Stowing in Ug Mines

SREEKAVITHA ENGINEERING COLLEGE
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The contribution of mining has played a big part in the development of civilization, more
than is usually recognized by the average citizen. In fact, products of the mineral industry
pervade the lives of all members of our industrialized society. The chronological development
of mining technology bears an important relation to the history of civilization. In fact, as one of
the earliest of human enterprises, mining and its development correlate closely with cultural
progress. It is no coincidence that the cultural ages of people are associated with minerals or
their derivatives (i.e., Bronze Age). Today, products of the mineral industry pervade the lives of
all people. Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the
earth, usually from an ore body, vein or (coal) seam. Any material that cannot be grown through
agricultural processes, or created artificially in a laboratory or factory, is usually mined. Mining
in a wider sense comprises extraction of any non-renewable resource (e.g. petroleum, natural
gas, or even water). Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the
profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials and finally reclamation of
the land to prepare it for other uses once the mine is closed. Coal seams can be mined both by
underground methods and opencast methods depending upon certain conditions such as
thickness and depth of the seam, dip of the seam, the ratio of overburden to coal (stripping ratio)
etc
The growing needs have been pushing the limits, to which the mining industry has to
reach to lift itself to full fill the demand. The effect can be seen from the methods of mining that
have evolved over the years. One of the oldest methods of mining is the Bord and Pillar. It is a
method in which the mined material is extracted across a horizontal plane while leaving "pillars"
of untouched material to support the overburden leaving open areas or "rooms" underground. It
is usually used for relatively flat-lying deposits, such as those that follow a particular stratum. A
relatively new technology, high concentration backfilling, enables mining industry to think on
the use of fly ash as underground back fill material.
DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 1

The advantages are enormous. Jharia and Ranigunj coalfields being the oldest in the
country had adopted unscientific mining during pre-nationalization period. In many cases mining
was conducted without proper stowing and that had resulted in severe problem in these two
townships.
Both these townships are suffering from severe problems of subsidence. It is anticipated
that with the development of this technology it will be possible to solve this intractable problem.
The problem of underground fire can also be controlled once this technology is adopted. Due to
over exploitation sand for construction industry and non replenishment of sand in the rivers due
to construction of dams at the upstream, sand is gradually becoming a scare material. It is
anticipated that it will be extremely difficult to get plenty of sand for stowing purpose in future.
So the time is ripe to search for alternate material to replace sand for underground stowing.
These power plants are producing a huge quantity of fly ash which can be used as an
alternate stowing material. Ash has several other advantages compared to sand as a stowing
material. Once this technology of ash stowing is developed with high concentration form, it will
be possible to get a very high rate of stowing which will eventually increase the coal production
from depillaring panels.
The prevalent mode of void filling is hydraulic sand stowing in which sand water mixture
is prepared at surface and is allowed to gravitate to the underground void to be filled. The
process of hydraulic sand stowing is inherently slow and is marred with other practical
difficulties like non-availability of adequate amount of sand, transportation of sand, additional
pumping required to deal with stowing water, jamming of stowing pipes due to quick setting of
sand, faster abrasion of pipes by sand, slow stowing rate etc. The need of the hour is to develop
and establish a technology, which could ensure high rate of packing of mine void to meet the
higher production requirement. High concentration fly ash slurry disposal system is one such
technology. It is proposed to conduct an R&D trial of high concentration fly ash slurry disposal
system in one of the underground mines of BCCL with a view to establish the effectiveness of
packing the mine void and also to carry out scientific study to find the efficacy of stowed pack.

CHAPTER 2
STOWING
Surface manifestation of underground coal extraction occurs in two forms, pothole and
trough subsidence. Pothole subsidence is a sudden depression of ground surface of small area
due to sudden collapse of overburden into the underground void. Trough subsidence is a large
area depression of the surface terrain, which is common at greater depth. Pothole subsidence is
hazardous to life, as it does not impart any prior indication before its occurrence. Ground
movements produce various forms of damage to different surface features and structures.
Damage to buildings result from tilting, curvature and linear deformation of the ground built on
it. Compression and extension of the surface alter the gradient of structural alignment, which
ultimately causes their deformation. Subsidence phenomena, which occurs in abandoned mines
to a large extent, continues through years after mining1. Abandoned room and pillar mining even
two centuries ago may still be causing subsidence, which results in heavy loss of life and
property. This paper reviews various subsidence control approaches, which are being adopted in
collieries for both working and abandoned coalmines.
STOWING 2.1

2.1 PURPOSE OF STOWING
Stowing in underground mine ensures the safety and productivity of the mine, as enumerated
below:
a) High percentage of extraction is attained and therefore wastage of coal underground is

reduced. Extraction of thick seams, a seam below fire area, water bearing strata and
below railways, national highways, towns, etc. can only be extracted with stowing. More
than 90% extraction is possible in a seam thicker than 4.5 m only in conjunction with
stowing.
b) Working of contiguous seams without any restrictions about a particular sequence of

extraction is made possible.
c) Almost no danger of inundation is expected during depillaring.
d) Gas accumulations in the goaf are minimised.
e) Ventilation air leakage is minimised.
f) Better roof control is ensured and thus surface subsidence is minimised.
g) Overall, stowing ensures safety of the mine and the man employed.
h) It contributes towards elimination of the phenomena of and air blasts, coal bumps, etc.
i) Ventilation planning is made easy as chances of air current leaking into the goaf are
eliminated.
j) Stowing has also been used in India to stabilize old workings, where pillars left earlier
were too small and galleries too high and wide to stand the stresses of pillar extraction.
k) It has also been used to form sand barriers against a fire area, and for blanketing on the
surface to prevent air leakage to a live fire in shallow mines.

2.2 PROPERTIES OF STOWING MATERIALS
Following properties of materials should be considered before their selection for use as
stowing material.
a) Grain size and size distribution - Smaller the grain size, higher is the efficiency of
stowing (up to a certain limit). Uniform grain size is most suitable. In case of hydraulic
stowing size should be from 100-200 mm, for mechanical stowing size should be
between 50 and 100 mm & for pneumatic stowing it should be between 5 and 60 mm.
b) Shape – Rounded grain size is the best as it gives the optimum packing.
c) Hardness – The material should have high hardness so that the compressibility is
minimum. This will ensure long term effective packing.
d) Effect of water – If pyrites are present H2S gas is produced which corrodes pipes and
impellers. If SO2 is produced then H2SO4 is formed, which, aggravate the corrosive
effects. Therefore stowing material should be free from pyrtite.
e) Combustibility – It should be inert to avoid fire in mines.
f) Abrasiveness – The stowing material should be least abrasive so that it does not abrade
the pipelines and conveyor belts etc. to any significant extent.
g) Economy – It should be cheap and locally available to avoid transportation cost.
h) Material reserve – Reserve of stowing material should be adequate for needs of a mine
over a given period of time.
i) Packing efficiency – It should have packing efficiency as high as possible.
j) Special properties – Crushed shale and refuse of washeries are preferred for pneumatic
stowing. In case of hydraulic stowing the following properties are necessary:
a. Draining of water from goaf in a short period.
b. Must resist soaking.
c. Dust and clay should not exceed 10%.
d. Size should not be more than 50-60 mm for river sand.

2.3TPYES OF STOWING
Therearefourmainmethodsofpacking:
 HandPacking,
 Hydraulic Stowing
 Pneumatic Stowing
 Mechanical Stowing
METHOD OF STOWING
Stowing can be done by hand: it can also be pneumatic and hydraulic. Hand packing is a
dry and slow process which is comparatively less costly as it does not require any water used for
the work to be pumped out .this however can be practised only in small operations . Pneumatic
stowing is also a dry process in which compressed air forces the stowing material into the
required position.
This is rather expensive and is only suitable for deep mines from which the pumping of
underground water involves some high cost and in cases where there is no adequate supply of
water for hydraulic stowing the hydraulic stowing is most suitable for the simple reason that
there are apparently sufficient supplies of sand and water in the neighbourhood of most of the
coalfields where the inclination of the seams is generally suitable for the process.
STOWING MATERIALS
The average consumption of the stowing materials is 0.8 cubic metres/ 1.3 tons per one
ton of excavated coal. Since about 55,000,000 tons of coal is worked every year with the use of
hydraulic stowage, the annual demand for the stowage material amounts to about 70,000,000
tons. Stowing sand for coal mines is supplied by the Stowing Materials Enterprise. Sand deposits
with a suitable content of clay for this process are usually located at some distance from the
mines. The Stowing Materials Enterprise has its own railway rolling stock and own railway lines
of total length 650 km. 62 per cent of the sandis transported by means of electrically operated
vehicles and the remaining 38 per cent by diesel and steam. In 1960, 42 million tons of sand was
supplied to the mines, 65 million tons in 1988, and it is envisaged that by 1975 it will have
increased to about 75 million tons.

