Design of Highwall Mining at West Bokaro Division of Tata Steel Limited, India

摘要

Highwall mining is a new technology, which can extend the life of opencast mines without disturbing the surface dwellings and maintaining economy and productivity. This technology is in use in United States and Australia but yet to be introduced in Indian Coalfields. It is a remotely operated coal mining technology closely related to underground mining machinery. The method comprises extraction of coal from a series of parallel entries driven in the coal seam from the face of the highwall. These entries are unmanned, unsupported and unventilated. A reliable web pillar designing is necessary for ensuring stability and making this method a success in India. This paper demonstrates the use of decades old empirical pillar design concepts prevalent in India Coalfields coupled with numerical modelling techniques to design Highwall Mining extractions as per the site specific geomining conditions.