the ground
in such instances comes down in one solid block, without causing
any essential disruption of its continuity, and it is for this reason
that the working seams which may also be involved in this stratum
are not markedly disrupted, coming down gradually together with
the huge massif of cover rocks. In this connection, the mining of
seams by long continuous faces (walls), without the abandonment of
Undermining of Adjacent Beds 5fi3
any protective pillars in the worked-out area, is a factor which re

duces the possibility of the superjacent seams being undermined.
Proceeding from a thorough study of conditions prevailing in the
mines, A. Kilyachkov comes to the conclusion that in the cases of
flat occurrence of seams in the Donets coal fields there is no cause to
fear undermining if the thickness M (in metres) of the interspace
between the seams does not exceed the figure estimated according
to the following formula:
M = 12 m 4 -3.5 m1,
where m is the working thickness of the lower seam in metres.
This formula applies to the usual complex of rocks encountered in

the Donets coal fields—alternating clay and sandy shales—and also
to instances of roof control in the underlying seam, both with partial
filling in the form of waste pack walls and caving of the back.
In steep dip, the mining of a superjacent seam may possibly di
rectly affect conditions attending the extraction of the underlying
seam, that is, it may lead to the “undermining”from above of seam a
by seam b (Fig. 394). This is possible when the angle of dip a is great
er than angle p, along which the rock occurring at the bottom of
seam b tends to slide down. If seam a lies close by, the boundary line
19
5C.4 Mining of Contiguous Beds
of displaced ground de may cross interbedding space c and thus reach

underlying seam a.
To forestall this danger, contiguous steep seams should be mined
in the order indicated in Fig. 395, This drawing illustrates an instance
when the floor is divided into two sublevels. It is clear that it is top
sublevel 1 of seam b that has to he extracted first, since mining in
upper sublevel 2 of lower seam a would result in the undermining
of sublevel 1. On the other hand, before proceeding to work lower
sublevel 3 of seam b top sublevel 2 of seam a has to be preliminarily
extracted, so as to prevent its being undermined from above. Hence
the order to be followed in mining the sublevels in this case should
he as indicated in Fig. 395. In the direction of strike the sublevel
fac es should be carried on with the corresponding rates of advance.
If the seams in a coal measure are contiguous, one should mine
them in the order of extraction precluding their undermining from
below or from above, and also bear in mind the layout of mine work
ings, some of which may be utilised in mining not just one but two
or several scams simultaneously. Such workings may be lateral or
inclined.
2. Examples Illustrating Mining of Contiguous Seams

There is at the Nesvetaiantratsit Trust Mine in the Donets coal
fields a very flat-dipping seam called Nesvetaevsky which is 1.3-1.4
metres thick. Being separated by an interlayer, whose thickness
gradually increases from a few centimetres to 6-7 metres, this seam—
it extends over a considerable area—gradually splits into two inde
pendent seams: upper and lower. They are approximately equal in
thickness, generally 0.5-0.7 metre.
So long as the thickness of the barren rock parting was below
1 metre, the two seams were mined as a single one, split into two
individual benches, the waste from the parting being packed into
mined-out space. But as the interbedding space became considerably
thicker, simultaneous mining grew uneconomical and the seams were
worked separately.
, Originally the top seam was mined over extensive areas by ordi
nary machine walls and it was only later, after a few years (10-15),
that the extraction of the underlying seam was started. It should be
noted in this connection that this considerable time interval between
the extraction of the seams was not due to any technical comidera
tions but rather to unwillingness on the part of the mine administra
tion to make any attempts to overcome the difficulties Vhich were
expected to arise in working the lower seam, separated from the old
mined-out areas of the top seam by an interbedding only 1-6 metres
thick.
Examples Illustrating Mining of Contiguous Seams 5fi5
When the drawing of coal was begun in the lower seam, it turned
out that it could be mined by continuous faces (walls) up to 100me
tres and more in length, with coal cutters and transportation of coal
by low (since in some places the thickness of the seam dropped to
0.4 metre) flight-and-chain conveyers. It was also found that the
longwalls could be supported by ordinary face timbering, involving
the setting up of three-piece “frame”sets along with special support.
Partial filling was built up of waste obtained by ripping the bottom
of stone entries.
It is worthy of note that the heaviest pressure on both the develop
ment and production workings in the lower seam was recorded at
the sites which lay under the coal pillars earlier left in the top seam,
whereas in openings situated under the abandoned workings of the
upper seam, where coal was recovered by longwalls. no particularly
high pressure could be observed.
It goes without saying that, in conditions described above, the
practice of drawing the lower seam many years after the extraction
of the upper one by driving independent development openings in
each one of the seams is wrong, since the main development openings in
this case could be made common for both seams and the period be
tween the mining of the upper and lower seams reduced to a few months.
2. In the Kuznetsk coal fields, two contiguous seams, one 1.4 and
the other 2.2 metres thick, were worked at the Pioneer Mine. The
seams were separated by an interbedding several metres thick and had
both a flat and a heavy pitch.
In flat sections, each seam was worked by continuous faces (long-
wall variation). The production face in the top seam was carried on
with an advance of 50-60 metres over that of the lower one. Both
faces had ordinary timbering with double row of breaker posts for
support. The main entries were maintained in the lower seam, while
communication with the upper one was kept up via short slopes in
the interbedding.
3. In conditions of steep dip (Fig. 396) the same seams were
worked by the long-pillar method on strike with overhand stoping.
The floor was divided into two sublevels, the working face in the
upper seam being run 50-60 metres ahead. The extraction of the low
er seam lagged about 100-200 metres behind the top seam. The
main entries were maintained in the lower seam and communicated
with the corresponding openings in the top seam through inclined
break-throughs in the interbedding. Cribbing was employed to rein
force face timbering.
The above-cited examples show that mining of two or several con
tiguous seams must proceed according to plan with due account
jof the layout of mine workings in all of the seams and the sequence
of their driving.
56(i M in in g of C on tigu ou s Beds
Combined Development of Contiguous Seam Series 567
3. Combined Development of Contiguous Seam Series

During the simultaneous mining of two or several contiguous seams,
especially if they have a heavy pitch, it may be advisable to maintain
entries not in all the working seams, but in one or a few. In such cases,
the seams are connected by crosscuts, which are called district or
auxiliary crosscuts to distinguish them from the main.
Fig. 397, for example, is illustrative of a case when, in mining
two seams, p, and ps, the haulage entry is maintained only in seam
Pj. The seams are connected by auxiliary crosscuts 1, 2, 3..., n,
spaced at some distance from each other. The entry in seam p,, run
ning within the section between the main crosscut and the last aux
iliary one, is abandoned (dash line in Fig. 397). Transportation of
coal produced in both seams, air supply to the working faces and
passage of men are all effected by the entry of seam p,, which is
therefore often referred to as mother entry. Since it serves a group
of two or more seams it would be more apt to call it group entry.
In regard to production faces, the auxiliary or district crosscut may
be rear (back) (n in Fig. 397), or front (rc+1 in Fig. 397). Since in
the process of driving front crosscuts the working sections of the en
tries run amid solid masses of coal their upkeep is easy. This also
makes for better haulage conditions, eliminates air leakage and re
duces coal losses in pillars.
The use of front crosscuts requires certain “ overhauling”of loads
during their transportation (see arrows in Fig. 397), but this draw
back is insignificant compared to the above-cited advantages of
the method, and for this reason it should be given preference.
•—*- Air
Fig. 397. D r iv in g o f a “
gr o u p " (mother) entry in on e o f tw o w o r k in g s ea m s
Fig. 398. G r o u p l a t e r a l d r i f t w i t h i r r e g u l a r o c c u r r e n c e o f s e a m s
In mining steeply pitching scams, the maintenance of entries in a

working seam is sometimes rather difficult, and even impossible in
air levels. In such cases a lateral or stone drift may be run in country
rocks or, to facilitate its driving, in a thin.unproductive coal shed,
if there is one available near the working seam. The lateral drift is
connected with the working seam by auxiliary crosscuts.
If a group entry is driven and maintained in one of the working
levels, it is desirable to have it closer to the foot wall of the seam'
series and its wall rocks stronger, so as to keep the costs of the entry’s
upkeep down to the minimum. Inasmuch there may be much traffic
and air circulating in the group entries, their cross-section is made
greater than in ordinary entries. Rock pressure in lateral drifts is.
not high and so they can be lined with concrete, which is also favour
able from the point of view of reducing airflow resistance. The
lateral drifts should be carried on rectilinearly over large distances
and adapted to the general strike of the ground and not to the local
irregularities in the working seams (see Fig. 398) so as to improve
transport conditions. In the case of steep seams, the group or mother
entry is used at first chiefly for the transportation of the mineral
in the haulage level and then for the passage of air in the ventilat
ing horizon. In other words, the service-life of group entries is usually
twice as long as that of the level extraction period, that is,
considerable.
Since making lateral or stone drifts is a costly affair, the need to.
have them should be substantiated technically (if, for instance,
it should prove impossible to maintain airways in working seams)
or justified economically. In medium and heavy, pitch and in mining
not-too-thin seams, it may happen that the lower haulage entries
driven in working seams can stand quite well,'whereas those running
in the air level, undermined by the stoping operations in this very
Significance of Group Openings in Mining of Self-Igniting Seams 509
seam, may not only require extensive repairs, but even become to
tally impassable. Accordingly, there may be instances when entries
are maintained in working seams in the lower level of a given floor,
while in the air level lateral drifts have to be run in country rocks.
The spacing between auxiliary crosscuts depends on the difference
between the cost of their driving and that of maintaining haulage
entries and transporting the mineral along them. Analytical deter
mination of these distances may be effected by the method described
in Section 4, Chapter XIII for estimating the length of working
sections. These distances are usually of the order of several hundred
metres.
4. Significance of Croup Openings in Mining

of Self-Igniting Seams
As stated earlier, the driving of auxiliary (district) crosscuts
from group or mother entries to working seams cuts down the expenses
of maintaining openings and haulage tracks. In addition to these
advantages, auxiliary crosscuts are also of considerable importance
in working seams containing self-igniting coal, since they make it
possible to seal off sections already stricken by fire or those exposed
to the danger of its spreading from other parts of the mine. For
instance, if a fire has broken out on account of spontaneous combus
tion somewhere between the production faces and a crosscut in seam
/>, (see Fig. 397), it suffices to provide airtight fire bulkheads in the
crosscuts of haulage and air levels in order to seal it off. It is assumed
that in these circumstances a coal pillar extending up the level inter
val is left between the above-cited crosscuts. If a given section is
successfully extracted, this coal pillar can be partially recovered,
or rather as far as it is technically possible.
Underground fires due to self-ignition sometimes spring up in
goafs containing some amounts of abandoned coal, and this a long
time after the completion of actual mining. For this reason it should
be the rule to seal of) all mined-out sections and panels by bulk
heads even if there have never been any signs of fire recorded in them.
The best preventive measure against oxidation and heating of coal,
which are liable to cause a fire, is to stop the access of outside air to
the worked-out space.
If the seams within the bounds of panels (uni- or bilateral) are
mined in the retreating order, that is, towards the district crosscut,
the fire bulkheads may be put up in the entries proper instead, this
permitting to reduce coal losses in the burning sections.
To extinguish more quickly flames that have been sealed off by
fire bulkheads, mine workings and open goafs may be partially silted
through special boreholes. Sometimes, when no outbreak of fire has
Basic Concept of Combined Development of Seam Series by Blind Shafts 571
been established, but the properties of coal do not exclude it, mine
sections isolated by fire seals are silted as a precaution.
Group entries are widely used in the Prokopyevsk-Kiselyovsk dis
trict of the Kuznetsk coal fields where, as stated above, rich heavily
pitching coal measures with self-igniting coal are mined. The develop
ment of a series of contiguous seams in this district is depicted in
Fig. 399. The thickness of seams Internal IV, III, II and I, starting
with the top, and the distances separating them are given in the
drawing. The Internal IV seam is worked by the shield mining
method; the others by pillar mining on strike. From the main cross
cut a group entry is driven in the bottom Internal I seam. From
this auxiliary crosscuts are run every 250-350 metres and from
them entries to all the working seams. The panels in the mine field
are worked from the shaft to the mine field boundary. The seams in
a panel are mined simultaneously, but with the faces of the over-
lying ones carried on somewhat ahead. These seams are usually extract
ed by (he retreat system.
5. Basic Concept of Combined Development

of Seam Series by Blind Shafts
The Ruhr coal fields in West Germany have long been using the
system of developing series of inclined and heavily pitching seams
by blind shafts, graphically illustrated by Fig. 400. In principle the
method consists in raising a vertical shaft,
equipped with a hoisting plant, or a gravity incline
(that is, an opening furnished with a plant for
lowering coal in mine cars by their own weight)
up the entire level interval, extracted by sub
floors of insignificant height, from which cross
cuts are driven to each sublevel. These blind
shafts and groups of crosscuts are several hun
dred metres apart. The large volumes of waste
obtained in sinking shafts and driving crosscuts
are utilised for filling.
Investigations into the possibility of using this f ig . 400. D e v e l o p
method in the Donets coal field have led to a m e n t of a series o f
negative conclusion in view of present mining s e a m s by b l in d
shafts
trends in general and the tendency to employ
large-capacity mine cars.
CHAPTER XXIU
EFFECTS OF UNDERGROUND EXCAVATIONS

ON THE GROUND SURFACE
1. Manifestations of Rock Movements on the Surface
Chapter VII showed that underground mining with support pillars

of adequately calculated size did not affect in any practical way the
overlying ground and, consequently, the surface of the earth’ s
crust.
We have also seen that in working deposits with caving there may,
generally speaking, appear three distinct zones over the mined-out
area: that of caving, sagging or subsidence with fractures, and smooth
or gradual sagging (Fig. 401).
It is to be noted that if the area of mined-out space is insignificant,
the movement of ground over it may stop completely at a certain ele
vation.
Manifestations of ground movement on the surface may be widely
different in nature.
Depending on the depth at which deposit is worked and the height
of the above-cited zones, the surface area may find itself in the
caving zone (Fig. 401, III), the sagging zone with fractures (II), or
higher up, in the zone (/) distinguished by gradual sagging or, possib
ly, by complete absence of any ground movement.
The part of the surface involved in the ground movement is called
draw. If the draw lies in the zone of sagging, it is limited by the grad
ual subsidence of the surface at its edges. But when the draw is in
the zone of caving, rupture of the ground with the attendant fractures
and even sinkings occur at its periphery along with the sagging.
In the first instance, the buildings and other structures on the
surface will not be damaged. In the second case, the deposit occurs
nearer the surface, and there is then a possibility of surface facili
ties sagging and leaning over. In the third case, when the surface lies
in the zone of caving, it may develop fractures and sinks or pits,
which would make it impossible to erect any structures in the affected
area.
Manifestations of Rock Movements on the Surface 5Ti
F ig . 401. G r o u n d s u r fa c e w i ll i r e s p e c t to three zones: that

o f ca ving, s u b s i d e n c e a n d g r a d u a l s a g g i n g
Consequently, underground excavations can affect the surface in a

variety of ways. The latter do not depend only on the depth of exca
vations, but also on the following factors: 1 ) thickness and number
of working seams; 2 ) filling, its properties and the degree of complete
ness; 3) properties of the ground overlying the deposit; 4) angle of
dip of the deposit; 5) shape and size of worked-out areas; 6 ) percent
age recovery of the valuable mineral; 7) advance rate of production
faces; 8 ) time elapsed since the extraction of the mineral.
When large deposits are extracted, the original attitude of enclos
ing country rocks, all other conditions being equal, is subject to
greater disturbances. The filling of mined-out space does not com
pletely eliminate the movement of ground; it still manifests itself,
though in a much moderate manner. Because of their physical and
mechanical properties, caving and settling rocks behave by far not in
the same way. The stronger rocks rupture brusquely and subside in
large masses (for instance, sandstone, limestone, most of the meta-
morphic and igneous rocks). Other rocks, in subsiding, sag gradually,
developing fewer gross fractures and crevices. The more plastic are
clay shales and clays. Noncemented sands cave in as does typical
loose ground. Quicksands (that is, water-saturated silty ground)
when involved in roof caving may cause inrushes by flowing out or
erupting as liquid or viscous masses.
These properties obviously tend to affect the nature of rock move
ment over the worked-out areas and, consequently, the dislocation
of ground on the surface.
The more extensive the mined-out area in a deposit, the greater
the total front of working faces and the higher the degree of recovery,
574 Effects of Underground Excavations on the Ground Surface
00 00
- -0-6 B-fl
rrjjTTTTTTTTTrrrTn 777777777777777777
Fig. 402. Surface structures in the subsidence zone
□0_ 0_0
00 00 77777777777
Fig. 403. Surface structures in the caving zone
the faster and more uniform is the movement of the ground, the
sooner it ends and the more uniform is the subsidence of the surface.
The uniformity of surface movement is also due to the more rapid
advance of production faces. Generally speaking, all the manifesta
tions of ground movement, occurring parallel with the advancing
extraction of the deposit, should be regarded from a dynamic angle
as a complex picture changing in space and time.
A structure in a zone affected by sagging (Fig. 402) may find
itself on its edge (7) or nearer the centre (2). An analogous situation
is encountered when the surface is within the caving zone (Fig. 403).
The more dangerous is obviously situation 1, where the structure
lies at the edge of the subsidence or caving draw affected by depres
sions (saggings) or violent subsidence of the ground along the
fracture lines. In this connection it should be noted that the edges
of depressions and caving draws are liable to shift when the mined-
out area beneath the draw expands with the advance of working
faces. In such cases, sites 1, which are dangerous for surface struc
tures, are apt to shift and may eventually appear under various build
ings and plants and destroy them.
The ground movement may cause vertical and lateral dislocations,
and sometimes even uplifts or rises.
Lateral movements of the surface occur during the sagging and
rupture of the ground and the formation of fractures, as well as follow
ing the compression and crushing of solid ground edges which are
thus displaced towards cauldrons and caving draws. Paradoxical as
it may seem at first glance, the phenomenon of surface rises following
Safety Pillars 575
the movement of ground is explained by the fact that lateral dislo

cations of rocks may lead to their compression and extrusion in
upward direction. For example, when the large Verkhnaya Mari
anna seam in the Karaganda coal fields was mined out by rooms close
to the surface, there were extensive rock slides over the worked-out
areas entailing ground extrusions in the shape of peaked ridges about
0.5 metre high.
Lateral displacements are dangerous for surface structures because
the tensions they cause may be accompanied by ruptures and ulti
mate destruction of buildings.
Deformation of the surface is liable to manifest itself particularly
violently in places where large shallow-seated deposits are worked
by the caving method. One example is the Prokopyevsk-Kiselyovsk
district in the Kuznetsk coal fields, often cited in this book, where
rich heavily pitching coal measures are mined at a small depth from
the surface. Here deep and extensive sinks and pits appear on the
surface, generally running along the strike of the seams.
Huge sinks also appear in mining ore bodies by the caving of
cover rocks, especially in top slicing and block caving.
Rocks caving over mined-out areas become loose and thus expand
somewhat in total volume, which may diminish again later on,
under the effect of their weight (so-called contraction or compaction
of rocks). Rocks with different properties behave differently in this
respect. Loose rocks, when they cave, remain practically unchanged
in volume. Argillaceous rocks, being plastic, compact well to near
their original volume. For such rocks the subsidence zone with a
large mined-out area may be very extensive. And quite the contrary,
strong rocks, which break into large blocks in the process of caving,
contract insignificantly.
The subsequent decrease in the volume of displaced ground
sometimes lasts very long—months and even years.
2. Safety Pillars
To avoid the destruction of underground mine workings or surface
structures in the zones of subsidence (sagging) and caving, special
safety pillars, that is, intact solid masses of useful mineral, may be
left behind.
Among the underground openings of particular importance is
the protection of hoisting shafts from movements of the ground for
even their slight distortion creates considerable inconveniences, may
prove dangerous for the operation of the hoisting plant and usually
damages the shaft support. In addition to this, it is at the mouths of
the hoist shafts that large surface structures and buildings—shaft
houses, head frames, hoist engine and change-and-o(Tice houses, storage
57 fi Effects of Underground Excavations on the Ground Surface
and discharge hoppers, concentration and dressing mills, etc.—are

situated. For this reason it is the shafts and the surface buildings
and the plants adjoining them that must first be protected from the
ground movement by safety pillars. There may also be other surface
structures that have to be protected from these hazards (see
below).
In order adequately to plan the layout and size of safety pillars,
one must know precisely the disposition of surfaces delimiting the
subsidence and caving zones appearing over the worked-out areas
in different conditions of deposit mining.
In the U.S.S.R. investigations into the movement of ground were
conducted regularly by the Central Research Bureau of Underground
Survey, later reorganised into the U.S.S.R. Research Institute of
Underground Survey.
The basic method employed in investigating the movement of
surface is the pegging out of a network of datum or bench marks on
the surface to be studied, and the carrying out of periodic levelling
along the datum mark lines (and in some instances also observation
of their displacement in the horizontal plane). The data character
ising ground-surface movements are compared with the disposition
and advance of underground workings, particularly production faces.
The results of such observation are taken as a basis for elaborating
laws governing the movement of ground depending on the effect
exerted by various factors, this being necessary for drawing up
well-substantiated projects of safety pillars.
Safety pillars in large mines sometimes contain considerable re
serves of valuable mineral. For this reason they should be left only
when they are really needed and their size should not be unnecessa
rily big if unwarranted mineral losses are to be avoided.
Since ground movements over the worked-out areas depend on
the properties and nature of rock occurrence, the rules for calculat
ing safety pillars must take account of the conditions prevailing in
major mining districts.
We shall now discuss two important examples of erecting safety
pillars—in the Donets and Moscow coal fields.
For the Donets coal fields there are four categories of objects
(Table 12) that are established by the regulations for protecting
surface structures from harmful effects of underground mining.
To design safety pillars, it is necessary to know the spatial posi
tion of the surfaces delimiting the ground which has been dislocated.
To simplify actual designing, it is usually assumed that these sur
faces are planes and, consequently, their spatial position is charac
terised by an angle of slope to the horizontal plane.
Let us assume that the angle of dip of the seam is a and
that a safety pillar has been left in the worked-out area, its upper and
Safety Pillars 577
lower boundaries extending along the strike of the seam (Fig. 404).
The plane delimiting the dislodged ground from the lower side of
the pillar, that is, on the side marking the rise of mined-out space,
is determined by angley; and from the upper side, that is, on the side
marking its dip, by angle p. If a vertical plane is to be drawn through
the centre of the pillar in the direction of the strike, the position of
planes delimiting the masses of shifted rocks on the side of the
strike is determined by angles 6 .
The numerical values of angles p , y and 6 are determined by the
properties of rocks and the angle of dip of the seam. In a mantle
rock or drift ground angles P = y = 6 = G 0 ° . When constructing safety
pillars in Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks these angles, in view of
their horizontal attitude in the geological conditions prevailing in
the Donets coal fields, are p = Y = 6 = 7 0 ° .
For carboniferous rocks the above angles are listed in Table 13.
We have seen that the working seam may occur at a depth where
the movement of the ground over the mined-out area does not reach
the surface and, consequently, there is no need to leave safety pillars.
Besides, it may so happen that the subsidence and sagging of the
surface are so slight that they do not represent any danger to surface
structures. Accordingly, the depth of a seam (or for that matter any
Categories of
Categories
Basic purpose or protection