Sand is supplied to the mines by the down-and-up trains with a payload of 1,000 tons, in
self-dumping 55-ton cars. Sand working and loading is mechanised 20 minutes is required to
load a train and three minutes to unload on the self-dumping bridge.
2.4 STOWING INSTALLATIONS IN MINES
The stowing installation in a mine comprises a stowing plant, i.e., a set of machinery and
equipment where the dumping bridge, the sand container and the washing equipment form the
basic elements a shaft or a bore-hole with the vertical section of the stowage pipe stowing
installation in the heading, i.e., the system of dams and water drainage facilities drainage gallery
and a dewatering system. An important achievement in the line of preparing the stowage slurry
and its supply to the pipelines, is that no air is carried with the slurry through the pipelines.
THE STOWING PLANT INSTALLATIONS 2.2
1,self-dumping bridge. 2, stowing material bker.3, stowing installation hopper.4, surune.5, lace
container for crushed waste gangue.Belt conveyor for crushed waste gangue.6, metering
chamber.7, belt feeder.8, conveyorfor feeding crushed rocks to the free-fall pipe.9, nozzles lor
sprinkling crushed rocks. 10,free-fall pipe. 11, chute plate.12, monitor. 13.moisturizing monitor.
14, remotely-controlledextra water supply valve. 15, stowing slurrysurface level indicators. 16,

isotopic densitygauge.17, operator's observation panel.18, device for the remote control of the
feeding conveyors.19, device for the remote control of extra water supply.20, water pressure
adjustment in the monitor. 21, pumps to supply themonitors
This has been achieved by the application of a hopper of adequate capacity with slurry
surface level indicators installed . The slurry surface level is indicated on the operator's
observation panel Practical tests and experiments have shown that it is possible to obtain a better
ratio of solids to water than 1:1 in the slurry. For this purpose monitors have been provided with
hydraulic controls which ensure the automatic moving of the stream of water, at an optimum rate
of 2.5-3 mn/ sec, over the sand in the bunker.
During the last few years the use of hydraulic stowage with an addition of crushed waste
gangue from the sorting and washing plants, etc., in the form of 0.5-60 mm diameter grains has
become common place. The waste materials used for the production of hydraulic stowage must
be fairly resistant to being washed out by water. The percentage of the washed-out material
during transport through the pipelines to the breakage heading should not exceed 20 per cent.
Hydraulic stowage made as a 1:1 mixture of sand and mining wastes has a subsidence factor only
2 to 4 per cent worse than that of stowage made exclusively from the sand. It is expected that in
the future this method will enable 60 per cent of all mining wastes to be used underground in
worked out headings.
2.5 STOWING INSTALLATIONS IN HEADINGS
The stowing installations formerly used in the headings have some disadvantages, the
need to build stowing barriers every few meters, which requires a great amount of labour, and the
deconcentration of the coal mining workings due to breaks in production while stowing takes
place. These drawbacks have been eliminated by the continuous technique of coal excavation
developed in the Institute of Mining in Katowice using hydraulic stowing.

2.6 STOWING PIPLINES
Stowing pipelines have diameters of 150 or 185 mm. The output of these pipelines varies
between 400 and 700 m> of stowing material per hour, depending on the slurry flow rate. In
deep mines this rate exceeds 8 m/ sec. Steel pipes with 14 mm thick walls are used through
which 250,000 to 450,000 m~ of stowing material may be fed. Progress in the field of stowing
pipelines depends on the introduction of steel pipes with an increased resistance to abrasion and
capable of transporting about 2,000,000 m~ of the stowing material. Pipes with thinner walls are
also used but these have hard basalt, copper slag or rubber linings. Pipes with such linings are
capable of transporting 3.5-5 million m> of stowing materials.
The pressure inside the stowing pipes depends on the depth at which coal is mined, it is
600 to 800 m. At this depth, and with the specific gravity of the stowing slurry at 1.8, the
pressure reaches 110 to 145 kg/sq. cm and the pipes break after a fairly short period of working.
To reduce the pressure inside the pipes and to ensure safe and reliable operation of the deep
stowing installations, resistance branch pipelines are now being connected to the vertical shaft
pipes. These branch pipelines, provided in the intermediate levels, enable the control of the
slurry flow rate and ensure high stowage outputs at low working pressure.
STOWING PIPLINES 2.6

2.7 Stowing pipe range consist of three main portions:
 Shaft range, drift range, or borehole range.

 Underground roadways range
 Face pipe range.
SAND STOWING
Sand stowing was first tried at Ballarpur about 1914 and subsequently introduced in the
Jharia and other coal fields. Stowing has both advantages and disadvantages, the main objection
is economic because it raise the cost of production of coal
Sand stowing in underground mine 2.7(A)
The maximum subsidence with SS is high in foreign coalmines in comparison to Indian

coalmines due to strong overlying rock in Indian coalmines. Thus, SS is very effective in India to
reduce subsidence in comparison to other countries.

Sand stowing is made by introducing sand or a mixture of sand and crushed waste gangue
with water, from the stowing plant on the surface to the goaf, that is the area from which coal has
been removed. The hydraulic stowage barriers are permeable to water but not to sand. ln this way
the excavated area is filled tightly with the stowing material.
The problem of advanced coal combustion (ACC) byproducts disposal can be solved by
stowing the material in abandoned mines. The waste material typically is highly pozzolonic and
will achieve a reasonable compressive strength in the humid underground environment without
additives. In addition, the neutralizing capability of the material makes it an ideal candidate for
acid mine drainage prevention. This solution carries the multiple benefit of creating a market for
the ACC byproducts and providing mine closure engineers and abandoned mine authorities a
new tool to combat abandoned mine land problems. There are two basic methods used to backfill
large amounts of material into existing underground mine voids to prevent subsidence. They are
pneumatic and slurry. Slurry techniques are well known and can be used effectively in many
cases where the addition of water will not present a problem.
There are many cases however where slurry cannot be used due to a variety of problems
posed by the introduction of water. An effective pneumatic technique was required that could
effectively blind backfill large underground areas from a single borehole.
THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING SAND

Sand is brought to the sand storage bunkers on te surface in any one of the following ways:
 By trucks or wagons.
 By aerial ropeway.
 By tipping tubs pulled by haulage if the river bank is near.
 By pontoon mounted sand pumps discharging into separators.
 By sand slushers and scrapers which feed the sand to a river bank bunker and from the
bunker thesand is supplied by aerial ropeway to the sand storage bunker at the colliery.

AERIAL ROPEWAY 2.7(B)
HAND PACKING
Hand packing is simple and does not involve capital cost but is limited in scope and
depends on human factor for efficiency. It can advantageously be used in places where hydraulic
stowing is not much effective, as in flat and shallow seams. Hand packing is a dry and slow
process which is comparatively less costly as it does not require any water used for the work to
be pumped out .this however can be practised only in small operations. Hand packing, Pneumatic
stowing is also a dry process in which compressed air forces the stowing material into the
required position. This is rather expensive and is only suitable for deep mines from which the
pumping of underground water involves some high cost and in cases where there is no adequate
supply of water for hydraulic stowing the hydraulic stowing is most suitable for the simple
reason that there are apparently sufficient supplies of sand and water in the neighbourhood of
most of the coalfields where the inclination of the seams is generally suitable for the process.

