Application of a Hydraulic Borehole Mining Apparatus to the Remote Extraction of Coal. Interim Report.

Cheung-JB; Hurlburt-GH; Scott-LE; Veenhuizen-S

For Reference Only At Bureau Libraries :87 pages

10002182

This report presents the results of a program to demonstrate the technical feasibility of hydraulic borehole coal mining. The hydraulic borehole method of coal mining involves inserting a hydraulic mining device into a borehole that has been drilled from the surface into the underground coalbed. The borehole mining device issues a jet of water under high pressure, which breaks the coal. The pieces of coal and water form a slurry that flows to the base of the borehole where it is pumped to the surface. Phase I of the program encompassed the design, fabrication, and factory-testing of a hydraulic borehole mining device. The program was successfully completed at the Wilkeson-Carbonado coalfield near Wilkeson, Washington. The technical feasibility of hydraulic borehole coal mining was demonstrated by mining 32 tons of coal at a depth of about 75 feet over a period of 4 hours.

19760101

CP; Final Contract Report;

1976

OFR 117-81

TCRC;

For Reference Only At Bureau Libraries

WA;

Flow Industries, Inc.