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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Mine Types & Mining Operations

Longwall mining

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In oil, gas & mining, longwall mining means: An underground coal mining method in which a shearer cuts coal along a long face under moving hydraulic roof supports; behind the supports, the roof is allowed to collapse.

In Turkish: uzunayak madenciliği, uzunayak yöntemi

How it is used

The main high-output method for underground coal. Key words are longwall face, shearer, armoured face conveyor (AFC), shields and goaf (or gob), the collapsed area behind the face. Room and pillar mining is the main alternative.

Example sentences

  1. Longwall mining recovers more of the seam than room and pillar mining.

  2. The mine switched to longwall mining after the new shearer was delivered.

Common collocations

  • longwall face
  • longwall shearer
  • longwall move
  • hydraulic shields
  • room and pillar
  • seamA layer of coal or another mineral lying between layers of other rock. It may be a few centimetres or many metres thick.
  • underground mineA mine where ore or coal is reached through shafts, declines or tunnels and extracted below the surface, used when the deposit is too deep for an open pit.
  • roof boltA long steel rod fixed into a hole drilled in the roof or walls of an underground tunnel to hold loose rock layers together and stop them falling.
  • conveyorA machine with a moving rubber belt on rollers that carries ore, coal or rock continuously from one place to another, for example from a crusher to a stockpile.
  • methaneA colourless, odourless gas (CH4) that is the main part of natural gas. In coal mines it is released from the coal and can explode when mixed with air.

More terms: Mine Types & Mining Operations

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