I
Prevention of mass accidents Vertical shafts, head frames. Hoist

plants. Bridge abutments with spans
over 20 m. The River Severny Donets.
Water reservoir basins of the Kurakhovka
and Volyntsevsky types, dams with
their spillway arrangements
Prevention of considerable damage Blast and open-hearth furnaces, found

and destruction capable of disrupting ries, rolling mills, and principal units
normal industrial operations of glass shops. Coking plants. Coal-
dressing mills. Interconnected regional
electric power plants and substations.
Artificial water reservoirs supplying
industrial plants. Coke ovens with recu
peration.
Power-house boiler plants
Prevention of damages causing con Engineering works and buildings 01

siderable material losses permanent nature and particular impor
tance; 5-storey public buildings and
dwelling houses of state importance or
distinguished by their architecture
Safely Pillars 579
Table 12
P ro te cted O b j e c t s
of protection
II III IV
A u x ilia r y air s h a fts w ith no Major w ater con du it s, n a tu

machine h oistin g. In c lin e d ral and artific ial w ater basins
shafts. R a ilw a y bed of trunk n ot liable to be d ra in ed off;
lines. T e r m in a l railw ay statio n riv er beds. R a vin es w ith p e r
bu ildings. B r id g e abutments m a nen t water streams. Air and
with span s u n d er 20 in. U n d er a ux ilia ry inc lin ed shafts. Local
ground gas p i p e l i n e s o f local railw ay lines fo r ge n eral use
im p or t a n c e
Trunk p i p e li n e s o f regio n al C o r n er m a sts and ca blew a y

im portance. P u m p and w a ter sta tio n s. U n d er g r ou n d r o o m s
c lea rin g sta tions. B ric k and w ith m c c h a n ic a i e q u ip m e n t.
r e i n fo r c e d - c o n c r e t e pipe s. E l e c M ine l o c o m o t i v e and e l e c t r i c
tric p o w e r s ta tio n s and s u b s t a l o c o m o t i v e sheds. Mine ma
tions o f local i m p or t a n c e . W a te r c h in e s h o p s o f m e d i u m s iz e
c o o l i n g to w ers. L a rge m a chin e
shops. W a ter - p r es s u r e tanks.
P u m pw o rk s. R a i lw a y l o c o m o
ti ve sheds. R a i l w a y statio n
b u il d i n g s and cen tr al r ailw ay
s w it c h posts. B o i l e r plants and
coke ovens w ith ou t recupera
tion .
Mine fan-houses. C o m p r e s s o r
plants. O il p i p e li n e s
3-4-storey s t o n e p u b l i c b u i l d O r d in a r y standard and p u b 1-storey s t o n e

in g s an d d w ellin g houses, l ic 1-2-storey sto n e b u i l d i n g s bu ild in g s , re
pe r m a n en t m e d i c a l e s t a b l is h in m a ss construction with g a r d le ss of th eir
m en ts and scho o ls, i r r e s p e c t i v e b e a r i n g w alls on c o n t in u o u s pu rpose, e x c e p t
of the n u m b e r o f s t o r e y s fo otin g, w ith the e x c e p t i o n of for s c h o o l s and
p e r m a n e n t m e d i c a l e s t a b l is h h os p ita ls , pro
m e n t s and s cho o ls, for ex a m ple, vided th eir
o ff ic e b u i l d i n g s o f the Chis- sides in plan
ty a k o v a n tr a ts it Trust, K u ib y - d o n ot e x c e e d
shevugol 15-20 m etr es
Table 13
Angles of Rock Shifts
Angles of shift, in degrees
Angle or scam
dip i In degrees
3 T 0
0-5 85 85 85
(i-44 90— a 90 85
45-65 90— a 85 85
6G and a b o v e 100— a 85 85
b u t n o t les s
than 25
mineral deposit) over which there is no movement of ground above

the worked-out space or, if there is, it presents no hazard for the sur
face structures, is designated harmless or safe depth.
Since the intensity of ground movement also depends on whether
a given seam is mined by the caving or the filling method the safe
depth depends directly on these circumstances too. The regulations
governing safety-pillar construction in the Donets coal fields provide
for the following methods of determining this safe depth.
Table 14
Factors Determining Safe Drpth
Classes of protection
I ii III 1 IV
1
Angle of
dip, In Rocks with prevalence
degrees or presence of thick
seams
For any combination of rocks
shales sandstones
For all structures, barring the engineering

0-45 350 400 150 100
46 and a b o v e 400 500 200 100
For engineering structures only

300 350 150 100 50
0-45 i
250 300 125 75
350 450 200 100 50
46 and a b o v e
300 400 150 75
Safety Pillars 581
First of all, it is determined, depending on the thickness of the

working seam, by multiplying its minable thickness m, measured
normally, by safety factor k. Safe depth Hs is measured vertically
and equals the product km. The recommended values of the safely
factor are listed in Table 14 in accordance with the categories of pro
tected objects, angles of dip and the composition of rocks.
The standards listed in Table 14 may be less stringent (that is,
they may make it possible to dispense with pillars at smaller depths),
provided filling is used.
Safety pillars are designed as follows. In the plan showing the
position of protected structures the latter are delimited by contour
lines, as far as possible in the form of a rectangle, its sides extending
along the strike and dip of the rocks. Depending on the importance of
the protected objects, banquettes ranging in width from 5 to 15 me
tres are added to these contour lines. From the final contour lines of
the area to be protected planes are constructed at angles p, y and 6 ,
in conformity with their numerical values. Should the seam occur at
a depth, which is less than the safe one, the intersection of these
planes with it determines the outlines of the pillar. In the typical
example given in Fig. 404 (illustrating a pitching seam) a safety pil
lar of trapezoidal form will correspond to a rectangular area protected
on the surface.
Below is a detailed example of how a safety pillar is calculated and
designed, taken from Regulations for the Protection of Surface
Structures.
"C onstruction o f P i l l a r s f o r the P r o t e c t i o n o f B u i l d i n g s
“S tr u c tu r e abed (Fig. 405), i n c l u d e d in th e first c a t e g o r y of p r o te c ted bu ild in g s ,

l i e s o b l i q u e l y t o th e s t r ik e o f th e w o r k in g seams. T h e b u i l d i n g is 40 metres l o n g
and 20 m etr es wide. T h e s e a m s d i p at a n g l e a=23°, the first m , = 0 . 9 m etre thick
an d the s e c o n d m , = l metre. T h e r ock s in the strata of the h a n g in g w a ll are pre
d o m i n a n t l y shales. C a r b o n if e r o u s r ock s h av e a c o v e r o f d rifts 15 metres thick.
“T o p l o t the p i l l a r s in the w o r k in g seams, it is first necessary to d eter m in e
th e b o u n d a r ies of the c o n to u r s of th e area to be prote cted. T o d o this, w e draw
l i n e s p a r a l l e l an d n orm a l t o the s tr ik e th r o u gh the m arg in al poin ts of the b u i l d
in g— a, b, c an d d. On the o u t s i d e o f th e r e s u l ta n t r e c l a n l g e w e p l o t a berm or
b a n q u e tte 10 metres wide. Afte r that w e c u t a s e c t i o n a cro ss the s tr ik e through
the c en tr e o f the c o n t o u r e d area to be prote cted.
" O n this section, fr o m th e c o n t o u r l i n e s of the p r o te c ted area, tw o l in e s are
draw n in the d rifts at an a n g l e of 60° to the h orizon tal. Further, l i n e c2c, is dra w n
th r o u gh the p o i n t o f in ter se c tio n of the first tw o l i n e s an d ca r b o n if e r o u s rocks
(points c2 a n a rf2 o n the secti on) at an a n g l e o f y w h ic h in this insta n ce e q u a l s
90°, and another, d 2d,, at an a n g l e of p, e q u a l l i n g 90°— a=67°. T h e intersectio n
of l in e d 2d a a n d the c o a l s e a m s d eter m in es th e u p p e r bo u n d a r y of the p il l a r s
on the section . T h eir l o w e r b o u n d a r y can b e d e te r m in e d eith er b y the in ter se c tio n
o f l i n o c2c, a n d th e seam, or b y the in t er se c tio n o f the Seam a n d th e “ s a fe”dep th
elevation.
“T h e s a fe d e p th o f m in i n g is i/ , = 0.9 X 350=315 metres for the first s e a m
an d H t = 1.0 X 350=350 metres for th e second.
Section across strike. Section a Long strike
Fig. 405. Ad example illustrating the structure of a safety pillar
“Since the point of intersection ofline c,c, and the first seam lies above the
safe depth elevation for this seam, the lower boundary of the pillar in it w ill
ru D through this point of intersection.
“In the second seam the lower boundary of the p illa r w ill go through the point
of its intersection with the safe depth elevation ( i/ f =350 metres) because line
CjC, intersects the seam below this elevation mark.
"Further on, a section on strike is cut on the same scale as that made across.
From the outlines of the protected zone lines 66, and aat are drawn in drifts at
an angle of 60°. From resultant points 6, and at inclined lines are run in carboni-
Safety Pillars 58.3
fe rous r o c k s at an a n c l e of 6=80° until their intersectio n with the s e a m s at e l e

v a t i o n s correspon din '; to the u p per and l o w e r bo u n d a r ies of the pillars. T h e rcsul t-
ant in t e r se c tio n po in ts d e t e r m in e the s iz e o f the p i l l a r s on strike. T h e p l o t t e d
c o n t o u r l in e s are s h o w n in Fig. 405.”
If the protected object is built on a plot extending in one direction —

for instance, a regular railway line which, moreover, runs obliquely
to the strike of the deposit—Ihe construction of a safety pillar will
prove to be much more complex and must be plotted by separate
sections.
In the mining of coal measures, determination of a safe depth
should take into account the aggregate thickness of all the seams in
a measure and the nature of their occurrence.
In the Moscow coal fields the altitude of seams is much simpler
than in the Donets basin. They are shallow-sealed, almost flat and,
with rare exceptions, are extracted one by one. The angles of rock
movement on all sides of a safety pillar have to conform to two
classes of protected objects—the more important (category I) with
an angle of 45° and category II with an angle of 55°.
As stated earlier, abandonment of safety pillars entails losses of
mineral in the earth’ s crust. Therefore, it should be done only when
it is really necessary for the protection of surface plants, water reser
voirs, etc. In designing mines and building surface plants one must
always strive to arrange these objects in a manner obviating the
necessity of protecting them by safety pillars, provided Ibis is
feasible technically and economically. This is of particular impor
tance in working large deposits, especially if they contain highly
valuable minerals. In mining thick, steeply dipping mineral depos
its, for instance, the shafts and surface plants should be located in
the foot wall; water reservoirs should be drained off or deviated from
the area of the expected draw in order to obviate the need for safety
pillars.
In all circumstances the size of safety pillars should be restricted
to a bare minimum. In strong minerals and enclosing country rocks
safety pillars may be latticed, that is, be partly extracted by narrow
face headings. In other words, in such instances one may make use
of the principle of natural support pillar mining. In ordinary solid
safety pillars well-supported mine openings can be driven.
When the mine is abandoned, safety pillars can be recovered,
insofar as this is technically possible in local conditions.
CH A P T E R X X IV
CLASSIFICATION AND CHOICE OF MINING METHODS
1. Programme of Study and Description of Mining Methods

To give a sufficiently full characterisation of a mining method
actually employed or planned, one should study it and, if necessary,
describe it in many of its aspects. The pertaining data and charac
teristics may be classified into the following groups.
I. M ining and Geological Conditions

Name of the mineral extracted. Shape of the deposit—bed, sheetlike deposit,
placer, vein, etc. Thickness of the deposit (true ancl lateral), prevalent thickness,
maximal and minimal deviations. Angle of dip and its variations. Pitch or hade
of the ore body. Area of the horizontal section of the deposit. Typical geological
faults and disturbances in the attitude. Matter composition of the minerals.
Distribution of useful components in the deposit. The nature of the contact be
tween the deposit and the country rocks surrounding it. Hardness, jointing and
firmness of the mineral. Its density (volume or unit weight). Size distribution
and a b ility to compact. Petrographic characteristics of enclosing country rocks.
Their hardness, jointing and stability. Abundance of water in the deposit. Prop
erties of the mineral’s self-ignition. O xidability of the ores subject to flota
tion. Evolution of noxious gases. Harmful properties of dust (explosiveness of coni
and sulphide dust, dangerous properties of quartz dust with respect to silicosis).
II. M ining Characteristics of the Method To Be Adopted in W orking a Deposit
Designation of the mining method. Level interval. Sublevel interval. Ex

tent of the working section or block on strike. Size of pillars and support pillars.
Slice thickness. Gross-section and support of development openings. Sequence
of driving development openings. Advance rate of faces. Rate of development
headings advance over that of production faces. Order of recovery of mineral re
serves in a working section or nlock. Order of mining sublevels, pillars or slices.
Shape and size of working faces. Their interlocation. Advance direction of work
ing faces. Method of stoping. Methods of controlling enclosing rocks: by sup
port pillars, timbering, Tilling (complete, partial), snrinkage-stoping, caving
(spontaneous or induced), or by different combinations of these methods. Meth
ods adopted for the delivery of the mineral Scram and
grizzly levels (in ore mining). Ventilation of de^ _ r active work
ings. Lighting of mine workings. Measures envisaged by the system of mining
against penetration of water and inrushes of water-bearing rocks. Preventive
measures against underground fires, as part of the mining method adopted.
Classification of Mining Methods 5s:»
III. Mechanisation of Mining Operations
B rie f s p e c i f i c a t i o n s o f m a c h in es (trade-mark, ca p a c ity , ra tings o f d r i v i n g

m otor s a n d o v e r a ll d im en sio n s) used for d r i l l i n g holes, u n d e r c u t tin g an d brea k in g
the m ineral o r c o u n t r y rocks: d r i l l i n g machines, e l e c t r i c augers, d rill- w ag on s
for th e u n d e r g r o u n d b o r i n g o f d e e p b l a s t- h o le s an d la r ge- d ia m eter holes ; coa l
cutlers, c u t t i n g a n d l o a d i n g m a ch in es (combines), c o a l planers, h y d r a u li c gi ants
(in hyd rau lick in g), etc. A n a l o g o u s in f o r m a tio n on m achines and e q u ip m e n t
e m p l o y e d fo r the t r a n s p o r ta tio n o f the mineral and waste: con veyers, scrapers,
l o a d i n g machines, m in e ca r s p o t t i n g t u g g e r hoists, d is tr ic t e l e c t r i c l o c o m o t i v e s ,
c a p a c i t y a n d o v e r a ll d i m e n s i o n s o f m in e cars. M achines and m e cha n ica l pla n ts
for v e n t i l a t i o n a n d m in e d ra in a g e (needed for th e s y s t e m o f mining).
IV. Organisation of Work

O r g a n is a tio n o f o p e r a t i o n s in the fa ces o f d e v e l o p m e n t and p r o d u c t i v e w o r k
ings. G r a p h s (planograms) o f c y c l i c o p e r a t i o n and l a b o u r d is t r ib u t i o n charts
(number o f miners, n u m b e r e n g a g e d in each s h ift and c l a s s e s of w o rk performed).
A d v a n c e rate of fa ces pe r c y c l e or round. N u m b e r of c y c l e s or r o u n d s per day
and per month. C o o r d i n a t i o n o f all o p e r a t i o n s fo r the w h o l e of the p r o d u c in g
s e c tio n ( lin k ed w i th th e s y s t e m of mining).
V. Technical and Economic Characteristics of the Mining Method

Mineral o u t p u t in p r o d u c t i v e an d d e v e l o p m e n t w o r k in g s pe r d a y pe r shift,
in in d iv id u a l fa ces (walls, sto pes) an d in th e s e c t i o n as a whole. M o n th ly tonnage
p r o d u c ed b y the en tire section . (If, b e c a u se o f features s p e c i f i c to the a d o p t e d
method, the to n n a g e s ten d p e r i o d i c a l l y to va r y w i d e l y , for instance, d u r in g
s h r in k a ge - st op in g an d s u b s e q u e n t d r a w i n g o f the ore. the c h ara cteristics a b o v e
m ust b e g i v e n for i n d i v i d u a l s t a g e s of mining.) Y i e l d of the mineral from d e
v e l o p m e n t a n d w o r k i n g fa ces (for th e w h o l e o f the m in i n g m eth od in pe r cent).
M in in g or w o r k in g l o s s e s o f the m ineral (in per cent). D eg r e e o f d i l u t i o n (in per
cen t to th e to ta l c o n t e n t o f v a l u a b l e c o m p o n e n t s in u n d il u t e d ore). T i m e re
qu ir ed for the r e c o v e r y o f the a g g r e g a t e res erves in the w o r k in g s e c t i o n or block .
O u tp u t per fa c e m a n a n d pe r m in er for the w h o l e o f the s e c tio n (in ton s of mineral,
or in cu m o f ore, or o re an d barren ro c k t o g e t h e r pe r shift). E x p l o s i v e s c o n s u m p
ti o n p e r ton, or pe r cu m in gra m m es . Mine t i m b e r c o n s u m p t i o n per 1,000 tons
or 1,000 c u m o f the m ineral, o r the a g g r e g a t e a m o u n t o f the mineral an d waste.
E l e c t r ic p o w e r an d c o m p r e s s e d air c o n s u m p t i o n pe r ton o r cu m. M in in g c o s t
of a ton o r cu m o f th e m ineral, or o f the m ineral an d w a ste to gether for the w h o l e
o f the p r o d u c i n g section , i n c l u d i n g d e l i v e r y to the h aulagew ay.
2. Classification of Mining Methods

Methods employed for mining solid minerals in deposits may be
divided into the following principal groups:
I. Underground mining.
II. Surface mining.
III. Combined mining.
IV. Special methods of mining.
No explanations are needed for singling out methods I and II.
One example of method III is mining by glory holes (milling) (sec
58f> Classification and Choice of Mining Methods
Chapter XXI, Section 14), when the mineral is extracted by the open
cast method and loaded into transport vehicles and subsequently
hauled in underground workings.
Special methods include those in which actual mining is character
ised by changes in the native (aggregate) state of the extracted min
eral. They include underground coal gasification, ore-mining by
underground leaching, extraction of sulphur through boreholes by
evaporation, etc.
As we have seen, the systems used in mining solid minerals by
the underground method vary widely and are frequently complex. For
a more or less full characterisation, one should refer to many of the
features enumerated above (Section 1).
However, the classification of mining methods cannot be founded
on all the above-cited, extremely numerous features. Their classifi
cation should be based only on Lhe especially important and typical
features, according to which it is advisable to divide and single
out the systems of mining.
Most of Lhe hitherto proposed classifications of mining methods
were based on methods of controlling enclosing rocks and on the
arrangement of development openings.
It is noteworthy in this connection that the division of mining
methods into groups according to the arrangement of development
openings is generally adopted both for drawing up classifications
and for working coal and other sheet deposits, whereas the classifi
cations for the systems applied in mining ore deposits are founded on
the second principle—that involving the method of enclosing-rock
control. This difference in Lhe approach to the characteristic features,
on which the classification is based, is by no means accidental or
one chosen arbitrarily by the compilers of the classifications, but is
explained by the fact that for the sheetlike deposits the arrangement
of development openings is very typical and at the same time
simple and convenient because of their regular shape. That cannot be
said, however, of ore deposits whose shapes are on the whole irreg
ular, both generally and in particular cases. Because of this, the
location of development openings in each concrete case is less system
atic and, at any rate, more complex than in coal deposits. At Lhe
same time the problems of rock-pressure control here can be solved
much more easily and in a greater variety of ways. It is these reasons
that prompt the classification of the mining methods employed in
working coal and other sheet deposits in accordance with the spatial
arrangement of development openings, and those used in extracting
ore bodies by the method of enclosing-rock control.
The author favours the following classification of mining methods
in working solid useful minerals:
Classification of Mining Methods 587
CLASSIFICATION OF METHODS AND SYSTEMS

IN MINING SOLID USEFUJ MINERALS
Note: Asterisk denotes systems little used.
I. U n d e r g r o u n d Mi ni ng
A. Sheet Deposits
a) Methods of mining without division into slices (nonslicing
systems of mining):
1. Continuous (longwalls): on strike; to the rise.
2. Pillar mining: long-pillar method; * pillar-and-stall method;
long-pillar method up raise; shield-mining method.
3. *Room mining.
4. Combined methods: room-and-pillar system; twin-entry
method.
b) Slicing methods of mining: horizontal slicing; inclined slicing;
* transversely inclined slicing; * diagonal slicing.
B. Nonbedded Deposits
Systems of mining with enclosing-rock control:
a) Methods involving abandonment of natural support pillars:
continuous breast stoping; pillar mining; room-and-pillar method:
sublevel method.
b) Artificial support: stull-set method of mining; square-set
method of stoping.
c) Filling method.
d) Shrinkage-stoping.
e) Caving of capping: horizontal top slicing; * inclined top slicing.
f) Caving of ore: sublevel caving; induced block or bulk caving;
spontaneous (uncontrolled) block or bulk caving.
g) Systems of mining with combined methods of enclosing-rock
control.
II. S u r f a c e Mi ni ng
III. C o m b i n e d U n d e r g r o u n d a n d S u r f a c e
Me t h o d of Mi n i n g
* Glory-hole mining (milling).
08S Classification and Choice of M ining Methods
IV. S p e c i a l Methods of Mining
* Underground gasification of coal; * underground leaching of

ores; * underground dissolution of salts; * underground evaporation
of sulphur.
The classification of mining methods above has been compiled on
the basis of the following considerations.
To make it simple and easy to understand, each classification
must be based on a limited number of the features most specific to
it. In the above, such features are spatial arrangement of development
openings for sheet or bedded deposits and methods of enclosing-rock
control for nonbedded mineral bodies.
The characteristics of the stoping method should not be regarded
as a classification feature, for the actual stoping can be effected in
a great variety of ways with one and the same system of mining.
For instance, there is no doubt that long-pillar mining is an independ
ent system. At the same time, however, actual extraction of the
mineral in the pillar may be done in a number of different ways—by
continuous faces, slab or open-end entries, by strips, blasting opera
tions, pneumatic hammer drills, coal cutters, cutting-and-loading
machines, coal planers, etc., and in working placers also by means
of “surface thawing” , etc. Here is yet another example. Singling out
sublevel caving as an independent system of mining is not challenged
by anyone, and this quite irrespective of whether stoping is effected
through slab drifts,“ open rooms", or any other method. The methods
of stoping are of importance for the characterisation of a mining
system and its operative results, but this does not mean that they
should be regarded as a feature indispensable for the classification of
any mining method. And this is all the more justified because
within the framework of one and the same system it is possible to
switch over from one method of stoping to another, a thing that is
now practised quite frequently, particularly thanks to the rapid
progress of mechanisation.
3, C h o i c e o f M i n i n g M eth od
The choice of a method for mining a deposit is influenced by

numerous factors, discussed in Chapters IX and XIX.
The description of the principal methods of mining enumerated the
conditions most suitable for each. But since the combinations of
diverse factors influencing the selection of a mining method may be
extremely variable, this choice for a particular deposit is compli
cated by its geological features, as well as by the mining and
economic sutuation.
Choice of Mining Method 589
The method selected must meet the basic demands of the condi
tions in which it is called to operate (see Chapter VII).
In a very general outline the method of the choice itself boils down
to comparing the features of each one of the mining systems which
may possibly be employed in actual geological, mining and economic
conditions. To make such comparison sufficiently systematic and
preclude any possible faulty judgement, K. Charkviani has suggested
a method, of elimination. Essentially, this method implies consecutive
elimination, after a pertinent analysis, of all systems of mining
whose application in given conditions falls short of the necessary
requirements.
To facilitate this procedure of elimination, Charkviani has drawn
up special tables for working nonferrous metal ore deposits. The
elimination procedure usually reduces the number of mining systems
to one, sometimes two and rarely three, which can be employed in
given conditions. If there is only one system, the choice is final;
if there are two or three methods capable of competing with each
other, the ultimate decision is taken after a thorough technical and
economic comparison.
Part Three
OPEN-CUT MINING
CHAPTER XXV
B A SIC D E F IN IT IO N S A N D T E R M IN O L O G Y
1. C o n d i t i o n s W a r r a n t i n g O p e n - C u t W o r k
Open-cast mining of minerals is justifiable technologically ami

