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

Tunnel layout for longwall mining using shields

Patent ·
OSTI ID:7362014
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 is unsupported and forms the mining wall. The roof and rear wall of the working crosscut is supported 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 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.
Assignee:
World Oil Mining Ltd.
Patent Number(s):
US 3960408
OSTI ID:
7362014
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English