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RoomandpillarWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Roomandpillar
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Roomandpillar(variantofbreaststoping),alsocalledpillarandstall,[1]isaminingsysteminwhichthe
minedmaterialisextractedacrossahorizontalplane,creatinghorizontalarraysofroomsandpillars.The
oreisextractedintwophases.Inthefirst,"pillars"ofuntouchedmaterialarelefttosupporttheroof
overburden,andopenareasor"rooms"areextractedundergroundthepillarsarethenpartiallyextractedin
thesamemannerasinthe"Bord&Pillarmethod".Thetechniqueisusuallyusedforrelativelyflatlying
deposits,suchasthosethatfollowaparticularstratum.
Theroomandpillarsystemisusedinminingcoal,ironandbasemetalsores,particularlywhenfoundas
mantoorblanketdeposits,stoneandaggregates,talc,sodaashandpotash.[2]
Thekeytosuccessfulroomandpillarminingisintheselectionoftheoptimumpillarsize.Ingeneral
practice,thesizeofbothroomandpillarsarekeptalmostequal,whileinBord&Pillar,pillarsizeismuch
largerthanbord(gallery).Ifthepillarsaretoosmalltheminewillcollapse,butiftheyaretoolargethen
significantquantitiesofvaluablematerialwillbeleftbehind,reducingtheprofitabilityofthemine.[2]The
percentageofmaterialminedvariesdependingonmanyfactors,includingthematerialmined,heightofthe
pillar,androofconditionstypicalvaluesare:stoneandaggregates75percent,coal60percent,andpotash
50percent.[2]

Contents
1 History
2 Minelayout
3 Retreatmining
4 Seealso
5 References

History
Roomandpillarminingisoneoftheoldestminingmethods.Earlyroomandpillarminesweredeveloped
moreorlessatrandom,withpillarsizesdeterminedempiricallyandheadingsdriveninwhicheverdirection
wasconvenient.[3]
Randomminelayoutmakesventilationplanningdifficult,andifthepillarsaretoosmall,thereistheriskof
pillarfailure.Incoalmines,pillarfailuresareknownassqueezesbecausetheroofsqueezesdown,crushing
thepillars.Onceonepillarfails,theweightontheadjacentpillarsincreases,andtheresultisachain
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reactionofpillarfailures.Oncestarted,such
chainreactionscanbeextremelydifficultto
stop,eveniftheyspreadslowly.[4]

Minelayout
Roomandpillarminesaredevelopedonagrid
basisexceptwheregeologicalfeaturessuchas
faultsrequiretheregularpatterntobemodified.
Thesizeofthepillarsisdeterminedby
calculation.Theloadbearingcapacityofthe
materialaboveandbelowthematerialbeing
minedandthecapacityoftheminedmaterial
itselfwilldeterminethepillarsize.[2]

AMarylandcoalminefrom1850

Ifonepillarfailsandsurroundingpillarsare
unabletosupporttheareapreviouslysupported
bythefailedpillartheymayinturnfail.This
couldleadtothecollapseofthewholemine.To
preventthisthemineisdividedupintoareasor
panels.[2]Pillarsknownasbarrierpillars
separatethepanels.Thebarrierpillarsare
significantlylargerthanthe"panel"pillarsand
aresizedtoallowthemtosupportasignificant
partofthepanelandpreventprogressive
collapseofthemineintheeventoffailureof
thepanelpillars.[2]

Retreatmining
Retreatminingisoftenthefinalstageofroomandpillarmining.Onceadeposithasbeenexhaustedusing
thismethod,thepillarsthatwereleftbehindinitiallyareremoved,or"pulled",retreatingbacktowardsthe
mine'sentrance.Afterthepillarsareremoved,theroof(orback)isallowedtocollapsebehindthemining
area.Pillarremovalmustoccurinaverypreciseordertoreducetheriskstoworkers,owingtothehigh
stressesplacedontheremainingpillarsbytheabutmentstressesofthecavingground.
Retreatminingisaparticularlydangerousformofmining:accordingtotheMineSafetyandHealth
Administration(MSHA),pillarrecoverymininghasbeenhistoricallyresponsiblefor25%ofAmericancoal
miningdeathscausedbyfailuresoftherooforwalls,eventhoughitrepresentsonly10%ofthecoalmining
industry.[5]

Seealso
Longwallmining

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References
Notes
1.Mullineux(1973),p.50.
2.Hustrulid&Bullock(2001),pp.4934.
3.C.M.Young,PercentageofExtractiononofBituminousCoalwithSpecialReferencetoIllinoisConditions,
EngineeringExperimentStationBulletinNo.100(http://books.google.com/books?
id=6wQTAAAAIAAJ&lpg=RA3PA90&pg=RA3PA90),UniversityofIllinois,page130.
4.S.O.Andros,CoalMininginIllinois,IllinoisCoalMiningInvestigations,Bulletin13,VolII,No1
(http://books.google.com/books?id=IS4AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA73),UniversityofIllinois,September1915.
5.Mark,Chris(2010)."DeepCoverPillarRecoveryintheUS"(PDF).Retrieved13July2012.

Bibliography
Hustrulid,WilliamA.Bullock,RichardL.(2001).UndergroundMiningMethods:Engineering
FundamentalsandInternationalCaseStudies.SocietyofMiningEngineers.ISBN978087335193
5.
Mullineux,F.(1973)."CoalMininginLancashire".InSmith,J.H.TheGreatHumanExploit.
Phillimore&Co.ISBN9780850331080.
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Categories: Undergroundmining
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