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Surface mining
Surface mining, including strip mining,
open-pit mining and mountaintop removal
mining, is a broad category of mining in
which soil and rock overlying the mineral
deposit (the overburden) are removed, in
contrast to underground mining, in which
the overlying rock is left in place, and the
mineral is removed through shafts or
tunnels.

Surface mining began in the mid-sixteenth

century[1] and is practiced throughout the
world, although the majority of surface coal Coal strip mine in Wyoming
mining occurs in North America. [2] It
gained popularity throughout the 20th
century, and surface mines now produce most of the coal
mined in the United States.[3]

In most forms of surface mining, heavy equipment, such as

earthmovers, first remove the overburden. Next, large
machines, such as dragline excavators or Bucket wheel
excavators, extract the mineral.

Sulfur miner with sulfur obtained

Contents from Ijen Volcano, Indonesia (2015)

Types
Strip mining
Open-pit mining
Mountaintop removal
Dredging
Highwall mining
Transport
Environmental and health issues
Human health
Environmental impact
See also
References
External links

Types
There are five main forms of surface mining, detailed below.
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Strip mining
"Strip mining" is the practice of mining a seam of
mineral, by first removing a long strip of overlying
soil and rock (the overburden). It is most
commonly used to mine coal and lignite (brown
coal). Strip mining is only practical when the ore
The Bagger 288 is a bucket-wheel excavator
body to be excavated is relatively near the surface.
used in strip mining.
This type of mining uses some of the largest
machines on earth, including bucket-wheel
excavators which can move as much as 12,000 cubic metres of earth per hour.

There are two forms of strip mining. The more common method is "area stripping", which is used
on fairly flat terrain, to extract deposits over a large area. As each long strip is excavated, the
overburden is placed in the excavation produced by the previous strip.

"Contour mining" involves removing the overburden above the mineral seam near the outcrop in
hilly terrain, where the mineral outcrop usually follows the contour of the land. Contour stripping
is often followed by auger mining into the hillside, to remove more of the mineral. This method
commonly leaves behind terraces in mountainsides.

Strip mining at Garzweiler, Germany. The lignite being extracted is at left, the removed overburden being placed at
right. Note that it is a largely flat mine for a horizontal mineral.

Open-pit mining
"Open-pit mining" refers to a method of extracting rock or
minerals from the earth through their removal from an open
pit or borrow. Although open-pit mining is sometimes
mistakenly referred to as "strip mining", the two methods are
different (see above).

Mountaintop removal
"Mountaintop removal mining" (MTR) is a form of coal The El Chino mine located near
mining that mines coal seams beneath mountaintops by first Silver City, New Mexico is an open-
removing the mountaintop overlying the coal seam. Explosives pit copper mine.
are used to break up the rock layers above the seam, which are

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then removed. Excess mining waste or "overburden" is dumped by large trucks into fills in nearby
hollow or valley fills. MTR involves the mass restructuring of earth in order to reach the coal seam
as deep as 400 feet (120 m) below the surface. Mountaintop removal replaces the original steep
landscape with a much flatter topography. Economic development attempts on reclaimed mine
sites include prisons such the Big Sandy Federal Penitentiary in Martin County, Kentucky, small
town airports, golf courses such as Twisted Gun in Mingo County, West Virginia and Stonecrest
Golf Course in Floyd County, Kentucky, as well as industrial scrubber sludge disposal sites, solid
waste landfills, trailer parks, explosive manufacturers, and storage rental lockers.[4]

The technique has been used increasingly in recent years in the Appalachian coal fields of West
Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee in the United States. The profound changes in
topography and disturbance of pre-existing ecosystems have made mountaintop removal highly
controversial.

Advocates of mountaintop removal point out that once the areas are reclaimed as mandated by
law, the technique provides premium flat land suitable for many uses in a region where flat land is
rare. They also maintain that the new growth on reclaimed mountaintop mined areas is better able
to support populations of game animals.[5]

Critics contend that mountaintop removal is a disastrous practice that benefits a small number of
corporations at the expense of local communities and the environment. A U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) environmental impact statement finds that streams near valley fills
sometimes may contain higher levels of minerals in the water and decreased aquatic
biodiversity.[6] The statement also estimates that 724 miles (1,165 km) of Appalachian streams
were buried by valley fills from 1985 to 2001.

