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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Longwall mining system and archshield for mining tar sands, oil shales and the like

Patent ·
OSTI ID:7307684
In the underground mining of friable mineral deposits such as bituminous sands, method and apparatus are disclosed in which a working crosscut in the mineral deposit is established, connecting two parallel operating tunnels, the front wall of the crosscut being unsupported and forming the mining wall, the roof and rear wall of the working crosscut being separated from the mining equipment by a novel mining shield comprising a plurality of forwardly inclined, base supported arch members positioned in adjacent abutting relationship and each independently advanceable towards the mining wall. A conventional mining machine is employed under the mining shield in the working crosscut, operating across the full width of the mining wall. As the mining machine removes a cut, apparatus upon the mining machine advances individual mining arch sections forwardly into the mining face and the depth of the cut, leaving the backs unsupported and free to collapse behind the advancing mining shield. The procedure continues until a blocked-out section of the mineral deposit is traversed. The mining operation is successively repeated in the collapsed mineral material until the mineral deposit is mined out. 32 claims, 23 figures.
Assignee:
World Oil Mining Ltd.
Patent Number(s):
US 3958830
OSTI ID:
7307684
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English