King Coal: Mining Technology

Introduction:
Coal Mining 150 Years Ago

A Day in the Life of a Miner

As Fireboss

Jobs

Underground Stables

Introduction:
Open-Pit Mining Today

Mining

Transporting Coal to the Market

Jobs

If you're going to work in a mine then you have to know how things work and have a good understanding of the technology that we use. There are five basic steps to taking out the coal: cutting, drilling, blasting, loading and timbering. Because the coal that we mine is very hard, mechanical equipment like cutting and drilling machines are needed.¹⁷

Extracting the Coal:
The first thing that we have to do is cut the coal seam using a cutting machine. The cutting machine is a very powerful piece of machinery with teeth like a chain saw. This machine cuts the unwanted shale called 'kerf' out from between the coal. The kerf gets thrown out behind the machine and then workers called ‘muckers’ collect and transport it to the waste area.¹⁸

"Cutting machine used in early mining practices."
Courtesy of BCARS

Next, we have to drill shot holes along the top and the bottom of the coal face where we are going to put the explosives.

"Drilling by hand into longwall face of coal seam."
Courtesy of BCARS

The dangerous part of my job is when I do the blasting. The first thing that I do is send a man out with sacs of finely ground limestone. His job is to scatter the limestone around the blasting area to neutralize the coal dust because it can be very explosive.¹⁹

"Blasting Unit"
"Blasting unit."
MV-98-1605 courtesy of FDHS

Before I do anything else I have to examine the area for methane, an explosive gas. Once the area is safe I can start blasting. After blasting the coal face a miner will shovel the coal onto a conveyor belt.²⁰

A timberman will follow behind the loader and set up posts to support the roof. This keeps the rock above us from falling down.²¹

"Placing a pit prop into place."
Courtesy of BCARS

So that's how things work around here. Pretty high-tech!