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Coal Pillar Extraction Under Weak Roof

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Abstract

This article offers an examination of a retreat mining method conducted at the Pinoura Mine in India from 2010 to 2017. The method is atypical for coal mines of India’s coalfields. The method executes depillaring in a single pass and does not require the formation of galleries and support installation in splits, thus, reducing the cycle time. A variety of observations are discussed throughout this work and emphasis is placed on field measurements and depillaring under weak roof (RMR = 40–45). This paper discusses design techniques, specifically the estimation of the snook (remnant pillar) size, and important practical observations after the fact. The execution of this method was eventually conducted in eleven panels.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are highly obliged to Directors of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR), Barwa Road, Dhanbad-826001, Jharkhand, India and Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Police Line Road, Hirapur, Dhanbad-826004, Jharkhand, India, for their permission to publish this paper. Authors are also obliged to the colliery management of Pinoura mine for their valuable co-operation during the field observation. Authors expressed their gratitude towards the anonymous Reviewers for their valuable comments, corrections and guidance. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily of the institute to which they belong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CSIR-CIMFR), Barwa Road, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826001, India

    Arun Kumar Singh, Ashok Kumar, Rajendra Singh, Sahendra Ram, Rakesh Kumar & Amit Kumar Singh

  2. Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Police Line Road, Hirapur, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, 826004, India

    Dheeraj Kumar

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  1. Arun Kumar Singh
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  2. Ashok Kumar
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  3. Dheeraj Kumar
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  4. Rajendra Singh
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  5. Sahendra Ram
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  7. Amit Kumar Singh
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Correspondence to Ashok Kumar.

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Singh, A.K., Kumar, A., Kumar, D. et al. Coal Pillar Extraction Under Weak Roof. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 37, 1451–1459 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00277-8

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