MEC Mining – Values your Underground Coal Margins

Posted by MEC Mining on

MEC Mining – Values your Underground Coal Margins

The hardworking team, at MEC, just love to “get down and dirty” for your mine technical, financial and operational needs. Here are just some of the un-shameless activities we find ourselves involved in across Surface and Underground Commodities:

  • Mine Studies – Concept to Closure, Due Diligence;
  • Operational Support – Project Management;
  • Site Support – Technical Services & Field Specialists, and
  • Mine Rehabilitation & Closure – Final Landform Planning.

This article also offers a valuable insight into the “little known” world of Underground Coal Margin Ranking (MR) where the Cost Drivers are very much different to our Opencut relatives. However, we find UG margins may not be very well understood and this is where the value opportunity is often eroded. So what is unique about the UG Coal MR process? Here are a few process inputs and client benefits:

  1. Mineability Index – Influence of Mining Conditions on Productivity
    1. Seam Thickness and Continuity (Splits)
    2. Roof & Floor Conditions
    3. Primary & Secondary Strata Support Domains
    4. Seam Gas Drainability
    5. Seam Dip
    6. Seam Quality (Dykes & Sills)
    7. Fault Exposure
    8. Ground Water
    9. Coal Strength (Cleat)
    10. Cover Depth (Ground Stress)
    11. Incendive Temperature Potential (ITP)
  2. Methodology – Equipment Suitability, Capacity & Utilisation

So what are the client benefits?

  • Visibility of resource value;
  • Prioritise mine access, sequence and exploration dollars – maximise ROI;
  • Identify mining limits at given pricing sensitivities;
  • Define condition based production rates;
  • Inputs to a transparent Value Driver Tree process, and
  • Improve confidence in production forecasts.

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