Blasting at a mountaintop removal mine expels dust and fly-rock into the air, which can then
disturb or settle onto private property nearby. This dust may contain sulfur compounds, which
some claim corrode structures and tombstones and is a health hazard.[7]

Although MTR sites are required to be reclaimed after mining is complete, reclamation has
traditionally focused on stabilizing rock and controlling erosion, but not always on reforesting the
area.[8] Quick-growing, non-native grasses, planted to quickly provide vegetation on a site,
compete with tree seedlings, and trees have difficulty establishing root systems in compacted
backfill.[6] Consequently, biodiversity suffers in a region of the United States with numerous
endemic species.[9] Erosion also increases, which can intensify flooding. In the Eastern United
States, the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative works to promote the use of trees in
mining reclamation.[10]

Dredging
"Dredging" is a method for mining below the water table. It is mostly associated with gold mining.
Small dredges often use suction to bring the mined material up from the bottom of a water body.
Historically, large-scale dredging often used a floating dredge, a barge-like vessel which scooped
material up on a conveyor belt in front, removed the desirable component on board, and returned
the unwanted material via another conveyor belt in back. In gravel-filled river valleys with shallow
water tables, a floating dredge could work its way through the loose sediment in a pond of its own
making.

Highwall mining
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Highwall mining is another form of mining sometimes

conducted to recover additional coal adjacent to a surface
mined area. The method evolved from auger mining but does
not meet the definition of surface mining since it does not
involve the removal of overburden to expose the coal seam.
CERB final report No. 2014-004 "Highwall Mining: Design
Methodology, Safety, and Suitability" by Yi Luo characterizes
it as a "relatively new semi-surface and semi-underground Highwall mining
coal mining method that evolved from auger mining".[11] In
Highwall mining, the coal seam is penetrated by a continuous
miner propelled by a hydraulic Pushbeam Transfer Mechanism (PTM). A typical cycle includes
sumping (launch-pushing forward) and shearing (raising and lowering the cutterhead boom to cut
the entire height of the coal seam). As the coal recovery cycle continues, the cutterhead is
progressively launched into the coal seam for 19.72 feet (6.01 m). Then, the Pushbeam Transfer
Mechanism (PTM) automatically inserts a 19.72-foot (6.01 m) long rectangular Pushbeam (Screw-
Conveyor Segment) into the center section of the machine between the Powerhead and the
cutterhead. The Pushbeam system can penetrate nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) into the coal seam. One
patented Highwall mining systems use augers enclosed inside the Pushbeam that prevent the
mined coal from being contaminated by rock debris during the conveyance process. Using a video
imaging and/or a gamma ray sensor and/or other Geo-Radar systems like a coal-rock interface
detection sensor (CID), the operator can see ahead projection of the seam-rock interface and guide
the continuous miner's progress. Highwall mining can produce thousands of tons of coal in
contour-strip operations with narrow benches, previously mined areas, trench mine applications
and steep-dip seams with controlled water-inflow pump system and/or a gas (inert) venting
system.

Recovery is much better than Augering, but the mapping of areas that have been developed by a
Highwall miner are not mapped as rigorously as deep mined areas. Very little soil is displaced in
contrast with mountain top removal; however a large amount of capital is required to operate and
own a Highwall miner. But then this Highwall mining system is the innovative roadmap future
potential and stay or being better competitive in the area of environmental friendly non mountain-
top (overburden) removal operated by only 4 crew members.

Mapping of the outcrop as well as core hole data and samples taken during the bench making
process are taken into account to best project the panels that the Highwall miner will cut.
Obstacles that could be potentially damaged by subsidence and the natural contour of the
Highwall are taken into account, and a surveyor points the Highwall miner in a line (Theoretical
Survey Plot-Line) mostly perpendicular to the Highwall. Parallel lines represent the drive cut into
the mountain (up to 1,000 feet (300 m) deep), without heading or corrective steering actuation on
a navigation Azimuth during mining results in missing a portion of the coal seam and is a potential
danger of cutting in pillars from previous mined drives due to horizontal drift (Roll) of the
Pushbeam-Cuttermodule string. Recently Highwall miners have penetrated more than 1050 feet
into the coal seam, and today's models are capable of going farther, with the support of gyro
navigation and not limited anymore by the amount of cable stored on the machine. The maximum
depth would be determined by the stress of further penetration and associated specific-power
draw, ("Torsion and Tension" in Screw-Transporters String) but today's optimized Screw-
Transporters Conveying Embodiments (called: Pushbeams) with Visual Product Development and
Flow Simulation Behaviour software "Discrete Element Modeling" (DEM) shows smart-drive
extended penetrations are possible, even so under steep inclined angles from horizontal to more
than 30 degree downhole. In case of significant steep mining the new mining method phrase
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should be "Directional Mining", dry or wet, Dewatering is developed or Cutting & Dredging
through Screw-Transporters are proactive in developing roadmap of the leading global Highwall
mining company.

