Book Description

This is the first phase report of the efforts to evaluate the feasibility of excavating coal and overburden from surface mines using impact breakers. Phase I is divided into four task groups. Those tasks are as follows: Selection of Field Sites for Parametric, Selection of Impact Hammers for Field, Design Test System, and Prepare Parametric Test Plan. A detailed description and accounting of each task is given in the body of this report. Included as appendices are the FMA internal reports on the individual mines visited. These reports are the basis of test site selection. The basic finding of this phase are that industry interest in the concept of impact mining tends toward the removal of multiple thin seams of coal and parting rather than deep coal or overburden and, while the intent of this contract is to explore the feasibility of impactors in a vertical array for use in a terraced mine plan, future design of a continuous mining machine should take industry acceptance into account.