economically when they lie immediately near the surface, or at a
relatively small depth. In this connection it should be added that,
because of the considerable progress made by mechanisation, min
erals can be quarried out to advantage at ever-increasing depths
(see Section 2).
Fig. 406 outlines an open-pit layout, where a large body of mineral
a is directly exposed over a more or less extensive horizontal sur
face, sometimes slightly covered by overburden o. Instances of such
nature are not infrequent in the open-cut mining of such building
materials as stone, sand, clay, etc.
Fig. 407 depicts a pattern adopted for mining large masses of
mineral a on a mountain slope.
Fig. 406. Open-cut work layout iD the absence of over

burden
Fig. 407. Open-pit layout on a mountain slope

'm m um
Fig. 408. Open-pit layout on a flat bed with horizontal
ground surface
Fig. 409. Open-pit layout on a (lat bed with sloping ground

surface
Open-cut work is also possible when the deposit is not exposed

directly at the surface, but is covered by considerable amounts
of overburden or country rocks, whose thickness should not exceed
a certain limit. In cases like this the deposit may occur either hori
zontally (Fig. 408) or at any angle to the horizontal (Fig. 409).
The production unit of a mining enterprise extracting the mineral
by the open method is called open pit. This term is analogous to
mine, which extracts the mineral underground. It should be noted
that Ihe term open pit often also designates an open-mine working
in which the mineral is excavated by the open-cut method.
An open pit (quarry) in which coal is mined is often called
open cut.
2. Determining the Depth of Open-Cut Work
To extract the mineral by an open-cut method it is necessary
preliminarily to remove certain amounts of barren rocks. This oper
ation is called stripping and the ground removed overburden or
spoil. Of importance in this connection is not only the absolute
amount of the ground subject to removal, but its relative volume
per unit of the mineral extracted. It may, for instance, prove imprac
tical to strip cover-rock strata 15 metres thick from a coal seam,
if the seam itself is 1 metre thick, but it might be economical if
the thickness of tbo seam is as much as 5 metres. The ratio of the
Determining the Depth of Open-Cut Work 595
overburden volume to the amount of mineral reserves already

stripped or to be stripped, expressed in volumetric (or weight) units,
is called stripping ratio.
When the earth’ s surface and the mineral occurrence are more or
less flat, the stripping ratio is fairly uniform (see Fig. 408). When
the surface slopes, this ratio alters along with the increase in the
size of the open pit, even if the deposit lies horizontally and is uni
formly thick throughout (Fig. 409). In working an inclined or steep
seam of a more or less uniform thickness, the relative amount of
overburden to be stripped increases with the depth of the open pit
(Fig. 410). Thus, to excavate volume c'cbb' of the mineral it is neces
sary to remove volume aa'b'b of the hanging wall rocks during the
stripping process, while in deepening an open pit to excavate a
similar volume of mineral bcc'b" an appreciably greater volume
of barren rock aa'b''b has to be removed by stripping.
Similarly, in the case of a horizontal or flat occurrence and in
creasing thickness of the overburden (Fig. 409), to excavate a given
amount of mineral abed, the volume of the overburden to be stripped
will be efd, but subsequently the extraction of the same volume of
mineral b'c'cb will necessitate stripping a larger volume of capping—
c'f'fe.
For conditions prevailing in each open pit there exists a maxi
mum proportion of the amount of waste or spoil removed to a unit
measurement of the mineral, which it would be uneconomical to
exceed in the present stage of technological development. When
this limit is reached and the deposit lies much deeper still, it is more
profitable to change over to underground mining, through a vertical
20
596 Basic Definitions and Terminology
shaft, for example (C in Fig. 410). This maximum proportion de

pends in general on cost a charged against mining by the open-cut
method of 1 cu m of mineral, cost b of overburden stripping per
1 cu m and the stripping ratio. By using these symbols, we find
that the total cost of mining 1 cu m of mineral by the open-cut meth
od, including the cost of stripping operations, will amount to
a-\-bx. (1 )
Conditions economically justifying the use of the open-cut method

instead of underground mining will then be determined by the formula
a-\-bx<c (2 )
where c is the mining cost of 1 cu m of mineral by the underground

method.
The maximum stripping ratio can be found from an equation
expressing the cost of mining by the open-cut and underground
methods
a + bx =c,
whence
Depending on the geological structure of the deposit, the size

of the open pit, the available machinery and organisation of work
costs a, b and c may vary widely and, consequently, the differences
in the value of the maximum stripping ratio are also liable to fluctu
ate appreciably.
If, depending on the geological structure of the deposit, the strip
ping ratio tends to mount along with the increase in the depth of
the pit, the maximum stripping ratio must correspond to an econom
ically profitable maximum depth of the pit. As an example take
Fig. 410, which clearly illustrates the progressive growth of the
relative amount of overburden that has to be removed as the pit is
worked in depth.
Emphasis should be laid upon the fact that the maximum strip
ping ratio and the depth of the pit corresponding to it have to be
established from the stipulated equality between the mining cost
by open-cut and underground methods not for the whole of the pit,
but for the particular level or elevation at which this equality becomes
valid. This very important stipulation is explained as follows.
Let us assume that volume c'b’ bc (Fig. 410) of the mineral is the
last in depth whose open excavation justifies removing volume

b"a"ab of the overburden, for in these conditions the cost of mining
by the open-cut and underground methods is the same. But to make
possible open-cut excavation of the same volume, bb'c'c, of the min
eral lying immediately over the first, a smaller volume, baa'b',
of cover rocks has to be stripped and, consequently, the aggregate
cost of mining 1 cu m of the mineral in this case is lower. This ap
plies all the more to working of mineral occurring still nearer the
surface. Hence, if we assume that elevation c" is the maximum eco
nomic depth of the pit, mining cost per cubic metre (or ton) of the
mineral in the pit will generally be lower than that by the under
ground method. In other words, if the maximum depth of the pit
were established on the basis of the stipulated equality between
the average unit mining cost of the mineral for the whole of the pit,
on the one hand, and that by underground method, on the other,
the p it’s maximum depth would be greater than in the first case
and the mineral reserves lying below elevation c" would cost more
to excavate in the pit than by the underground method. The eco
nomic disadvantage here is quite evident. From the economic stand
point, therefore, the maximum depth of the pit should be estab
lished at a level where the open-cut and underground cost of mining
is the same.
Hence the maximum profitable depth of the pit, that is, the bound
ary line between open work and underground mining, may be esti
mated as follows.
Taking as a basis the height of the banks and their arrangement,
we draw a series of cross-sections for the planned pit at different
elevations. On each profile these elevations can be conveniently
brought to the bench levels (as shown in Fig. 410). From these cross-
sections one can estimate, for each elevation and according to the
number of benches: 1 ) the volume of the mineral; 2 ) the amount
of the overburden to be stripped—if the rocks constituting the over
burden are sharply distinct in nature (for instance, drifts and bed
rock), the estimates have to be made separately for each type of
cover rock; 3) stripping ratio; 4) mining cost per 1 cu m of over
burden and mineral, and, lastly, 5) total unit mining cost by open-cut
mining, including the cost of stripping. The results of these compu
tations are tabulated (Table 15).
The lowest level of the pit is the one where the cost by open work
is the same as that by underground mining.
For the sake of clearness the data listed in Table 15 may be
depicted graphically (Fig. 411).
In order to facilitate and speed up these rather labour-consuming
calculations (particularly if the shape of the deposit is complex),
V. Rzhevsky has suggested a spatial graphic method. In some cases
T a b le 15
E s t i m a t i o n o f th e M a x i m u m D e p t h o f th e Pit
M in in g Cost p r r 1 cu m charged
Volumes, cu m S tripping cost per a g a in s t 1 cu m of the
r atio s cu bic m etre m in eral mined
P it sections
!
betw een levels
I1n b. W1
Bedro ck
M in e ra l
3 -C o 3 - O 3 -C
o U O
£ =■ u
T o ta l
■o t®
~ E ■el E •C I c c *3 5- c
JZ -o
Ob
63 6-a
Q
O’
zi > > P3 c
0-1
1-2
2-3
n-l-n
the maximum, economically justifiable depth of the pit can be

determined more quickly by the analytical procedure. The essential
point of the method is that the aggregate cost of open-work mining
of a cubic metre (or ton) of the mineral is found as a mathematical
function of the pit depth. The equation arrived at by comparing
this cost with the cost of underground mining gives us the depth
Production coat of coat

§
mined from underground-
Cj workings
to
C5
t§
to
§ — a m
■*«
"Voo
‘ » 1 1 • •
I 0 1 2 3 n Levels
I
Fig. 411. Graphic determination of the maximal pit
depth
we are looking for. But such an equation can be arrived at only

if we assume that the thickness and the attitude of the deposit fol
low a definitely regular pattern, which is not always the case. Be
cause of that the use of the analytical method of determining the p it’
s
depth is rather limited.
Both in tabular and analytical methods of determining the p it’ s
depth particular attention should be attached to preliminary esti
mates of the cost of a cubic metre of overburden stripping and actual
mining of the mineral. Depending on the local natural, as well as
technical and operating conditions, these costs may vary extremely
widely. In view of this, one should not, generally speaking, rely
too much on the statistics on the existing open-cut works, but de
termine these costs in each individual case by detailed calculation.
Because of the sharply changing properties and attitude of the
deposit, the depth of a pit may not be the same in all its sections.
In such instances the depth of each section is calculated separately.
The ultimately acceptable depth of the pit is chosen with due con
sideration of the conveniences and economic advantages it offers
for the transportation system throughout the entire open-cut works.
If the deposit is horizontal or dips slightly, but the capping is
of irregular thickness (see Fig. 409), it becomes necessary again to
establish the bounds of the open-cut work. The deposit is then divided
on the plans into several sections (ab, bb', etc.y, and the estimates
are made as above.
For this it is necessary to have good topographic plans with con
tour lines plotted on them, as well as plans with isometric lines
showing the attitude of the bottom and the back of the deposit,
its thickness and the roughly estimated spatial distribution of the
useful mineral.
Since the maximum stripping ratio may be quite different, depend
ing on local natural and technical conditions, the practice of tak
ing “ current” figures for stripping ratios as a guide is to be ruled
out altogether. If one follows the pattern of calculation referred to
above, the maximum stripping ratio should be determined in each
concrete case. In general, the progress of mechanisation in open-pit
mining makes it possible continuously to increase this ratio.
In conditions favourable for the development of open-cut mining
the pits may be very deep. In the Krivoi Rog district, before it went
over to underground mining, the pits were as much as 130 metres
deep. One brown coal pit at Korkino (Urals) is at present 210 metres
deep, and it is planned to deepen it still more. The projected depth
of a copper ore pit at Kounrad (Kazakhstan) is 240 metres.
In many instances the depth of a pit is determined by a shallow
occurring bottom of the deposit (for instance, open cuts in the Cherem-
khovo coal fields, the Sokolov bauxite pit in the Urals and others).
GOO Basic Definitions and Terminology
There have been cases of the danger of landslides on the slopes

of a pit prompting to go over to underground mining earlier than
stipulated by the project (for example, one of the open-coal cuts at
Yemanzhelinka in the Urals). And conversely, special circumstances
sometimes make it imperative to continue open-cut mining at depths
where the underground extraction of the mineral would seem more
profitable economically. A typical example is the mining of thick
beds of self-igniting coal.
There are some noteworthy examples of open-cut mining abroad.
The Bingham pit in Utah, U.S.A., is 480 metres deep, 1,200 me
tres wide and 1,800 metres long. Its annual output is over 35 million
tons of copper ore, the average per man per shift being 74 tons of
mineral and overburden. The highest annual output of iron ore in
an open pit in the United States is 6,000,000 tons.
The Chuquicamata open pit in Chile, which is about 300 metres
deep, produces 33 million tons of mineral and rock, including 18
million tons of copper ore, with output per man per shift amounting
to 58 tons.
3. Advantages and Drawbacks of Open-Cut Work

as Compared to Underground Mining
Conlrasled with underground mining open work presents many
advantages.
1. The principal advanlage is that the efficiency of labour is
considerably higher in open pits, while the cost of mining is low
er. In coal industry a miner achieves 3-4 times as much in open-
cut mining as he does underground. That is because it is possible to
use highly efficient mining equipment and transport facilities, there
being no limits to the overall dimensions of machines, as is the case in
underground workings.
2. Large working faces and the use of highly efficient machines
for the open mining of large deposits yield considerable tonnages.
The same factors make it possible to increase output in a newly
established open pit much faster than in an underground mine. The
reconstruction of an active open pit enables to raise production more
quickly than is the case with an underground mine.
It is noteworthy in this connection that these advantages were
exploited to the maximum and with exceptional success in mining
coal deposits in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War.
3. Open pits may have a shorter service-life than underground
mines, since here it is possible to transfer the costly main items of
mining and transport equipment and machines to other pits for fur
ther use. Hence, pits working even limited reserves may yield large
annual tonnages. The open coal cuts to be put into operation in the
Open-Cut Work as Compared to Underground Mining 601
next few years will have an average annual capacity of 1 . 6 million

tons.
4. Open pits need no support, filling, ventilation and artificial
lighling (except at night).
5. The percentage recovery of the mineral is higher in open work.
True, a certain amount of it may be lost together with the barren
rock of the partings left in the pit, in sink holes in the bottom of the
deposit and during haulage (spillage). All this makes it imperative
to take systematic steps to prevent unwarranted losses in open-pit
mining too.
6 . When necessary, large-size monoliths for construction and
sculptural purposes can also be quarried.
7. Working conditions in the open, in good weather and not too
severe climate, are better than underground.
8 . There is less danger of accidents. However, the presence in
the pits of numerous machines, the wide-flung transport network,

blasting operations, the possibility of mineral and rock blocks fall
ing from the faces are a constant source of potential accidents.
Strict observance of safety rules and their enforcement, therefore,
are just as imperative in the open-cut pits as underground.
The disadvantages of open-cut mining are:
1. Rainfall and severe cold make work in open pits rather difficult.
Large-scale operations are conducted the year round, but in severe
winter conditions labour and machine efficiency drops considerably.
2. Well-developed open-cut work requires considerable tracts of
land for pits and barren rocks, with the result that it is often lost to
agriculture.
3. Open work at night requires large areas to be provided with
artificial lighting.
4. When large coal beds are excavated by the open-cut method,
the pits at first yield lower-grade coal in the weathering zone. This
decayed coal may, for one thing, be devoid of coking properties,
even though normally coal in a given bed is capable of coking.
These drawbacks of open-cut mining, however, are outweighed
by its advantages over the underground mining method. Therefore,
in conditions enumerated in Section 1, preference should be given
to the open-cut method.
It was originally held that the organisational pattern of open-
pit work was simpler than that of underground mining. That, how
ever, was true only of small and primitively equipped pits. Large
modern open pits, with their heavy-duty electric and transport ma
chinery and installations, require the elaboration of detailed mining
plans, more comlex than those needed for underground mining.
We have seen above (Chapter XI) that the organisation of under
ground mining based on the cyclic principle operations is of a
paramount, importance for theproperconduct of work. Similarly, techno

logical or operative charts (graphs) can be compiled to provide for
detailed planning of continuous operations in open-cut mining too.
In large open pits masses of barren rock and minerals have to be
excavated and moved. At the Korkino lignite open pits or the Magni
togorsk iron ore pit, for example, many thousand cubic metres of
overburden and mineral are mined and moved every day. That is
why complex mechanisation of all the operations involved is just
as essential in open-cut mining as it is in underground working.
At the same time, as pointed out above, open-pit mining does not
restrict the choice of the size and type of machines, a factor that has
to be reckoned with in underground mines (small cross-section of
mine openings and stoping area, availability of timbering, evolu
tion of methane, presence of explosive dust). Therefore, the machines
and equipment used in open-cut mining may be larger in size.
The successes scored by the Soviet machine-building industry
constantly expand the sphere of the efficient application of open-
cut mining and, consequently, contribute to its growing importance
in the national economy of the country.
There are numerous open pits producing coal, iron and copper
ores, limestones, phosphorites and other minerals, as well as those
engaged in working placers, notably gold placers, and some of these
pits have high production capacity. It has already been mentioned
that a number of deposits, formerly worked by underground methods,
can now be extracted much more economically by the open-cut min
ing method.
Construction work carried out on an immense scale in the U.S.S.R.
requires considerable amounts of building materials and these are
almost exclusively obtained from quarries.
4. Bench Mining
Both the stripping of the overburden and the extraction of
the mineral in open pits is generally effected in benches or banks
(Fig. 412) to ensure easier and safer work at the faces. A bank includes
j the following elements: slope a, bottom or lower
berm b. Lop or upper berm c, the height of bank h
and slope angle p. Line d , marking the inter
section of the slope and the berm of the bank is
called edge of the bank.
V* b The height of a bank va
V77777777777777777777, ries greatly. Up to a certain
point a considerable height
of banks has major advan
F i g . 412. Bank in open-cut mining tages: 1 ) it facilitates the
Bench Mining 603
work of transport, since there are fewer banks and berms (benches) with
railway tracks in this case; 2 ) it minimises the amount of inefficient
ripping and levelling out of the bank bed, which is of special impor
tance in working hard rocks. If the bank’ s height is below that coin-
forming to working dimensions of the power shovel, the latter's ef
ficiency is impaired.
On the other hand, a progressive increase of the bank’ s height
is fraught with the following disadvantages: 1 ) grealer probability of
blocks and lumps of the mineral and rocks rolling down the slopes of
the banks because of jointings, slabbing and slides; 2 ) in falling from a
bank, a piece of rock, even a small one, gathers momentum and
may cause a serious injury; 3) examination of a bank slope for over
hanging slabs becomes difficult, particularly at night; 4) blasting
strong rocks with large explosive charges put into deep holes may,
if the banks are high, yield excessively large blocks of rock (oversize),
which cannot be loaded into transport vehicles and have to undergo
expensive and difficult secondary breaking; 5) if the geological struc
ture of the deposit requires selective (separate) mining, the com
plexity of the operation increases with the height of the bank.
These relative advantages and drawbacks of high banks manifest
themselves in different ways, depending on the hardness of rock.
In determining a bank’ s height, one should bear in mind the type
and size of power shovels to be employed. With shovel-excavating
ground requiring no preliminary blasting, the banks are from 4 to
10 metres high and rarely any higher. The weaker and the more fria
ble the rock, the smaller the bank’ s height. When stronger rock is
mined, one requiring preliminary blasting, the shovel is used almost
exclusively for loading blasted ground into railway cars or other trans
port vehicles. In such instances the banks are 10-15 metres high, and
occasionally even slightly higher.
With chain-and-bucket excavators the height of the banks depends
on Lhe size of machines and the method of work adopted.
The height of the banks cut in the useful mineral occurring at
a gentle dip often depends on the thickness of the deposit. For example,
in the open-cut mining of coal in the Urals rock banks are usually
10-15 metres high, whereas the height of the banks cut in coal
ranges, depending on the thickness and attitude of the seam, between
5 and 25 metres. The height of the banks at the open-cut iron ore
pits in the Urals is 10-12 metres at the Magnitogorsk mine, 16 me
tres at the Gora Blagodat mine, 16-28 metres at the Bakal mine.
Limestone at the Big Yelenovka quarry (Donets basin) is mined
in banks 1 2 metres high.
The slope of the bank must be somewhat inclined in relation to
the berm. In other words, the angle oj slope should be less than 90°.
The weaker the rock the flatter the slope. In the case of friable and
f»04 Basic Definitions and Terminology
soft rocks, the angle of slope should not exceed that of the angle of
repose of the rock to be excavated.
To a large degree, the stability of the slope depends, in addition
to the petrographic composition of the rock, on the jointing and bed
ding planes of the rock and the extent to which it is saturated with wa-
Fig. 413. Effect of bedding on bank-slope stability
ter. The effect exercised by bedding planes or jointing is illustrated

in Fig. 413. If (Fig. 413a) the angle of slope (5 and that of dip a
(or the angle of jointing) are oriented in one and the same direction,
prisms a may slide down along the bedding planes or jointings. All
, otherconditionsbeingequal,
b JL the slope will be stead
ier if its inclination and
the dip of rocks are orient-
~ ed in opposite directions
(Fig. 413/;).
The probability of slides
along the bedding planes
increases when water penet
rates through them (or
through fissures). Charac-
Fig. 414. Hazard of slides inan open pit teristic of open-cut mining
working a synclinelimb of coal deposits is the case
illustrated in Fig. 414, in
which it is a limb of a syncline that is worked out by a pit.
In these conditions, slides along the bedding planes are quite possi
ble. To preclude the danger of such slides, the slopes of the banks
should be shifted from position ab to position a'b', the angle of
their inclination flattened, surface water diverted, and adequate
drainage of underground water provided for (Chapter XXVI,
Section 12).
In dry mantle rocks (drifts) containing sands and clay, the angles
of slope are set at 40-50°. If this overburden ground is aquiferous,
the angle of slope becomes flatter as the water abundance increases.
The angle of slope in a ledge ground usually varies from 50 to 70°,
Bench Mining 605
depending on its hardness, and is occasionally somewhat greater. In

aquiferous bedrocks this angle is flattened down to 5-10°.
The magnitudes of the angle of slope given above are accepted
in planning the layout of banks in open pits. In actual mining con
ditions, the slopes of the banks may temporarily be somewhat steeper.
The difference between the
rated (design) and actual / 2 w t **"
angles of slope depends on

the physical properties of
the rocks, the height of the
bank, weathering condi
tions and, especially, the
time factor.
The width of the bench
(working berm of the bank)
depends on the method of
rock excavation.
In excavating soft rocks, F ig. 415. Bench w idth in m in in g soft
the shovel digs the ground " roun d
directly, and the width of
its run is usually assumed to equal digging radius R in operation
level 1, or within the range of (1 to 1.5) R0.
The width of the bench may then be calculated as follows (Fig. 415):
B — {1 1° 1-5) R 0+ Z+ Z, + Z*
where I is the distance from the edge of the bank to the railway track
(usually 3-4 metres);
Z, — width of the rail
way bed (1.75 metres for
narrow-gauge and 3 me
tres for standard-gauge
tracks);
l2—margin to provide
F ig . 416. B en ch w i d th in m in in g hard l e d g e for developed reserves to
rock be worked in the under
lying bench.
Hard ledge rocks are blasted and the shovel loads the material
from the resultant “ broken-rock pile”(Fig. 416). If the latter’ s width
is taken as N, the width of the bench will then be
R = N -(-1+ Z, +/j.
When the mining of banks approaches the contour lines or bound*
ary of the pit, the slopes of the banks are not driven into the same
plane. To lend stability to the edges, the width of the benches is
reduced to the minimum required by safety regulations (the
so-called “ protective berm” ). Hence the general slope of the
G06 Basic Definitions and Terminology
p it’
s edge, determined by the
angle formed by the horizon
tal plane and the straight line,
drawn normally to the bottom
outline of the pit and to the
top contour intersecting it,
depends not only on the bank
slopes but also on the presence
of protective berms. In pits of
considerable depth, the gener
al slope of the edges should
be gradually flattened out
(Fig. 417; pertinent figures
are given in Table 19).
5. V o lu m e W e i g h t s (D en sity), C o e ffic ie n ts o f
E x p a n sio n a n d A n g le s of R e p o s e o f S o m e R ocks.
A n g le s of Bank Edges
Below are data helpful in estimating the volumes and tonnages

of rocks during the planning of open-cut operations.
The coefficients of rock expansion following breakage depend on
the condition of loose ground. The volume of rock increases maximal
ly during its excavation. If the rock is then transported in railway
cars, its volume tends somewhat to decrease again, particular
ly in large-capacity cars. After the disposal of the rock in dumps,
it again compacts. Compaction and rain cause freshly stacked
dumps to shrink or contract—in the case of loose ground shrinkage
comes to 5-10 per cent and in that of lumpy rocks to 10-15 per cent.
The ultimate residual expansion of rocks will be even less.
Table 16
Volume Weight of Rocks in Place
Weight in tons per

