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Area Strip Mining
Reaction Factor
• Saying the word “Strip Mine” sends some environmentally focused individuals into Convulsions
• Dirty Word connotation comes from past practices
– Those practices are illegal today
– We will cover reclamation as part of understanding mining sequences
• Reclamation is as much a part of mining sequences today as extracting the mineral
Deposit Geology
• Relatively flat lying sedimentary deposits covering large areas
– Midwestern Coal Deposits
• Includes sub-bituminous and lignitic deposits of the Dakotas
– Gulf and Texas area Lignite Deposits
– Florida Phosphate Deposits
• Phosphorous Rich soft limestone beds
• Mined as relatively high tonnage deposits
– 1 to 2 million tons per year commonplace
Long Narrow Pit Moves Forward Over Time
Pits typically about 120 to 160 feet wide
At the bottom but about ½ mile (phosphate) to two miles long
Area Strip Mine from the Air
How do W
Dragline Sits at End Of Pit
How Dragline Works
Dragline Bucket is dropped Into place with
Hoist Cable
Bucket Weighs 2,000 lbs
For every cubic
Yard of size (120)
Bucket is pulled forward by the Drag Cable
Filling as it goes
Dragline Pivots
As bucket fills it Is lifted Dragline Sits on
by the Hoist cable Large tub
(distributes
Load)
Dragline Housing sits
on Giant gear above
tub Allowing it to
pivot and swing
As bucket gets into place the Drag cable is released causing the Bucket
to drop down by open end And material spills out into place
Looking at the Sequence
Draglines are used for
Removing overburden
Draglines are used for Digging Motion Removes
Removing overburden OB from above coal
Action Leaves a Spoil Pile Ridge beside a Swings and Dumps the “Spoil” into the
Newly uncovered coal seam old mined Out pit
Note – The answer to the question – What happens to the Overburden?
Shovels Come along Behind and load coal into trucks
Dragline Begins Work
Out in advance scrapers remove the top soil for use
In future reclamation work
Mine Will Advance this way
Coal Loading
Crews work Dragline works Blasting Crews Work
What Happens at the End of the Pit
Dragline can “Deadhead” back to other end of the pit
Dragline can “Lay Over” until The coal
loaders Catch up and then Start work at
the Right end digging To the left
Variations on a Theme
Start with the Initial Cut
In the Middle
Strip one side of the pit
Dead head back to the
middle
Strip the Other Side of the Pit
Spoil Side Stripping
Used in cases where overburden is cast blasted
Spoil Side
Dozers Move in, and begin
leveling a pad or bench area
Moving in the Dragline
Dragline digs the overburden from above the coal and then Spoils over the pad area behind it as it advances
Spoil Side Stripping Operation
Variations in Equipment
Stripping Shovels Worked out of the Pit
Bucketwheel Excavators
Roche compacte
Roche tendre
How Bucket Wheels Work
Bucket Wheels have a rotating head with
Large buckets suitable for cutting loose rock and
soil
Wheels Transfer Material
Dragline
The Matter of Reclamation
• Back in the not so good old days
– Draglines would simply pick up all overburden
• Draglines drop material in ridged spoil lines
• Picking up everything ended up with mixed piles of soil, decomposing rocks and broken rock
– Ridges of waste spoil were left to grow back naturally (readily accomplishable in 600 years)
• Moonscapes left particularly by a special version of strip mining in the Appalachians left the image of “strip
mining” as ultimate destruction of environment
Reclamation Today
• Prior to any disturbance the mining company obtains government approval of the mine and reclamation
plan
• The Mining Company posts a bond sufficient to cover the reclamation should they default
• Scrapers and Dozers remove the top soil and subsoils keeping each soil horizon separate.
• Mining sequence moves through claiming the coal and shifting the overburden into spoil piles
• Dozers level of the spoil pile ridges to obtain a smooth topography
• Top soil being reclaimed from the other side is laid down in its perspective horizon sequence
• Anti-erosion meshes and materials are installed and new vegetation is planted
• The mining company must show that the land has been restored to its former productivity for a period of 5
to 10 years before the bond is released
The Dark Side of Regulation
• 1978 Federal Government Replaced State Regulation with Surface Mine Reclamation and Control Act
– Incorporated best practices of State Statutes into a rigid federal law that lacked local sensitivity
• Rocky hills of Dragline Spoil Piles restored well to Forest
– Smooth contours of well graded soils favors grasses
– Areas like Southern Illinois where forests are the climax growth are sensitive to practices that
prevent natural vegetation
Additional Problems
• Tight Erosion Control harms Badlands Reclamation
– Wildlife depends on a erosive environment
• SMCRA limits sediment loads regardless
• Contradictions in Appalachia
– Restore the land to original contour with no slopes above 3:1
• What happens when original contour was 1.5:1?
Soil Horizons
• Tight requirements for keeping soil horizons pure favors putting down numerous thin layers
– Equipment tends to over-pack the subsoil
• Stops deep root penetration needed for drought resistance
• Stops trees from growing
– Some experiments with slurry placement and deep tillage
• Specifies top soil thicknesses greater than naturally present in many areas
• Largest problem is that writing a one size fits all law for an environmentally diverse area like the U.S. is an
invitation to embarrassment
