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consol energy continued Continued from pg. 23... now," DeIuliis said. "It's gotten us to a new level of performance. Getting people to accept that exceptions are not inevitable within this industry has a big cultural impact. To get to the next level— Absolute Zero across the company— technology is going to be the driver. Continuous improvement, especially the use of new technology and training, will be the bridge needed to push out top two values." message to Wall Street investors. The company takes a very long-term view and short-term investors tend to question major capital investments. "We could reduce capital expenses and get better cash flow metrics from operating assets. That approach would work for a while, but we didn't build a 150-year-old com- pany by worrying about the quar- ter or the week," DeIuliis said. "We are reaping "Many leaders in CONSOL Energy look at the company today and its expectations as far as safety and compli- ance, and think about where they were in the past, and they will say there is a night and day difference between then and now," DeIuliis said. "We hear it a lot, but then one has to wonder what it will look like for the next generation." The namesake for the Bailey mine, Conoco Chairman Ralph Bailey said some similar things when he broke ground on the mine in 1984. He was an executive from a prior generation that had the foresight to build the Bailey Complex, DeIuliis explained. "Similar to CONSOL Energy CEO Brett Harvey today, he had a vision for a future gener- ation," DeIuliis said. "Once they define the goal, they have the ability to enable and facilitate at team to realize that potential. Mr. Bailey's expectations were consistent with what we are seeing today. As great as the company is per- forming today, Mr. Harvey has expecta- tions for the future that are substantially different and better than what we are doing today. We will achieve that sooner rather than later with the team and tools we have in place now." CONSOL Energy is one of the better- performing, publicly-traded mining com- panies and DeIuliis also has to convey this rewards today of investments made decades ago." A 30- to 40- year vision is an exception for a publicly traded company. There is constant discussion between shareholders as far as long-term accre- tive, profitable investments vs. the short-term impacts of the investment, DeIuliis explained. "Other shareholders, call them value investors or buy-and- hold investors, are more in tune with those investment decisions," DeIuliis said. "Whenever a company discusses a major investment decision, it's challeng- ing to keep investors focused on why the short-term investment drives long-term value. There was a similar learning curve with the value system." Investors are beginning to under- stand the importance of safety. Many coal investors have learned the hard way recently what happens when pri- orities are placed above values. Savvy coal investors now look for the mining companies with the best safety performance. "When we meet with shareholders and discuss our core value system and why that correlates to the best performing entities from a financial perspective, they get it," DeIuliis said. "If you look at any industry where there is a possibility of people getting injured, the best in class in Continued on pg. 30... Sandvik continuous miners. The continu- ous miners are supported by Joy 10SC shuttle cars and Joy 14 BU loaders. Each continuous miner advances 300 ft in the same entry. The operators cut coal, dump it on the ground and bolt as they advance. Behind the continuous miner, loaders gather the coal and fill the shuttle cars. The continuous miners cut coal inde- pendent of shuttle car availability. Bailey is testing the new Sandvik MB610 continuous miners. "We have spent a lot of time working with Sandvik," Brock said. "We sent our team to Austria to see the machine and we implemented some design changes. The technology is unbe- lievable. The machine is doing well. It has a fully-automated cut system. It won't bolt hands free yet. We are pushing Sandvik on that. It has an LED display that depicts the cutterhead in the cycle as it sumps, shears down and retracts. It also has a remote camera to view the offside of the machine. This is critically important because the 610 is a bigger machine, and it enhances the operator's vision on the offside of the machine." Occasionally the sections encounter soft bottoms or other adverse conditions. If the continuous miner is leaning, the miners would have to use cribbing and jacks to level it and start mining again. CONSOL Energy engineers requested Sandvik install four jacks on the machine, one on each corner. With remote control, the continuous miner operator can now lift any of the corners. Brock also likes the stab jack. "In soft bottoms, we can advance 4 ft without using the crawler pads," Brock said. "The cutting cycle is completed. Then the operator trams the machine forward without the stress and vibration. The cycle is repeated. Our goal is to complete that cycle in 6 min- utes. Bailey has had runs of more than 300 ft per shift with that machine." The continuous miner section has a miner operator, a tube man (handling ven- tilation), two bolter operators, who are satellite bolting, and another miner behind them rib-pinning. "We are not required to by law, but we rib pin everywhere," Brock said. Within that one 6-minute cycle, two 8- to 12-ft roof bolts are installed on the outside of the roof strap, along with two rib pins installed with a pie pan or a 4-ft T3 channel. The continuous miner sections use a Fletcher center bolter that tilts to bolt and 28 www.coalage.com 100th Anniversary Special Issue August 2012