Page 14 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

P. 14

Profitable coal mining means being 1

productive, safe, and
environmentally responsible

,† ‡
Joseph C. Hirschi* , Aaron S. Young
†
*Smart Solutions, Komatsu Mining Corporation, Mt. Vernon, IL, United States, Mining and
Mineral Resources Engineering, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, United States,
‡
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States

1.1 Foundations of profitability

For those who keep their finger on the pulse of the coal-mining industry, a few names
become very familiar. It doesn’t seem to matter whether one is reading a journal article
spotlighting the most productive coal mines in the industry, browsing a web page rec-
ognizing the most recent Sentinels of Safety award recipients, or reading an email
about coal mine operations receiving Excellence in Mine Reclamation awards. The
same coal mines and coal-mining companies almost always rise to the top.
Coal mining is a business, and staying in business requires making a profit. The
National Mining Association (NMA) is the self-proclaimed voice of the United States
(US) mining industry in general and the coal-mining industry in particular. Their mis-
sion is to “build support for public policies that will help Americans fully and respon-
sibly benefit from [its] abundant domestic coal and mineral resources” [1]. This is
accomplished through being fully engaged in public (governmental) and private (busi-
ness) processes that impact the mining industry’s ability to safely and sustainably
extract and process mineral resources in a profitable manner.
The NMA is one of the leading proponents of the CORESafety program, a business
partnership among its member organizations, primarily mining companies. This pro-
gram takes the approach that focusing on mine safety “is the right thing to do,” but it is
also good business [2]. CORESafety is focused on preventing accidents and eliminat-
ing fatalities by establishing the 0:50:5 target for individual mines, entire companies,
and the industry as a whole. That standard is to have “0 fatalities and a 50 % reduction
in injury rates within 5 years” [3]. They cite US Mine Safety and Health Administra-
tion (MSHA) data in postulating that “safer mines are generally more productive” [2].
By its very nature, coal mining impacts the environment in ways that disturb its
natural water cycle, decomposition, and erosion processes. While not as easy to sta-
tistically measure as are safety standards such as number of fatalities and injury
rates, environmental impacts are arguably more visible. Therefore, it is important
for the industry to show that these impacts have a productive purpose and will be mit-
igated in the long term. Regarding environmental sustainability, the NMA assists its

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