HAND PACKING 2.7(C)
Hand packing involves dumping stowing materials in tubs/baskets by the human labour.
It can be used the seam is flat and located at shallow depth where hydraulic stowing is not
effective due to low availability of head. In flat seams the tubs can be easily trammed and hence
hand packing can be easily done. In seams steeper than 250, arrangements can be made to tip the
tipping tubs with stowing material and the material gets packed in the goaf.
Although it is simple and involves no capital cost, it has limited scope. The process is
very slow and depends on efficiency of the person involved. Big mines where the rate of
progress is very high, hand packing cannot meet the requirement of goaf filling. Hand packing is
hardly practiced in any present day underground mining.
It is also useful in seasms steeper than 25’ when arrangements can be made to tip the
tipping tubs and the material packs itself. The process is a slow and heavy on manpower the most
efficient operation gives an average of 10 𝑚3 per man shift when materials are close at hand.

CHAPTER 3
FLY ASH
Fly ash is the finest of coal ash particles. It is called ‘fly’ ash because it is transported
from the combustion chamber by exhaust gases. Fly ash is the fine particles typically from 0 to
50 12 μm, at times including that of 150 μm, formed from the mineral matter in coal, consisting
of the non-combustible matter in coal and a small amount of carbon that remains from
incomplete combustion of the coal. Fly ash is generally grey in color, abrasive, typically alkaline
and refractory in nature. Pozzolans, which are siliceous or siliceous and aluminous materials that
together with water and calcium hydroxide from cementitious products at ambient temperatures
are also known as admixtures
FLY ASA 3.1

3.1 FLYASH GENERATION AND COLLECTION
The fly ash produced from the burning of pulverized coal in a coal-fired boiler. Typically, coal is
pulverized and blown with air into the boiler's combustion chamber. Where it ignites
immediately generating heat and producing a molten mineral residue. Boiler tubes extract heat
from the boiler, cooling the flue gas which causes the molten mineral residue to harden and form
ash. It is a fine material with spherical particles.
It very much resembles volcanic ashes and also named as ‘Pozzolans’. Fly ash is
generated from various organic and inorganic constituents present in feed coals and is produced
at a temperature of 1200-17000C. Indian coal has high ash contents that vary from 30 to 50%.
The lighter fine ash particles are termed as flyash which remain suspended in the flue gas. While
coarse ash particles, referred to as bottom ash or slag, fall to the bottom of the combustion
chamber. Flyash is removed by particulate emission control devices such as electrostic
precipitators or filter fabric baghouses. The component of flyash vary considerably depending
upon the source of the coal being burned, but all flyash includes substantial amounts of silicon
dioxide and calcium oxide , both being endemic ingredients in many coal bearing rock strata.
3.2 STOWING WITH FLY ASH
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for blowing of fly ash for the offset in
the downhole operation according to the preamble of claim.The offset cavities to be filled in
order to reduce the lowering of the mountain and preferably exclude the passage of bettors in
underground mining. From the displacement, path result dismantling adjoining one another
offset fields, which according to the rate of utilization strode be filled with offset and form a
body of material assumes the position of the mined mineral. The invention particularly relates to
this type of application of the offset, because this particularly large amounts of material are
introduced. Fly ash and bottom ash are noncombustible residues that result when coal is burned.
Fly ash is a fine-grained ,light weight aggregate composed of small globules of glasslike
material. Fly ash is easy to transport pneumatically and in slurry form can be transported long
distances in mine voids.

FLY ASH STOWING 3.2
.The blowing of the backfill material means a pneumatic transport over longer or shorter
path, which ends at the outlet of a pipe. Here, the kinetic energy of the material being conveyed
is used to fill the cavity in question. In the degradation it is common to a pipe line judge on the
length of the displacement field, which blows out either on the head or having touchline
income. Thus, the limited flight range of the backfill material can be accommodated. In general
backfill sufficient fineness is introduced in such a way and in such quantities in the stand by the
conveying air under pressure pipe that the particles are held in suspension by the beneficiary and
thin stream and discharged. Coarse-grained backfill material, such as in the treatment resulting
from coal tailings in particle sizes of about 10 to 80 mm move, however, with a relatively thick
stream on the bottom of the pipe.
Fly ash falls particular in the generation of electricity from coal in relatively large
amounts. The invention relates more particularly to such fly ashes. These represent a waste
product, which can be used only in insufficient quantities so far. For example, fall in individual
plants up to 300 t / day. This material is collected adge in coal power plants in electrical filters
from the flue gas stream and passes usually means Möller pressure conveyors in storage bunker.

Their composition and grain size will depend from the combustion plant cabbages and on
the other essential design of the mine and firing, influenced by the design of the filter and the
loading conditions of the boiler plant. With years of observations of their chemical composition
tion arising with respect to the following average values
Loss on ignition (unburned) 10-15% Silica SiO 35-45% Alumina Al203 20-30% Ferric
oxide Fe203.FeO 5-15% Calcium oxide CaO 1.5-3% Magnesium oxide MgO 0.5-2% Sulfate
SO₃ 0.5-1.5%
The grain size of the fly ash is different in fineness. It is generally much higher than that
of cement.
Unfavourable for the pneumatic conveying is the form of individual ash particles. This is
spherical or hemispherical, but there are also quite particles with irregular shapes. The Un burned
occurs in the form of the chemically indifferent coke, and is generally separated from the ash
particles before.
Microscopic studies show that unburned inventory parts of the fly ash are predominantly
in the form of so-called Blähkoks. It is a granular mixture, the grains have a dense sintered
surface consisting at least partially share of mineral constituents. These grains present in fly ash
in a size of about 0.1 to 0.5 mm, can be easily crush and chop. Then produces particles of smaller
sizes. The surface of these particles is very rugged because of the pores present in the starting
grains and therefore of great ability Responsive.
This mixture is offset in the previously known methods by means of pneumatic stowing
equipment prior art in the charred cavity blown. Where it forms a basis of the hydrating
properties of the fly ash a material body of sufficient strength.
The disadvantage in this case the relatively small amount of fly ash, which can be used in
this way. The mixture is sticky because of water addition and thus provides the significant
requirements that used cannot be satisfied for practical reasons. The result is an unreliable,
pneumatic conveying, which cannot be tolerated..

On the addition of water to the mixture, however, cannot do without. Because the water is
not only necessary for hydration of the offset, but also binds the dust that is dangerous because of
the composition of the fly ash.
The invention is based on the object at the outset to lead assumed to be known process so
that considerably larger amounts of ash in the air displacement can be accommodated, but by the
pneumatic conveyance is not affected.
This object is achieved by the invention with the features of claim . Expedient execution
embodiments of the invention are the subject of claims under.
By the present invention, the fly ash dry and promotes pneumatic for themselves in the
small stream, avoiding on this conveyor line the difficulties arising from the necessary addition
of water, so that fly ash can be used in a predominant amount. By the invention of thin current
promotion mountains before the faster due to their greater engagement surfaces than the flue dust
flying through the pipeline fine that the dilute phase particles remain separated in the pipeline
substantially from each other and Agglomarationen of airborne dust particles are
dissolved. Since the fine mountains only assume this function, you come with relatively small
amounts of fines mountains and therefore increasing the amount of dust in the air backfill
material. By making the addition of a sufficient amount of water in the dry mixture of airborne
dust and fine mountains, you hit on the one hand the dangerous dust with a small amount of
water down than when added at the discharge of pneumatic conveying line, but reaches the other
hand that dissolve the fine mountains caking in the pipeline.
It has been found that the pneumatic conveying large amounts of dust in the air pipe leads
even with constant introduction of the material to uneven development. Indeed, stuff like
Agglomarationen that are due to their large attack surface thrown abruptly from the conveying
air form. A uniform Aufga be also can not be achieved because the measure from the offset is
not good at the discharge evenly. In the method, the plug-like Agglomarationen described may
be accepted, because the addition of the coarse-grained material available in time for the
discharge and this dissolves.

