Coal mining and processing the national academies press. Coal mineral deposits in nigeria and its uses coal deposits some africa countries like nigeria is blessed with coal rich states especially enugu which is known as the the coal city because of its vast coal deposits, other states include. This process, known as the gateway process, applies to state significant mining and coal seam gas proposals that require a new or. Surface mining can be used when the coal is buried less than 200 feet underground. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. Room and pillar systems account for over half of the coal mined in the u. Among them, caving and slow caving methods could not control the goaf roof. Benue, kogi, delta, kwara, plateau, abia, anambra, bauchi, edo, ondo, adamawa and imo. In 2008, competition in the coal mining industry became more intense than ever, leading to a demand for better technology and new mines. Ppt coal mining powerpoint presentation free to download. Strip mining is the process of mining a seam of mineral by removing a long strip of overlying soil and rock. This process takes place at special processing plantscpps central processing plants. The abundance of minerals also provides a method of creating wealth.
In the united kingdom and south africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is a pit, and. A highpowered cutting machine the shearer is passed across the exposed face of coal, shearing away broken coal, which is continuously hauled away by a floor. It was the basic energy source that fueled the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th. Guideline for the use of cost benefit analysis in mining. Once a mining lease has been awarded to an operator, exploration i. The overall process of coal exploration and mining involves six separate but interdependent and overlapping components.
The initial task is to gain access to the seam from the surface by some means shafts, drifts, etc see access to seam from surface section for. Because subsidence due to underground mining may be inevitable, the relevant questions to be asked are how much, when, and where, and what abatement procedures are possible and might be necessary. A crucial part of the surface mining process is restoring a. In best practice a detailed rehabilitation or reclamation plan is designed and approved for each coal mine, covering the period from the start of operations until well after mining has finished. Coal mining, particularly in the case of opencut mines, requires that large areas of land are temporarily disturbed, and perhaps withdrawn from other productive uses such as agriculture, while the process of coal extraction is under way. Sasol mining is the coal mining subsidiary of sasol limited, a giant. Coal mining and production industry description and practices coal is one of the worlds most plentiful energy resources, and its use is likely to quadruple by 2020. We produce several products to assist you in achieving your process objectives. A bench is excav ated in the mountain at the coal seam elevation.
Layers of soil and rock overburden are removed the coal exposed coal seam is excavated. The shearer machine cuts coal from the seam and on to the face conveyor to be transported to the surface. The time to plan for subsidence impacts is well before mining begins, not after surface effects are noticed. The mines are now operating at significantly higher annual tonnages, growing deeper, more complex and. Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Understanding coal free pdf download the need project. Physical coal cleaning processes, the mechanical separation of coal from its. Smaller shovels load the coal into large trucks that remove the coal from the pit. Ward encyclopedia of life support systems eolss coal marketing. Specially designed machines draglines, or large shovelsclear away the overburden material overlaying coal that must be removed before mining can commence to expose the coal bed.
Box cut, strip cuts and spoil piles humphrey, 1984. Coal occurs in a wide range of forms and qualities. Coal cleaning processes are categorized as either physical cleaning or chemical cleaning. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s is widely used to generate electricity. It is an energy giving nonrenewable source of energy. Guideline for the use of cost benefit analysis in mining and. Open cut mining methods strip mining largescale open cut coal mining operations commenced in australia in mid 1960s and since then there has been significan t developments in this method of mining. Epa also addressed the question of whether coal mining companies are forfeiting bonds because of the cost of manganese treatment by examining bonding requirements, past bond forfeiture rates, and future potential bond forfeiture rates see section 10. Minerals and mineral products are the backbone of most industries.
Roomandpillar mining generally is limited to depths of about 1,000 feet because at greater. Physics of coal and mining processes crc press book. The goal of coal mining is to economically remove coal from the ground. Coal seams can be mined by surface or underground methods figure 4. Strip mining is a practical type of mining when the ore body that is to be extracted is near the surface. Take a look at how our online analyzers, sampling systems, coal blending software, belt scales, tramp metal detectors. In addition, during the process of mining, a portion of the roof and floor material may be taken along with the coal seam in order to create adequate working height for.
