Strata Control Measurements in the Sydney Coalfield

CIM Bulletin, 1967

H. Zorychta Senior Seientific Officer, Fuels and Mining Practice Div., Mines Branch, Dept. of Energy, Mines & Resources, Ottawa, Ont. D. W. MacFadgen Chief Mining Engineer, Dominion Coal Co. Ltd., Sydney, N.S. Floyd Smith Annua l General Meeting, Quebec City, April, 1966 Technical Officer, Nova Scotia Research Foundation, Halifax, N.S.

Based on underground observations made in .the coal mines of the Dominion Coal Company Ltd., this paper deals with the stress phenomena in the approach roads and headways and in the gob areas associated w1~h the longwall method of total extract10n. The deformation of roadways during development and the . def!lrma~1on of roadways during the total extraction period 1s delineated and presented in graphical form .. Conclusions are made as to the feasibility of the introduction of the .retreat method .of Iongwall extraction in one of the collieries. ":he 1mportance of future studies are enumerated, especially. those pertaining to the determination .of the opti.m.um sizes of protective pillars and to increasing the efficiency of the current methods of artificial roadway support.

Keywords: longwall, Dominion No ., Dip-Width Coal Pillar Between Longwall, Nova Scotia, virgin ground