Coal Resource Recoverability
A Methodology

By Timothy J. Rohrbacher, Dale D. Teeters, Gerald L. Sullivan, and Lee M. Osmonson

U.S. Bureau of Mines Circular 9368
1993

Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

CONTENTS

• Abstract
• Introduction
  • USGS coal availability concept
  • USBM coal recoverability concept
  • USBM program objectives
• Acknowledgments
• Program design
  • Restrictions to mining
    • Land use restrictions
      • Industrial restrictions
      • Environmental and social restrictions
    • Technical restrictions
      • Thickness restrictions
      • Stability restrictions
    • Barrier restrictions
  • Mining methods
    • Mine recovery factors
      • Recovery considerations
      • Recovery determination
      • Recovery model dependencies
    • Production rates
    • Mine design
  • Surface transportation
  • Coal quality
  • Computerization
  • Computer hardware
  • Recoverable resource calculations
  • Economic evaluation
    • Costing models layout
    • Costing considerations
• Conclusions
• References
• Bibliography
• Appendix.-Glossary

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Study area location
2. Matewan quadrangle coal stratigraphy
3. Linear regression analysis
4. Typical feasibility-type mine plan
5. Matewan quadrangle haulage zones
6. Resource distribution within a Matewan quadrangle coal seam
7. Contour strip-minable coal for the seam in figure 6
8. Land use restrictions in the Matewan quadrangle
9. Contour strip-minable coal 12 in to 36 in thick
10. Contour strip-minable coal greater than 36 in thick
11. Contour strip-minable coal and transportation zones
12. Deep mining (continuous miner) areas in a Matewan quadrangle coal seam
13. Deep mining (continuous miner) areas and transportation zones
14. Longwall mining areas in a Matewan quadrangle coal seam
15. Longwall mining areas and transportation zones
16. All mining types in a Matewan quadrangle coal seam
17. USGS/USBM coal resource programs-Matewan quadrangle results chart

TABLES

1. Comparisons between USBM and USGS-KGS coal availability (minability) restrictions
2. Coal seam resources, restrictions, and process losses
3. Mining restrictions-land use, technical, and barrier-restricted coal
4. Factors influencing mine productivity
5. Surface production rates by mining method
6. Deep mine production rates by mining method
7. Haulage distance one way and assigned cost by zone
8. Contour strip-recoverable resources and cost ranges
9. Continuous miner-recoverable resources and cost ranges
10. Longwall-recoverable resources and cost ranges
11. Auger-recoverable resources and cost ranges
12. Recoverable resources-one seam summary
13. Equipment-contour strip (two loader spreads)
14. Equipment-continuous miner (two production units)
15. Equipment-longwall
16. Equipment-auger (twin head)
17. Standard costing model (example)
18. Economically recoverable compliance resources

UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT

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