Rocks cubic metre
W e t s a n d ................... 1.95
D r y s a n d ................... 1.6
W e t g r a v e l ................ 2.0
D r y g r a v e l ................... 1.8
R i v e r s i l t (slu dge) . . . 1.8
S o d (overburden) . . . . 0.8
C la y sod (overburden) . 1.2
S em id ry, loose clay . . 1.2
W e t (s oaked) c l a y . . . 1.9
D ense, v i s c i d cla y . . . 2,1
Volume Weights, Coefficients of Expansion and Angles of Repose G07
Continued
Rocks Weight I d tons per

cubic metre
S a n d s to n e s ( d e p en d in g on d e n s i t y ) ........................... 1.8-2.5
Q u a r t z i t e s .............................................................. 2.5-2.8
S h a l e s .................................................................... 2.3-2.6
L im e s t o n e s ( d e p e n d in g on d e n s i t y ) ........................... 1.5-2.7
M a r b l e .................................................................... 2.7-2.8
M a r l ....................................................................... 2.3-2.5
D olom ite .............................................................. 2.3-2.9
G y p s u m ................................................................. 1.9-2.6
Hock S a l t .............................................................. 2.2-2.4
H a rd c o a l .............................................................. 1.2-1.4
A n t h r a c i t e .............................................................. 1.3-1.5
B row n coal (lignite, d e p e n d in g on ash co n ten t) . . . . 1.15-1.3
C r y s t a l l in e r o c k s ..................................................... 2.6-2.9
The above is illustrated by Table 17, which refers to the typical

rocks of a lignite deposit worked by a chain-and-bucket excavator.
Table 17
Coefficients of Rock Expansion in a Lignite Deposit
Coefficients of expansion
Unit weight
per 1 cu m In the bucket
Types of rock In place, In railway
of the exca car In dump
tons vator
Sand and line p e b b l e s . . • 1.7 1.2 1.15 1.1

L o a m .............................. 1.8 1.8 1.3 1.15
C l a y .............................. 1.9 1.9 1.5 1.25
B row n coa l (lignite) . . . . 1.15 — 1.4 —
The angles of repose for loose or lumpy bodies are included in

Table 18.
The general edge slopes of the pit banks may be taken as given in
Table 19.
The figures listed in Table 19 should be regarded as rough, requir
ing closer and more detailed consideration in each individual case,
depending on the bedding arrangement, jointing, degree of stability
and sequence of rock occurrence, etc. For very deep open pits with
long service-life, it is suggested to cut these figures by 3-5°.
G08 Basic Definitions and Terminology
Table 18
Angles of Repose for Rocks
Angles of repose.
T y p e s o f rock In degrees
P u r e l o o s e s a n d ..................... 32-34
L o o s e s a n d w i t h c l a y ............ 37
W e t s a n d ............................... 22
P u r e l o o s e g r a v e l .................. 37
L o o s e gravel w ith c la y . . . . 37
D r y l o o s e c l a y ...................... 37
S o l i d c l a y in p l a c e ............... 40-45
M o i s t c l a y ............................ 20-25
W e t c l a y ............................... It;
L u m p y s t o n e r o c k s (average) . 38
C o a l ..................................... 34-40
V a r i o u s o r e s ......................... 38-42
Table 19
Angles of Steady Bank Slopes for Open Pits
Slope, In
Types of rock d egrees
S o f t c l a y g r o u n d ................................................................ 25-35
H e a v y ( c o m p a c t) c l a y g r o u n d ........................................... 30-40
H a r d c l a y shale, s a n d s t o n e and l i m e s t o n e ........................... 40-45
H a r d s a n d s t o n e , hard lim e s to n e , d o l o m i t e s , i g n e o u s r o c k s
e x p o s e d t o w e a t h e r i n g .................................................... 40-50
V e r y h a r d s a n d s to n e , lim e s t o n e , d o l o m i t e s , m e t a r a o r p h i c and
i g n e o u s r o c k s ................................................................ 50-60
Q u a r t z i te s , v e r y hard i g n e o u s and m e l a m o r p h i c r o c k s . • • • 60-70
CHAPTER XX V I
E Q U IP M E N T A N D L A Y O U TS O F OPEN P IT S
1. B a s i c T y p e s o f O p e n - W o r k M e c h a n i s a t i o n
In modern open pits, which generally produce large tonnages

and in which considerable and sometimes even huge masses of the
mineral and rock are excavated and hauled, the basic operations
should all be th o ro u g h ly m echanised.
We have already seen that mine machines and transport equip
ment in open pits and quarries may be large in size, since space
there is not restricted as it is in underground workings.
Rock and useful mineral in bench faces are usually excavated and
loaded into transport vehicles by e a rth - d ig g in g m achines. The latter
excavate only soft and medium-hard rocks. Hard rocks, on the other
hand, are preliminarily b la ste d ou t of the solid mass and broken into
pieces fib to handle and load, and in this case earth-digging equip
ment is used chiefly for loading loose “ muck piles”into railway
cars or other vehicles.
Earth-digging equipment includes e x ca v a tors (power shovels and
multi-bucket excavators). S c r a p e r s and cra w ler tr a cto r b u lld o z er s
not only excavate ground, but also remove or haul it over certain
distances. Hence it is more fitting to designate them as earth -dig
g i n g and m o v in g machines. Placers, mainly the gold ones, are mostly
worked by d red gers. In certain conditions rocks and mineral are ex
tracted and conveyed by water (open-cut h ydrau lick in g). Special ma
chines and devices are used in mining m o n o lith s or stone blocks for
construction and sculptural purposes.
Overburden is disposed of in w aste d u m p s or s p o il banks directly by
earth-digging machines or transported from working faces to spoil
banks in railway cars or hydraulically. The basic operative processes
at the spoil banks should also be completely mechanised.
Given below are a few typical illustrations showing mechanisa
tion patterns in modern open pits (Figs 418 and 419).
1. Stripping is done by a large-capacity power shovel, which
conveys the overburden to a waste dump. The mineral is excavated
by a power shovel of a smaller size, which then loads it into railway
cars.
610 Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
F ig . 418. B a s i c l a y o u t p a t t e r n s o f m e c h a n i s e d o p e n p i t s w o r k e d b y p o w e r
shovels
Basic Types of Open-Work Mechanisation fill
T ra ctor d ra w n p l a n e r
M o to r is e a c a r r y - a tl
s Cc r' aU pt / eL /rJ n .
______/ Ripper
F ig . 419. B a si c l a y o u t pa tter n s o f m e c h a n i se d o p e n p i t s worked by

m u lti- b u c k e t e x c a v a t o r s an d sc r a p e r un its
C12 Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
2. The same pattern, but mining and overcasting are done by a

dragline.
3. If Ihe overburden at the bank faces is made up of hard rock
and strong mineral, it is blasted, and for this blast-holes are made
by drilling machines. The shot rocks and useful mineral are loaded
by power shovels into railway cars and these go either to a spoil
bank or departure stations.
4. The overburden covering the mineral is stripped by multi-
bucket excavators and is disposed of and distributed in spoil banks
by special long stacking conveyers.
A layout similar to the preceding one, but the overburden ground
is conveyed to waste dumps by a mobile or conveyer bridge (see Fig.
440 below).
-J. Mining by cable or drag scrapers.
G. Stripping and extraction of the mineral by tractor scrapers
with the use of rippers and bulldozers.
7. Extraction involving the use of a tower or slackline cableway
excavator.
Layouts of open-cut work involving the use of hydraulicking
are dealt with in Section 10 of this chapter and with dredging in
Section 11.
Let us now pass on to a brief description of the equipment em
ployed in modern mechanised pits.
2. Drilling and Blasting in Open Pits

The excavation of rocks in pit banks by the blasting method
usually requires vertical boreholes. In certain circumstances, how
ever, ordinary holes of smaller diameter and coyote or tunnel
charges are also employed. The pin-point method of blasting is
sometimes resorted to in driving trenches.
Open-cut blasting is done chiefly with blast-holes. Their ar
rangement in single and double rows in the bank is illustrated by
Fig. 420. In the latter case they are located in a staggered order. They
Fig. 420. Location of blast-holes in a bank:

a —single row; b—double row
Drilling and Blasting in Open Pits 613
have a diameter of 150-300 mm and their depth should somewhat

exceed the height of the bench. In other words, the hole is somewhat
“overdrilled”.
N. Melnikov suggests the following standards for calculating the
arrangement of blast-holes. W designates the burden, that is, perpen
dicular distance from the centre of the charge to the bank slope. The
numerical value of W may be estimated as follows:
Height of han k H,
ih metres Burden IV, In metres
4.5- 7.6 0.62// + 0.33

7.6- 18.2 0.24// + 3.0
18.2 and a b o v e 0 .1// + 6.1
The distance between the rows of blast-holes (given double-row

holes) is (0.5-1.0)W, and between individual blast-holes in a row
(0.6.-1.5) W. The charges for the blast-holes and their diameter are
chosen so as to make the consumption of explosives conform with
their unit standard consumption (kg ms) set for any given type of
rock (Table 20).
Table 20
Explosive consump
Rock characteristics tion in kg per cu m
Highly strong, viscid (sticky) and dense quartzite . . 1.3-1.5

Highly strong aud dense basalt, diabase and diorite . . 1.2
Highly strong granite, porphyrite and quartzite . . . . 1.1
Gneiss, granite, porphyrite, syenite, amphibolite . . . 1.0-0.9
Extremely hard limestone, sandstone and conglomerates 0.8
Very hard siderite, magnesite, sandstone.................... 0.7
Very hard shales, marble, dolomite, limestone and mag-
nesite......................................................................... 0.5
Sandstone and lim estone.............................................. 0.4
Sandy shale, bedded sandstone.................................... 0.3
Hard clay shale, sandstone, g y p s u m .......................... 0.2
Hard c o a l...................................................................... 0.1
The data on the consumption of explosives in breaking rocks

with the aid of blast-holes, listed in Table 20, are rough, for petrog
raphic characteristics do not allow full determination of the blast-
ability of ground. Also of importance here are its structure jointing,
the nature of bedding, etc.
r.i4 Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
The explosives now used most widely in open-pit work are the
ammonites.
Holes and blast-holes in open pits and quarries may be drilled
by the rotary or percussion method.
Vertical blast-holes in strong rocks are made by special churn-
drill equipment, for instance, the EY-2 drills (Fig. 421). This drill
outfit comprises the following principal parts: frame 1, platform 2,
mast 3. main drive shaft 4, spudding sheave with crankarm 5, tool
string hoist or winch 6, bailer hoist 7, underframe with caterpillar
I read 8, drilling tool dismantling mechanism 9, drill controls 10, pow
er plant 11. The drill is designed for boring blast-holes up to 300
metres deep and 300 mm in diameter. To make it easier to move it
around, the drill is fitted with a caterpillar tread. The operating
weight of the tool string ranges from 0.5 to 1.4 Ions. The drilling
speed depends largely on the hardness of rocks. The performance
efficiency of the churn drill per shift in the coal quarries of the
Urals is about 10-20 metres, at the Magnitogorsk pit— from 12 to 15
metres and at the Ural asbestos pit—around 12 metres.
Blast-holes in softer ground are bored by the rotary drilling method
with machines capable of drilling both vertical and horizontal
holes. Rotary drilling outfits (Fig. 422) are being used on an ever-in-
creasing scale in open pits.
Fig. 422 depicts a fIBC-110 walking type machine, manufac
tured by the Karpinsk Machine-Building Plant. It is intended for the
rotary drilling in coal and soft ground of vertical blast-holes with
a diameter of 110-125 mm and a depth of 25 metres. The outfit is
furnished with electric motor 1 and a reduction gear, mounted to
gether with hoist 2 on platform 3. It is set up on skids or runners 4
and that makes it possible to move from place to place on the basis
of the “ walking”principle. Boring section 6 may be raised or lowered
by rope 5 passing over sheave 7. The per shift efficiency of the unit
is up to 40-50 metres when operating in rocks and up to 140 metres
in coal.
The drilling of holes a few metres deep and with a diameter
usually of 30-60 mm (“ shallow-hole method” ) is subsidiary in na
ture. Small and shallow holes are quite common in small open
pits.
Depending on the hardness of ground, the holes are drilled main
ly by pneumatic hammers of the plug or piston type, by tripod or
wagon-mounted drills, or electric augers. When it is necessary to
increase the explosive charge, the hole is sprung or chambered.
That means its bottom portion is preliminarily enlarged by the ex
plosion of a small charge. The small-hole method of shooting is more
labour-consuming than that of big blast-holes and is therefore sel
dom practised.
Drilling and Blasting in Open Pits fil5
Glfi Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
Mining of rocks in quarries and pits by the coyote or gopher hole

blasting is oITeclcd in two different ways—by driving adits and
digging holes with powder crosscuts. The first method involves
driving a small adit about 10-15 metres long into the face of the quar
ry at the level of the floor. From this crosscuts are made in both
directions and together with the adit they form a figure resembling
T. Into these workings large quantities of explosives (from several
hundreds to thousands of kilogrammes) are placed at definite intervals.
The explosion blasts huge amounts of rock. In the case of the second
met hod the chamber for the explosive charge is enlarged at the bot
tom of a vertical digging hole. The method of coyote blasting in open-
cut work is applied seldom and chiefly when local conditions make
the drilling of blast-holes inconvenient or impossible.
When ground is excavated by the coyote and gopher hole blast
ing method, the resultant pieces or lumps may be excessive in size
(oversize) and unsuitable for the transport and loading equipment
available at the open pit. These lumps should be broken up and that
is done by various methods, depending on their size and the hard
ness of rocks. If the rocks are soft, hammer piston drills weighing
about 10 kg are employed. Oversize hard rocks are blasted. The
explosive charges are placed into the holes drilled in rock lumps
or directly upon their surface (slab or dobie charges). The latter
method is the simplest, but less economical because it takes a lot of
explosives and also inconvenient because it scatters the fragments
over a wide area.
3. Mining by Excavators
At present it is excavators that are employed most, in mining
both barren rocks and the useful mineral in open pits. When the
ground is soft and loose, they dig it directly at the bank face and load
it into cars or other vehicles. In hard and medium-hard rocks, whose
excavation requires preliminary blasting, the use of excavators is
limited to loading the broken material into railway cars. In some
cases, excavators (power shovels), especially big ones, are employed
for overcasting the mined material directly to the spoil banks (see
below).
Excavators used in open-pit work are divided into two main
categories:
1 . single-bucket,
2 . multi-bucket.
The most important types of single-bucket excavators are the
power shovel and dragline, depending on the way the bucket is con
nected with the driving mechanisms.
Multi-bucket excavators are sub-divided into classes of contin
uous-bucket or chain-and-bucke| notary bucket and chaiu-and-
(118 Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
tooth machines, according to the design of their operating (working)

mechanisms.
1. The power shovel is crawler-mounted (Fig. 423). Dipper 4, fixed
on handle or stick 3, may perform two motions with respect to boom
1 : 1 ) slide along the geometrical axis of the handle which, for this
purpose, is fitted with a rack driven by special crowding mechanism
2 (digging motion) and 2 ) move circularly in the vertical plane with
the aid of cables 10, passing over pulleys 8 at the end of the boom and
wound onto drum.9 of the hoisting engine (crowding motion). These two
motions ensure excavation of the material. In addition to this, the
dipper can swing on turntable J in the horizontal plane, together with
the boom and the whole of shovel body 12, thus taking the exca
vated material away from the bank face and unloading it into transport
vehicles (or, in casting-over operations, disposing of it directly into
a spoil bank). The shovel is a self-propelling unit moving with the
aid of caterpillars 7 supporting the underframe of the machine 6.
These motions of the dipper and the shovel on the whole are ensured
by electric motors 11 and other mechanisms and gears in the body of
the shovel. Electric power is supplied to the machine from the mains
by a flexible cable wound on a drum in its body. Large-capacity power
shovels have several electric motors to ensure the motions above.
According to designation and dipper capacity, power shovels
may be subdivided into three distinct groups:
1) Small power shovels with dippers ranging from 0.25 to 1.5cum
in capacity, intended for small-scale earth-moving jobs in soft ground.
T a b le 21
P ow er S h ovels
Models
Characteristics
0-10003 CO-3 orJl-15
Dipper capacity, cu m .............. 1 3-5 10 15 25

Boom length, m ............................ 6.7 10.5 45 34 34
Dipper stick (handle) length, m . 4.9 7.2 24.7 18.65 18
Digging range or radius on ground
level, m ................................... 6.4 8.23 29 20.5 —
Maximal dumping height, m . . . 5.5 6.7 36 24.5 23.5
Power rating of electric drive mo-
lor, k w ................................... 80 250 1,700
Number of caterpillar treads . . . 2 2 8
Operating weight, t o n s .............. 39.14 165 1.017
Estimated output, rn’ / h r .............. 120-150 250-300 940
Manufacturing p la n t.................. Voronezh Urals Heavy Novo-Krama-
Excavator Machine- torsk Plant
Plant Building
Works
Mining by Excavators fi1»
2) Shovels of medium size with dippers holding 2-4 cu m of ma

terial; the machines of this group predominate in open-pit work.
3) Large-size shovels with dipper capacity ranging from 5 to 25
cu m. In the pits they are used mostly for stripping the overburden.
In open pits the power shovel is capable of digging any type of
ground.
Soviet engineering plants now build various types of power
shovels. Table 21 gives brief specifications of some.
Fig. 424 depicts an 3FJI-15 power shovel and its dimensions in
comparison with small and medium-size units.
The United States manufactures power shovels with dipper
capacity of up to 35 cu m.
The annual output of power shovels per cu m of dipper capacity
for the available stock of these machines is: in arenaceous, readily de
tachable ground—250,000 cu m; in argillaceous ground with fragments
of hard rock—225,000 cu m; in semihard rocks (compact marl, weak
and highly fissured sandstone, shales, hard lignite and other rocks
partially detached from the solid mass by blasting)—175,000 cu m,
in hard rocks, with preliminary shooting—150,000 cu m. The best
power-shovel crews, however, far exceed these average figures.
Thus, Ushakov’ s crew operating a 3 cu m shovel at a Vakhrushev-
ugol Trust pit in the Urals mined 1,638,000 cu m in 1953.
Fig. 424. General view of the big 3TJI-15 power shovel alongside small and
medium-capacity shovels
Power shovels can be oper

ated all year round even in
relatively rigorous climate,
but in winter months their
overall efficiency somewhat
declines. For instance, in the
brown coal pits of the Urals
output in spring is 1 1 0 per
cent of the average annual
figure, in autumn—90 per
cent and in winter—80 per
cent.
The working position of a
power shovel at the face of a
coal bank at the time coal is
loaded through a hopper onto
a belt conveyer is shown in
Fig. 425. The operation of a
large power shovel engaged in
stripping and overcasting the
overburden, that is in directly
disposing of it into a spoil
bank, is described below
(Section 7).
2.
shovel is fixed rigidly to its
stick (handle) and boom. In
draglines, on the other hand, it is suspended from the boom on
a steel cable (Fig. 426). The design of a dragline bucket is shown
in Fig. 427. It is a heavy bowl with teeth made of manganese
steel attached to the digging lip below and reinforced with a
bail 1 above. Load or pull line 2 is coupled to the bucket by chains
3 and hoisting line 4 by chains 5. The bucket dumps its contents
when the load line is slackened and the hoisting line is tightened.
To prevent chains 5 from interfering with this operation, they are
held in place by stay rod 6. When the load line is tightened, the
bucket is held in horizontal position by cable 7, passed over pulley 8.
During the operation, the bucket is pulled by the load line along
the working face and takes the ground in the same manner as the
scraper. Draglines of large size may have an immense radius or reach
of diggings, since the largest have booms of up to 75 metres in length.
Bucket capacity ranges from one to 25 cu m and more, depending
on the size of the machine.
Draglines can scoop up ground at a level considerably below
that of the machine itself. Thus, the digging depth of a machine with
Mining by Excavators 621
a bucket capacity of 3 cu m reaches 20 metres, while that of bigger

models with a bucket capacity of 10 cu m and more even 50 metres.
These excavators are designed mostly for work in soft and loose
ground but may also be used in handling blasted hard rock.
Draglines are employed for direct overcasting of ground without
any intermediary haulage. Since the bucket is suspended from a cable
line it is difficult to dump its contents at a precise spot, and so the
dragline’ s efficiency declines when the material is loaded into rail
way cars. For this reason a broad funnel-shaped hopper is sometimes

placed over the car.
Like power shovels, draglines are crawler-mounted (Fig. 428).
However, special walking draglines have been manufactured
(Fig. 428) in recent years. When in operation, their body rests on a Hat
base whose bearing area is appreciably larger than that of caterpil
lar treads. Therefore, the pressure exerted by the weight of the ma
chine on a unit of ground surface sharply decre.ases and a walking
dragline can operate on ground into which the caterpillars would
sink deeply. For “ walking”the machine is provided with a unique
mechanism in the shape of two side supports (shoes) resembling
skis, on which it rises and moves slowly over a distance of 1 - 2
metres.
The large 9IU-14/65 walking power shovel, manufactured by the
Urals Heavy Machine-Building Works, is one of the most remarkable
creations of Soviet technology.
Initially, the capacity of its bucket was 14 cu m and the boom
extended 65 metres, and 10 cu m with the boom 75 metres long. In
C24 Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
the latest models the bucket capacities have been increased to 2 0