It has further been found in the fly ash promotion out that also caused ash particles by
combining tion of the material, the greater part of the flight is not readily wettable. In the
method, the addition of water without mechanical mixing takes place directly into the feed line
and thereby in such a way that the water particles are distributed uniformly over the small stream
and relative speed fly with great among the fine particles, so that the impact of water particles
favors on fine dust will.
With the features of claim 2 avoids the difficulties that can arise when the plug-like
Agglomarationen described settle in the line, including some fly ashes tend. Namely by limiting
the dry Promotion of fly ash on a relatively limited conveyance, you can avoid the formation of
such Agglomarationen.
With the features of claim 3, it assigns the other hand, the addition of the coarse-grained
material directly from degradation and thus has the advantage that the coarse-grained material, ie
particularly fine mountains, be brought at a relatively cheaper funding, as is the pneumatic
conveying.
The invention has the advantage that the mixture for the pneumatic conveyance
unfavorable properties and composition ratios of the fly ash on the pneumatic conveying is
effected in spite of the above-described, whereby the cost of the mechanical mixing of the
mixture components is reduced, and the difficulties are avoided which in the pneumatic
conveying the mixture result. The information to be under pressure infiltration of coarse-grained
material in the thin stream of fly ash utilizing the kinetic energy of the fine mountains and thus
prevents reliably any Agglomarationen.
The introduction of water into the stream of material reduces the total amount of water to
be prevented and the difficulties that can arise from excessive water additions to the hydrating
fly ash material.
The details, further features and other advantages of the invention will become apparent
from the following description of an embodiment with reference to the figures in the
drawing; The drawing shows schematically a system for execution of the inventive method
described above.

3.3 FLY ASH SLURRY INJECTION
Fly ash slurry is injected in abandoned mine using a pumping system. Because of its
greater fluidity, fly ash slurry (50-60 % solid) is highly pumpable and travels underground a long
distance. At one location, fly ash slurry was deposited more than a kilometer from its injection
point, clearly, large areas may be backfilled from each injection borehole, but difficulty may be
encountered in determining where the fly ash is traveled.
FLY ASH SLURRY INJECTION 3.3
Once a sufficient amount of shale slakes from the roof and from the upper parts of the
mine pillars within the dome out, the pillars may be reduced in size to the extent they can no
longer support the weight of the overlying bedrock. At this point the pillars may be crushed, and
the resultant collapse may extend to the ground surface above the mine, forming sinkholes. Thus,
one of the principal challenges to be faced in mine reclamation and remediation efforts in
underground limestone mines is to prevent the deterioration of the shales in locations where
minor roof falls have occurred.

Backfilling the domeouts with fly ash emplaced as a slurry is an innovative remediation
approach that forms a solid, cemented mass as a result of pozzolonic reactions in the ash.
3.4 FLY ASH GROUT INJECTION

In a partially subsided mine, it may be difficult to build gravel columns. A highly fluid
injection material is desired that will fill small voids and crevices, yet is expensive enough to use
in such large openings as may still exist in the mine. It is carried to borehole by pipe and hose,
and poured down the borehole in free fall. In large opening, the value of grout injected in each
shift is sufficient to create a disk perhaps 10 m in diam and 10 cm tall; by next day, this disk will
have set, and another disk will be placed on the top by each day’s injection. Eventually, the
column of grout will contact the mine roof, the borehole will be filled with grout, and any strata
separations in the mine roof will be grouted.
FLY ASH GROUT INJECTION 3.4

CHAPTER 4
PNEUMATIC STOWING
Transport of the stowing material to the goaf site and blowing the
material into the goaf with the help of compressed air is called pneumatic stowing.
The material for pneumatic stowing may consist of washery rejects, boiler ashes,
picking from screening plants, shake bands from the coal seam or a mixture of
sand and the washery rejects. Sand alone is not used as it is heavy and abrasive.
Material containing more clay is unsuitable because it clogs the pipes.
The crushed material of 65 to 75 mm is passed to a surface storage

bunker, where tubs are loaded. Then tubs are lowered underground. In
underground the loaded tubs are taken to a tippler which tipples the material on the
feeding hopper of the stowing machine which is conveniently located near the goaf
to be filled. From feeding hopper the material is transported to the goaf through
compressed air pipe ranges coming from the surface. At the discharge end of the
stowing range a detachable deflecting nozzle is fitted to enable the operator to
direct stowing material as per requirement. The air velocity in the pipe is about 60
m/s and the average velocity of discharge of stowing material is 15 m/s.
The material is transported through the pipe range having diameter

around 200 to 300 mm and blown into the goaf at the rate of 60 to 90 m3/h.The
rate of air quantity consumption varies from 1 to 1.5 m3 of fresh air per second. At
the surface a multistage air compressor with large capacity of 55 to 85 m3 of free
air per minute, compresses the air to a pressure of about 6 kgf/cm2. Compressed air
passing through the pipe has a pressure ranging about 1.75 to 3 kgf/cm2. The
stowing pipes are made of high carbon steel of 10 mm thick.

Nearly 70% of compactness as compared to the solid coal is obtained

by pneumatic stowing. Compactness of the packing primarily depends on material
type, its size and density, moisture content of the material, length of stowing pipes
and velocity of discharge. In course of time convergence in the order of 20% takes
place.
PNEUMATIC STOWING 4.0
A system of filling mined cavities in which crushed rock is carried along a pipeline by
compressed air and discharged at high velocity into the space to be packed, the intense projection
ensuring a very high density of packed material. For stowing shallow workings--up to 200 yd
(183 m) in depth--the stowing plant may be installed on the surface. The air pressure is about 60
psi (414 kPa). For deeper workings, the plant may be installed underground, and the crushed
rock taken down from the surface. The stowing pipes are about 5 to 6 in (approx. 13 to 15 cm) in
diameter. The system is often employed if important surface structures require protection. The
material used is from old dirt heaps, screen dirt, and washery rejects.

4.1 PNEUMATIC FLY ASH INJECTION

Some use has been made of pneumatic injection of dry fly ash in dry mines. The process
simply involved carrying the fly ash in dry product tankers directly to the injection borehole, and
using the tanker’s on-board air compressor to blow the fly ash into the mine opening. Such
systems have not been developed to the same degree as have effective pumped slurry methods,
but certainly could be effective in dry mines where little subsidence has taken place and good
connectivity between mines entries exists. In an isolated mine entry, backpressure can rapidly
build up, defeating the pneumatic transport mechanism.
PNEUMATIC FLY ASH INJECTION 4.1
In the injection head , the inner pipe carries compressed air, which impinges on the curve
deflection plate at the bottom of the casing, spraying the wet coal mine refuse horizontally. In
open air, the mine refuse would travel up to 15 m in a flat trajectory. In a mine opening, the
mine refuse would tend to deposit in a circle around the injection head. As the deposits come
near to sealing the mine roof, air velocity through the narrow opening remaining is expected to
form a pipe through which slurry would be carried in a pneumatic transport to be deposited at
greater distances. As conceived, the system does not have certain obvious faults, nor has it been
in operation long enough for this fault to be corrected.

4.2 REMEDIATION TECHNIQUE
Boreholes are drilled from the ground surface into the dome out roof and then cased. At
least two boreholes are drilled per dome out, with one used to place the ash slurry and the other
used to vent any air and water that might be trapped as a "bubble" in the upper parts of the dome
outs during the final stages of filling. Dry ash berms are constructed underground, from the mine
floor up to the mine roof, to contain the flyash slurry and prevent it from flowing out into other
parts of the mine
REMEDIATION TECHNIQUE 4.2
DISADVANTAGE
The disadvantage in this case the relatively small amount of fly ash, which can be used in
this way. The mixture is sticky because of water addition and thus provides the significant
requirements that used cannot be satisfied for practical reasons. The result is an unreliable,
pneumatic conveying, which cannot be tolerated. On the addition of water to the mixture,
however, cannot do without. Because the water is not only necessary for hydration of the offset,
but also binds the dust that is dangerous because of the composition of the fly ash.

