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16 www.coalage.com July/August 2017 longwall mining Improved Safety and Productivity Through Advanced Shearer Automation Tunnel Ridge operators embrace the benefits of automated longwall mining by steve fiscor, editor-in-chief One of the most productive U.S. longwall mines, Alliance Resource Partners' Tunnel Ridge mine, operates in northern West Vir- ginia. Initially developed in 2009, they began longwall mining in May 2012, so it's a rela- tively new longwall mine. It's one of Alliance's eight active mining operations, stretching from southern Illinois to Maryland. Altogether, Tunnel Rudge has 9,400 acres of Pittsburgh No. 8 coal in Ohio County, West Virginia and Washington County, Pennsylvania. The seam height ranges from 78 inches to 92 inches. The operation has a reserve life of more than 25 years operating one longwall and three continuous miner development units. In 2016, Tunnel Ridge produced 6.6 million clean tons. "This year we are ex- pecting to produce 7 million clean tons for the first time," said Eric Anderson, general manager, Tunnel Ridge. "The operation employs 426 people, counting everyone from the loadout, prep plant, administra- tive office and underground operations. Recently, Tunnel Ridge launched au- tonomous operations on its longwall. They are using a system mostly developed in- house, which communicates with a Joy system on the shearer and a Cat system on the roof supports. There were some healthy initial discussions about automation in- ternally, Anderson explained, but once the company announced that it was heading in this direction, everyone took ownership and played a role in a successful launch. As far as productivity, the proof is in the re- sults. At Longwall USA 2017, Coal Age rec- ognized the Tunnel Ridge mine with a Top Performers Award. (See Awards, p. 12.) While Anderson is excited about the production records, he is particularly proud of the mine's safety record. For the last three years, they have received the Mountaineer Guardian Award from the state of West Vir- ginia, which recognizes operations with ex- emplary safety and compliance records. As of mid-June, Tunnel Ridge had worked 118 days without a lost workday injury and was also in the lead for the Alliance Coal Health & Safety Champion competition. Longwall Automation Begins The Tunnel Ridge longwall, which employs a Joy 7LS1-A shearer, uses a remote bidi- rectional cutting method and the Joy Ad- vanced Shearer Automation (ASA) system. The 1,020-ton PSS roof supports (1.75-me- ter [m] width) are controlled by Cat PMCR shield electrics. The longwall uses a Joy stageloader that feeds a crawler-mounted tailpiece. The armored face conveyor (AFC) is comprised of components supplied by Joy and Longwall Associates. The gate-end drives are powered by three 1,200-horse- power (hp) motors utilizing Joy's TTT couplers. The line pans are supplied by Longwall Associates. Tunnel Ridge recently upgraded from a 42-millimeter (mm) Thiele chain to a 48-mm chain. The high-volt- age electrics (4,160 volts) are supplied by Line Power and they use Kamat emulsion pumps. The longwall panel is large with a face width of 1,200 ft and panel length that varies between 15,000 ft to 20,000 ft. Rob Colaw, longwall maintenance coordinator, explained why Tunnel Ridge made the leap to automation. "Health and safety is very important to us," Colaw said. "At the time [2015], we were facing the February 2016 dust regulations and looking for ways to prepare. We wanted to reduce operator exposure. We were also hoping to increase efficiency, tons per man-hour, and reduce operator fatigue." Colaw and his team thought automation had the potential to help them accomplish all these goals. They installed the Cat PMCR shield electrics during May 2015 and realized im- mediate results through the functionality, troubleshooting and automation available. Integrating people and technology, Tunnel Ridge uses remote longwall operations and automation to improve safety and productivity.