Transport
In early stages of moving materials out of surface mines, manual labour, horse drawn vehicles and
mining railways moved materials.

Current practices tend to use haul trucks on haul roads designed into the features of the mine.

Environmental and health issues

The impact of surface mining on the topography, vegetation, and water resources has made it
highly controversial.

Surface mining is subject to state and federal reclamation requirements, but adequacy of the
requirements is a constant source of contention. Unless reclaimed, surface mining can leave
behind large areas of infertile waste rock, as 70% of material excavated is waste.

In the United States, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 mandates
reclamation of surface coal mines. Reclamation for non-coal mines is regulated by state and local
laws, which may vary widely.

Human health
The United Mine Workers of America has spoken against the use of human sewage sludge to
reclaim surface mining sites in Appalachia. The UMWA launched its campaign against the use of
sludge on mine sites in 1999 after eight UMWA workers became ill from exposure to Class B
sludge spread near their workplace.[12]

Environmental impact
According to a 2010 report in the journal Science, mountaintop mining has caused numerous
environmental problems which mitigation practices have not successfully addressed. For example,
valley fills frequently bury headwater streams causing permanent loss of ecosystems. In addition,
the destruction of large tracts of deciduous forests has threatened several endangered species and
led to a loss of biodiversity.[13]

See also
Shaft mining
Hobet Coal Mine

References
1. Montrie, Chad (2003). To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal
Mining in Appalachia. United States: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-
8078-2765-7.
2. "Where Is Coal Found?" (http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/where-is-coal-found/). World Coal
Association. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
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3. Coal production by state and mine type 2013-2014 (http://www.eia.gov/coal/annual/pdf/table1.

pdf), US Energy Information Administration, accessed 4 July 2016.
4. "Gallery" (https://web.archive.org/web/20081230142430/http://www.kentuckycoal.org/index.cf
m?pageToken=gallery). Kentucky Coal. Archived from the original (http://www.kentuckycoal.or
g/index.cfm?pageToken=gallery) on 2008-12-30. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
5. Gardner, J.S. & Sainato, P. (March 2007). "Mountaintop mining and sustainable development
in Appalachia". Mining Engineering. pp. 48–55.
6. "Mountaintop Mining/Valley Fills in Appalachia: Final Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement" (http://www.epa.gov/region03/mtntop/index.htm). U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. October 25, 2005. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
7. Jessica Tzerman (August 3, 2006). "Blast Rites" (http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/08/
03/tzerman/). Grist. Retrieved September 4, 2006.
8. "Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative Forest Reclamation Advisory" (https://arri.osmr
e.gov/PDFs/Pubs/FRA_No.1.pdf) (PDF). Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation. Retrieved
July 11, 2007.
9. "Biology: Plants, Animals, & Habitats – We live in a hot spot of biodiversity" (http://www.fnai.or
g/ARROW/almanac/biology/biology_index.cfm). Apalachicola Region Resources on the Web.
Retrieved September 18, 2006.
10. "Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative" (https://arri.osmre.gov/). arri.osmre.gov.
Retrieved September 5, 2006.
11. Luo (September 2014). "Highwall Mining: Design Methodology, Safety, and Suitablity".
12. "Defender" (http://www.unitedmountaindefense.org/2006Defender.pdf) (PDF). United Mountain
Defense. 2006.
13. Palmer, M.A. et al. (January 8, 2010). "Mountaintop Mining Consequences". Science. 327:
148. doi:10.1126/science.1180543 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1180543).
PMID 20056876 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20056876).

External links
"Why Surface Mine?" (http://www.nma.org/pdf/fact_sheets/why_surface_mine.pdf), an
argument in favor of surface mining, by an executive of International Coal Group

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