CHAPTER 5
HYDRAULIC STOWING
Hydraulic backfill (hydraulic stowing) Hydraulic stowing or backfilling involves filling

of mine voids with slurry or fluid density in the range of 55–75% solids for weight, as much as
30% of the total initial fills volume is lost by dewatering (Amaratunga and Yaschyshyn, 1997).
Hydraulic sand stowing (HSS) is one of the most popular mine fill techniques used for
backfilling in underground mine voids (Grice, 1998; Prakash et al., 2009). Transportation of sand
slurry from surface to underground mine voids is one of the important stages of hydraulic
stowing. Successful slurry transportation is based on the number of physical and geotechnical
properties of the slurry.
Hydraulic stowing is mainly performed with pump-based transportation and gravity

transportation. Gravity transportation is the widely used technique for the same, which is based
on gravity system to move material down through vertical or inclined chutes, boreholes or pipes.
These techniques are currently used to move material to depths of up to 600 m, e.g., in the
DoubravaMine. Hydraulic stowing is made by introducing sand or a mixture of sand and crushed
waste gangue with water, from the stowing plant on the surface to the goaf, that is the area from
which coal has been removed. The hydraulic stowage barriers are permeable to water but not to
sand. ln this way the excavated area is filled tightly with the stowing material.
The low subsidence factor of the hydraulic stowage has enabled the recovery of coal
deposits from under many towns, e.g., Bytom, Chorzow and Sosnowiec, and from under
industrial plants. Worth particular attention is the recovery of coal from under the town of Bytom
inhabited by 200,000 people, where hard coal is worked at a depth of 150-170 metres and zinc-
and-lead ores at a depth of 40 to 100 metres. Successful experiments were carried out with the
recovery of coal using hydraulic stowage, from the shaft pillars in some still active mine
shafts.The experience gained pointed to the increase in the use of hydraulic stowing when
considering the removal of coal from shaft pillars around a shaft which is still active.The
objections to and difficulties attendant on, hydraulic stowage in continental mines are well
understood and except in mine it has tendedto be replaced by hand pneumatic and mechanical
stowing

HYDRAULIC STOWING 5.0
The waste materials used for the production of hydraulic stowage must be fairly resistant
to being washed out by water. The percentage of the washed-out material during transport
through the pipelines to the breakage heading should not exceed 20 per cent. Hydraulic stowage
made as a 1:1 mixture of sand and mining wastes has a subsidence factor only 2 to 4 per cent
worse than that of stowage made exclusively from the sand. It is expected that in the future this
method will enable 60 per cent of all mining wastes to be used underground in worked out
headings.
Hydraulic stowing consists of transporting the stowing material with water in pipes to the
void to be filled and allowing the water to percolate from the void through perforated barricades.
River sand is the most preferred and widely used material for hydraulic stowing. Washery
rejects, crushed overburden rocks, mill tailings and boiler rejects can also be used.

It is the predominant mode of stowing across the globe. In India it is the only method of stowing
due to the following reasons:
(a) River sand, the most common stowing material in Indian mines is available in
abundance.
(b) Most of the coalfields are close to the rivers, making transport of sand from river bed to
the colliery technically and economically viable.
(c) Roof and floor of the seam are not affected by water.
(d) Seams not being very deep, humidity is not a major problem.
(e) Hydraulic stowing is successful for inclined seams at more depth; seams in Indian mines
meet both the conditions.
THE MAIN DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING HYDRAULIC STOWAGE ARE
 The effects of water on weak floors and roofs rapid floor heaving and deterioration of
weak roofs rendered it unworkable in many cases.
 Difficulties in supplying suitable stowing materials. Wash sand, which permits of ready
drainage of clear water , is the ideal filler for the system.
HYDRAULIC FILL SLURRY BEHAVIOUR
 Hydraulic fill slurries are prepared from mineral processing waste streams by partial
dewatering and desliming to remove some of the finest size fractions.
 Modern high density hydraulic fill slurries are mostly designed to have a density in the
range of 45%-50%cv (solid by volume).
 There should be a critical deposit velocity and settling of solids for better placement
 Durand (1953) defined the critical settling velocity as:

5.1 HYDRAULIC SAND STOWING (HSS)

In Indian coal mining, stowing plays a vital role for subsidence control. Among different
methods of stowing, HSS is very effective in mining . The maximum subsidence in Indian
coalfields with HSS filling is only 5 percent whereas it is 60 percent in case of caving with
respect to extraction thickness of a single seam extraction. Thus, the maximum subsidence can
be reduced 12 times by hydraulic filling of voids with sand with respect to caving. In some
stowed panels, the value of subsidence is high due to delay in stowing or old stowed room and
pillar working in the overlying or underlying seam. The magnitude of maximum subsidence
varies between 05 and 35 percent of the extraction thickness. The maximum subsidence with
HSS is high in foreign coalmines in comparison to Indian coalmines due to strong overlying
rock in Indian coalmines. Thus, HSS is very effective in India to reduce subsidence in
comparison to other countries.Hydraulic stowing is made by introducing sand or a mixture of
sand and crushed waste gangue with water, from the stowing plant on the surface to the goaf,
that is the area from which coal has been removed. The hydraulic stowage barriers are permeable
to water but not to sand. ln this way the excavated area is filled tightly with the stowing material.
Hydraulic Sand
Stowing 5.1

5.2 OPERATIONS INVOLVED IN HYDRAULIC STOWING

From collection of sand at river bed to filling the sand in the goaf, the entire process consists
of following four operations:
(a) Gathering sand at the river bed.
(b) Transport of sand from river bed to the surface bunker located near the colliery.
(c) Hydraulic transport of sand from surface bunker to the underground stowing site through
pipes.
(d) Stowing the goaf inside the mine.
HYDRAULIC SAND STOWING PLANT
The hydraulic sand stowing plant at the mine has the following basic components.
a) Sand bunker
b) Off-taking arrangement with controls for feeding the sand into the mixer
c) Sand and water mixer
d) Water reservoir with water flow pipes up to the mixer
e) Sand stowing range
f) Pumping system

5.3 SAND BUNKER
The sand storage bunker is always located to the rise side of the underground are to be stowed to
achieve head gain.
Sand bunker 5.3(A)
Minimum Bunker capacity depends on the following:
 Aggregate rate of stowing

 Effective hours of stowing per day
 Rate of feed of sand to bunker
 Reliability of sand feed system
 Degree of safety margin required
It is usual practice to have sand reserve in the bunker to meet at least 2 days stowing
requirement.

SHAPE OF BUNKER
 Cylindroconical shape should be favoured;

 As far as possible, height of bunker should be more than the diameter;
 Inclination at the bottom portion of buffer should be more than the angle of repose (at
least 500)
Shape of bunker 5.3(B)
BUNKER- LINING AND BOTTOM
 Exact thickness of lining could be calculated, on the basis of pressure distribution.

 But for separator type of bunker, thickness of lining at bottom portion of bunker shall be
more because the whole hydrostatic pressure will be transmitted to the lining and bottom
portion of the bunker.
 A thickness of 20-35 cm of R.C.C. lining is expected to be good enough.
 Also bottom portion of bunker should be lined with hard, nor-abrasive and slippery liner.

BUNKER CHUTE
 The size of the chute-opening of a bunker should be such that it is capable of delivering
sand, even during the worst season (rainy season) when material is moist, at maximum
rated capacity of the stowing range. For this it is recommended that the bunker opeingin
size should be minimum 80 x 80 cm.
 For achieving uninterrupted fall of material without any slippage, the chute leading to the
feeder system should be kept at an inclination greater than the angle of repose of sand
(500 - 600).
BUNKER COVER SCREEN
 Bunker should be covered with a gently inclined screen of 25 mm mesh so as to arrest all
bigger pebbles.
 However, if unloading at much faster rate (say rake unloading) is envisaged, then screen
with above mesh-openings will not be workable and then in that case all the pebbles will
need to be handled at the mixing chamber level only.
SUB-LEVEL/OVERHEAD BUNKER
 Below-ground-level-bunkers are preferred than overhead bunkers because of less cost

involved.
 However, in shallow depth hydraulic-stowing, overhead bunker or semi-overhead bunker
is resorted to either for the sake of transferability or for conserving available head or
both.

5.4 ASSESSMENT OF SAND RESERVE AT THE RIVER BED
In case of virgin area from where coal is extracted, the rate of sand requirement for
stowing is about 1.3 t of sand per tonne of coal extracted. Depillaring with stowing requires
about 1.8 t of sand per tonne of coal extracted during depillaring. Where standing pillars are to
be extracted and old workings are to be stabilised, the requirement increases to 2.5 t of sand per
tonne of coal extracted. Longwall working requires 1.4 to 1.8 t of sand per tonne of coal raised.
To the above, wastage at the rate of 10 - 15 % should be added to arrive at the final sand
requirement.
Therefore before considering sand on a river bed to be used for stowing in a colliery, it is
necessary to estimate the sand reserve on the river bed so that a continuous supply of sand can be
ensured for stowing throughout or the intended parts of the mine. For this boreholes are made to
ascertain the depth of the sand.
The next step involves gathering of the sand on river bed, either manually or
mechanically.

