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SHOWS AND EVENTS ccntrnued
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<br />his rcmpany's e1(ons In advance chain con-
<br />veydr iechnUlogy. Rick $teenb.~g. none oper-
<br />ations superintendent, presented a paper
<br />covering FMC's experience longwa!ling trona.
<br />This was the first paper presented at La^gwall
<br />USA from the trona patch, and It yave some
<br />valuatle ~nSighl into how longwalls handle cut
<br />tins extremely hard materials Bnngmg the
<br />tr;chnical sessions to a close was Kevin
<br />Sheahen, soniUr mechanical systems engi-
<br />nerr, who spoke on CONSOCs experience
<br />wnh storage bunker design. Sheahen walked
<br />the delegates ihrougn different Theories and
<br />Langwa(I USA
<br />Top Performers
<br />During the past few years, longwall tonnages
<br />have peen conhnuousty breaking records.
<br />"Production hgures are advertised by vendors
<br />in Coal Age. and Coal Age roudnely reports sim-
<br />ilarfigures through news stories released from
<br />the mines themselves "Bald Larry Greenberger,
<br />publisher of Coar Age, as he inaugurated the
<br />Longwall USATop Perfbrmers award. "The under-
<br />lying problem, however. is that there seems io be
<br />no consistency. is it clean tans per month, raw
<br />tons per month, clean tons per shttt...an eight-
<br />hour shift, a i0-hour shift?"
<br />For years the Longwall USA Executive
<br />Committee has grappled with the problem df giv
<br />ing an award to longwall producers. Considering
<br />the breadth of the parameters, establishing the
<br />criteria was difficult to say the least. Members
<br />Of the committee who t¢pre5ent the coal compa-
<br />nies, namely AEP, Jim Warier Resources. Arco,
<br />Eastern Associated, and Cyprus Amax, decided
<br />td formulate criteria for evaluating a Longwall USA
<br />Top Performer. After much debate, the commit-
<br />tee divided U.S, longwalls iota three categories
<br />based on cutting height: low (less than 12 inch-
<br />¢s), medium (72 inches to 96 inches), and high
<br />(greater than 96 inches).
<br />"To clarity production criteria for a Longwall
<br />USA Top Pedormer award, the committee settled
<br />on average raw tons per day produced by a sin-
<br />gle longwall face,' Greenberger said. "Toe long-
<br />Wall's total annual raw production was essentially
<br />divided by the number bt days the longwall oper-
<br />ated. The second production criteria was the long-
<br />wall'sannual raw production.
<br />"Production is imDOrtant, but the may[ impar-
<br />tant factor in coal mining is operating solely." said
<br />Greenberger. "1f the competition were close, and
<br />~n some cases it was. the mine's overall safety
<br />pertormance would be used to determine the Top
<br />Performer.
<br />"Today there are 65 longwall mines operat-
<br />ing in the United States. We have 14 mores oper-
<br />ating towbar wewould call high seam condlhons.
<br />COAL ACE / .luly 1o9A
<br />design considerations and pointed cut advan-
<br />tages and d>sadvanlages.
<br />ROUNDTABLE DISCU5SIONS
<br />OFFER AN OPEN FORUM
<br />The roundtable d~scv:s~ons created an iniw-
<br />actrve dialogue between the delegates and
<br />industry experts, and 3pprox~r. x7te!y<W Ueo-
<br />p16 attended both roundtable discussions. Set
<br />in an atmosphere resarnbling daytime tefews~on
<br />UW, shows, a modeYatP~ asked panelists a q~.las-
<br />tion pertaining to (heir intlwitlual expertise or
<br />experience, and then [he panelists answered
<br />questions !rom the audience.
<br />i ne topic cl the first roundtabe discussion
<br />which are located primarily in the Wesl and
<br />Alabama." said Greenberger "We have 24 Icng-
<br />wallsoperating in the medium range, located pri-
<br />marily in the Midwest and southwestern
<br />Pennsylvania, and we have 27 longwalls operat-
<br />ing inlow condlhons in the Appalachian coalfields,
<br />primarily in Wes[ Virginia.
<br />"CoalAge then asked Gary Prazen to design
<br />and sculpt a medallion for this award, over which
<br />Longwall USA wdl hold the rights,' said
<br />Greenberger.
<br />Based on those fdurfactors, cutting height,
<br />,vas The Fulwe nl Ldnywall Mirnng-What
<br />Lcngwails Will Look Lake in trio Undetl S!a:es
<br />Five Years From Now. Mark Hart, senior woe
<br />pra;,~dBnt. Cyprus Amax Coal Co. ibehind the
<br />pbdiurn). mx'erared the sess,pn. The penal
<br />included fas soon in the top photo on next page
<br />kom nyhtJ: Steve Bensinger, Joy M,nlny
<br />Machinery: Tom Mouser, CONSOL; John
<br />piMich~et Cyprus Ankvr Coal Co.: Larry Evans,
<br />Eastern Assoc~ared Coal Co.; Bob SWt,
<br />TamrocK Coal-Emco: Ken Mackle. Long-AirdUx
<br />C,o.t and Harry Mdrtm, MTA,
<br />One of the more interesting dilemmas pro-
<br />se rtedwas the tact trio[ as longwall eGu:prnent
<br />Continues to evolve. n grows in size One U1 the
<br />average daily raw production, annual raw pro- Lorrpwap use rap perrormeraward to Jim
<br />duCben, and the MSHA incidence rate for the entire Latham, mhro euperintenderr; Me(ge No. 37,
<br />mine, three Longwall USA Tap Performers were Tor Nro (ow seam dMsfon.
<br />selected.
<br />In the low category, the winner was American
<br />Electric Power's Meigs No. 31, an American
<br />Electric Power mine based in Athens. Ohio. Last
<br />year, the miners at Meigs produced more than
<br />6 million raw tons of coal and averaged 23,249
<br />raw tons Der day-the h)ghest dairy average of all
<br />reported mines. Meigs also had an extremely low
<br />MSHA incidence rate of 1.26, which is wall below
<br />the national average df 9.03.
<br />In the medium category, the achievements were
<br />riot only extremely close, but [he two !op ton-
<br />tenders were awned by the same mining com-
<br />pany, Cyprus Amaz Coal Co., and they were
<br />located in the same county. In the end, howev-
<br />er, the Cumberland mine edged the Emerald mine.
<br />The average daily production for both mines
<br />ezceeded 20.000 rax• tans per day and differed
<br />by only 200 rawton5 per day. Cumberland, how-
<br />ever, dtd have a lower MSHA incidence rate and
<br />produced mare Nan 6.5 motion raw tans. 700,000
<br />raw tons come than Emerald.
<br />The high category had two very high-profile
<br />contenders, Twentymil¢ and West E!k. and their
<br />average daily raw production differed by less loan
<br />7,000 tons per day. West Elk wan because it had
<br />the nigher daily average and 3 much lower MSHA
<br />incdence rate. West Elk averaged in excess of
<br />27,000 tons per Day and had an MSHA incidence
<br />rate of 5.80.
<br />Gene O(Claudi0. president, Mountain Caat
<br />Co., aecepb the award fpr Weat Ettr in V»
<br />high seam tliviaion.
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<br />lorry Greenbegrs(lefU, poWisfar, Coal Ape,
<br />artdArt Sands (far rlg)rt), sdROr, preserd The
<br />Doug Contain, penenl mertapeh Gum6eRand
<br />m(ne, accepts t1ro award for Cyprve Amax
<br />Coo/ Co, in t/ro midaeam Iroight diwtion.
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