As explained above, during the formation of coal and subsequent geologic activities, a coal seam may acquire mineral matter, veins of clay, bands of rock, and igneous intrusions. Openpit mining is the process of extracting rock or minerals from the earth through their removal from an open pit or borrow. Improving the safety of mining work while responding to the need for increased coal production, however, is impossible without further development of the physics of mining processes. The resulting falls of roof added more dirt to the coal, thus further complicating the process of preparation. Ucg, overview of the south african coal value chain, october 2011 is a technology where coal is ignited underground with a controlled. This process, known as the gateway process, applies to state significant mining and coal seam gas proposals that require a new or extended mining lease and are located on. Coal deposits some africa countries like nigeria is blessed with coal rich states especially enugu which is known as the the coal city because of its vast coal deposits, other states include. In the lower anthracite regions, where steeppitch mining occurs and the coal is run out of the breasts into the mine cars by gravity, practical. The overall coal mining process consists of several sequential stages. Welcome to the eleventh edition of pwc indonesias mining in indonesia. Coal mining is an energyintensive process, which requires high electricity load to run equipments including mining machines, conveyor belts, desalination plants, coal preparation plants, and ventilation fans. What follows are brief descriptions of the most common methods.
Before mining begins, coal companies must post bonds. The flow of coal mining process on underground mine. Kumba was previously the mining arm of iscor, which split into a resources and mining company kumba and an iron and steel producer iscor steel, both independently listed. The process of contour mining begins with co nstructing roads to access the coal seam elev ation and the top or the mountain. Therefore, to remove impurities the coal is cleaned to the required level. Its predominant use has always been for producing heat energy. The dtek energy coal preparation segment includes 4 processing plants. Benue, kogi, delta, kwara, plateau, abia, anambra, bauchi, edo, ondo, adamawa and imo fossil fuels came up as a result of the remains of dead animals and plants million years ago.
Longwall mining is an automated form of underground coal mining characterized by high recovery and extraction rates, feasible only in relatively flatlying, thick, and uniform coal beds. While various implementing regulations, including a number of amendments, have been issued by the government in pursuing the goals of the mining law, there remain many challenges for investors, particularly in the. The power to help you profit optimizing performance with online elemental analysis every year 1. In surface mining, giant machines remove the topsoil and layers of rock to expose large beds of coal. Mining of coal is one of the oldest industrial operation. A relatively new branch of science, it tackles problems that arise during mineral products recovery, particularly safety issues such as rock failures, coal and gas. Coal mining has been a major industry in the bowen basin since the mid1970s, with rapid growth triggered by. Ensuring provisions of the coal rules are followed allows for continued extraction of coal to occur in a way that reduces andor eliminates long term impacts to the. The land may, however, be returned to productive use after mining or even while mining in other parts of the area is still in progress figure 1. The first way in which proposed mining projects differ is the proposed method of moving or excavating the overburden. Coal mining is only a temporary use of land, so it is vital that rehabilitation of land takes place once mining operations have stopped. In best practice a detailed rehabilitation or reclamation plan is designed and approved for each coal mine, covering the period from.
Gifs the 5 stages of the mining life cycle operations. This appendix presents additional details on the individual processes that are involved in extraction of coal from surface and underground mines, and the. It has a lot of commercial and industrial applications. Coal mining, extraction of coal deposits from the surface of earth and from underground. Coal mining and production industry description and practices coal is one of the worlds most plentiful energy resources, and its use is likely to quadruple by the year 2020. Africas coal resources and reserves to ensure national energy security. It is now more than eight years since the 2009 law on mineral and coal mining no.
Free pdf download handson, critical thinking activities that introduce intermediate students to the formation of coal, the coal mining process, reclamation of lands, uses of coal, electricity generation, and advantages and disadvantages of utilizing coal. In the beginning, miners used primitive tools for digging. Coal companies operating surface mines must comply with strict requirements and regulations of the federal surface mining control and reclamation act. Once the mining is finished, the dirt and rock are returned to the pit, the topsoil is replaced, and the area is replanted. The systematic planning and design process for underground coal mining operations from inception to closure 1. In surface mining, the ground covering the coal seam the overburden is first removed to expose the coal seam for extraction. Table 21 shows the amount of coal produced by mining method. The area is then backfilled, regraded, and replanted during the reclamation process. The various methods of mining a coal seam can be classified under two headings, surface. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s, has been widely used to generate electricity.
Shallow, flat coal deposits are mined by surface processes, which are generally less costly per ton of coal than underground mines of similar. Coal miners use giant machines to remove coal from the ground. The primary methods of surface coal mining used in pennsylvania are. Gateway process the srlups outline a new upfront assessment of certain mining and coal seam gas proposals by an independent panel.