Bituminous Coal Mine of the Future - Winning at Great Depths.

The research project VM GT TH Coalmine of the future - mining techniques for great depths related to specific deposits VM LS TH illustrates, with the aid of four examples, the methods, equipment and solutions which should serve hard coal mining in the German Federal Republic to master the problems to be anticipated when winning at great depths: To control strata pressure and mine climate it is recommended to choose a simple method in the form of Z-working and to achieve the air-conditioning needed by air cooling using high-performance machines. The planning system devised in the research project for long-term panel exploitation and capacity build-up in collieries uses methods not contained in mining models available until now and makes it possible to prepare plans, based on extensive and long-term concepts, of a kind essential at the stage of establishing basic layouts for collieries in given coal deposits.