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

Roof bolt

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

nounCommon term

In oil, gas & mining, roof bolt means: A 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.

In Turkish: tavan bulonu, kaya bulonu, tavan saplaması

How it is used

Also called a rock bolt. Roof bolts are installed by a roof bolter (a drilling machine) as part of ground support, often with steel mesh and shotcrete. Inspectors check bolt spacing and length. Working under unsupported roof is forbidden in most mines.

Example sentences

  1. Install roof bolts on a 1.5-metre pattern before the next cut.

  2. A slab of rock fell between the roof bolts, but nobody was injured.

Common collocations

  • install roof bolts
  • roof bolter
  • rock bolt
  • ground support
  • bolting pattern
  • 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.
  • longwall miningAn 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.
  • seamA layer of coal or another mineral lying between layers of other rock. It may be a few centimetres or many metres thick.
  • ventilationThe system that moves fresh air through an underground mine to supply oxygen, remove dust, heat and dangerous gases, and keep the air safe to breathe.

More terms: Mine Types & Mining Operations

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