5.5 MANUAL SAND GATEHRING
Manual sand gathering comprises of manual gathering of sand at the river bed. A worker
can load around 2 m3 of sand per day. It is cheap and flexible and larger size stones can be
separated by manual sorting. However, manual sand gathering is possible only in dry season; it is
labour intensive and can not meet the sand requirement for stowing of modern underground
mines. This is done by use of sand gathering plant at the river bed.
Two main sand gathering arrangements are described below.
SAND GATHERING PLANT
A sand pumping plant is installed when the monthly demand of sand is in the order of
30,000 t. This is about a demand of 500 t of sand per shift (calculation shown below).
Calculation of sand requirement :(assuming 3 working shifts and 26 working days per
month)
Monthly requirement = 30,000 t
Daily requirement = 30,000 t/26 =1155 t
Requirement per shift = 1155 t/3 = 385 t ≈ 400 t
Assuming 25% wastage, Requirement per shift = 400 t x 1.25 = 500 t
SAND GATHERING PLANT (WITH SCRAPER HAULAGE)
If the river banks remain at fairly higher R.L. as compared to the bed of river, gathering plant
provided with scraper haulage is very good. The plants would comprise of the following:
(a) 2 scraper haulages
(b) 2 feed bunkers each of 50 te capacity

CALCULATION FOR BUNKER CAPACITIES
Capacity for the scrapers = 500 t/shift
Capacity of each scraper = 500/2 = 250 t/shift = 40 tonne/h (The effective working hours in an 8
h shift is considered as 6 h).
Thus feed bunkers capacity will be 50 t (something more than one hour’s capacity).
5.6 SCRAPER HAULAGE
Sand gathering through scraper haulage involves the following steps:
i. The buckets used to scrape the sand from river bed in scraper haulages will be “Vee
Back” buckets, which are open at top and bottom. They are made of mild steel plates.
The capacity of a bucket for the present purpose will be 1.3 m3. (Time for a to and fro trip
is 2 min. i.e. 30 trips/hr.)
ii. Main & tall rope haulage shall be mounted on a high steel gantry. This shall pull the
bucket to and fro by means of a wire rope. The wire rope of the main drum will pass to
one end of the scraper. The tail rope will pass from the drum to the return pulley fixed to
anchors on the remote river bank or in sand bed and than to end of the scraper.
iii. The gantry shall have an inclined steel plate extending from retort which will act as a
floor on which the bucket shall travel. Towards the end a grizzly will be placed through
which sand free of pebbles and boulders will be discharged to a steel bunker. At the river
bank the portion between t and k (nearly 15 m) has to be covered by light section rails
placed skin to skin, parallel to the path of the bucket and embedded in concrete.
(Figure1).

5.7 THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING SAND
Sand is brought to the sand storage bunkers on surface in any one of the following ways:
 By trucks or wagons.
 By aerial ropeway.
 By tipping tubs pulled by haulage if the river bank is near.
 By pontoon mounted sand pumps discharging into separators.
 By sand slushers and scrapers which feed the sand to a river bank bunker and from the
bunker thesand is supplied by aerial ropeway to the sand storage bunker at the colliery.
 By dredger discharging sand into bunkers.
SAND COLLECTING BY TRUCK 5.7

5.8 INCLINED SLICING IN DESCENDING ORDER WITH STOWING
Inclined slicing in descending order with stowing is done when coal seam is broken and
the roof does not cave easily and the seam is prone to spontaneous heating. Working of a thick
seam inclined at 30o by inclined slicing in descending order with stowing is shown in Fig. 3.
Three slices each of 2m thick were taken to the rise simultaneously maintaining an interval of
50-60m between the slices. Before filling wooden planks were erected to support the roof. In
moderately inclined seams, the longwall faces were advanced towards rise and in steeply dipping
seam, the
longwall faces advanced on the strike.5.8

5.9 INCLINED SLICING IN ASCENDING ORDER WITH STOWING

There are numerous examples of inclined slicing system practiced in India. The following
is the brief about the inclined slicing system in ascending order with stowing practiced in
Sudamdih Colliery of Bharat Coking Coals Limited (BCCL). The method is imported from
Poland and known as the Jankowice Method.
In a block of 90-110 m in strike length, a bottom lift of 3 m is taken in longwall fashion.

The companion driven is equipped with a SLANSK Conveyor i.e chain conveyor of 600 mm
width (face conveyor). It delivers coal to a retarder conveyor situated in the transport side. Mine
car of 2.5 m3 capacity are loaded from the coal discharge point of retarder conveyor. At the
beginning of extraction, stables are driven by solid blasting at a distance of about 20 m to 35 m
up to a depth of 6 m. Part of the blasted coal falls on to tilt chain conveyor, while the remaining
has to be shoveled into it. After the formation of stables, the extraction continues breast-wise
from both sides of the stables thus driven and also form the rear ends of the longwall blocks. At a
time generally 8 faces are opened breast-wise out of which 4 are worked and 4 are kept ready for
the next shift .

The immediate roof is coal and is supported by props and cross bar. The distance between
the props set in rows parallel to the face is 1.2 m and the distance between the props set normal
to the face is 2.5 m. The maximum span between the barricade and the face is 7.2 m. The cross
bars are erected in the rise dip direction.
The entire work involves erection of side and front barricades, shifting of conveyor, pipe
fitting for stowing, stowing and relaying of face conveyor. When the face advances by 6 m, the
face conveyor is dismantled and shifted to the new position and the void is stowed with sand.
HORIZONTAL SLICING IN DESCENDING ORDER WITH STOWING
Horizontal slicing in descending order with stowing is similar in technique to the one
followed for horizontal slicing in descending order with caving with the difference that as the
face advances and the supports are withdrawn, the goaf is pneumatically stowed over artificial
roofing.

INCLINED SLICING IN ASCENDING ORDER WITH STOWING

o Seam thickness not more than 9m so that not more than 3 slices are required for
the working of the seam.
o Maximum inclination of the seam 60o.
o Coal not prone to spontaneous heating.
o Coal seam with strong roof and floor
o Low compressibility of the filling material
5.10 SPLITTING OF PILLAR WITH STOWING

The Directorate General of Mine Safety (DGMS) generally does not permit splitting of
pillars by caving under surface features. But the pillars can be split stowing. The width and
number of splits are decided by pillar strength considerations. A minimum safety factor of 1 is
sufficient to ensure long-term stability of stooks with complete stowing.

5.11 MECHANICAL STOWNG
In this system a high speed belt is used to propel the stowing material into the goaf to be
packed. The stowing material is transported to the thrower belt in te same manner as for
pneumatic stowing. The material has to be deflected on the thrower belt b deflection plates
known as scraper ploughs, which drops the material into a hopper above the high speed stowing
belt .The thrower belt is mounted on a travelling carriage and a 660mm wide belt is considered
equate. The driving drum rotates at 1000 r.p.m giving the belt a velocity of 600 m/min .Driving
motor is 25 to 40 H.P and stowing of 50 to 60 te/hr of stowing material is possible.
Good results are achieved if the stowing material is delivered to the thrower belt at a
high speed and in the direction of belt travel. Barricaded of wire netting is required is in other
methods of stowing
All this methods of stowing ,it is the cheapest and the number of man shifts required for
roof control per 100te coal produced is the least .Energy costs are a fraction of the costs for
Pneumatic stowing. It however does not have the adaptability of pneumatic stowing.
MECHANICAL STOWNG 5.11(A)

In a method of pneumatically stowing fly ash in underground operation, coarse-grained

material, prefer ably fine refuse and water being added to the fly ash, provision is made
according to the invention for the fly ash to be pneumaticallyconveyed in the dr y state in a thin
flow and for the coarse-grained material to bepneumatically added to this in a thick flow at an
increased pressure relative tothe thin flow, the water being added to the dry delivery flow of the
mixture of fly ash and coarse-grained material before the discharge.
MOUNTAIN FILLING
Mountain stowing is the bringing in of material into underground mines (hollows)

for the protection of the surface. The materials which are used must correspond to general
requirements. They must have mineral character and be physical suitable.
WASTE RECYCLING STOWING MINE

The use of waste, foreign to mining, for mountain filling occurs on the basis of the long term
proof of security in accordance with the principle of the complete embedding using the most
modern technological methods through certified staff with extensive mountain filling
experiences.
The aims of the miner's stowing are:
 The minimising of the mining-conditioned lowering of the surface caused by mining

activities
 The protection of the underground arrangements and constructions.
All waste types and every activity must be administered by the Thuringian state mining
authority. An additional requirement is the proof of suitability of the waste types as mountain
filling material.