and 14 cu m.
The overall weight of the machine is 1,300 tons. It can dig the
ground 45-50 metres below its actual position and dump the bucket
at a height of 28-32 metres above it. This makes the machine particu
larly suitable for overcasting work.
The walking mechanism comprises two pairs of powerful hy
draulic cylinders, suspended on the sides of the m achine’ s body, and
two supporting shoes. The cylinders are fed with oil under a pressure of
175 atm. The shovel moves up to 2 metres with each step and covers
a distance of 120-150 metres during an hour of continuous walking.
On its route it can negotiate gradients of up to 10°and turn in different
directions.
The overall rated power of the electrical motors of this shovel
is about 7,000 kw.
The duration of the operation cycle is 50-70 sec. In this short
space of time the shovel excavates 14 cu m of ground weighing about
20-25 tons. In 24 hours it can dig out up to 15,000 cu m.
The machine is serviced by only five or six men per shift.
Another, smaller walking power shovel, the 3IU-4/40, has a
bucket capacity of 4 cu m and a 40-metre-long boom.
In view of the rapid development of open-cut mining, the Soviet
Union has built a dragline with a 125-metre-long boom and bucket
capacity of 25 cu m.
The charge ratio of the dragline bucket, in comparable condi
tions, is somewhat lower than that of the dipper of an ordinary power
shovel firmly fixed to the boom and, therefore, annual productivity
per cubic metre of bucket capacity is several per cent less.
3. In open-pits it is sometimes necessary to extract relatively
thin layers of mineral. For instance, in mining coal from seams of
complex structure it is desirable to excavate barren rock partings
selectively. This can be done by a mechanical shovel with a front
skimmer attachment (Fig. 429). The skimmer differs from an ordinary
power shovel by the design of its operating mechanism. Bucket1, with
a capacity of 0.5-1 cu m, is fixed to slide block (carriage) 2, suspend
ed from boom 3. In the course of actual skimming the bucket is pulled
forward from the machine body by load line 4 and cuts a thin
layer of ground. When the bucket reaches the tip of the boom, the
latter is hoisted by cable line 5, swings to the dumping point, and
the contents of the bucket are discharged through a hinged door.
Lately a combined skimmer-planer has been designed on the ba
sis of the C3 3 power shovel. It shows a marked improvement over
ordinary skimmers because the horizontal boom along which the
bucket slides, can beset at different levels and that greatly facilitates
the extraction of beds with complex structure.
Mining by Excavators 625
21 -dB25
4. The principal part of a multi-bucket excavator (bucket-chain
machine) (Fig. 430) is endless chain 2, supported by frame 1, with
buckets 3 fixed to it. When they rise, the buckets cut and lake the
ground and unload it as they overturn passing over upper driving
sheave or tumbler 4. Ilence, unlike the cyclic process of single
dipper power shovels, the process of digging here is a continuous
one.
I he driving gear and power plants (electric motors and more rare
ly steam engines) ol the bucket-chain machine arc set up on a spe
cial platform which can move, on wheels or caterpillars, along the
face. Jhis platform may be located on the upper berm of the bank
being dug down-face (with a down-boom excavator, Fig. 430), or on
the lower berm in the case of up-face digging (up-boom excavator).
Some types of bucket-chain machines can be adjusted for both tip-
arid down-face digging. Working normally, the bucket chain moves
slowly (at a rale of 0 .0 -1 . 2 m/sec), while the machine itself also
travels slowly along the face (at a rate of 4-12 nrscc), continuously
scraping the ground or the mineral off the surface of the face. With
such a principle of operation, chain-bucket excavators are suitable
for working loose friable or relatively soft sandy and clay ground
without any inclusions of large slabs, stumps, etc. Up-face digging
is somewhat less efficient than the down-face. That is why it is
Mining by Excavators fi 27
practised more seldom, and chiefly when the top surface of the
bank is rugged.
The bucket jib hinged to the body of the machine and suspended
from cables 5 or chains can be raised and lowered, and that changes
the slope of the bank. To counterbalance the heavy bucket-chain
jib or boom, a massive counterweight 6. is provided on the other
side of the machine. The chain bucket excavators under which
loaded trains 7 can pass are called portal excavators. To make the
body sufficiently stable, a special post or column resting on bogie
or carriage 8, rolling on a special rail, is put up to support it.
Since digging is continuous, the output of chain-bucket exca
vators is relatively high, although it naturally depends on the size of
the machine. The capacity of the buckets ranges from 0.2 to 1.5cu m
and the estimated rated output of bucket-chain machines varies
from 250 to 2,250 cu m per hour. In winter, multi-bucket chain ex
cavators, especially the small, are less suitable than power shovels.
In building up internal spoil banks of overburden, these units
can be used in combination with overburden bridges and overburden
dumping machines (Section 7).
A bucket-wheel excavator or land dredger also digs continuously.
Its buckets, however, are not fixed to an endless chain, but to a
wheel, that is, a rotary movement is imparted to them during the
operation (Fig. 431).
The body of the bucket-wheel excavator rests on underframe 1,
fitted with crawler bogies or caterpillar wheels. The body of the
machine is made to turn around its vertical axis by swinging mecha
nisms 2. Operating wheel 3 of the excavator has eight or six curved
blades (buckets) 4. The wheel itself is set up at the end of frame (jib) 5,
shaped like a girder truss or beam. The jib carries belt conveyer 6,
which transfers mined ground to the loading, tail part of the machine,
made in the shape of a swinging cantilever or arm 10. This cantilever
is furnished with belt conveyer 9. Rocks are dumped into a railway
F ig . 431. B uck et wheel ex c a v a to r
21*
(128 Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
car or a truck through chute 11. The jib can be raised and lowered
logot!hor with the bucket wheel by cables 7, suspended from boom 8.
The excavators of this type can work only in dry loose ground.
They are used mainly for selective layerwise excavation of barren
locks and minerals.
4. Employment of Earth-Digging and Moving Machines

The operating organ of a scraper is also a bucket of one or anoth
er shape. Hut whereas excavators are intended only for detaching
the rock from its solid mass or for scooping the loose ground and
loading it into vehicles, scrapers besides haul the obtained material
over a certain distance.
The scraper bucket is moved either by a cable line from a hoist
or by a tractor.
Cable or drag scraper plants are now almost out of use in open
cast work.
Tractor (iclierl) scrapers have been used in open pits in the past
lO-Jd years. The bucket or body of the scraper, especially designed
for this purpose, is mounted on truck-type wheels (Fig. 432). Tlio
scraper is hauled by a tractor. Its bucket is filled and unloaded while
it is in motion. To dump the load, the scraper bucket is tilled, or the
material is pushed out by a special movable plate fitted inside the
bucket. The unit is operated by the tractor driver with the aid of
wire cables. To increase the rutting force and accelerate the opera
tion of large-sized wheel scrapers, pusher-tractors are sometimes
Fig. 432. T ra ile r wheel scraper

Employment of Earth-Digging and Moving Machines 029
Ground loyer scraped

Fig. 433. Diagram illustrating the operation of a wheel scraper unit in an
open pit
used for assisting them in loading. Fig. 433 is illustrative of the pat
tern followed in operating a trailer scraper unit in open-pit work.
Rapid progress has been achieved in the manufacture of scrapers.
There are already models with capacities of up to 25-30 cu m. The
Chelyabinsk Tractor Works puts out wheel scraper units with capac
ities of C.5 (overall weight 7.2 tons), 10 and 15 cu m (weighing 14
tons). A 6.5 cu m scraper is pulled by 80 hp tractor, a 15 cu m unit
requires a 140 hp tractor and a pusher-tractor.
Somewhat larger models with capacities of up to 17.5 cu m are
manufactured in the U.S.A. The output of a 6 cu m unit with hauls
within the range of 2 0 0 metres comes to several hundred cubic me
tres per shift, depending on working conditions.
Wheel scrapers are very convenient for earth moving and digging,
for they move and turn easily on sinuous roadways and negotiate
gradients of up to 20-25°. But they can be operated only in loose and
soft ground.
As independent earth-digging and moving units, wheel scrapers
can be employed for small-scale open-cut work, while in large pits
G30 Equipm ent and Layouts of Open Pits
I heir use is restricted to ancillary operations (cleaning up stripped

areas; operating in sections of the pit inaccessible to power shovels;
making shallow trenches pending the arrival of main excavating
and transportation equipment, etc.).
Closely resembling wheel scrapers by its operating features is
the bulldozer or bullgrader, in which work is performed not by the
bucket, but by a ploughshare fixed in front of the tractor and
pushing the ground it cuts ahead (Fig. 434).
5. Mining of Monoliths (Ashlar or Cut-Stone Blocks)

In mining stones for construction and sculptural purposes it is
important for the blocks to have a definileshape and size and to be free
from cracks and fissures when they are excavated in the working
face. This facilitates their further processing and reduces the loss in
the form of fines. But that cannot be achieved by blasting operations
and for this reason monolith stones arc mined by specially designed
machines. For example, marble blocks and other building stones
are excavated by a machine oT a type shown in Fig. 435, by a self-
propelling unit moving by rail and cutting stone blocks. The ma
chine has been invented by A. Stolyarov.
Since monoliths may be of considerable size and weight, the
quarries are equipped with hoisting and jib cranes (Fig. 430) to take
blocks from the working faces to where they arc loaded into vehi
cles. The cranes of this type consist of mast 1, held in place by a
Fig. 435. A. Stolyarov’

s machine for cutting marble blocks
Mining of Monoliths (Ashlar or Cut-Stone Blocks) 631
Fig. 436. Hoisting jib crane for handling stone blocks
number of cable support guys 3. The stone monolith is suspended

from swinging jib 2 by pulley block 5. The angle of the jib ’ s
inclination can be changed with the aid of pulley block 4. The jib
can be swung around on turntable 7. The jib and hoisting pulley
block 5 are driven by hoists 6.
Special methods are employed to obtain stone blocks of a particularly large
size. Thus, the marble used for the interior decoration of the Ethnographical
Museum in Leningrad came from the Belaya Gora deposit in the Olonets area.
The job required round columns 9 metres high and 0.85 metres in diameter.
To obtain marble blocks suitable for this purpose the following method was used.
Because of the natural features of the structure of the occurrence and the expo
sure on the lakeshore of one of its sides, about 25 metres high, it was decided to
detach a block of huge size—20X 15X 13 metres. To do this, vertical cuts 1.5
metres in width were carefully blasted out on the Hanks of and all the way up
the stone mass. These cuts separated the block from the parent rock. Another
cut was made below the block, 4 metres high on the outer side and one metre high
on the inner. To make this cut two adits were driven under the stone mass. They
were gradually connected with each other and the side cuts, from the rear side
of the block to the mouth of the adits. This involved leaving temporary protective
marble pillars near the mouth of the adits. The size of the pillar area was esti
mated on the basis of the ultimate compressive strength of Belaya Gora marble
(2,100 kg/cm*). The top surface of the block was cleared of ground and boulders,
after which toree vertical blast-holes were drilled in its rear side then charged
with 200 kg of black powder. To detach the block completely, numerous holes
were drilled in protective pillars and charged with dynamite. The charges in
holes and blast-noles were electrically lired all at once. The blasted block meas
ured 4,200 cu m and weighed 11,600 tons. In falling, it broke into three parts,
and out of these monoliths of required size were cut for the columns.
632 Equipment and Layouts oj Open Pits
6. Transport Facilities in Open-Cut Mines
The vehicles used most for the transportation of the mineral and
barren rock in modern mechanised open-pits are large-capacity dump
cars, hauled by electric or steam locomotives, self-discharging trucks
and licit conveyers.
1. l.<tr"e-caparity dump cars should be made convenient for rapid
loading by power shovels and automatic discharge. That is why they
are made open. There are various ways of automatically discharg
ing [hem. The most popular design is a car whose body tilts in (he
dumping process, turning round the long axis, and its side board
rises simultaneously (Fig. 437). The body is tilted at an angle of
40-45" by air cylinders set up on the underframe of the car (Fig. 437),
The body of a small-capacity dump car is tilled by hand with the aid
of special levers. This, however, consumes much time. Large-capacity
dump cars are mounted on two double-axle wheel bogies. The 50 cu m
capacity dump car widely used in open-pit mining has the
following basic characteristics: track gauge—1,524 mm (standard),
capacity—22.0 cu m, dead weight—31.5 tons, width—3.15 metres,
height—2.9 metres, length between couplings—12.8 metres, number
of air cylinders—4.
As said above, large-capacity dump cars are used most for trans
portation purposes in big open pits. For small-scale open-cut work
narrow-gauge mine cars of the rocker type are used (Fig. 438). They
are built for a track gauge of 750 mm, in capacities of 0.75, 1 and
1.5 cu m and with load-carrying capacities of 1.5, 2 and 2.7 tons
Fig 437. Compressed-air dump car

Transport Facilities in Open-Cut Mines 633
Fig. 438. Rocker car
respectively. Larger mine cars for narrow gauge have capacities

of 2.5, 3, 5 and 6 cu in and load-carrying power of 4 and 9 tons. Small-
capacity rocker cars are manufactured by many Soviet plants.
2. Electric locomotives are by far the most important type of trac
tion for trains composed of large-capacity dump cars. The ones now
used mostly in open-cut work are listed in Table 22.
Table 22
Electric Locomotives
Models
Characteristics
iy-Kn-i 113-150 I3-F.-1 -
Weight, t o n s ...................... 80 150 150 44-70

One-hour power rating, kw . . . 832 1,440 1,560 60-185
Direct current voltage, v . . . . 1,650 1,110 1,500 1,100-600
Tractive effort, tons ............ 12 22.5 19.8 8-13
Speed, km/h ...................... 24.7 23 28 13-18
Gauge, m m ........................ 1.524 1.524 1,524 900
Least curvature radius, metres . . 40 80 80 60
The Dynamo Works also manufactures narrow-gauge electric

locomotives with adhesion weight of 30 tons and tractive effort
of 3.7 tons (at one-hour rating) operating on 550 v and powered by
a motor of 67.5 kw.
In open pits with a nonelectrified transport system large standard-
gauge steam locomotives may be employed, or special types of narrow-
gauge locomotives, weighing 15-20 tons and with a tractive effort

of about 5-5 tons.
In opcn-pil conditions, particularly in winter, electric traction
has overwhelming advantages over steam locomotives.
Track shifting in open pits and at waste-dump sites is dealt with in '
Section 7 of this chapter.
3. The progress made in designing and manufacturing automobiles
has of late led to an ever-increasing utilisation of automotive trans
port in open pits.
Motor trucks employed for open-cut work should be adapted for
loading by power shovels and provided with automatic dumping
devices. The body of the truck is made strong to withstand the impact
of big rocks falling from a considerable height. For automatic dis
charge there are dump-boiltj trucks (Fig. 439).
The body of these trucks is raised by hydraulic jacks to tilt 70°,
this ensuring the complete dumping even of sticky clay ground. Basic
information on dump trucks now manufactured in the U.S.S.R. is
given in Table 23.
Fig. 439. Dump-body truck

Transport Facilities in Open-Cut Mines 035
Table 23
Dump-Body Trucks
M od els
Characteristic*.
311JI-585 M A 3-205 t I A d - 2 1U - E M A 3-525
I.oa tl-ca rry in g rapacity,

I o n s ........................... 3.5 5 10 25
Motor potter rating, hp 90 110 I ts 300
Type o f f u e l ................... Petrol Diesel oil Diesel oil Diesel oil

Matiiiinrri speed, km h . (15 f>5 ‘i5 30
M;uin 1ac In ting- plant . . L ik h a ch ov M in sk Y;i r o s i n v| M in sk

A u to m o b ile A u to m o b ile A u to m o b ile
A u to m o b ile
W orks, W orks W orks W orks
M oscow
As we see, the load-carrying capacity and motor-power rating of

dump-body trucks manufactured in the Soviet Union are very high.
There are even bigger dump trucks in the United Stales, with a
body capacity of 24 cu m, carrying load of 4o tons, and two motors
of f»00 hp.
Other types of automotive vehicles for open-pit work are trucks
and articulated tractors with automobile wheels or caterpillars and
trailers. Fig. 440 shows that trailers of this kind have bodies which,
like dump cars, automatically discharge the material. The load
carrying capacity of such trailers may be very high (up to 70 tons
in the U.S.A.)
In open-pit conditions the use of automotive transport offers a
number of material advantages. For instance, curvature radii can
be kept down to a minimum. Road gradients can be as high as 10-
lf>°. The small curvature radii and steep gradients make it possible
to mine small open pits, with sinuous outlines and rugged topography.
Fig. 440. Dump truck with trailer

Fig. III. Trolley dump Irnrk
Motor trucks and I rai Ii t s can easily Ik' moved from place lo place.
A (lump truck can lie positioned most advantageously wliile it is
loaded 1>y a [lower shovel, and that considerably raises (lie latter’ s
efliciency. More, if one motor truck breaks down, that does not slop
tie oilier machines.
(In the other hand, heavy dump trucks and trailers need good
roads. Hein fall and severe frost sharply reduce their efliciency.
Automobiles consume' valuable and sometimes scarce liquid fuel.
Consequently, in open-cut mining automobiles are used to the
best advantage in small pits with a short service-life and low
reserves of the valuable mineral, and especially in deposits with
irregular contours occurring in mountainous country. In large'
pits and quarries automobile transport is advantageous when
they are worked at a considerable depth; in this case it is possible
to avoid the immense volume of work essential to provide exits for
lornmulive-elruwn trains. Automotive transport may successfully
he employed in the initial stage1of open-pit construction, when there
is not enough working space for (he basic equipment to operate* in.
Motor transport in open-cut mining is economical when the hauls
are relatively short—.'!-,') km.
4. Trolley (lump trucks have been used at the Boguraevsk limestone
quarry (Fig. 441) since 1952. Used for this purpose are the chassis
Waste Dumps and Equipment n:n
and body of dump trucks with load-carrying capacity of 5, 10 and

25 tons, equipped with electric motors fed from trolley wires through
rod current collectors. Trolley trucks have many important advan
tages over ordinary motor dump trucks: there is no need of liquid
fuel; electric motors require less repairs than internal combustion
engines and their tractive performance is better; they work efficient
ly in winter; there are no exhaust gases and so drivers work in belter
hygienic conditions.
Their manoeuvreability, on the other hand, is somewhat inferior
to that of automobiles, hut sufficient for open-pit work, inasmuch
as it can run 4-5 metres from the trolley wire centre line. Trolley
trucks require the establishment of a direct current traction substa
tion and trolley wires.
5. Belt conveyers are widely used in open pits and in some other
instances for the transportation of coal. The standard width of the
belts is 700, 900 and 1,200 mm. The loading of the material onto the
conveyer and its uniform delivery is ensured by a travelling hopper
with a feeder set up over the conveyer (Fig. 442). In the case of
complex seams some of the waste left in the pit, when possible, can
be picked out on the conveyer. The belt incline of the conveyer
should not exceed 18-20°.
To distinguish it from haulage by rail, transportation by motor
trucks and conveyers is called flexible.
6 . When little mine cars are used in working deep but small open
pits and quarries, they can be brought to the surface by inclined

hoisting plants with decks (cages) accommodating one or two cars.
Hoists equipped with skips (see Fig. 463) are more efficient.
7. Hydraulic transport is dealt with in Section 10 of this chapter.
7. Waste Dumps and Equipment

1. The problem of locating and arranging waste dumps and organ
ising and mechanising spoil disposal in open-cut work is extremely
important, since in pits of large size waste dumps and spoil banks may
assume tremendous proportions.Thecost of overburden transportation
may then constitute a substantial part of total mining expenditure.
The choice of the site for waste dumps should lake into account
the development of the pit throughout its service-life. There have
been cases of no provision being made for the development of open
pits in the initial stage of their operation and of using tracts of land,
which could later be used as quarries, for waste dumps. Shifting
those dumps to a new site entails considerable and useless expend
iture. For example, it would be a mistake to arrange waste dumps
at the foot wall of a steep deposit (see Fig. 410) in position A', where
a vertical shaft has to be sunk later. The proper site would be
('■•'IS E qu ipm ent and Layouts o f Open Pits
Waste Dumps and Equipment O.'SO
position A. Accordingly, the ap 2

propriate place for spoil banks at
the hanging wall would be B and
not B'. In selecting the site for
a waste dump and laying trans
port ways and roads one should
take account of the actual posi
tion of mine workings, disposal
of the spoil and lay of the land.
Waste dumps are classified
into internal or inside and ex
ternal or outside. Fig. 443. Position of power shovels,
working faces and waste dumps in over
2. The inside dumps are those casting operation
where the spoil is disposed of in
the pit itself. For inside dumps there is no need of plots that could
be used for agricultural purposes. Transportation of overburden to
inside waste dumps is simple and cheap. It is especially so when the
attitude of the deposit and the availability of a large-capacity exca
vator (power shovel) permit overcasting or course stacking, that is,
direct disposal in the pit of the spoil stripped by the power shovel
(see Fig. 418). Overcasting and course stacking have the enormous
advantage of obviating any supplementary transportation. This
method is applicable when the deposit is a horizontal or slightly
sloping occurrence and the thickness of cover rocks permits the
excavation of overburden in one bench. The position of power
shovels and the location of working faces and spoil dumps in an over
casting operation are shown in Fig. 443. Here stripping power shovel
A digs the ground at face 1-2 and disposes it directly in waste dumps
or spoil banks 3. Coal (or any other mineral) is mined by coal power
shovel B of smaller size in working face 4-5, and is loaded into open
railway cars spotted on tracks 6. Pass-byes with switches are arranged
for the shunting of loaded cars and their replacement by empties.
Berm 7, sufficiently big for the stripping shovel to return to make
full-length cut, is left between the slopes of banks, on the over
burden or coal. When low coal seams are worked and the overburden
is overcast directly to a spoil bank, the economically justifiable
overburden ratio may be as high as 10-15 and even more.
Inside waste dumps or spoil banks can also be built up with the
aid of belt conveyers mounted on long suspended cantilever trusses
(Fig. 444). Such mobile overburden dumpers and spreaders are used
at the Lopatinsk phosphorite quarry (Fig. 445). From a stripping
chain-bucket excavator the spoil is carried to the dump by two mobile
belt conveyers.
A further step in the direction of rational spoil disposal inside the
pits has been made with the application of overburden bridges. A
MO Equipment and Layouts o f Open Pits
diagram of one of such ar

rangements is given in Fig.
446. On the right one sees a
large multi-bucket excavator
stripping rocks capping a
brown coal deposit. The
stripped overburden is fed to
a belt conveyer mounted on
an overburden bridge. Tbe
latter rests on two supports
which move on rails together
r with the stripping excavator.
C On the excavator side (be
c bridge lias a boom in the
s shape of a raised cantilever,
— adjusted to suit the height
of the spoil bank. To make
^ waste dumps uniform, the
spoil can be discharged at
t three different points.
E Tbe excavation and trnns-
-§ pollution of the overburden
= thus proceed without inter-
ruption. This not only makes
J it possible to use bridges of
J enormous size Init alsogreat-
° ly to increase their capac-
> ily. Tbe overall length of
these bridges (together with
the boom) reaches 600 me-
^ lies and their height from
the ground to the lower
girdle—60 metres. I hey are
capable of handling up to
2,000 cu m of spoil per hour.
In spile of considerable ini
tial outlays, the high effi
ciency of the machine and
small service crew required
make stripping costs very
low. Overburden bridges,
however, can be used only
in certain conditions: when
the occurrence is horizontal
and regular, the countiy
Waste Dumps and Equipment 641
(ii2 equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
uqi —
i
is flat and the bed is very thick.
The first Soviet overburden
bridge was commissioned at the
Baidakov open-cut coal pit (Ukraine)
in 1052.
3. For all their merits, inside
waste dumps or spoil banks require
definite conditions to warrant their
use, and it is by Far not in all open
pits that they can be built. Much
more frequently one has to arrange
outside waste dumps.
Topography of the land permit
ting. waste dumps should be sited
in lowlands or on valley slopes
(see Fig. 407).
Quite often, however, flat land
Jf is allocated for waste dumps. In
E order to obtain the initial specified
height of the dump in this case,
± an inclined fill is built up by a pow-
= or shovel, or else a limber trestle
7 of required length,
i The dump may be made loom- or
fan-shaped. In the first instance
§ (Fig. 447), the spoil-loaded and
^ empty trains are not delayed by
£ oncoming traffic, and the dumping
front is very extensive. Fig. 447
shows the initial fill (or trestle) from
which dumps are built up on both
sides, first in fanlike fashion, until it
is possible to link the ends of the
track lines and form a loop.
The fan-shaped pattern of waste
dumps is given in Fig. 448. lurnmp
point A is the point from which the
tracks radiate. The dump has two
independent tracks —/ and 2—to
provide two discharge sectors.
The loop pattern involves longer
train trips than the fan-shaped, but
the loaded and empty trains have
to meet with no oncoming traffic
and the discharge front line is
Fig. 447. Loop layout of a waste dump
therefore quite extensive. That is why in big open pits preference is

shown to the loop scheme.
The dumps may also be double-benched. That happens when,
after a certain area has been covered with the spoil, another dump
is started, with the material being discharged in the same order
atop the first one. Fig. 449 is illustrative of a very large waste dump
at the Korkino brown coal open pits (Urals). To ensure the required
storage capacity (and in this case a very high one) the dump is built
in two benches, with partly a looplike and partly switchback layout
of railway tracks. In Fig. 449 the numbers indicate the points of
arrival of spoil-loaded trains.
CM Equip m ent and Layouts o f Open Pits
The principal means used for transporting the overburden to the

outside waste dumps of large open pits are trains of large-capacity
dump cars drawn by heavy electric or steam locomotives.
However, the use of dump cars in spoil banks entails the following
difficulties. As heavy cars are unloaded automatically, railway
tracks cannot be laid near the edge of the dump because that would
make them unstable. If the tracks are laid away from the edge of
the slope, part of the unloaded spoil is dumped on it and thus impedes
the discharge of the next cars. That necessitates measures to remove

the spoil from the edge of the dump. This is done by spreader ploughs
and spreader excavators, or stackers.
Spreader ploughs operate in the same manner as the snow-ploughs
and cast or drop the waste over the side of the dump with a heavy
share or mouldboard. They are cither pulled by locomotives (Fig.
450) or driven by an electric motor of their own (Fig. 451). When
necessary the mouldboard may be raised or lowered. In the U.S.S.R.
spreader ploughs are manufactured by the Magnitogorsk Mining
Equipment Works and other plants.
Stackers or power shovels are used for scooping the spoil discharged
from dump cars and casting it away at a certain distance.
Waste dumps may be serviced by power shovels of both ordinary
and special design.
Fig. 452 shows that the waste, delivered to point 1 and dropped
over the side of the dump, is scooped by dipper 2 of an ordinary
shovel and recast to the dump occupying an area of 25 metres in width.
Consequently, with this method of dump spreading, the labour-
Waste Dumps and Equipment M5
Fig. 4 50 . Trailer .spreader plouuh
consuming job of re-laying tracks has lo be done only once every

