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Mine seals can be remotely constructed in underground coal mines, through vertical boreholes, when direct access to a fire is impossible or considered to be too dangerous. This method has great merit because boreholes can be drilled to specific mine areas and seals can be positioned close to a fire zone. The technology however, can be largely ineffective if the constructed seals do not provide effective barriers to airflow or cannot be used to impound water and other inert materials. Unfortunately, no viable alternatives exist to sealing the entire mine at the ground surface. Full-scale remote mine seal construction research is being conducted at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Lake Lynn Laboratory. Under this effort, Howard Concrete Pumping Co. and GAI Consultants, Inc., have joined forces to evaluate a potentially significant improvement to the current state of the art. This paper describes the development of novel technology for remote mine seal construction, evaluation of the materials used, construction practice, and followup testing.
| Author(s): | Gray-TA, Trevits-MA, Crayne-LM, Glogowski-P |
| Reference: | 2004 SME Annual Meeting, Feb 23-25, Denver, Colorado, preprint 04-194. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2004 Feb; :1-8 |
drmsc (PDF, 1800 KB)