APPLIED STOWING TECHNIQUES 5.11(B)
Depending on the type of waste delivered, different stowing techniques are coming into
operation to bring in the waste into the hollows of the mountain: hydraulic stowing
(spuelversatz), „Big-Bag-Stowing“ or „Bulk stowing“.
The hydraulic stowing is applied in Bleicherode, whereby in Sollstedt only the „Big-Bag-
Stowing“ and „Bulk material stowing“ are used.

During the hydraulic stowing, the waste types, which can be powdery, paste like or
liquid, will be mixed together as a tranmedium and transported in the underground hollows by
way of pumping over a seperate tube line system. The solids will settle there, and the pit lye
pumped back.
MECHANICAL STOWING WITH BIG-BAGS

During the Big-Bag-Stowing, the waste types will be bagged in a filling unit in special
sacks. Over a shaft conveyor the Big Bags are transported underground, brought to their final
destination and deposited.Also Big Bags, which are conditioned by the generators of waste, can
be deposited directly.

BULK MATERIAL STOWING

Waste types, which are, due to their attributes like contents and compressive strength, are
suitable for stowing directly without prior processing. Those waste types are being filled up in
special containers brought underground and emptied in a bunker. With special vehicles, they are
transported further into the mine and deposited.
MECHANICAL STOWING MERITS OF THE SYSTEM

Of all the stowing methods, it is the cheapest as it involves less capital cost and energy
cost and it is less labour intensive.

MECHANICAL STOWING DEMERITS OF THE SYSTEM

(f) It does not have the adaptability of pneumatic stowing.
(g) A prop free front cannot be planned.
(h) It is only applicable to thin and flat seams or slices 1.3 to 2.3 thick.
(i) Roof convergence is more compared to pneumatic stowing.
(j) At face the operation creates a lot of noise and air borne dust.
(k) The process carries the risk of electrostatic sparks
No mine in India uses this type of stowing. The method used to be popular in Germany and on a
limited scale in Great Britain.

5.12 STOWING MACHINES
The machines are two types :
A) Chamber machines
 Torkret single chamber.
 Double chamber or automatic.
 Three chamber or vollautomat.
B) Compartment or pocket Wheel Machnies :
 Beien
 Brieden
 Blast stower
MIXING CHAMBER
The place where the mixing cone is located is called mixing chamber. The size of the
chamber should be sufficient to accommodate the desired number o mining cones and pipe
ranges. The chamber has an access either through an incline from the surface or by a cage
operated by a small hoist in the case of a stowing shaft. On the mixing cone there is a screen to
prevent pebbles or stones large than 25 mm size from going into the shaft range with the sand
mixture. These rejects have to be picked up and collected in the chamber from where they are
removed to surface. The chamber should have sufficient lighting and as the work goes on in
humid conditions all fitting and cables should be moisture proof.The water is admitted to the
mixing cone by surrounding it with a circular perforated pipe. It is preferable to line the mixing
cone with rubber ex; old conveyable , to save iron abrasive sand To measure in put of sand
and water in the mixing cone with a view to have control on the stowing operation , the operation
, the mixing chamber is equipped
 water meter : Kent velocity meter is commonly used on some installation , alternatively a
V notch or a venturimeter may be used
 Lea Recorder: The sand input may be calculated in the terms of the areas of chute
opening which can be recorded by a lea chute open recorder.

The sand water slurry pipe from the mixing chamber downwards , may be installed in a
borehole in a steeply dipping stone drift or in a shaft.The pipes used for sand stowing range area
of C.I mild steel, hot rolled seamless tubes or alkathene. They have flanges for joints C.I> pipes
are heavy, have a low tensile strength of only 15 kg/ 𝑚𝑚2 and are used for more or less
permanent instillations in drifts , shafts, main cross –cuts e.t.c.,
Separator 5.11(C)
MACHINE CHAMBER
Machine for stowing bottles in an orderly position, comprising a receiving chamber for
the bottles, a set of endless conveyors departing from the lower part of said chamber, two sloping
deflectors contiguous with the set of endless conveyors, said endless conveyor comprising two
side bells driven at different speeds and extending according to a rising plane, an assembly of
rotating brushes projecting above the conveyor at its upper end for extracting the bottles not
properly aligned, an accelerating device for the bottles at the end of said endless conveyor, a
receiving chute for the bottles so led by the accelerating device, a selective turning device
provided at the end of the chute extending approximately vertically and an evacuating conveyor
for the bottles all then aligned in the same direction.

Especially in household and foodstuff products industries, there is more and more a tendency to
use receptacles made of plastic having the appearance of bottles or flasks. These bottles are
generally made by specialized manufacturers and delivered in bulk to users who have their own
system for filling said bottles.
It has been proved, owing to the large quantities of bottles and flasks used, that the
stowing of said bottles and flasks and their loading on to the filling machines formed a difficult
problem to solve, for if this work is done by hand it requires a large staff, and also, it has
appeared to be extremely difficult mechanically to ensure an efficacious arranging of bottles and
flasks owing to their relative fragility, and on account of the necessity of being able to deal with
a very large number of bottles, which may amount to several thousands per hour.
The present invention completely solves this problem by creating a new entirely self-
contained machine which gives the certainty that the bottles are always properly arranged,
whatever the position in which they are con veyed to the machine. Actually, the machine of the
invention can be supplied directly from a hopper or other receptacle, in which the bottles are in
bulk. Moreover, the output of the machine of the invention can be regulated to a wide extent,
thus enabling it to be adapted, without mechanical alteration, to existing filling systems.
According to the invention, the machine comprises a receiving chamber for bottles in
bulk, said chamber having a sloping bottom whose lowest edge is contiguous to the bottom edge
of two deflectors rising and sloping crosswise so as appreciably to form a V, said two deflectors
being separated from each other by a set of endless conveyors forming an alignment device for
the bottle or flasks delivered in bulk from the receiving chamber, said conveyors forming an
alignment device transferring the bottles into a chute leading them to a selective turning unit
acting so that all the bottles are brought to the same position on a conveyor belt taking them to an
ejecting spout from where they are conveyed to a utilization point.

Machine for stowing bottles or flasks in a proper position from a batch of bottles or flasks
in bulk comprising a receiving chamber for bulk bottles, two rising deflectors having a lower
edge thereof contiguous to said chambers, said two deflectors being separated from each other by
a set of endless conveyors forming an alignment device for said bottles or flasks, a chute for
conveying said bottles to a selective turning unit whereby bottles are brought into the same
position on a belt conveyor taking them to an ejection chute where they are led to a utilization
point; said alignment device comprising a first conveyor delimited by two endless belts parallel
to each other and spaced to an extent less than the diameter of the bottles and flasks, and a
second conveyor cooperating with said first conveyor and comprising also two endless belts
parallel to each other but separated by a space of a width at least equal to the diameter of the
bottles of flasks, said second conveyor having active parts thereof extending at a higher level
than the active parts of the first conveyor, means to move said first and second conveyors at the
same speed, and a third conveyor also comprising two endless belts parallel to each other and
separated by a space of a width less than the length of the bottles or flasks, and means to move
said two belts of said third conveyor at different speeds from each other and different to the
speeds of the belts of the two first conveyors.
Machine according to claim , wherein said conveyor belts forming said alignment device
are provided with protruding flexible barbs.
Machine according to claim , in which said flexible protruding barbs with which the belts of the
first and third conveyor are provided, project vertically upwards for the active parts of these
belts, and the barbs of the belts of the second conveyor project horizontally and are directed
towards each other, the distance separating the heads of barbs of the two belts of this second
conveyor being slightly less than the diameter of the bottles or flasks.
Machine according to claim , in which said selective turning unit for the bottles
comprises, in a casing preventing the bottles from pivoting sideways, two endless belts separated
by a distance greater than the diameter of the necks of the bottles, but less than the diameter of
their bottoms and a rotary brush with flexible bristles revolving at high speed in the opposite
direction to the moving direction of said belts, said bristles of the rotary brush being .recessed in
relation to the plane delimited by the active part of said belt.