25 metres. Before the tracks are laid, the uneven surface of the dump
is levelled out by a bulldozer.
The scheme of a special spreader excavator or stacker is given in
Fig. 453. Its frame a has buckets attached to it. The buckets scoop
up the spoil brought by train b and pass it on to belt conveyer c.
This same machine is used for levelling out the dump surface prior
to track shifting. To do this, the bucket frame is temporarily moved
into horizontal position II.
Fig. 451. Combination of spreader plough and track shifter

r,i<; E qu ip m e n t and Lauouts o f Open Pits
Subsequent position
o f r.r. tracH
- k .o
-s.o~
I2.S
/■/" !i'J Slacking wasle (lump by a power shovel

Waste Dum ps and Equipment 047
The use of spreader ploughs and spreader excavators or slackers

not only helps mechanise the labour-consuming job of clearing rail
way tracks and dump edges of the spoil, but also makes it possible
to build up higher dumps without the fear of there being any
slides, and reduces the number of track-shifting operations to be
performed as the dump extends.
Table 24 below lists N. Melnikov’
s figures for the height and angles
of dump slopes as well as labour efficiency depending on the class
of the ground and the method of dump stacking and spreading.
Table ‘
.'I
W a s t e D u m p C h a r a c t e r is tic s
Permissible AV e n ic e
Mode of dump height of Slope angles, o u t p u t per
stacking and Classes of ground dump, degrees m a n pe r shift,
spreadIng m cu m
By spreader Hard rock up lo 30 30-35

ploughs Sand 15-20 30-35 70-1r.n
Sandy loam 12-16 25-40
Loam and clay 9-10 35-40
Power shovels Sand up to 30 30-35

100-130
Ollier types of
grouncl 20-25 33-40
Spreader multi- Sand 40-50 30-40

bucket exca- Sandy loam 30-40 30-35 150-300
valors Loam and clay 20-30 15-30
4. Large pits are distinguished by a highly developed railway

system, both in the pit itself and in the outside waste dumps, and
by the consequent necessity of shifting railway tracks along with
the advance of the faces and the extension of the spoil banks. Big
cars and heavy locomotives require sturdy rails and long sleepers
with large cross-sections.
In such conditions, the transfer and shifting of railway tracks is
an extremely labour-consuming operation. For this reason special
machines—track-lifting cranes and track shifters—are employed.
A railway crane (Fig. 454) is designed to move sections of tracks,
the rails being preliminarily unbolted. In an hour it can move about
1 0 0 metres of the tracks to a new place.
By their mode of action, track-shifting machines may be classified
into two groups—discontinuous (periodic-action) and continuous
types.
•V " < v 7
- c-v . 9
The first, group includes the machine illustrated in Figs 455 and
450, manufactured by the Karpinsk and Magnitogorsk machine-
building plants in the Urals. The track shifter has a heavy wheel-
mounted platform standing on rails to be shifted. An internal com
bustion engine of cither 32 or 73 hp, designed to drive all its mecha
nisms, is installed on the platform. Under the platform are special
tonglike catches a which grip the head of the rail. In addition to
this, the platform carries a gear wheel engaged with rack b. The
bottom end of the rack is hinged to shoe or saddle c. The operation
starts with the rails being gripped by the catches (/). Then, with
the lack standing almost vertically, the gear wheel is made to rotate
so that the machine, together with the engaged rail track, is raised
into position //, developing a lifting force of 25 tons. Ultimately,
the machine is moved laterally, swinging in an arc around saddle c,
as a fulcrum (position III). A track shifter of this type weighs
around 5 tons. Depending on the condition of the tracks and the
properties of the ground, the tracks are shifted 0.4-0. 8 metre in one
operation or “ step”
. Following this, the machine moves 10-20 metres
ahead and the shifting operation is repealed.
The main parts of a continuous track-shifting machine are the
heavy rollers with shaped surface. Drawn apart, they can be lowered
onto the rail and then, after being squeezed together, tightly grip
the head of the rail on each side of the web.
The spreader plough described above (see Fig. 451) can also serve as a
track shifter. The left side of the picture clearly shows the gripping
Fig m . Discontinuous (periodic-action; track-shifting machine

in operation
( o il Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
rollers in a raised position. When rails

are engaged by the rollers and raised
a little, the heavy member they are
mounted on is moved laterally with
sufficient force not only to bend the
rails but also to shift the whole track
section together with the sleepers
which, in the case of mechanised shift
ing, are particularly rigidly con
nected to the rails. The machine then
moves forward, with the bending and
subsequent shifting of the rails (a few
decimetres) going on continuously. A
diagram of one of the continuous track-
shifter types is given in Fig. 457.
Mechanical track-shifting machines
ar> not suitable for the re-laying of
railway switches and frogs, this being
done by cranes.
The more the surface of the ground
is level, the easier it is to shift tracks
and the more reliably the whole track
line is laid. What is more, it does not
then require additional sleeper lamp
ing. The dump surface is levelled
out by a spreader excavator of the
design illustrated by Fig. 453.
8 . General Open-Pit Layout Patterns

'I'lie general layout of pits vary
widely, this depending on thcsiz.eand
ihe geological structure of the depos
it, land topography, the envisaged
scale of open-cut work and the avail
able transport facilities and other
equipment. They are classified chiefly
in accordance with the distribution
of waste dumps and the arrangement
and development of the transporta
tion system. .
Characteristic from this point or
view are the follow in g typical open-
pit layouts.
General Open-Pit Layout Patterns fiol
Pits with Inside Spoil Banks
1. The pit layout is maximally simple when the overburden is

overcast directly to inside waste dumps. A series of such layouts
are shown in Figs 418, 419 and 443.
Down to a certain depth open pits can be worked with the over
casting or course stacking of the overburden even in steep deposits.
Thus, V. Popov gives the following data on open-cut mining in
a steeply pitching 20-metre-thick seam in the Kuznetsk coal lields
(Fig. 458). After loose silting deposits have been stripped by an
9111-4/40 power shovel operated as a dragline, working trench 7 is
driven. The overburden is first overcast to temporary waste dump
2 and, later, to permanent spoil bank 3. All these operations are
performed by one and the same shovel over sections extending 1 0 0 -
150 metres. The coal is excavated first in one bench, 18-20 metres
high, prepared by the drivage of a working trench, and is loaded
into dump-body trucks. The second coal-benching bank is worked
by the below-grade digging method, by a shovel installed on the
first bank. The shovel dumps coal into piles, from which it is loaded
into dump trucks. Daily output may thus be as high as 1,500 tons.
The area of working faces needed for the production of this amount
can be prepared in 6 - 8 months.
2. A general idea of a pit layout requiring the building of inside
waste dumps with the aid of an overburden bridge (see Fig. 446)
was given earlier in this chapter.
3. In the mining of extensive open-pit areas and flat or very gently
inclined deposits it may happen that the overburden is transported
to spoil banks in railway dump cars, though the spoil banks them
selves lie inside the worked-out area.
Equ ipment and Layouts o f Open Pits
Open-Pits with Outside Waste Dumps

The 1ay on I and development of the railway track system, as well
as of other means of transportation, may vary considerably. Some
typical examples are given below.
4. Figs 459, 4(il) and 404 are illustrative of a pit layout distin
guished by the parallel disposition of stripping and production banks
and their connection with the outside road system through trenches.
Fig. 4f>9 depicts stages 1-2-3 of the gradual development of the pit.
Stage 3 (full development of the pit) is distinguished by the fact
that the spoil excavated in overburden bank //, is hauled to outside
waste dumps via stripping trench R K , while the mineral mined
in bank h2 is transported to the terminal or dressing mill through
production trench R J \ T h e front lines of si ripping and production
laces advancing towards the boundary of the pit always retain their
reciprocally parallel altitude. The development of the pit implies
the following operations: driving of stripping trench 1, then strip
ping operations at large and subsequent culling of production
trench 2. and after that starling of phase J(actual mining of the
mineral). These operational stages must be coordinated in lime.
The location of trenches with respect, to the working faces, shown
in Fig. 4o9. is given roughly. Actually, the trenches may be traced
differently, though their purpose- will remain unchanged. This de
pends on the topography of the country and the location of waste
dump sites and terminals. The outlines of the pit may be irregular
ami not rectilineal1, the decisive factor in this being the geological
structure of the deposit.
Fig. 4o9 depicts overburden bank /;, and production bank li2.
Jf the overburden and mineral deposit are of considerable thickness,
there may be not one but two or many such banks. In such cases,
special access ramps to individual banks are branched olT the trench
tracks.
The layout in Fig. 4o9 is distinguished by the fact that the lead
waste and production rear-lines are laid down in separate trenches.
In a pit worked at a great depth this method, though very conven
ient because it makes independent operation of waste and produc
tion lines possible, would require loo great a volume of earthwork
in driving trenches. In Inis instance, therefore, both lines can lx-
laid in one trench.
The outgoing or exit tracks may be laid on the edge of the pit. on
berms of sufficient width (Fig. 4(>0). Though this method requires
a somewhat smaller amount of earthwork than the preceding one
(since there are no trenches outside the pit area), it involves more
development work, for the tracks have to be laid ori the edge of the
deeper part of the pit. Furthermore, the Lolal length of the pit
General Open-Pit Layout Patterns 053
must be sufficient to allow the construction of roads with gradients

conforming to the type of transportation adopted.
Deeper pits permit the use of the switchback system of track con
nection. Fig. 461 is illustrative of a switchback layout of tracks
(i.Y'i Equipment an d Layouts 0/ Open Pits
L.
Fig. 4tj(). Layout of a pit with outgoing (ramp) roads running
along its edges
in a vortical projection. Numbers 0, 1, 2, 3 mark the levels of the

floors. Thus, to get from level 0 to working floor 3 a train must fol
low the route marked by the arrows. Switchbacks entail a big loss
of time for shunting operations. Ivach switchback should be suflici-
ently long to hold a train and railway switches, or else to allow
enough room for motor trucks to turn round.
In deeper pits, roads (both rail and motor) may also be arranged
to s p i r a l round the periphery of the pit (Fig. -/i(>2 ). The time to
stal l mining the benching bank by a series ot parallel strips is when
the spiral trench driven from the ground surface round the periphery
of the pit reaches the working level. To open a new horizon, the
curvilinear trench is deepened still more, and so on. As the result
of this, spiral roads encircle the entire portion of the deposit al
lotted for open-pit work.
There may be instances when, because of mountainous relief,
the rail tracks or motor roads connecting the pit with the terminal
General Open-Pit Layout Patterns 055
To concentration plant
Fig. 462. Spiral road layout in a pit
tleaa frame
Bin to receive mineral from
ships and discharge it into
r.r. cars
Measuring bin
for ships 4/W ~ P
„ Pit edge
Sump
Hoisting machine
& C IE — C'lie ad fram e pulleys
From slope
Fig. 463. Inclined hoist layout
r.r.G Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
or dressing mill, run below the working faces (for example, Figs 407
and 409). In this event both the spoil and the mineral have to be
casl or dropped over the side to the bench below. And then too,
depentling on topography, ramp roads—common, switchback or
spiral—may be used.
5. The deeper the pit and the smaller the area of the deposit in
plan covered by it, the more inconvenient extensive outgoing (exit)
trenches, switchbacks and spiral roads become. In such cases re
course is made to inclined hoists equipped with cable (Fig. 463) or
conveyor plants. To deepen the pit to the height of a fresh bench a
dug hole is bored at the bottom, near the hoist plant, and is fitted
with a hoist. After that one proceeds with the work of extending
the hoisting operation to a new level.
Fig. 4(>4 Open-pit and emend surface connection by under-

emend openings
6 . The layouts of open pits serviced by nonwheeled transport

facilities have been given above by scrapers in Fig. 419 and by jib
cranes for moving cut-stone blocks in Fig. 436. Surface mining of
placers will he dealt with in Sections 10 and 11.
7. Sometimes the mountainous relief of the country allows us
conveniently to connect the pit, worked by ordinary benches, with
the ground surface through underground openings (Fig. 464).
9. Driving of Trenches
In open-cut mining it is necessary to make permanent trenches
(ingoing or entrance and outgoing or exit) to connect the pit with
the ground surface, and also working trenches to develop the banks
for mining and other purposes. These trenches may be horizontal
or inclined, with the gradient suiting the transportation system
adopted.
Driving of Treaches 1)57
With electromotive traction, the trench gradient should not

exceed 0.030 (in extreme cases 0.040); with steam locomotives it
must be not more than 0.020 (maximum 0.025) and for automotive
transport not in excess of 0.080. Trenches equipped with belt con
veyers must have a gradient of 1(5-18°. The cross-section of the
trenches likewise depends on the transportation system, land
topography and the height of banks.
The bottom width of entrance and exit trenches for transportation
over standard-gauge railway tracks should be 7.5-8 metres for single
tracks and 12 metres for double. The slope angles should not sur
pass those of repose for the ground in question.
The driving of trenches should be mechanised. They are usually
made by power shovels and draglines. The power shovel is suitable
for the direct excavation of loose ground or for digging hard rocks
that have been preliminarily blasted. In both instances the best thing
is for the shovel to unload the spoil directly into a dump near the
trench (Fig. 465) or into a dump-car running either on the ground
surface or on the floor of the upper bank. This is called up-grade
loading. In certain cases such shovels may be used successfully not
only for cutting trenches, but also in pit banks, for this makes it pos
sible to reduce the number of haulage levels. In the latLer case it is
convenient to use an extended boom with a dipper of somewhat
smaller capacity.
Fig. 466 illustrates how a trench is driven by two slices in three
cuts. During the first cut 1 the shovel loads the rock into cars a
spotted on the ground surface; in the second 2 the loading is done into
cars standing on the floor of the first cut, and in the third 3 into cars
positioned at the bottom of the trench itself. Deep and wide trenches
can be dug by a still greater number of cuts.
Draglines are particularly useful and handy in making trenches in
loose ground, with course stacking along the side of the trench.
Because of their long boom, they ensure greater digging depth, larger
dumping radius and discharge height.
Inasmuch as trenches are long but relatively narrow excavations,
they are sometimes made by pin-point blasting. With this method
(Fig. 467) two rows of explosive charges are fired, one immediately
after the other. The rock shot up by the first blast is thrown aside by
the second. The method has its merits: simplicity and speed with
which work can be done in rocks of any strength; but there are also
disadvantages: difficulty of obtaining the desired shape of the open
ing, additional clean-up work by power shovels, and greater cost of
excavation than when it is done by earth-digging machines or hydrau-
licking. In open-cut work this method is hardly to be recom
mended.
22-3625
r.;s Equipment and Layouts o f Open Pits
Pig. -Hi-t. Cut I iiilt a trench by a power shovel

I —w a s t e d u m p ; a — w o r k i n g ra ce ; j — o v e r b u r d e n
Fig. 400 Driving a trench in three cuts
I row n row
Fig. 407. Driving a trench by pin-point blasting
L
Hydraulicking in Surface Mining 059
10. H y d r a u l i c k i n g i n S u r f a c e M i n i n g
In principle, earthwork generally implies two basic operations:

detachment of the rock from the original solid mass and its sub
sequent removal to another place. Both these operations can be
effected with the aid of water: dislodging of the rock by a powerful
jet and displacement by a stream of water. These methods are called
hydraulic earthwork. In certain conditions hydraulicking may also
be applied in mining open pits.
Loose, friable ground, especially that in which there is no adhesion
between individual particles, such as sands, sandy loam, coarse
gravel, etc., lends itself most readily to water action. Clayey ground is
Fig. 408. Hydraulic mining of a gold placer
less amenable to washing. Rocks, still more difficult to wash (for

example, soft shales), may preliminarily be loosened by blasting
or by tractor planers, but this tends appreciably to lower the effici
ency of hydraulicking.
Hydraulic mining was introduced in Russia (Urals) in the 1830’ s
in washing of auriferous sands. Under this method, water under pres
sure is delivered to the working place and its powerful jet, issuing
from the nozzle of a hydraulic giant (hydraulic monitor), is pointed
at the face to wash the rock (Fig. 468). The barren rock or waste is
carried away to the dumps in the valley, while the mined auriferous
sand is brought by water to a concentration plant where gold is re
covered. Effective hydraulicking requires an adequate supply of
water under pressure. Primarily, the hydraulic method was applied
in the mountainous regions where a natural water head could be ob
tained. Later on, with the growing use of electric power in mining
industry, it became possible to make wide use of an artificially
created water head, and this has considerably widened the applica
tion field of hydraulicking.
Today hydraulicking in surface mining is not only widely prac
tised in working of gold placers but also in extracting other minerals,
chiefly in stripping.
22*
c.no Equipment and Layouts o f Open Pits
It, is best when washed ground, mixed with water (pulp), is carried
away from the working place by gravity (Fig. 469, A). However, if
local topography makes that impossible, the pulp has to be brought
up (Fig. 469, B) by a hydraulic elevator or a pump dredge.
The hydraulic giant (monitor) (Fig. 470) is so designed that the
water jet issuing from its
nozzle may be pointed in
various directions and
raised and lowered in the
vertical plane, this being
made possible by a verti
cal fulcrum (axis of eo
lation) and a sliding
ball-bearing joint. The
balance of the giant is
ensured by a counter
weight. Water consump
F i g . 400 Hydraulic mining layouts
A — w i t h (i ii 1 11 c a r r i e d h^r g r a v i t y ; B — w i t h p u l p l i f t e d
tion by the giant can be
b y a h y d r a u l i c e l e v a t o r ; / — w a s t e d u m p ; '■ !—s l u i c e * ; regulated by nozzle' of
j l - p l a f c r ; / — in c lin e d d itc h a t th e b o t to m o f th e
p l a c e r ; .5— h y d r a u l i c e l e v a t o r different diameters. So
viet plants manufacture
hydraulic monitors with inlets measuring from 150 to 350 mm,
provided with sets of nozzles from 50 to 125 mm in diameter. The
effective range of the jet depends on the head, as follows:
Head, metres__ 20 40 GO 80 100 120 130
t'.rfective range
of the jet, metres__ 10 21 31 41 32 G2 78
Detailed tables listing relationships between the water outflow

velocity and its consumption with various heads and nozzle sizes
may be found in a handbook compiled by N. Melnikov.
Citing B. Shkundin, S. Shorokhov gives the following figures.
A jet issuing from a 90-mm nozzle at an effective head of 75 metres
Hydraulicking in Surface M inin g 661
and water consumption of 800 cu m per liour performs at various

distances as indicated in Table 25.
Table 25
H y d r a u lic Giant P e r fo r m a n c e an d W a t e r C o n s u m p t i o n per
Unit o f M ate rial W a sh ed
Distance between nozzle and

working place, ra 5 10 15 20 25
Monitor performance, cu m of ground per

h o u r ....................................... 100 93 74 48 18
Water consumption per cu m of ground,
in cu m ..................................... 8 8.6 10.8 16.7 44.5
As we see, at a given head and with the distance between the nozzle
and the working place increasing, the efficiency of the monitor de
clines quickly, while water consumption per unit of material washed
increases sharply. For this reason, the monitor should be set as close
to the working face as possible, but the distance must not be inferior
to the height of the bank. At the toe of the bank a bottom cut is
first made by the m onitor’ s jet and this is followed by the caving
and breaking of the ground mass overhanging the cut.
In the hydraulic mining of gold placers, barren cover rocks over-
lying the productive part of the placer are first carried by the water
stream to waste dumps. This is followed by the washing of auriferous
sands and other rocks directed to gold-recovering units.
To move fine material, it is enough to have a slope of 0.02, while
to move that containing particles of average size the grade should be
0.025-0.05 and more.
The relationship between stream velocity in the watercourse and
the size of the material entrained is as follows:
Velocity, m see Size of material moved by tbe stream
0.08...................... Wears away fine clay

0.15...................... Lifts fine sand
0.23...................... Carries coarse sand
0.30...................... Moves fine gravel
0.60...................... Moves pebbles 25 mm in diameter
0 .0 0 ....................... Moves pebbles of egg size
1.60...................... Moves stones 75 to 100 mm in diameter
1.90...................... Moves stones 150-200 mm in diameter
3.00...................... Moves stones 300-450 min in diameter
0(i2 Equipm ent and Layouts o f Open Pits
The hydraulic elevator (Fig. 471) is a water-jet pump adjusted for

lifting sand mixed with water. It can also entrain pebbles and small
stones. The efficiency of the hydraulic elevator is very low (usually
5-20 per cent). Therefore, originally this equipment was used where
there was abundant water available at a natural head for lifting sand
and pulp, usually to a height of 7-8 metres. With the introduction
of electric power in hydraulic mining, the elevators were replaced by
dredge pumps.
Eif>. 471. Hydraulic elevator

/ — p r e s s u r e ( d e l i v e r y ) p i p e ; 2— t h r o a t ; w ater under pressure; ( — s lid e -
v a l v e ; a — p u l p d e l i v e r y ; o — d i l a t u r ; 7— m i x e r ; s —r m / / . l e
The dredge pump is a centrifugal pump driven by an electric or

diesel motor, especially designed for the suction of water mixed with
ground with rock pieces whose diameter should not exceed 0.5 of the
diameter of the dredge pump suction pipe.
Tahir -Jfi
Dredge Pumps for Open-Pit Mining
Maximum
Output hv Head, Motor size of rock WViplit,
Types water volume, m Rpm ratin';, pieces carried, k»
in3hr kw min
8113 800 25 730 110 100 2,200

