Coal losses and dilution are among a coal mine operators everyday problems. These losses and unwelcome additions are generated primar- ily by the stripping operation and secondly by the coal mining opera- tion. Losses in yield due to preparation plant efficiency are a separate issue although they may be related to the coal mining operation. The losses and dilution can be traced to the following operations: (A) Overburden or Interburden Removal (1) Removal of coal edge by blasting operations._x000D_
(2) Removal of top of seam by drilling/blasting. (3) Removal of top of seam by stripping equipment._x000D_
(4) Removal of coal edges by stripping equipment._x000D_
(5) Dilution due to stripping equipment. (B) Coal Mining (for the case where seams are ripped rather than shot) (1) Coal rib losses._x000D_
(2) Coal rib dilution._x000D_
(3) Coal left in floor. (4) Coal left in fault areas. (5) Floor material picked up whilst loading._x000D_
(6) Spoil material picked up. (7) Spoil material from poor surface clean up._x000D_
(8) Top of coal losses from final clean up. (9) Dilution from ripping too deep, i.e. into floor below seam. (10) Dilution from interseam parting. The losses apply to both the single seam and multi seam oper- ations although they are more pronounced in the multi seam mines than in a single seam mine due to the position of the coal which is lost. For example in the multi seam case the top seam coal edge loss is final. There is little chance of recovery with the subsequent pass even if the extra rehandle is done. However conversely the lower seam is relatively easy to locate as it has nowhere to go being contained by the lowwall bench.