Published in the March 2008 Coal USA Magazine
Kingston No. 1 and No. 2 share a valley in the Fayette County community of Kingston, the property and reserves of which Foundation has leased from master limited partnership Natural Resource Partners. Many of their features are similar – mining from the Glen Alum seam or the Douglas seam to produce a desirable blend of mid-vol (volatile) metallurgical coal, for example – but each has its own history, identity and place in Foundation’s production portfolio.
Kingston No. 1
Mining commenced at the No. 1 portal in November 1997 extracting from the Glen Alum seam that outcrops throughout the property. The seam runs about 160ft above the Douglas seam from which the No. 2 mine extracts. Under typical conditions, the immediate roof is sandy shale with sandstone on occasion. Sandy shale is the normal floor.
The seam height range at the operation is a challenging 28in to 30in, and with an average cutting height of 52in to 56in, the obstacles of just traveling underground are immediately felt. However, according to mine manager Dale Birchfield, the crews are as productive here as crews at any higher-seam operation; in fact, last year’s production of 650,000 tons well surpassed the mine’s production budget.
Track and battery mantrips are both utilized to get workers to the active sections under an average 800ft of overburden. The active faces at Kingston No. 1 each use Joy 14CM15 continuous miners, Joy 21SC shuttle cars and Fletcher roof bolters.
Both coal faces operate as true super sections, with the continuous miners and shuttle cars working simultaneously.
There are a few other challenges met by the mine in its everyday operation, primarily a lower rate of clean tons per foot and hard cutting of occasional sandstone at the roof and floor. Birchfield said that the company has reviewed many options for mining thinner seams and will continue to evaluate them as technology improves.
The mine also does not participate in full recovery, said officials. One common obstacle that does not exist at Kingston No. 1 is gas, which Birchfield notes is simply not an issue.
In fact, so little exists that methane liberation from the mine is negligible.
Nonetheless, the mine has a healthy ventilation plan that includes dual eight-foot fans, one at the first portal and one at the second portal, each of which utilize a blowing system.
Face equipment availability at the operation runs at an average 90% while it works to develop 70ft by 60ft mains and 50ft by 50ft panels in the low to medium cover areas of the mine. Despite any height issues, the mine employs a standard 4ft by 4ft roof bolt spacing pattern using 42in fully grouted resin bolts from Excel.
As coal is extracted, a 1200tph 42in belt provides the infrastructure of choice to carry output to the surface. Managing the belt infrastructure is a Pyott-Boone belt monitoring system at the portal office.
Birchfield noted that the operation does not have major obstacles with its belt system that impact production capacity or output levels.
The crew at Kingston No. 1 is of average size (95 total, 85 underground), but the work each individual does to contribute to the overall picture would lead one to believe twice as many crew members take the mantrips to the sections each day. A maintenance superintendent, maintenance planner, maintenance chief and a maintenance foreman can be found every single shift the mine works.
A full day at Kingston No. 1 is made up of two production shifts and one maintenance window. Miners work five days a week and every other Saturday.
Despite the geological issues of working in low coal, the mine maintains a high level of production with an outstanding, award-winning safety track record. The mine experienced a total reportable injury rate of 1.54 in 2007.
In recent years the mine has won the following safety awards: Joseph A Holmes Safety Association Safety Award, Pacesetter Safety Award, and the Mountaineer Guardian Safety Award.
Kingston No. 2
Mining is slightly higher at Kingston’s other half, with a seam height range of 28in to 36in and cutting height averaging 54in to 60in. It, too, beat its 2007 budgeted production forecast. Kingston No. 2 is considered the metaphorical younger sister of the complex, as mining commenced there in February 2002 under similar overburden and geological conditions.
While facing many of the same obstacles and embracing similar opportunities of the southern West Virginia coal fields, the operation’s own identity is literally carved out from the other because it extracts from the Douglas seam, located about 160ft below the Glen Alum. Its top is similar, including a shale immediate roof with touches of sandstone in areas paired with a sandy shale floor.
Birchfield noted that the No. 2 mine practices first mining recovery only. It also contends with the challenge of a low rate of clean tons per foot due to the region’s common geological issues.
Management for No. 2 also said that while the ventilation plan at the mine is slightly different from No. 1 – it employs a single 8ft fan at the main portal with a blowing system – having no methane liberation issues makes it fortunate compared with many of its underground neighbor mines.
Equipment availability of the mine’s 14CM15 continuous miner units and overall mining fleet is just as high as at the No. 1 mine, and with Joy 14CM15 CM machines, Fletcher roof bolters, Stamler feeders and DBT coal haulers, it could potentially interchange similar equipment with No. 1. This mine employs a supersection mining methodology with “walk-between” miners on both sections.
The dimensions of the mine’s mains are 80ft by 60ft and panels measure 60ft by 50ft. Management notes the larger dimensions are primarily due to higher overburden thicknesses.
A 1200tph 42in beltline works to carry output to the mines’ shared preparation facility, which from both sides of the complex works fluidly and contributes to the feeling that the teams at Kingston understand and perform their jobs very well.
The workers at the mine maintain a strong reputation for safety while maintaining a consistently high level of production for a low coal operation. Its total reportable incident rate for 2007 was just 4.73, with one lost-time injury among its 86 workers (78 underground).
Kingston No. 2 also has ...click here to read on.
