Читать книгу Coal-Fired Power Generation Handbook - James Speight G., James G. Speight - Страница 55

Mountaintop removal/valley fill coal mining is, as the name implies, the removal of mountain top to recover coal from the seam(s) underneath. In the method, power shovels are used to dig into the soil for trucks to haul away, after which a dragline is used to dig into the rock to expose the coal – explosives may also be used to make the overburden more amenable to removal. Other machines scoop out the layers of coal.

Unfortunately, the mountaintop method generates large amounts of solid waste that must be disposed in a sound environmental manner. Association of the waste with water (through heavy rains or river flooding) can cause the waste to move as a live mud stream causing serious environmental damage and danger to flora and fauna (including human life).