Abstract
The air blasting system which had been used between 1930 and 1950 was abandoned after the development of mechanised production systems. In the 1960s, it has been improved to produce coal by sublevel caving method in steep and thick seams. It has been applied to the steep and thick coal seams at Zonguldak hardcoal region, in Turkey, for 6 years. In this paper, firstly, the air blasting excavation system and sublevel caving production methods are introduced. Secondly, the optimum conditions for the application of the system in the region are presented. For the determination of the optimum conditions, the properties of the coal seam, characteristics of air blasting excavation system and limitations of the sublevel caving method are considered. Finally, the results of a pilot application at the Kozlu Colliery are given.
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