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Coal Mining Facts
West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINING FACTS

How is Coal Mined?
Background Information - How is coal mined? As was the case 50 years ago, most coal is produced from two major types of mines-- underground and surface.  But the methods for recovering coal from the earth have undergone drastic changes in the past 25 years, as a consequence of technological advances.

Shaft Mining
Shafti mining or Shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom. When the top of the excavation is surface it is referred to as a shaft, when the top of the excavation is underground it is called a winze Off-shaft access

Slope Mining
Slope mines are another kind of underground mine.  With slope mines, the coal or minerals are far enough under ground that surface mining can’t reach it.With slope mining, the coal or mineral bed is located very deep and parallel to the ground.  It is called a slope mine because the shafts are slanted.  This kind of mining is done when there would be problems drilling shafts straight down.  Slope mines are not usually too deep.

Drift Mining
Drift mining is a method of accessing valuable geological material, such as coal, by cutting into the side of the earth, rather than tunneling straight downwards (see shaft mine). Drift mines have horizontal entries into the coal seam from a hillside. Drift mines are distinct from slope mines, which have an inclined entrance from the surface to the coal seam. If possible, though, drifts are driven at just a slight incline so that removal of material can be assisted by gravity.

Uses of Coal
Coali is a solid hydrocarbon that burns. As such it can be used in the same way the liquid hydrocarbon, oil, is used as fuel and in the chemical industry. Fuel is used in:

Methods Of Coal Mining
Surface mining is used for about 40% of coal production in the world. When coal deposits are near the surface, it may be inexpensive to extract the coal using surface mining methods. The different types of surface mining are modern surface mining, strip or area mining, contour mining, and mountaintop removal mining.