COAL REFUSE DISPOSAL
FACILITY SEMINAR

 --DRAFT MSHA DESIGN MANUAL--  

Embassy Suites Charleston
300 Court Street Charleston, WV 25301

    n    Seismic stability

n    Breakthrough mitigation

n    Emergency action plans

n    Modified upstream construction

n    Environmental considerations

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW

In 1975, the predecessor to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published a design manual for coal refuse disposal facilities.  Most slurry impoundments at that time contained sand-like deposits of fine coal and fine refuse, and the manual relied on published design procedures developed for water-retention dams.

Many coal operators reacted by installing fine coal cleaning circuits and closed circuit handling systems to avoid having to build impounding structures.  Most of those combined refuse systems were eventually abandoned because of the ineffectiveness of a machine to remove water from clay (i.e. fine refuse after removal of the sandy fine coal), and most operators reverted back to construction of slurry impounding facilities.

In 1992, MSHA held a seminar where it presented Procedure Instruction Letters (PILS) for designers based on the state-of-the-art of coal refuse facility design.  Since then, new PILS have been published as new issues evolved. 

MSHA has now published a new draft design manual.  Rather than expand on the PILS, the manual suggests that designers consider fine refuse to be sand-like, as it was prior to 1975, and to revert to methods that were abandoned in 1992 when procedures were developed specifically for coal refuse disposal facilities.  

This seminar provided an overview of what MSHA is now proposing, compared to current practices, to help operators understand how these changes will affect them.  On the second day of the seminar, a panel discussion session prompted attendees to contribute to developing a strategy to respond to these proposed requirements. 

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

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INSTRUCTORS

Professional engineers Barry Thacker, Gary Brill, Mitch Halsey, Roger Cecil, and Scott Arwood from Geo/Environmental Associates, Inc. led the seminar.  Seismic and subsidence experts and industry representatives from the West Virginia Coal Association will lead the panel discussion.  

INDUSTRY EXPERTS

Experts included Dr. James Martin II, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Martin Chapman, Research Assistant Professor of Geophysics from Virginia Tech University.  Also, speaking was the President of Appalachian Mining and Engineering, Inc., David A. Newman Ph. D., P.E.

PDH CREDITS

Twelve (12) Professional Development Hours (PDH) were awarded towards continuing professional competency requirements.

REGISTRATION FEE AND ENROLLMENT

Proceeds from this seminar were donated to state chapters of the American Chestnut Foundation involved in “Operation Springboard”, the plan for restoring the American chestnut to reclaimed mine land in Appalachia.