Submitted by: Submitted by elvisodion
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Date Submitted: 11/01/2010 07:47 AM
Coal Mining
Introduction
Coal mining is a very important (yet very dangerous) process in our society and about fifty percent of our electricity is powered by coal. There are four different types of coal-mines that are distinctly different from each other. The first type are drift or slope mines. These mines are driven into valley walls near seams of coal. The second types of mines are shaft mines which use pumps to remove water. In this process, boreholes are drilled to relieve water pressure for safer mining. The third types of mines are surface mines. Surface mines use draglines(A dragline is a machine used in surface mining to remove layers of earth and rock covering a coal seam ), which can remove up to 200ft of coal in a single pass. Lastly, the fourth type of mine is called a deep mine. A deep mine was created to extract coal buried deep underground. Deep mines contain shafts dug straight down to the coal. Coal mining has unfortunately lead to a lot of deaths in china and some statistics show that it was only in 2002 and 2005 that the death rate was less. The United States averages around 30 mining deaths per year whereas China averages around 6,000 deaths a year. China has been improving its safety record over the past few years.
Process of coal Mining
Coal miners use giant machines to remove coal from the earth. They use two methods, surface mining and underground mining. Many of the United States’ coal mines are near the earth’s surface, and about two-thirds of coal production comes from surface mines. Modern methods of mining allow miners to easily reach most of the coal reserves. The improvement of mining technology (and the more frequent use of surface mining) has vastly increased the amount of coal production, especially when you consider the amount it produced about 25 years ago. Coal is a black or brownish-black sedimentary rock composed from mostly carbon and hydrocarbons. Coal is the most needed fossil fuel made in the United States....