Longwall and Room-and-Pillar Productivity: A Review of U.S. Coal Mines

摘要

Although overall worker productivity for U.S. underground coal mines is available, productivity by mining method and seam thickness is not. Mining technology has gone through dramatic changes in the past decade and the industry has experienced a lack of accurate productivity figures addressing these changes. The information is of great interest in planning for future mining systems as thick and shallow coal seams currently being mined are depleted and exploitation of thinner, deeper, and better quality seams is considered to partially meet the requirements of 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. In a cooperative program, the U.S. Bureau of Mines obtained raw mine level production and related data from the Energy Information Administration for 1989 and 1990 and performed the needed statistical analysis. Base criteria, parameters, and salient results of the mine productivity analysis are presented in the report.