8H3 1,080 43 9(i0 280 100 2,200
3rM -l 1,200 43 730 300 180 2,775
3rM -2 1,400 43 590 300 180 3,370
12P-7 1,000 53 590 480 200 4,500
20P-11 3,500 42 490 1,100 280 9,250
Hydraulicking in Surface M ining GG3
Table 26 lists dredge pump models used most widely in open-cut

mining. The diameter of the suction pipe is 200-300 mm.
Hydraulicking in earthwork requires very large amounts of water.
Adequate water supply and delivery to hydraulic giants are ensured
in a variety of ways, depending on whether it is a natural or an arti
ficial head that is utilised. In the first case the water is brought to
work places by gravity. At a place selected for its topographic condi
tions, a reservoir with dams is built and water is conveyed to pressure
tanks, sometimes over a long distance, through channels, flumes
and troughs.
The dams for hydraulicking purposes should be as cheap as possible
to build because they are used for a limited period. They have an open
ing for the outlet pipe, provided with a gate to regulate water de
livery and a waterspill for the discharge of surplus water.
Ditches are meant to ensure an adequate flow and quantity of wa
ter required by the rules of hydraulic engineering. For rough esti
mates, the following information may be of use.
The ditches are made trapezoid in shape, their bottom width being
1.8-2.2 times greater than the depth. The softer the ground, the less
sloping the walls of the ditch should be. The slope ratio in a soft
ground is taken at 1 : 1, in stronger ground at 0.5 : 1, and in hard
rock at 0.25 : 1. The grade of the ditch is determined by the velocity
of the water flow. It must be somewhat slower than that washing
away the given ground.
The permissible velocities for different types of ground are:
Classes of Ground Velocity, m sec
C l a y ........................................................... 0.15
Fine sand .................................................... 0.35
Coarse sand, l o e s s .......................................... 0.80
Loam and sandy l o a m ..................................... 0.55-0.95
Gravel and small pebble, up to 25 mm in diameter . . 1.25
Gravelly ground and c o b b le ................................ 1.5
Heavy clay ................................................. 1.8
Rocky g r o u n d ............................................... 2.5
Hard rocks ................................................. 3.5-4.5
The grade of ditches necessary to secure these velocities is

compuLed on the basis of formulas accepted in hydraulic engineering.
The useful section and the size of the ditch are determined by the
flow and delivery rate of water. There may be water losses in the ditch
r.c.i E q u ip men I and Layouts o f Open Pits
through filtration or see

page. If the supply of
water in the ditches is
limited, they should be
appropriately lined.
Over depressions in the
ground surface the water
is carried via flumes
(Fig. 472), if the cost of
I heir arrangement and
maintenance isbelow that
of the construction of
by-pass canals. The ser
vice-life of flumes is 8-12
years, but their repairs
are expensive (about 0.05
of the initial outlay an
nually). Steel metal races or troughs may also be used instead of
wood flumes.
In places with considerable depressions, where flumes on high
trestles would he too expensive, water may be supplied through
pipelines by gravity, at a rate of around 1.5 m/sec.
The pressure or surge tank (Fig. 473) is designed to maintain a uni
form head of water delivered to hydraulic giants via a pipe. It has
a protective screen to hold back objects that may choke the delivery
pipe, and an outlet opening at the bottom for discharging mud. To
cut down the length of
the delivery pipe, the
lank is set up as close to
the working place as pos
sible, but not at the ex
pense of (he water head.
Pumping equipment is
widely used to achieve
the desired water head Fig. 473. Pressure (sur^e) tank
at. the hydraulic giant l — p r e s s u r e ( d e l i v e r y ) p i p e ; t — p r o t e c t i v e s c r e e n ;
operating in an open pit. 3— g a t e ; 4— o u t l e t o p e n i n g
The most economic meth
od is the one involving recirculation of water, that is, Lhe use
of water partially cleared in the settling ponds at the dumps
(Fig. 474). In such cases, it is only the amount of water required to
make up for the losses during its recirculation (usually about 10-20
per cent of the total) that has to be drawn from the reservoir. Pumps
employed in hydraulicking have an output of 300-1,450 cu m per hour
and a head of 60-90 metres, and are driven by electric or diesel motors.
Hydraulic king in Surface Mining or,5
With hydraulic transport the rate

of flow in pulp pipelines should be
such as to ensure the movement of
ground particles. N. Melnikov cites
the following velocity rates re
quired for the transport of the ground
through the pipes with the maxi
mum permissible pulp density
(Table 27).
For hydraulic transport by grav
ity the grades should be as indi
cated in Table 28.
The above listed basic equipment
and facilities used in hydraulick-
ing—monitors, pumps, hydraulic
elevators, dredge pumps, pipelines,
ditches, flumes, etc.—are employed Fig. 474. Water supply of a
in various combinations, depending hydraulic plant
on actual field conditions.
Table -7
Rates of Velocity Needed to Transport Pulp Through Pipes
A v e rt ig o v e l o c i t y I n p u l p p i p e l i n e , m s e c
D i a m e t e r or t h e Sand fra c tio n s

fin1[i p i p e , c o n ta in in g fro m Sand and g r a v e l
cm C la y f r a c t i o n s 70 t o 30 p er c e n t w i t h l o w d a y frac>
of clay tio n content
25 1.6 2.0 2.5

30 1.8 2 1 2.8
35 2.0 2.2 3.0
40 2.2 2.4 3.3
45 2.3 2.0 3.5
50 2.5 3.0 3.8
(JO 2.7 3.2 4.0
Fig. 469 illustrates typical layouts used in the hydraulic mining

of an auriferous placer. According to the data furnished by Shoro-
khov, the results of placer mining are characterised by the following
figures. The volumes handled in hydraulic mining vary widely —
from 300 to 3,000 cu m per day, depending on local conditions.
Small hydraulic plants serviced by pumps and making it easy to shift
equipment from place to place may be operated to advantage in the
exploitation of small placers only for two or three years. Ditch-sup
plied hydraulicking, that is, plants fed with water delivered by
6(16 E qu ipm ent and Layouts o f Open Pits
Table 28
Gratlos with Hydraulic Transport by Gravity
Or idi-s
Type of ground
for flumes Tor earth ditches
Clavev g r o u n d ................................. 0.0150.025 0.02-0.03

Fine sand (up lo 0.5 m m ) .................. 0.025-0.003 0.03-0.04
Medium-coarse sand (up lo 1 nun) . . . . 0.03-0.035 0.04-0.05
Coarse sand (up lo 5 m m ) .................... 0.035-0.05 0.05-0.06
Gravel anil small pebbles (3-4 nun) Irom
20 lo 50 per cent .......................... 0.05 and more
pravily, should be made lo work from 5 to 10 years because of Ihe

high cost of maintaining water supply and storage facilities. Out-
gut per man per shift in small pits is about 10 cu m of ground, in
placers of average size—12-25 cu in, and iu big ones—40 cu in and
even more.
Fig. 475. Hydraulic minin" layout in an open coal pit

j — s t r i p p i n g f a r e ; 2— w a t e r p i p e ; — p u l p c o n d u i t ; 4— r o n l - m i n i n g p o w e r s h o v e l ; ■'»— c o a l
p i l e ; G— m a t e r i a l n o t l o o s e n e d b y t h e w a t e r j e t is o v e r c a s t h y t h e s h o v e l t o t h e m o n i t o r ;
7— 3 T M - 1 d r e d g e p u i n p ( s t r i p p i n g ) ; -s — r e m a i n i n g m a t e r i a l Is r e m o v e d b y a s c r a p e r ; 0 — c o a l
f a c e ; lu — 811 3 d r e d g e p u m p ( f o r c o a l )
Fig. 475 depicts hydraulic mining in an open coal pit. On the strip
ping bank ground is loosened by a hydraulic giant and conveyed by
gravity lo a dredge pump, from which it is carried to a dump by a
pulp pipeline. Coal is excavated by a power shovel, but its piles
are washed by a monitor and coal itself is carried down to a dredge
pump, from which a stream of water transports it through a pipeline
Lo a coal-storage settling site. In the case of hydraulic transport of
coal in open troughs, wood flumes should be made to incline 0.05-0.06
and metal ones 0.04.
In the coal-mining industry daily output by a dredge pumping
plant reaches 2,000-2,500 cu m and on some days even 6,000 cu m,
with labour productivity per man per shift being as high as 30-
35 cu m and more (as againsL 15-18 cu m per shifL wilh stripping by
D redging of Placers f.r.7
power shovels and transportation of the spoil to waste dumps in dump

cars). Coal in the Urals and Siberia is mined wiLh this method 1GU-
200 days in a year, for hydraulicking is seasonal work. In milder
climate it can be practised all year round. Electric-power consump
tion in hydraulicking and hydraulic transport with an artificial wa
ter head is fairly high—3-7 kw/m’and more.
We have said above that it was necessary to cast the spoil dis
charged by dump cars near the track over the side of the dump. This
can he done by hydraulic monitors instead of spreader ploughs and
excava tors.
Hydraulicking has good prospects in open-cut mining. To make
it more efficient, the technique and technology of the method require
improvement. What is needed is a readily movable hydraulic giant
with controls which would permit discarding the present awkward
and difficult hand control, movable dredge-pumping plants, etc.
Much also has to be done to organise work better and mechanise
ancillary processes.
11. Dredging of Placers

Dredges are employed for working placer gold, platinum and tin
deposits. The dredge (Fig. 476) is intended for mining ground in wa
ter. Therefore, it is a floating digger equipped with a concentration
(washing) plant for the recovery of the metal or ore concentrate from
the rock. Its digging, recovery and waste-dump stacking equipment
is set up on a floating pontoon.
The dredges were originally used for mining deposits under water,
with the placer lying beneath the bottom of rivers and lakes. But
then dredging proved so advantageous that, in appropriate natural
conditions, it pays to erect corresponding hydraulic structures,
create artificial water basins over the placer and mine it by dredg
ing. In other words, dredges can be employed both in natural and
artificial water basins.
The first dredges were both of single- and multi-bucket types, but
the first type has now come into disuse.
The digging mechanism of a dredge works like that of a multi
bucket excavator. The pontoon or hull of the dredge has a long
opening for the digging ladder.
The dredge has no self-propelling screw or wheel mechanism (like
in a steamer), for, while in operation, it moves very little and very
slowly. These movements are effected by tightening the lines an
chored either to the bank or to the bottom of the pond and winding on
winch drums set up in the dredge (Fig. 477). When in operation,
the dredge is held firmly in position by five long cable lines. One of
these, the so-called head line, is fixed to Lhe front end or bow of the
Equipment and Layouts o f Open Pits
dredge. While digging, the dredge slowly swings around the point
where the head line is fixed, this serving as a pivot, winding in one
how line and paying out the other. Another method of holding the
dredge in place during its operation is the use of spuds, long piles
pointed on the lower end (Fig. 478), two of which are set at the stern
of the dredge. With the aid of the spuds the dredge moves as follows.
One of the spuds (for example, K in Fig. 478) serves as a pivot during
the digging process, while another (A on the same drawing) serves
n r\
Fig 477. Diagram showing a dredge Fig. 47S. Diagram .showing a

moving with the aid of lines dredge moving with the aid of
spuds
for (he forward movement. Two lines suffice to swing or turn the
dredge operating with spuds, but large dredges are furnished with
several winches and lines to enhance their manoeuvrability.
Fig. 476 gives the outlines of a large dregde manufactured by the
Irkutsk Plant. The arrangement of digging, concentrating, stacking
and other equipment is explained by the drawing. The waste from the
screens of the washing plant is discharged onto the belt conveyer of
a long stacker which piles it at a sufficient distance back of the
dredge. The waste dumps may he built up on the bank of a pond or in
the pond itself, over the worked-out portion of the placer. Thus,
Fig.470 shows that the coarse oversize is transported by the belt con
veyer stacker to a high dump, while concentration-plant tailings are
discharged from the stern of the dredge at the water level.
The dredges arc available in different sizes and capacities. The
size of the dredge is usually denoted by the volume of the bucket.
The one in Fig. 476 has a bucket of 210 litres.
Table 29 lists the basic characteristics of dredges manufactured
by Soviet plants.
There are plans to manufacture dredges of a still larger size (pow
er-driven) with a bucket capacity of 500 litres, designed for very
deep digging (down to 50 metres below the water level).
Dredging of Placers 659
Table 29
D red ges
Manufacturing plant
Characteristics Takhtaniy-
dlnsk Irkutsk Perm
Bucket capacity, litres . . . . 50 150 210 380 380 380

Digging rale (speed of opera-
tion in buckets per min) 15 22 24 20 20 22
Maximal depth of digging under
water table, metres . . . . (i 9.3 11 15 23 30
Length of pontoon, metres . . 16 32.5 40.4 45.5 50.4 62
Width of pontoon, metres . . 8.6 15.4 18.2 22.6 22.6 24
Pontoon draught, metres . . . 0.9 1.75 2 2.6 2.6 2.6
Pontoon m aterial.............. wood steel
Indicated power of motors, kw 60 463 850 1,600
Weight, to n s................... 109 720 1,200 1,950 2,250 3,360
The great variely of dredge types may be attributed to the fact

that they have to be used in mining placers that are different in re
serves of the mineral they contain and the depth of occurrence.
Dredges for working small placers are equipped with 50-litre buckets,
have wooden pontoons and can be manufactured at mine machine
shops (except for certain parts). The average daily output of small
dredges is in the vicinity of 300 cu m. Small-capacity dredges were
introduced by P. Nedoves. These dredges were driven by locomobile
and tractor engines.
If electric power is available, electrically driven dredges should
be preferred to steam ones.
In dredging, electric power consumption per cu m of sand is about
2-3 kwh.
The sequence of dredging of ground depends on the thickness and
structure of the placer, but the usual practice is to work by several
horizontal cuts or slices 1, 2, 3 (Fig. 479), and much more seldom by
Fig. 479. Dredging of a placer by horizontal slices (cuts)

.70 E quip m ent and Layouts o f Open Pits
one* nil. over the entire thickness of the placer. As required by the
depth, tin* digging ladder is lowered or raised by steel cables which
pass over sheaves on the front or how gantry. Extraction by hori
zontal slices makes it possible selectively to mine the barren rock and
tin' productive part of the placer. The valuable components of the
placer are usually concentrated at the very bottom, on the bedrock.
I'hirers whose bedrock consists of hard fissured ground are not very
suit aide for dredging, for much metal may be lost in crevices and de
pressions. Large dredges with heavy buckets are better suited for a
thorough “clean-up" of the placer floor than the small ones.
In regions with rigorous climate one serious obstacle to dredging
is p m n a / r o s l , which necessitates preliminary thawing of the ground.
Th is is done first hv removing the vegetative cover and the upper
sin I layer over the area destined for working by the hydraulicking
method or with the aid of earth-digging machines, after which the
pcrmnlrost laid hare is exposed in summer to solar radiation. To
speed up the thawing process, steam, hot, or even unheated water are
passed through numerous steel points nailed into the frozen ground.
Dredging is feasible in the following conditions:
1. The placin' must have sufficient reserves of “sand” with the aver
age value of metal per unit of volume warranting its working for not
less than It) years and, in the instance of 50-1 it re bucket dredges, for
at least 5 years.
2. The valley slope should not. he too sleep, not more than 0.02-
O.O.'L to make if easier and cheaper to build artificial ponds.
3. The amount of water available in the working pond must be suf
ficient for the dredge to operate in.
4. The placer floor must not he loo hard, uneven or fissured.
5. The placer should not contain many large boulders.
(i. Frozen placers can he dredged only after they have first been
thawed.
The advantages of working with dredges are:
1. Immense outpul by large dredges—up to 12,000 cu m a day and
4,000.000 cu m a year. Small-size dredges handle annually up to
40.000 cu m of ground.
2. High efficiency of labour—up to 50 cu m per man per shift
with 210-litre bucket dredges and up to 90 cu m with those of 380
litres.
3. Dredges can be employed in mining poor placers, which it is
unprofitable to work by any other method. Large dredges can success
fully and economically exploit gold placers with a metal content of
but few hundredths of a gramme per cubic metre of ground.
There are numerous cases on record of dredging, which is cheap,
being employed in reworking abandoned old dumps of placers, for
merly mined by hand labour. In placers previously worked by the
Dewatering Open Pits 071
underground method, the presence of abandoned mine timber may

hamper dredging operations.
In regions with relatively warm winter dredging can be practised
all the year round. In rigorous climate the number of working days
suitable for dredging drops to 200-250 a year. In these conditions the
winter months are usually devoted to major repairs of equipment.
12. Dewatering Open Pits

Water inflow in open pits may be due to precipitation directly over
the area of the pits, or it may come from neighbouring catchment
grounds or, finally, underground sources.
Annual precipitation directly over the open pits is rather small,
about 400-500 inm in average climatic conditions. This means that
the amount of water caused by rain and snow in an area of one square
kilometre comes annually to about 400,000-550,000 cu m. But since
part of it evaporates and another penetrates into the ground, only
about 200,000 cu m remain to be drained. On the other hand, a pump
ing plant of a very moderate capacity, say, 1 0 0 cu m per hour, can
dispose of 100x24x365=876,000 cu m of water by working contin
uously throughout the year. Therefore, it is not the total amount
of water finding its way directly from the atmosphere that is impor
tant for estimating the rated capacity of water-disposing equipment
in open pits, but rather its concentrated influx during heavy rainfalls
and the period of thaw.
A big danger is presented by water coming to the pit from adja
cent catchment areas. The danger is prevented by diverting the
streams and building dikes and ditches.
Underground water penetrates into the pit from its edges, where
aquifers become exposed, or, in the case of pressure water, through
the bottom of the pit. Sometimes ground water is so abundant that
the deposit has to be dewatered first to ensure proper operation of
the pit.
Discharge facilities are provided to dispose of water in open pits.
The best thing possible is when water can be made to run by gravity
down to neighbouring valleys and ravines. For this purpose, local
topographic conditions permitting, underground drain tunnels (adits)
are driven. If this proves impossible, the inflowing water is diverted
by ditches to the lowest point, where a header is arranged with a
pumping plant. In large open pits there may be several such plants.
Because of the constant extension of development and production
workings, the floor of the pit is usually uneven and gradually be
comes deeper and this very often complicates the delivery of water to
pumps through the ditches cut in the floor of the pit. In such cases a
vertical shaft is sunk iD the vicinity of the pit, in the lowest portion
F ig. 180. Diversion of wnlor in surface mining
of a placer
of I ho deposit, and from i l a series of o p e n i n g s , sloping slightly In

wards the shaft, are driven at a level somewhat helow the envisaged
deplh of the pit. The job of these openings is lo collect water and thus
drain the pit. Usually in these cases it suffices for water to seep
through the natural crevices in the rock. If necessary, however, wa
ter can he made to run off through boreholes or the inclined or verti
cal openings driven from the bottom of the pit. A sump and a pump
room are built near the shaft to bring water to the ground surface.
Some examples of diverting surface water from the pit area arc fur
nished by the open-cut mining of auriferous placers. The methods
employed are analogous to those used in the drainage of placers
worked by underground methods, described in Chapter XX. A typi
cal pattern of water disposal from a placer area is shown in Fig. 480.
The section of the mined placer (hatched in the drawing) is located in
Dewatering Open Pits m
the valley of a river flowing into a bigger one. To divert the small
river a drain ditch is cut. At the site of the diversion the former river
bed is dammed. The drain ditch is also used to intercept water origi
nating from springs and temporary streams flowing down the slopes
of the valley. When the valley slopes are not even, the ditch—which
should be located as low as possible—is run along the gentler slope.
On the other, steeper slope, a hillside or berm ditch is arranged to in
tercept and divert spring and meteoric water from the adjacent
grounds.
A permanent ditch, whose depth is to exceed that planned for the
pit, is made along the former river bed. To facilitate the dewatering
of the working section, provisional ditches (shown by dash lines)
are dug when necessary. The cross-section of the outfall ditch is de
termined by the actual water flow in the river, while hillside ditches
Fig. 481. Dewatering of a coal seam through drainage

workings
are 0.7-1 metre deep and 0.7-1. 8 metres wide at the bottom and 1-2.5
metres at the top. The permanent ditch should be deep but narrow
and have heavy timbering reinforced by braces. When the driving of
ditches involves large amounts of earthwork, trench diggers should
be used.
Measures for underground water control are explained below.
Fig. 481 illustrates the working of a strongly aquiferous lignite
bed, covered by sand strata and containing abundant water. Depres
sion surface ab is formed near the edge of the pit. Wedge-like sector
of drained coal e lies over the strata of water-saturated coal, and this
creates the danger of slides. An analogous situation is seen
in the country rock face (wedge /). To dewater the working faces, drain
openings ac may be run. They will collect water within area cd. Such
openings are made at intervals of a few scores of metres.
In the event the ground is very soft and it is difficult to drive drain
openings, absorbing or suction filters can be made use of. They are in
the form of boreholes fitted with filter screens and equipped with
pumps. Fig. 482 gives an idea of draining a thick layer of aquiferous
sand capping a brown coal bed. It Lakes four benches with several
Cut, Equipment and Layouts of Open Pits
r >\vs of suction fillers to lower the water level by 16 metres. After

the dewatering of the first bench, the ground is stripped by an exca
vator lo a depth of 4 metres and the second row of filters is set up.
The pipes connecting them are moved together with the centrifugal
pumps. Fig. 482 illustrates the drainage of Lhe fourth bench. The
>! ripping job is done by a chain-and-bucket excavator. In the condi-
lions shown in Fig. 482 the intervals between Lhe filters on the first
bunch come to 120 metres, on the second—80 metres, on the third—
fig I>rnin,i'_r(' nf an upon pit Oimmih suction tillers

; — c o , i I : -J—d a y ; 3, 4, •'»— h u n k * ; 0 — s a n d
50 metres and on the fourth —25 metres. The bed is exposed over a
distance of 2 km. The water inflow per one filler is as much as sev
eral cubic metres per minute.
Deep-well pumps have latterly been used for the preliminary drain
age of Lhe deposits which are Lo be mined by the open-cut method
and which arc badly Hooded by underground waters. These are elec
trically driven centrifugal pumps of a special design, suitable for
lowering into boreholes. They have filter screens that let water through
but hold back sand particles.
13. Safety Measures in Open-Cut Mining

Many of the factors causing accidents in underground work, such
as caving of the roof, evolution of the firedamp, accumulation of
explosive dust, rope hoisls, etc., are absent in open pits.
But injuries may be caused by pieces of rock falling from bench
banks, accidents during Lhe transportation and operation of ma
chines, electric shocks, blasts, etc. Therefore, appropriate safety meas
ures in open-cut pits are just as imperative as in underground mines.
Safety Measures in Open-Cut Mining 675
To prevent injuries by falling rock pieces, the height of banks

and the angle of slopes should be kept within normal limits. The
slopes of banks, their edges and berms must be systematically and care
fully checked for crevices, jointings and detached slabs, which may
prove to be a source of danger to men working in the pit. Such slabs,
as well as the snow masses and ice lumps overhanging in winter, must
be removed as soon as they are sighted.
When work on the banks is completed, the width of the berm
should equal 1 / 1 0 of the bank’s height and not less than one metre.
To prevent people from falling in, the pits and quarries near settle
ments and roads should be fenced off.
Drilling and blasting operations should be carried out in accordance
with the existing rules and regulations. Special attention should be
paid in handling explosives, particularly in winter.
Accident statistics reveal that transport operations are the main
source of industrial injuries. Hence the need of strictly observing the
safety regulations concerning trains in pits and waste dumps.
It has been proved statistically that conveyers are safer than the
wheeled vehicles.
Machinery and transport equipment employed in open pits are as
a rule extremely heavy and bulky and, for this reason, one must
strictly observe safety rules in setting up and repairing them.
Since electric power is widely used in open-pit work, particular
attention should be paid to safety measures against injuries caused by
electric current.
The lighting of open pits at night is not only necessary for efficient
operations but also for safety. Working places and machines should
be provided with ordinary powerful electric lamps or special station
ary or portable floodlights. Portable lighting mains should be used
at the sites of blasting operations.
SUBJECT INDEX
A Bench 192
Bench mark 578
Active slope area 223 Benefication 106
Advance heading 74 Berm 603
Advance rate 339 Blanket formation 96
Aeration pattern Blastability 613
central 74 Blasthole 507, 612
retrograde 74 Blasting
Aerial tramway 120 bulk 542, 544
Air blast 228 concussion 211
Air bridge 43 coyote 466, 518
Air-leg 468 gopher hole 616
Air plug 164 heavy 466
Airtight seal 72 long-hole 538
Airway 36, 49, 294 pin-point method of 612
Analysis tunnel 518
elementary 193 Blind ore body 461
proximate 193 Block
screening 200 extraction 493, 544
Angle mine 323
of dip 31 production 220
of repose 607 slide 624
of slope 579 supporting 256
of steady bank slope 608 BlocK-holing 465, 520
pitch 54 Blocking out 71
Arc gate 144 Bogie
Average annual advance in depth 107 cross 135
Average grading 106 transverse 135
wheel 632
B Boom 618
Borehole 612
BacK fill 188 Borrow pit 163
Back slab 226 Bow gantry 670
Bail 620 Brace 369
Banquette 581 diagonal 522
Bank knee 521
coal-benching 651 Breaking
overburden 652 primary 520
permanent spoil 651 secondary 520
production 652 Breast front 38
Bar grizzly 141 Breasting 421
Bed Bridge
contiguous 206 conveyer 612
coquina 457 mobile 612
pay 190 Bucket 620
regular 96 Bulging 187
Bedding plane 560 Bulkhead 44
('.78 Subject Index
I ! ii I I grader ('.HO Coal— e n n t .

