After coal there came the time of iron

The PolAlpex 1 team is performing above-standard services in Darkov Mine

DARKOV MINE - The members of the PolAlpex 1 team, which is led by the section head Henryk Wojasiński, showed themselves off by a lightening liquidation of the coal face no. 340 502 in seam 40, block 5. It was on 15^th December 2007, when they initiated the preparation works for clearing and already on 20^th February the chief foreman of the “brygada” Janusz Siwek announced: „Finished!“

From 4^th to 16^th January the miners from the subcontracted company PolAlpex have driven 192 meters of manipulation channel by means of SM shearer and in the following days they cleared out over four thousand tons of material. This is the approximate weight of 38 Fazos 17/37 MH supports, 89 MEOS 22/46 supports, KGS 445 shearer, conveyors and other equipment. Over 100 tons of machinery items, hydraulics, power units and electric devices were transported on the overhead monorail through transfer point.

They won the battle with time

We were just doing our job, opposed the praises after the accomplishment of the clearance action the section head Henryk Wojasiński. He accentuated mainly the exemplary cooperation of the transport operations, vertical transport and others. “Without them we could have hardly made it,” he explained.

It was seen in different light by the production manager of Darkov Mine Mr. Jan Huplík. “The guys met the time schedule even in unfavourable conditions at 100 %! I do not like using big words, but they showed at least above-standard performance,” he said for Horník magazine. “In terms of the mine strategy the liquidation of coal face 340 502 belonged to the most important tasks at the beginning of this year. We needed especially the MEOS supports to be cleared fast, which will after general overhaul in Opavian Ostroj be applied in further longwall panel in seam 40. It was a battle with time also because of the fact that the face was dangerous due to spontaneous combustion.  Thanks to its fast liquidation and enclosure we did not have to adopt any emergency solutions.”

Praise also for production

The acclaim belongs to the miners from the team of Janusz Siwek and Henryk Wojasiński also for the exploitation of this particular problematic coal face. The longwall with effective seam thickness of 4.5 meters interfered with two tectonic faults with dislocation height of up to 5 meters. Because of them it was necessary to drive parting roadway in the longwall, allowing for shortening of the coal face. The production itself was initiated on 21^st March 2007 and already the start-up from the initial breakthrough showed that it was very difficult. It was necessary to rise under an angle of up to 20 degrees, and furthermore in its bottom part uplift decreasing the effective thickness by up to 2.5 meters was reached. Inconsistent overlaying rock and outbound pillar required stitching by means of wooden needles, rockbolt gluing and level collaring.

They contributed to plan achievement

“Even in these difficult conditions the team showed its high professionalism and competence. Thanks to perfect organization and high commitment it overcame all the pitfalls prepared by the mother nature.  Upon the experience acquired in the course of mining operations it was further decided not to shorten the face before face run and run through the tectonic zone. The team have coped also with this task very successfully and thus contributed significantly to exceeding of the last year’s Darkov Mine mining plan,” summarized the situation Jan Huplík. A total of 530 thousand tons of coal was mined out of the coal face 340 502.

(Bohuslav Krzyžanek)