Longwall mining is a form of underground coal mining where a long single face of coal, known as a panel, is mined with a continuous cut across its entirety. Seams utilizing longwall panels are (typically 4–20 ft (1.2–6.1 m) thick).The panel is typically 10,000–15,000 ft (3,000–4,600 m) long, but can be up to 20,000 ft (6,100 m) long and 1,000–1,500 ft (300–460 m) wide. The longwall method compares with shortwall, room-and-pillar, and several others.
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Longwall mining in the context of Coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
Coal mining has had many developments in recent years, from the early days of tunneling, digging, and manually extracting the coal on carts to large open-cut and longwall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks, and shearers.
View the full Wikipedia page for Coal miningLongwall mining in the context of Velenje
Velenje (pronounced [ʋɛˈlɛ̀ːnjɛ] ; German: Wöllan) is the sixth-largest city of Slovenia, and the seat of the Municipality of Velenje. Velenje was owned by the Habsburgs for several centuries, which is reflected in the exceptionally rich legacy of castles and manors. The city is located in the traditional Slovenian region of Styria, among the rolling green hills of the Šalek Valley, with the Kamnik–Savinja Alps to the west and the Pohorje Mountains to the east. The city of Velenje was officially opened on September 20, 1959, according to a unified construction plan. Velenje is marked by mining with the Velenje Coal Mine, popular due to its longwall mining method, opened in 1875 and still operating, where over 260 million tons of coal have been mined. The old part of the Coal Mine is home to the Slovenian Coal Mining Museum.
The Velenje Coal Mine, under the then-director Nestl Žganek, had by far the greatest influence on the development of the city. Words from that time that are still worth recording today:
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