POSSIBILITIES OF USING THE GUŁ-500 - ("MIKRUS") MACHINING AND LOADING COMPLEX FOR EXPLOITATION OF THIN SEAM IN GEOLOGICAL AND MINING CONDITIONS OF THE LUBLIN COAL BASIN

Abstract

Hard coal mining is one of the main branches of industry in Poland. Most of the energy in our country is obtained by burning hard coal, which makes it a strategic raw material. In our country, there is about one billion tons of coal in thin seams, which are difficult to extract using currently used methods, so as not to lose the profitability of coal. The necessary conditions for the exploitation of thin seams are maintaining the safety and comfort of the crew operating the wall and the economic factor, sometimes the most important criterion, of the exploitation of thin coal seams, considering the current coal prices on the market. The Kopex Group has developed an innovative device for the extraction of thin seams called "Mikrus". The idea of ​​creating such a complex was the long-term observation of the operation of a traditional longwall shearer and a coal plow and an attempt to combine their features. "Mikrus" is the first such attempt on a global scale, its operating principle is based on cutting with cutting-loading heads through milling, just like in a longwall shearer, and the complex is fully automated and there is no need for people to be present at the mining face all the time, as is the case with coal plows [3; 5].