20 www.coalage.com July/August 2018
monster wall
Monster Wall: Considerations for the
Next Major Leap in Longwall Mining
What started as a what-if conversation at CONSOL Energy about 2,000-ft longwall faces
may someday become a reality
By Steve Fiscor
Last year at the Longwall USA 2017 Con-
ference & Exposition, three managers
from CONSOL Energy gave a presenta-
tion dubbed "Monster Wall." Rather than
a proper, academic presentation, this was
more of a general discussion on the fea-
sibility of moving from 1,500- to 2,000-ft-
long longwall faces.
The three speakers know their busi-
ness well and had put pen to paper after
talking to CONSOL Energy engineers, in-
dustry experts and equipment vendors.
Andy Yackuboskey, longwall shift fore-
man for the Enlow Fork mine, kicked off
the presentation, covering a brief history
and the more recent evolution of longwall
mining and providing some round figures
as to the potential benefits. Chris Popp,
mine production shift manager at Enlow
Fork, answered the question: Why? The
Bailey mine's longwall shift maintenance
manager, Jamie Wilson, addressed the
technical aspects as far as whether or not
this could become a reality.
Their conclusion is that, yes, it is pos-
sible. The economies of scale are clear.
Similar to making the leap from an 1,100-
ft longwall face to the current 1,500-ft
longwall face, there would be some im-
portant considerations that would have
to be addressed.
Making the Case for a Longer Face
The coal operators that survived the last
big downturn see the world different-
ly from the generation that proceeded
them. They describe the coal mining
business as a fast-paced, cut-throat and
heavily regulated industry and they look
CONSOL Energy and other U.S. coal operators are now running longwalls with 1,500- to 1,600-ft face lengths. Could they someday make the leap to
2,000-ft face lengths?