A coal mine in which the coal seam is accessed underground, rather than by removing all of the overburden from above the coal seam. Various access methods include the drift, slope and vertical shaft. Such mines typically use the “room and pillar” method, by which approximately 50% of the coal is removed making the “rooms,” leaving “pillars” of coal for roof support. Another method of underground method that is gaining rapid popularity is the “longwall” method, by which a cutting head is used to remove all of the coal from the seam, permitting the roof to fall behind the advancing cutting head.
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