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Underground

The underground operaions at German Creek Mine comprise of Southern and Central Collieries and Grasstree Mine .The underground mines utilise efficient technologically advanced longwall mining methods for cost effective coal extraction.

Each mine operates independently with its own organisation, infrastructure, services and equipment.

Continuous miners are used to develop underground roadways and headings in the coal seam to create panels of coal to be extracted by the longwall mining system. Typically each panel is 250 metres across, between 2.6 metres and 3 metres high and is up to 3 kilometres long.

The longwall system includes a series of hydraulically powered roof supports or ‘chocks’ for supporting the roof, a shearer that mines coal from the seam in one metre thick slices and loads it onto a conveying system for transport out of the mine. After each one metre slice, the chocks are advanced, the longwall ‘retreats’ and the cycle is repeated.

Longwall Mining Process

Click on diagram for larger view