I'.urden (iI'> e a s 203
I', y-pass (’!. nil I Ol.'i granulometric pattern of 200
gross calorific value of 197
c inrush of 210
Cablownv 103 large-sized nut 203
(.;11> .72I long-flame 203
( .ii | meiI y lustrous (villain) 199
l.n K in ” I Oil net calorific value of 197
>-1i.riii;i' li 'i.'! oversize 432
'I nick C.7,2 petrographic composition of
n 199
n.rkrr 0.87 petrographic varieties of 199
rnckor-l ype self-tipping plaslometric analysis of 198
111111'' 408 nm-of-minc 202.
I ai na I lit o 47,7 slab 203
( nr pusher 17,0 small-sized nut 20.7
Cauldron 774 s(|iicezing of 210
(. a \ in'-! 178 undersize 4.72
ml ifieial 22(i wedge of •■ill
1hic k 2117 Coal culler 27.1
l.lock 7>.’.‘
) Coal dust 20.7
bulk 787 Coal measure 02
induced 7.10, 744 Coal-mining combine 22/i
riilc of 204 Coal planer 7,09
secondary 227 Coal plough 23(1
>i111lev el 72.2. Coal shed 190
Cn\ing - 1' ( i i n t e r v a l 227 Coal -iicker 430, 432
(7 ilin j Coal Upper 3, 1.83
p ro te c tiv e -VIS Coefficient
11n il eel i v m in e ra l 447 of exploitation losses 21, 107
( lenient ill ion 778 of losses 21
<11idin I.it -7.78 of overall losses 21
(11IdI^l- of recovery .87, 107
ilnbic HI li of mck expansion 000
.-lull liIG of ulilisalion 107
I linin'! 612 Coke l.ullon 190
Charge rnlio 1)21 Collapse 07, 208
Clinic Combined skimmer-planer 024
drawing Ilil, .722 Commutation pattern 54.8
<iiiin|>in*> 104, 832 Compact marl 019
•rronml .882 Compensation slot 548
Cl fill 2,1.7 Composite seam 192
Cleavage 17(i Concentration 106
with the bedding 202 Concentration mill 125
with I lie ili[. 202 Concentration-plant tailing 008
I .oa I Continuous I rack-shifter 050
anthracite 203 Conveyer
l.arnl of .806 belt gate 417
l.rown 202 cl.ain-and-fligbt 209
coal dust 203 drag-link 233
curtains of 379 face 234
dry distillation of 200 plate 55.8
dull (rlurain) 199 push 210
fibrous (fu-nin) 199 recovery of 339, 354
flaxseed 208 reversible 129
Subject Index 679
Conveyer—cont. Dragline 612

shaking 269 crawler-mounted 622
stacking 612 walking 622
Counter floor 378 Drag scraper plant 628
Country bedrock 23 Drain adit 477
Country-rock control 525 Drain tunnel 671
Course stacking 639, 657 Draw 572
Crawler tractor bulldozer 609 Drawing 483
Crib 249 Drawing off 494
Crib lining 524 Dredger 609
Crosscut 23, 25 Dredging 667
auxiliary 567 Dressing 106
intermediate 74 Drift
Cross-heading 268 auxiliary 477
Current boundary 553
downcast 42, 312 cross 478
intake 60 extraction 478
intake air 333 fringe 103
return 60 level 36
upcast return 312 main 36
Curvature radii 635 off-take 477
Cut-off slot 520 powder 519
scram 530
D service 477
slab 477
Dead floor 499 slice 530
Deflecting shield 414 stone 5,i8
Delivery rate of waLcr 663 Drill chamber 515, 518
Demantoid garnet 556 Drill jumboe 511
Deposit Drill steel 544
bedded 30 Dummy roadway. 262
blanket-like 458 Dump-body truck 634
nonbedded 587 Dump car 632
placer 96 Dumping front 642
Depression surface 673 Dumping radius 657
Detonating fuse 520 Dump spreading 644
Development 41 Dust catcher 375
Development work 312 Dynamic impact 562
Development working 155
Dewatering 671
Digging depth 657 E
Digging ladder 667 Edge of bank 602
Digging lip 620 Effective fuel 195, 197
Digging radius 605 Electric cap 520
Digging rate 669 Electric delay detonator 542
Dilution 500 Elevation compensator 134
of the ore 463 Emergency scraper coal storage 129
Dipper 618 Enclosing rock control 506
Direct overcasting 622 Entry
Discharge height 657 air 294
Distribution chart 277 gathering 75
Ditch
haulage 74
berm 673
drain 215 intermediate 218, 319
level strike 41
hillside 477 main 59
outfall 673 monkey 329
( 81' Suhjp.ct In dex
E n t r y — r mil. f i l l —cont.
mother 351 partial 162
)>;i nt'l 354 pneumatic 162, 185
rise 332 rib 41, 166
slali 482 whole 162
stone 505 filler 167
sublevel .",1!) fillin g
I win 300 by flush ini; 162
Ki| 11 i }> i i i i ’ll! complete 162
(InnmliiII 614 incomplete 102
wnl ei-disposing 071 mechanical 162
Escape i>|>t'iiiiiir 05 fill pass 493
17x tii \at nr fille r screen 674
l.iiclipt-w lippl 027 fire-break 462
r h n in - a n d - b u r k e l 00 2 ) Eire bulkhead 569
(low n - Ii o o i i i chili n - a m l- line k - fire infiltration break-through 429
d. 1.20 fire seal 370
multi-bucket 00!), 010, 020 fissure 67
port a I 027 flexible floorimr 431
single-bucket (power shovel) flexible nonscctionaliscd shield 378
010 fligh t loader 240
sliickliiip cableway 012 flooring 393
lower 012 flowsheet 433
up-boom 020 flum e 064
lixhatisi. fiin 50 fold 09
Exit track 052 friability 205
Expansion post 253 front, skimmer attachment 624
External moisture 194 fumarole 207
Extract ion fusibility 195
hulk 500
full-seam 188
O
F
lace Gamine band 192
hank 012 Gangue inclusion 494
dead 320 Gangue parting 354
development 155 Gangway 322
fire 428 Gasification panel 428
high 421 Gas rush 210
long 321 Gas-lapping passageway 428
narrow 353 Gateway 321
short production 221 Geothermal gradient 207
stepped 305 G i rt. 521
Pace advance 23 Gobbing up of goaf 161
factor Gradual roof settling 229
of exploitation 107 Grate 164
of utilisation 107 Gravity incline 571
false roof 103, 205 Ground
l-an-shaped round 541 argillaceous 619
fault 09 catchment 071
feed rope 300 drift 579
fill ledge 604
complete 162 permafrost 482
float 102 Ground extrusion 575
iiicomplcl e 102 Ground movement 119
mobi le 100 Gum 234
Subject Index 681
H Interbedding space 564

Hammer Interslice stratum 391
piston type 614 Interspace 561
plug type 614 Irregular occurrence 568
pneumatic 614
pneumatic coal 232 J
Hammer piston drill 616 Jib
Hand-stowing 162 bucket 627
Haulage swinging 631
electric 73
Jib crane 630
intermediary 622
Joint
main 36 blind 203
man-riding mechanised 81 distinct 203
Headframe 86, 125 obvious 203
Hoist Jointing 156
bailer 614
Joint-shaped arch 329
incline chain 134 Jumper 238
mine timber pulling 266
service 468, 541
toolstring 614
K
Karst
tip-spotting 129
aquiferous 117
tugger 468 dry 117
Hole Kerf 230
catching draw 548 Kimberlite 556
deep blast 509
discharge 528
down 502 L
mill 558 Lagging 246
outlet gas 429 Lagging-off 397
overdrilled 613 Land dredger 627
pull 512, 517 Lateral thickness 458
sink 57 Layout
Hole round 444 looping 138
Hopper 494 open-pit 593
House switchback 643
head 125 Least curvature 633
mine fan 576 Level 35
office-change-and-auxiliary- air 524
service 126 draw hole 539
shaft 125, 129, 131 grizzly 515
Hydraulic elevator 660, 662 production 41
Hydraulic giant 430 secondary breaking 513
Hydraulic lift 433 undercutting 553
Hydraulic silting 72 Level interval 36
Hydropneumo-storage battery 463 Line
dumping 621
I head 667
hoisting 620
Idle travel speed 236 load 620
Inclined hoisting plant 637 of dip 31
Inclined slicing-and-caving. 392 of least resistance 519
Inlet blast 429 of strike 31
Inside dump 639 Lithification 204
Instantaneous outbursts Loud-carrying power 633
of coal 208 Lode 97
of gas 208 Long hole 468
682 Subje ct Index
Long-hole drilling 513 Mine-fill 157

l.ongholing 517 Mine section 323
Long pillar mining on strike 338 Mining
advance 41
M bench 602
Machine bulk 463
coal hanil-r.nlling 231 by strips on strike 365
colnmn-niounted drilling 523 combined methods of 359
compacting slowing 167 continuous sublevel 318, 333
culting-londing 233 first 359
drilling Iil2 full-breast 364
eaiIli-digging 609 glory-hole 558
moving 609 lode 487
overburden dumping 627 long-face 482
rotary drilling 539 long-pillar 220
shot-drilling 550 longwal! 217, 316
throwing 167, 417 open-cast 593
tunnelling <4-15 pillar 337
Main roof 205 placer 475
Main water collector 59 primary coal 356
Manway 26, 74 retreat 41
Mat. rill 380
flexible 530 room 380, 509
ti m her 530 room-and-pillar method of 361
Matter composition 461 selective 463
Mean thickness 459 strip 36(i
Mechanised dump 125 surface 475
Mechanism wholesome 463
crowding 018 with diagonal strip 367
swinging 627 Mobile overburden (lumper 639
tool dismantling 614 Moisture in effective fuel 194
Metal race 664 Motion
Metal wire netting 391 crowding 618
Method 221 digging 618
helow-grade digging 651 Mouldboard 233, 644
caving 528 Movable steel shield 223
combined 359 Mucking 483
drop-shaft 117 Multi-bucket excavator 616, 626
chain-and-bucket 616
nonslicing 364 chain-and-tooth machine
of blasting 612
of elimination 589 616, 617
continuous-bucket 616
open cut 593
open end 361 rotary bucket 616
pillar-and-bord 338 see Lxcavator
pillar mining 368
pocket-and-stump 361 Multiple scam 192
room-and-piliar 221
room-mining 221 N
shallow-hole 614
shield mining 375 Narrow front 341
shortwall 352
stub or hut entry 350 O
stull-set 488
Milling 558 Open-cut hydraulicking 609
Mincd-out space 217 Open-end cut 512
Mine field 27, 33 Open-mine working 593
Subject Index 683
Operation chart 277 Place advance 319

Ore Placer 458
complex 461 alluvial 96
contamination of 463 residual 96
dilution of 463 river 96
disseminated 97 Placer floor 670
impregnation 463, 526 Planned work diagram 277
lean iron 461 Plasticity 435
self-igniting 524 Plication axe 443
simple 461 Ploughshare 630
Ore leaching 558 Pneumatic jack 468
Ore pass 502 Pneumoconiosis 467
Orogenesis 204 Pocket 341
Outcrop 34 Pointing device 621
Outside waste dump 642 Post cluster 250
Overburden 23, 47, 593 Power shovel 609
Overburden bridge 627, 639 Preliminary drainage 467
Overburden raLio 639 Preliminary shooting 619
Overcasting 612 Pressure control 160
Overhand stope 220, 297 Pressure fan 56
Overlap of the bench 298 Pressure water 671
Overloader 362 Prop 246
battered 268
P breaker 255
Packwall 41 punch 231
Panel 35, 59, 60 Prop shifter 255
Pass-by 639 Protective berm 605
Pegging out 578 Protective canopy 399
Peridolite 556 Protective seam 333
Permafrost 670 Pull rope 240
Permanent incline 48 Pump
Permissible cartridge 232 deep-well 352, 674
Peter out 504 dredge 662
Pbenocryst 463 Pulp collector 433
Phreatic water 475 Purlin 499
Pick-up cap 417 Pusher 125
Pillar R
boundary 355 Raise
entry chain 73 branch 548
floor 331, 528 cut-out 519, 553
interchamber 438, 513 finger 555
intermediary 524 transfer 543
long 337 Raising the roof 441
natural support 506 Ramp road 655
protective 55 Reach of digging 620
recovery of 339, 354 Receiving pit 147
rib 221, 524 Reinforced mine timber 487
shaft 44 Relief post 262
short 337 Residual expansion 606
sill 71, 515 Retarding conveyer plant 122
stub 298 Retreating order 221
support 157 Rib line 223
Pillaring 359, 369 Rill slice 493
by stub entries 352 Ripper 612
Pinching out 31 Ripping 444
Pitch 191 Rise 574
Ri'P Itoa(Iimr .'156 Separate aeration 342
River sill (JOG Set
Ho b I)i 11u 72 mechanised movable sup
of pillar .ri|7 portin'; 257
of si Hill |i 809 metal support 257
Rock three-piece frame 553
loot-wall 2118 timber 24G
hanging-wall 208 Shaft sinking 78, 118
iuni'oiis a78 Shaft
maul Ip 570 auxiliary 24
metamorphic 573 Hind 25
parent 1)81 drainage 25
superimposed 8.80 dummy 25
Rock burst 227 main 24
Rockslide 575 main drive GI4
Rod rnrmit. rollpclor G37 pump 25
Roof brushing 202 supply 25
Roof control 224 upcast fan 25
Roof limber 818, 871 Short roof 20G
Room Shrinkage slope 3G7, 549
convert pr-slal ion 149 Shunting G39
fill ‘
doraize 181 Side pack 1GG
open 551 Signalling post 2G5
shell er 211 Silicosis 4G7
shrinkage 528 Sill-ground inrush 482
span of 488 Silting 213, 402
sponlaneons collapse of 381 Sink 422, 572,
Room frame 470 Size grading 4G5
Room stock 515 Skimmer G24
Rotary drilling 211 Skin 389
Rotary drillin'; outfit G14 Skip 125
Hun-of-mine water 59, 203, 407 Skip measuring pocket 141
Slab 203, 512
S Slabbing 444
Slabbing cul 478, 481
Safe depth 580 Slab flooring 329
Safety platform 305 Slab roof 206
Safety rope 240, 30G Slashing 301
Sagging G7, 572 of wall rock 323
Scraper Sleeper tamping G50
cable G12 Slicing
dra;; G12 ascending 384
tractor G12 ascending horizontal 407
wheel G28 descending 88G
Scraper loader 23G diagonal 400
Scraper mucking 271 downward horizontal 406
Scraper path 271, 534 horizontal descending 412
Screen 608 horizontal top 528
Screw conveyer combine 309 inclined 383
Scam upward horizontal 40i
superimposed 75 Slicing-and-filling
superincumbent 424 inclined ascending oJb
Secondary breaking 465 inclined downward 397
Sectional steel 534 SI ojjo (K)3
Seepage GG4 advance .‘
534
Self-discharging truck G32 edge GU7
Subject Index 685
Slope—cont. Stripping ratio 595

fill 303 Strut 329, 369
mine 26, 74 Stub gravity yard 134
permanent 48 Stull 252
Slot 431 Subdrift 365, 502
Sluice box 430 Subfloor 526, 571
Slusher 468 Sublevel 219
Slushing 447 draw hole 553
Sod 606 scraper 553
Sorting plant 125 Subsidence 67, 572
Spiral gummer 231 of ground 119, 451
Spoil 593, 647 Subsidiary development 340
Spoil bank 609, 616 Subsidiary development work 403
Spoil disposal 637 Subsidiary opening 517
Spreader 639 Suction filter 673
Spreader plough 644 Suction head 146
Spudding sheave 614 Support
Stacker 644, 668 arch compressible 329
Stage incline 53 cribbed 393
Stand-by coal face front 335 cutting-off 369
Starting slot 238 metal mine 252
Static pressure 562 movable powered 259
Station overlap 329
bottom 26 preliminary 393
loadiug 293 square-set 520
shaft 26 Support guy 631
Stationary steel tray 272 Supporting shoe 624
Steam-point 483 Surface moisture 194
Stemmed filter 352 Switching operation 73
Stemming 519, 542 Sylvinite 435
Stick Syncline 604
charging 542 System
explosive 542 nonslicing 587
Stop board 166 open goaf 512
Stoper 487 open stope 512
Stoping 41, 155
breast 219 T
cyclic 274
cut-and-fill 523 Tail bogie of scraper hoist 129
overband 558 Talus 556
shrinkage 494 Temporary waste dump 651
—by slice 496 Tank
—of waste fill 500 pressure 664
square-set 520 surge 664
sublevel back 502 Terminal 652
underhand 504 Texture 458
Stoping operation 155 Througbcut 44, 51
Stopping 72 Tilting cage 125
permanent 342 Timber flooring 377
Storage sump 145 Timbering 246
Stow 161 advance 333
Stowing 157 face 223
Stringer 491 mechanised movable 224
Strip packing 185 organ 225
Stripping 593 protective 259
overburden 599 stull-square-set 491
680 Subject Index
Timbering—coni. Unproductive coal shed 568

sup port i nlt 209 Upcast pit 00
yield shah 11!) Up-face digging 020
Timbering certificate 223 Up-grade loading 657
Timber vard 120 Upheaving 57
Toe cut. 230 Uphole 487
Toe of hank 001 Uplift 574
Track-lift .inn crane 0'i7 V
Track shifter O'!7
Track shilling 034 Variation factor of coal extraction 68
Trad inn substation 037 Ventilating door 320
Tractor Ventilation
articulated 033 boundary 74
pusher 028 diagonal 74
Trailer 030 Vertical settling 422
Tramming 321
Transfer bin 131 W
Transverse cleavage 203
Transversely inclined slice 418 YVagon-inounLcd drill 014
Travelling hopper 037 Walking power shovel 022
T rench Wall 217
production 002 double 351
scraper 030 single 350
storage 030 twin 351
shipping 002 Wall-sublevel 219
Trestle 120, 042 Waste 044
Trim-chain 231, 234 Waste bin 131
Trolley dump truck 036 Waste dump 009
True thickness 408 Waste pile 125
Tungsten carbide 044 Waste stull 301
Turntable 018 Winze 03
Working berm of bank 005
Working by strips 305
U Working face record 294
Undercutting .300 Working floor 004
Undercutting chamber 042 Working trench 007
Underground drainage working 140 Work schedule 277
Underground gasification 420
Underground hydraulicking 430 Y
Underhand stopc 442
Undermining 500 Yielding telescopic post 254
Uuderwashing 472
Unit Z
air-blast stowing 174
mixing 180 Zone of depression 159
trailer scraper 029 Zone of smooth sagging 15J
TO T H E READER
The Foreign Languages Publishing

House would be glad to hove your opin
ion of the translation and the design
of the book.
Please send all suggestions to 21,
Zubovsky Boulevard, Moscow. U.S.S.R.
Printed in the Onion of Soviet Socialist Republics

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P A 3 P A D O T K A M EC T O P O /K A EIIIlfl
nCM E3IIL>IX U C K O n A E M b l X

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L.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE

\x >\\YAi \S\ vj. L V A N O y - At U M J I £ V

OPENING UP OF MINERAL DEPOSITS

L'hii/iti r II. Opening Up of Coal and Other Stratified Deposit.-..............30

Hi. Sequence of Mine F i e l d s .................................................. 88

Chapter 111. Opening Up of Ore D e p o s i t s ..................................... 96

Chapter I . Surface Plants and Structures of a M i n e ............... . 125

Chapter VI. Shaft S t a t i o n s ....................................................... 136

UNDERGROUND MINING OF MINERAL DEPOSITS

3. Principles Underlying Miningof D e p o s it s .........................157

Chapter I'///. F i l l i n g ......................................................... Mil

Chapter IX. (Iioiee of Mining Methods and Modes of E.\(raetion . . . MS7

Chapter X. General Surveyor Coal Seam Mining M ethod s................ 217

1. A Note on the Classification of Mining M ethods................. 217

Chapter XI. Stopintf in n Continuous F a c e ................................... 223

A. SLIGHTLY INCLINED AND SLOPING SEAMS

9 Definition of a Continuous Cycle O p e r a tio n ......................... 274

LL STEEPLY PITCHING SEAMS

15 Peculiarities of Rock Pressure and Support of Working Faces in

Chapter XII. Continuous Methods of M in in g ..........................

A. GENTLY PITCHING AND MEDIUM-STEEP SEAMS

1. Development W o r k ...................................................... 312

B. STEEPLY PITCHING SEAMS

Chapter XIII. Pillar Methods of A lin in g................................... 3.17

A. GENTLY PITCHING AND MLD1UM-STEEP SLA.MS

I) STEEPLY PITCHING SEAAIS

Chapter XIV. Combined Methods of Alining................................. 339

Chapter XV. Mining of Thick S e a m s ......................................... 3(14

A. NONSLICING METHODS OFAIINING THICK SEAAIS

2. General Con cepts.......................................................... 304

Pillar Alining Methods

6. Long Pillar Alining on Strike with Caving in Slightly Inclined

li. SUCK MINING OF THICK HKDS

13. Division of a Bed into Slices and Their T h ic k n e s s ................383

23. Diagonal S l i c i n g .......................................................... 400

H orizon tal S licin g

24. Order of S l i c i n g ........................................................... 404

Chapter AT/. Underground Gasification of C o a l ............................. 426

1. Historical Background and Importance of Underground Gasification

Chapter AT//. Hydraulic Mining of C o n i .................................... 430

1. Basic Notions of Underground Ily d r a u lic k in g ..................430

Chapter XIX. Choice of Methods for Mining Ore D e p o s i l s ...............408

Chapter A A . .Mining of Thin and Medium-Thick Ore Deposils . . . . 4<U

A. FLAT AND MODERATE DIP

1 Pillar Method of Mining ManganeseO r e s ......................... 470

Chapter XXI. Methods of Mining Thick Ore D e p o s i t s .................... 506

Chapter XXII. Mining of Contiguous B e d s .....................................560

Chapter X X III. Effects of Underground Excavations on the Ground Surlace 572

Chapter XXI V. Classification and Choice of Mining M e t h o d s ............ 584

Chapter XXV. Basic Definitions and T e r m in o l o g y ..........................593

3. Advantages and Drawbacks of Open-Cut Work us Compared to

Cli(i/>lrr .V.VI7. Equipment and Layouts of Open f i t s ................... 00!)

Subject .................................................................................................. ...

1. Useful Minerals and Their Occurrence

The above classification is, to a certain measure, conventional,

2. Assured Economic Value of Mineral Deposits

a) (he presence of workable beds or deposits, economically suitable

factors complicate mining operations, but should not be regarded as

3. Importance of Exploration Work

are better discussed in liiechapter devoted lo the description of min

time is required in the inili.nl period of operation to bring mine pro

same over immense distances (scores of kilometres). A similar phenom

1) with the inclined shaft driven in the mineral, additional in

sequence, it is necessary first to drive the shafts down to their ulti

A widely practised method for opening up coal measures is illus