Coal Age

SEP2014

Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.

Issue link: https://coal.epubxp.com/i/383332

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 24 of 67

the shields. The broken rock reached a height of approximately 20 ft above the roof line. The abnormal roof conditions in 1 Right recovery entry can be first attribut- ed to the delays associated with installing roof support in the recovery entry. Within this period of time, a rock cantilever formed above the shields and rotated due to the easily caving gob. Over time, the rotational movement of the cantilever beam induced an angled shear near the outby rib line of the recovery entry. Surface fractures and subsidence appeared very soon (see Figure 1). The predeveloped 2 Right recovery entry was 30 ft wide, and in addition to cable bolts, was supported with three r o w s o f 2 4 - a n d 3 6 - i n . d i a m e t e r , c u t - table, pumpable cribs within the recov- ery entry and one row of 30-in. diameter, n o n - c u t t a b l e , p u m p a b l e c r i b s o n t h e outby pillar side. Problems installing the recovery mesh over the shields caused s i g n i f i c a n t d e l a y s , w h i c h a l l o w e d t h e roof to deteriorate, and significant load- ing occurred due to load transfer from the fender pillar to the pumpable cribs in the recovery entry and shields on the face. The fender pillar refers to the nar- row pillar of coal between the longwall face and recovery entry. Approximately 24 in. of roof convergence was measured l o n g w a l l m i n i n g c o n t i n u e d September 2014 www.coalage.com 23 Figure 1: The 1 Right recovery room cave observation. Figure 2: The view from the face as the longwall cuts into 2 Right recovery room. Figure 3: 3 Right recovery room layout and mining/backfill sequence. Figure 4: Primary and supplemental roof supports in 3 Right recovery room.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Coal Age - SEP2014