**Table 3.**

*Underground Coal Mining Methods and Their Impact on Safety DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109083*

Since the implementation of continuous miner, there has been a steady increase in the deployment of continuous miners in India. Here, some of the operating mines using continuous miners in India is listed below [49, 50].

Some of the lists of mines in Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) are Jhanjra mine, Shyamsundarpur UG, Kumardih-B CM UG, and Khottadih CM UG. List of mines in South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) is Anjan Hill, Vindhya, Haldhibadi, Khairaha, Bangwar, Pinoura mine, NCPH Old mine, Rani Atari, Sheetaldhara-Kurja mine, Churcha R.O mine, and Vijaya west mine. The list of Mines in Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) and Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) is Churi UG mine and Tandsi mine, respectively. The list of mines in Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) are VK-7, GDK-11, Kundapuram, PVK-5, Shantikhani, and Vakilpalli mine. The list of mines operating with Continuous miners in India is shown in **Table 3**.

### **5. Summary**

It is necessary to point out that the many concrete recommendations made, for example, values of factor of safety (FOS), are intended only as a general guide. It is always dangerous to generalize in mining, where geological and other conditions vary widely. The recommendations should always, therefore, be reassessed in terms of local experience. Although the safety factor of the pillars is important to ensure that the pillar strength is adequate to support the overlying strata, it is only the start of the design process. Other factors that play equally important roles are the mining method to be practiced, the equipment to be used, and the behavior of the local strata. In the past, the safety factor was too often the only parameter used to determine the size of the pillars, and other critical factors were ignored. The behavior of the overburden strata is possibly the most critical Factor as it also affects the mining method, the type of mining method that can be used, and the support required during the development and pillar extraction process.

The mining method should be predetermined, and the pillar should be designed to accommodate this method. The type and size of the mining equipment also has a major influence on the type of mining that can be practiced, and the pillar dimensions required for safe and effective extraction. The critical factors that influence the manner of pillar extraction are depth of cover, physicomechanical properties of overlying strata and seam, incubation period, dip and thickness of the seam, and technology available for extraction. In the future, continuous miner is going to be the future of coal mining. It is highly recommended to understand the importance of mining methods and their impact on safety.

### **Funding acknowledgement**

This research has no funding from any source.

## **Acknowledgements**

The authors express their gratitude to IIT(ISM), Dhanbad, for providing all the necessary facilities for carrying out research work at IIT (ISM).
