August 2015
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World Coal
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77
Ulrich Langosch and Alexey Shalashinski, DMT GmbH& Co., Germany,
discuss managing the stability of roadways at great depth inmines.
C
oal remains a vital rawmaterial in the global
economy, especially in power generation and the
steel industry. Even today, approximately 41% of
all electrical energy generated globally comes
from coal‑fired power plants, according to the
World Coal Association.
To meet the global demand for coal, coal producers have
steadily introduced advanced technology and high levels of
mechanisation, all with the aim of extracting higher tonnes per
man shift from the coal face and driving down the overall
production cost per GJ.
With the depletion of the world’s more-easily won
near-surface coal deposits, many of the coal producing
countries are increasingly having to go deeper underground to
reach their remaining coal resources, bringing increased natural
challenges for the safe extraction of these deep level seams.
To access this deeper lying coal, effective extraction systems
and the efficient transportation of the coal from deep
