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Took a tour of an active deep coal mine


Steelhead
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3 out of the top 10 bituminous coal mines in the United States are located in my county. Six of the top ten are within a 50 mile radius of where I'm sitting right now.

 

In other words, coal mines are a way of life around here and always have been. I've worked around the mines for over 15 years but had never actually went down the man-trip to the bottom until recently.

 

My brother in law works at one of the mines and they do 8-9 hour tours for friends and family. It isn't your normal tour...you ride a man-trip (elevator) 800 feet down from the surface to the bottom, then travel 2 to 2.5 miles back through the mine tunnels to get to the face. You get dirty, wet, and cold. You trudge through water higher than your boots and climb through small spaces to get to certain areas.

 

Basically, it's focking cool as hell! One of the guys snapped a few pics for us while we were down there......

 

 

This one is taken looking up through an air shaft. That little speck of daylight you see at the top is the surface...800 feet above you

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics105.jpg

 

On the man trip.. L to R = My brother in law Terry, his buddy, my BIL Jim (the miner), me and Jonathan.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics030.jpg

 

Me sitting at the controls of a continuous miner (conventional)

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics009.jpg

 

Running the longwall shearer. The fact that they let us do this is just plain cool.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics015.jpg

 

Watching the roof bolters do their job.....

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics095.jpg

 

A scoop being offloaded....

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics080.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics082.jpg

 

Misc longwall pics. The belt never stops. It's down maybe once or twice a year for maintenence. Other than that, it runs 24/7 unless there's a breakdown...and yeah, it's always 100% loaded with coal.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics084.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics041.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics032.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics063.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics091.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics002.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h236/brettben1/Mine%20Tour/Pics001.jpg

 

The longwall is focking incredible. The shearer "shears" the coal, which falls onto the belt to be hauled away. Once a pass in made, the entire system...shields, belt, etc moves forward and you can actually see the earth cave in behind you as the shields move :blink: You'd have to experience it to believe it. Simply awesome.

Oh, and the reason that everything looks white is because they coat everything in rock dust. It's a precaution against fire.

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