PASTE STOWING
Paste stowing or backfill of coal ash offer the following advantages over conventional
hydraulic backfill systems: For paste backfilling mine dewatering cost are reduced
significantly as no or minimum dewatering is required and solidification can be achieved due to
pozzolanic properties of coal ash and with addition of cementing materials of requisite quantity.
Generally, all of the coal ash can be used for paste so surface disposal can be remarkably
reduced, where as only coarse particles(bottom ash) are suitable for hydraulic backfill. Bottom
ash is only 18-20% of the total ash generated and its hydraulic backfilling will not fully
contribute to the cause of 100% ash utilization. Paste backfill is more dense that its
conventional counterpart and has a higher confined strength. This means more of the coal ash
can be returned underground, thereby reducing surface ash storage requirements.
The system is capable of handling bulk slurry for stowing resulting higher production.
The system can be applied in situation where conventional stowing is not feasible due to
unfavorable hydraulic gradient. Problems on housekeeping and wear/corrosion on mine
dewatering pumps caused by fines draining from hydraulic backfill operations does not exist
with paste backfill .Shorter fill cycle time can be achieved with paste backfill system because
of early strength gain. This can reduce the number of active work face required. Low water
content of paste backfill eliminates extensive preparatory work for the erection of underground
confining drainage barricades.
The different constituent of pastefill is depicted in the figure below:

5.13 PROCESS OF PASTE STOWING OR BACKFILLING
The paste Backfilling system for the Coal Mine comprises five sections; all of them are with
automatic Centralized control systems in place. The system composition and major technical
functions are as follows.
1. Gangue breaking and processing system: loading machines are used t o put the gangues in to
the feeding hopper of original gangues. After that, the gangues are transported t o a vibrating
screen and loaded in to the crusher as well as t he feeding hopper of final gangues, which are
prepared for past e backfilling usage.
2. Matching and stirring system: each constituent part of the paste backfill slurry is stirred in a
blender until the stated time according t o t he given proportion. Then t he slurry is unloaded in
to the slurry surge hopper for pumping.
3. Pipeline pumping system: the slurry in t he surge hopper enters t he backfilling pump cavity,
relying on self gravity. After being forced by t he backfilling pump, t he slurry reaches the
backfilling face by means of a pipeline, putting t he sequence backfilling of the gob in to effect.

CONCLUSION
Due to the combined benefits of potentially increased real estate value, the favorable cost
comparison of flyash to other possible backfill materials, saving of surface landfill space and
reduced costs to the electric power industry, the use of flyash in remediating underground mine
space deserves serious consideration. Recycling of fly ash to fill mine void spaces and reclaim
the mined ground can offer a highly cost-effective alternative to surface landfill disposal of the
ash by electric power utilities. If done correctly, and with proper consideration of environmental
concerns for the disposal of ash, placement in a mine void may bepossible at a much lower cost
than in a surface landfill facility. It may be a feasible alternative wherever flyash is available and
underground void spaces are causing problems or missed development opportunities at the
surface.

REFERENCES
[1.]A.Newman, E. Rubio, R. Caro, A. Weintraub, K. Eurek, "A review of operations research
in mine planning", Interfaces 2010, Vol. 3, pp.222-245.
[2] D.R. Tesarik, J.B. Seymour, T.R. Yanske, "Long-term stabilityof a backfilled room-
and-pillar test section at the Buick Mine,Missouri, USA", International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 2009, Vol. 7, pp.1182-1196.
[3] M. Najafi, S.E. Jalali, A. R. YarahmadiBafghi, F. Sereski, "Prediction of the

confidence interval for stability analysis of chain pillars in coal mines", Safety Science, 2011,
Vol. 5, pp. 651-657.
[4] Kh.IAglyukov, "Mining of the protective pillars using a packed fill",Journal of Mining
Science, 2004, Vol.3, pp.292-297.
[5] M. Monjezi, M. H. Seyed, M. Khandelwal, "Superiority of neural networks for pillar

stress prediction in bord and pillar method", Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2011, Vol.5-6,
pp.845-853.
[6] O.V. Ovcharenko, I.I. Ainbinder, K.Yu. Shilin, N.P. Kramskov, "Geomechanical
Substantiation of the Parameters for Underground Mining of “Mir” Kimberlite Pipe" ,Journal of
Mining Science, 2002, Vol.6, pp.528-533.
[7] A. Mortazavia, F.P. Hassanib, M. Shabania, "A numerical investigation of rock pillar
failure mechanism in underground openings",Computers and Geotechnics, 2009, Vol.5
pp.691-697.
[8] J. Deng, L. Bian, "Investigation and characterization of mining subsidence in Kaiyang

Phosphorus Mine", Journal of
[9]. Jayanthu S, 1999, „strata behaviour during extraction of pillars in thick coal seams, PhD
thesis‟, BHU-Varanasi.
[10.]Jayanthu S,1999a, „strata behaviour during extraction of pillars in thick coal seams, PhD
thesis‟, BHU-Varanasi
[11.]Jayanthu, S., Singh, T. N., Singh, D. P. (1998): „A critical study of strata behaviour during
extraction of pillars in a thick coal seam‟, Proceedings of 17thInt. Conf. on Ground Control in
Mining, West Virginia University, 4-6thAug‟98

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SREEKAVITHA ENGINEERING COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 1

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 2

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 3

2.1 PURPOSE OF STOWING

a) High percentage of extraction is attained and therefore wastage of coal underground is

b) Working of contiguous seams without any restrictions about a particular sequence of

c) Almost no danger of inundation is expected during depillaring.

d) Gas accumulations in the goaf are minimised.

e) Ventilation air leakage is minimised.

f) Better roof control is ensured and thus surface subsidence is minimised.

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 4

2.2 PROPERTIES OF STOWING MATERIALS

e) Combustibility – It should be inert to avoid fire in mines.

g) Economy – It should be cheap and locally available to avoid transportation cost.

i) Packing efficiency – It should have packing efficiency as high as possible.

a. Draining of water from goaf in a short period.

b. Must resist soaking.

c. Dust and clay should not exceed 10%.

d. Size should not be more than 50-60 mm for river sand.

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 5

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 6

2.4 STOWING INSTALLATIONS IN MINES

THE STOWING PLANT INSTALLATIONS 2.2

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 7

2.5 STOWING INSTALLATIONS IN HEADINGS

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 8

2.6 STOWING PIPLINES

STOWING PIPLINES 2.6

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 9

2.7 Stowing pipe range consist of three main portions:

 Shaft range, drift range, or borehole range.

Sand stowing in underground mine 2.7(A)

The maximum subsidence with SS is high in foreign coalmines in comparison to Indian

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 10

THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING SAND

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 11

AERIAL ROPEWAY 2.7(B)

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 12

HAND PACKING 2.7(C)

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 13

FLY ASA 3.1

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 14

3.1 FLYASH GENERATION AND COLLECTION

3.2 STOWING WITH FLY ASH

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 15

FLY ASH STOWING 3.2

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 16

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 17

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 18

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3.3 FLY ASH SLURRY INJECTION

FLY ASH SLURRY INJECTION 3.3

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 20

3.4 FLY ASH GROUT INJECTION

FLY ASH GROUT INJECTION 3.4

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 21

The crushed material of 65 to 75 mm is passed to a surface storage

The material is transported through the pipe range having diameter

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 22

Nearly 70% of compactness as compared to the solid coal is obtained

PNEUMATIC STOWING 4.0

DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING Page 23

4.1 PNEUMATIC FLY ASH INJECTION