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I would like to join in on this discussion, and offer some different views on Mining. I am a faceboss in an Illinois Basin room-and-pillar coal mine. I've worked at 5 mines in the Midwest. One question I saw that wasn't quite fully answered was, "How do you choose what type of mine to have, surface strip mining, longwall, or room and pillar?" When acquiring a large mass of coal reserves, the most desirable method of extraction is surface mining the reserve. Only when the seam is too deep (~ deeper than 25' of overburden / 1' of coal thickness ) will a company go underground. Then, longwall becomes most desireable. But specific conditions must exist for a longwall to be able to be used, and the most important factor is subsidence. If there are a lot of houses above the reserve, the company will not be able to afford to buy the houses above the seam. When there is too much subsidence liability, the least efficient "room and pillar" method is used. On seeing daylight, and adverse psychological effects of being in the dark... It's not bad at all. This is a question I get from many outsiders, and it really is a non-issue for 99% of the workforce. Underground coal mining really is neat, and the equipment used is completely alien to the non-mining industry. In general, producing coal on a working section is completely mechanized, and getting the coal from the face to the conveyor belts is not labor intensive (aside from roof bolting). What IS labor intensive is supporting all this equipment, and maintaining the mine as it advances and ages. I often supervise a "bull gang" of about 10 guys that advance conveyor belts and high voltage power as production advances. This work is back-breaking and intense. I'm not quite satisfied with the OPs response on the safety aspect of underground coal mining. Maybe it's because he may work for a different company, or that's just the culture of Appalachia. In no industry is safety so well addressed and important than in coal mining. More money is forked out from coal companies in addressing safety than in companies of any other industry. That being said, people do get hurt. Most of the time, the root cause of injuries involves someone not paying attention, or doing something he shouldn't have done. Coal mining isn't a job someone needs to be scared of randomly getting hurt or killed. Random accidents that couldn't be helped are rare. We are running large pieces of equipment that don't have brains. A pinman losing focus while bolting can get himself hurt pretty quick. A continuous miner operator standing too close to his machine can smash himself with one wrong button-push on his remote box. Want a job mining coal? Most people around here go through a staffing agency to get a job. After several months, if the guy is a good worker, he will be hired by the coal company. Would I recommend a job in UG coal mining? Only if you are ready to work your rear end of every day and spend lots of time at work. Plan on working 10 hours per day, and working at least every other Saturday. Working at a longwall mine? Plan on the same, but during a longwall move, plan on 7 days a week, 14 hours or more per day until the wall is moved and running again. When an expensive longwall is not running coal, the mine might as well start taking cash and burn it. Also, the OP said temperatures underground change with the weather outside. In many mines this is the case. But in the mines I've worked at, this isn't the case. The ambient rock temperature at the depth you are at pretty much dictates the temperature of the air. Luckily, where I work at, no matter if it's zero or 100 outside, the temperature at the working section stays around 50-60 Fahrenheit. It's nice to see fellow coal miners on SA.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 16:32 |
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| # ? May 20, 2013 21:49 |
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Post or Reply Failure. The canary is dead.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 16:33 |
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Does it not ring alarm bells when it asks you for a title? Why is the SA UI organized that way anyway?
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 16:34 |
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BAKA FLOCKA FLAME posted:Does it not ring alarm bells when it asks you for a title? Because it always has been. And we've been able to get along just fine all these years. Fear change. It usually keeps stupid newbies from posting too quickly without following the rules or facing repurcussions. Although, to be fair, even an 11 should have figured it out by now.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 20:46 |
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