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i <br />III.A.S Roof Control The roof control plan, which has been submitted to and approved by the Federal <br />Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) contains the following provisions: <br />Entries will be driven on 20 to 150-foot centers, cross cuts on 50 to 200-foot centers. <br />Entries and crosscuts will be 16-22 feet wide. Full extraction may be practical during room <br />and pillar mining. <br />The major means of roof support will be provided by roof bolts 4-10 feet in length installed <br />vertically. Some areas may require cable trusses and/or angled roof bolts to support <br />incompetent or unstable roof material. Roof bolts will be installed on 5-foot centers. <br />Certain areas will also be supported by wood posts and cribs. <br />III.A.6 Mining Plan A complete description of the mining system is included previously in this section. <br />BME intends to extract coal from the B & D coal seams by utilizing both longwall and room and pillar, <br />• with pillar extraction methods. The mine is being developed by driving a series of mains and submains <br />with continuous miners. These entries serve as the arteries for coal conveying and ventilation. The <br />mains and submains, which will remain open for the life of the mine, are supported by roof bolts. <br />Additional support may include timbers, steel arches, steel mats, steel mesh and shotcrete. <br />The room and pillar sections will be laid out with a multiple2ntry development system. A series of <br />rooms and crosscuts will then be mined from the main entries on a spacing to be determined by the <br />prevailing geological conditions. Coal will be cut by continuous miners. <br />After a panel of rooms has been completed, and if conditions allow, the intervening pillars will be <br />extracted, retreating toward the mains. The extraction of most of the pillar coal on the retreat will result <br />in caving of the roof some 50 to 100 feet behind the active mining area. Upon completion of a room <br />and pillar section, the caved area will be sealed off and protected with adequate barrier pillars. <br />• Midterm Review (8/2002) III-8 <br />