The modern method of coal mining in underground mines is the Longwall system, which has been adopted all over the world because of its high output, high productivity, better safety and improved recovery achievable by this method.

When Longwall technology was finding root in the country in the early 80s ,SCCL availed the opportunity and reconstructed two of its existing mines and introduced longwall face equipment in the years 1983 and 1985.

These longwall units ,apart from working creditably, have provided an opportunity for SCCL engineers to study the equipment and support parameters vis-à-vis the geo-mining conditions prevailing in the SCCL mines. The specifications of future longwall face equipment are being drawn based on this study and experience.

SCCL is planning to procure Shearers to produce plus 2.0 million tonnes per annum with ChockShield supports of 1000 Tonnes and above capacity.

A large number of the new mining areas projected in the perspective plan (like Chinnur,Bhoopalalpalli-Mulug,Srirampur) have gradients of seams varying between 1 and 2.5 to 1 in 3.5. Longwall technology has not so far been attempted in the country at such steep gradients and SCCL ,probably out of necessity, has had to take lead in this aspect.

The technology for exploiting steep seams even of the order 1 in 1 by Longwall method is available in countries like FRG and UK and with proper tie-ups in the initial stages, SCCL expects to implement longwall technology successfully in steep seams.

Extraction of seams thicker than four meters has always been a technical problem to the mining industry in the country as also to SCCL ,which has an eight-to-ten meter thick coal seam all over its coalfields. Conventional Bord and Pillar development and depillaring in two sections has widely been executed over the decades in the mines, but with poor recovery and risk to safety.

During the year 1980-81,SCCL looked for specialized technologies being used abroad for mechanized extraction of thick seams to obtain larger outputs with better recovery and safety from thick seams .A feasibility report was obtained from Charbonnages de France (CdF) in 1984 for extracting eight-to-ten meter thick seams in GDK-10 incline by “Blasting Gallery technique”. 4 units of Blasting Gallery are now working in the company.

SCCL has nearly 300 million tonnes of coal reserves standing on pillars. Such a huge inventory of standing coal pillars has resulted due to,

i) The upper seams became vendible and their development was taken up subsequently, locking up developed pillars in the bottom seams

ii) Thick seams developed in the single section and final extraction delayed since there is no proper technology available to extract the complete thickness

SCCL realized the necessity for a suitable mechanized technology for rapid liquidation of coal pillars , and to stick to the sequence of extraction of coal seams, to get larger outputs. This led SCCL to look at the experience of Australia, which gets a major portion of its underground coal production by mechanized Bord and Pillar method, with Continuous Miners.

SCCL has introduced continuous miners in two mines.