Day six- WV Coal Project Tour

We finish our tour in Wayne County at the Rockspring Mine at East Lynn, which is part of Alpha Energy. Today we go underground to see mining done as it is today with a continous miner, a machine that mines and loads coal in one process. The other process involved in this type of mining beside hauling it out of the mine by conveyor is roofbolting. This is the modern way to secure the roof so that it dosen't cave in and trap or kill the miners. A machine drills holes into the roof in which a long bolt of various legnths is inserted into the hole with a resin that hardens and when the bolt is tightened it secures a metal plate that holds the roof. Once the new 40 ft. section is mined a machine comes in and cleans up the area pushing the remaining coal and rock against the face. Rock dust is then applied to the walls to retard fire. Mines are not black but white because of this.

We begin our tour with safty training, and are then outfited with our equipment. We begin our trip into the mine to the working face on a mantrip that runs on rails. we go about 4 miles to the nearest working face. On the way we learn why the mantrip has a thick metal roof because a rock falls on our car making all of us including Clark, our guide, jump. At the end of the rails we get on another transporter with wheels that takes us the rest of the way to the working face. strung through the mine is a giant electric cable that supplies the power for all the equipment. This goes into a giant box which steps the power down to what is necessary for the operation of various equipment from the 110 volts needed for the microwave at the miners lunch table to the higher voltages used by the continous miner and other machines.

The mine has a excellent safty record even though the top or roof is not the most stable. Dust and gasses are a constant danger in the mine so ventalation is of upmost importants. Doors, plastic curtains and plastic sheeting are used to direct both clean and dirty air. One system pumps clean air in and another pumps the bad stuff out. Both systems are powered by giant fans.

We first see the continous miner in operation. It is controlled by one man who stands back behind with a controller connected to the mine machine by a cable. On the front of the machine, is a large drum with teeth that rotates and cuts the coal from the face. Arms behind the drum rake the coal and rock into a hopper. It is then loaded into a carrier which transports it to the conveyor. The conveyor transports it to the processing plant on the other end of the mine which is 15 miles away. There the coal is seperated from the rock and cleaned and loaded on to railroad cars for shipment. With this method, about 15 tons of coal and rock were mined in about one minute. Of the rock and coal mined at this site only about 40 % is coal.

We then go to a room that had already been mined to see the roof bolter in action. This machine is run by a two person crew. We see an area with a strap between to roofbolts. The strap is there to keep a kettle bottom from falling out. The kettle bottom is a petrified tree trunk preserved vertically in the roof and is prone to fall out. Many miners have been hurt or killed by these. We go to another room that has already been bolted to see the cleanup person in action. Later during third shift crews come in and spray the walls with rockdust(lime) to retard fire.

What I observed, in this mine and on the whole tour was the quality of the professionals involved in this business. Although miners can start after highschool, they need to develope a specific skill set to be a miner. The competitive nature of the energy business forces mines to use technology to become efficient and cost effective producers. Part of being cost effective is being safe. These miners have high paying jobs that benefit their communities and the state.