CRS - 21 The Bureau of Mines research program comprises the bulk of activities within Interior on which both OMB and Interior are in agreement as constituting research and development. The Bureau's programs are described in the narrative of the Budget Justifications, F. Y. 1976, which have been excerpted below: ADVANCING MINING TECHNOLOGY $56,157,000 Advancing Coal Mining Technology: $44,525,000 (Decrease, $1,965,000) The following paragraphs refer to the FY 1976 mining program within the broader context of long-range goals and objectives of an extended mining R&D program to improve coal extraction as shown on Figure 3. The overall objectives are to increase coal production, improve extraction efficiency and develop the capability of meeting environmental standards at acceptable economic costs. Preliminary results of an evaluation of the program by MITRE Corporation show that cost/benefit ratios of the individual subprogram range from 9.7 to 65.0. The overall cost/ benefit ratio for the described program is 16.7. U. S. Department of the Interior. Budget Justifications, F. Y. 1976, Bureau of Mines. Washington, U. S. Govt. Print. Off., 1975, pp. 49 CRS · 24 High Speed Mine Development · The objective of this subprogram is to improve the rate at which coal deposits can be prepared for underground mining thus reducing the time-to-production requirements for new mines and improving productivity from existing mines by allowing mine development to keep pace with production. During FY 1976, demonstration of the use of a tunnel boring machine for main entry development will be nearing completion. Information developed by this project will be used by the industry in application of high-speed tunneling machines for mine entry development. Demonstration of equipment for single-entry longwall development will begin during FY 1976. Success in this demonstration will encourage the wide application of single-entry development, and reduce the time required for longwall panel development to one-third that now required. For vertical mine openings, fabrication of equipment for high-speed lining of bored raises will be completed and the system demonstrated. Design and construction of a vertical boring machine for shaft sinking will begin, and field demonstration of conical boring device will be completed and construction of a larger version, for raise boring, will begin in FY 1976. Automated Longwall - Longwall mining is used in Europe with a high degree of success. This subprogram is intended to adapt the technique to U.S. conditions and to increase productivity through increased automation. Work will be completed on documentation of state-of-the-art criteria for selection of longwall mining systems. This information, which will cover all aspects of longwall mining from premining evaluation of ground conditions through selection of face equipment, will provide guidance to the industry in the selection of longwall systems. Mining of the first demonstration panel using shield-type longwall supports will be completed in FY 1976 and a second demonstration, to show the applicability of shields to different ground conditions, will be initiated. Acquisition and compilation of geologic data from operational longwall and shortwall panels will continue. This information will be used to better define site selection criteria for longwall mining. Development of sensors for coal/rock interface will be nearing completion and these will be applied to the remote/automated operation of longwall shearing machines. Other costsharing demonstrations will include existing radio control systems for remote shearer operation. Two facilities for increasing the effectiveness of research efforts are well underway. These are a roof support testing facility to be used for evaluation of existing and new longwall support systems and a mock longwall face to be used for testing of equipment under simulated underground conditions prior to actual underground operation. Automated Remote Controlled Continuous Miner Most underground coal production in this country is by continuous miner but present day continuous mining machines operate on an average of 2 hours out of an 8-hour day because of breakdowns and operational delays. The objective of this subprogram is to increase operating time by improving machine reliability, by reducing operational delays by using continuous roof support and haulage systems developed by other subprograms, and by increasing the capacity of the machine through automation. Work will be continued in FY 1976 to improve the reliability of the continuous miner by correcting the mechanical, hydraulic and electrical weaknesses identified by a study initiated in FY 1974. Development of automated controls for continuous mining machines will continue in FY 1976 with demonstration tentatively scheduled for FY 1978. Continuous Face to Preparation Plant Coal Haulage Transportation of coal, men and supplies is a major bottleneck in underground mining operations. term objective of this subprogram is to improve haulage systems to enable faster movement of coal and materials between the operating face and the surface plant. The development of improved materials handling systems will allow an immediate productivity increase in existing mining systems and will meet the needs of other subprograms. The major effort will be to continue the development and underground testing of continuous hydraulic transportation of coal from the face |