Page 188 - Advances In Productive, Safe, and Responsible Coal Mining

Out-of-seam dilution: Economic impacts and control strategies 167

Table 9.4 Incremental cost impacts of OSD in 2010 US$/ton [2, 12, 13]
Roof Floor Total OSD cost
dilution dilution (clean ton basis)
Base mining cost $4.69 $4.69 $1.55
Materials handling $0.75 $0.75 $0.25
Base processing $1.40 $1.40 $0.46
cost
Rotary breaker $0.15 – $0.03
Maintenance $0.30 – $0.06
Viscosity effect – $0.21 $0.03
Flocculant usage – $0.43 $0.05
Quality impact $5.09 $1.26 $1.22
cost
Waste disposal $1.13 $0.54 $0.30
cost
Total $13.51 $9.28 $3.95

As seen in Table 9.4 and Fig. 9.3, the overall cost of dilution based on OSD mining
and recovery assumptions previously explained is $3.95 per clean ton. This would be
the expected cost reduction if extraction of OSD material could be completely
avoided. Considering that to be an unreasonable expectation and assuming that
OSD mining is only reduced by one-half, cost savings are still approximately
$2.00 per clean ton. This amount is substantial and could easily have a positive impact
Mining Processing Quality
Base
$0.05 $0.09
$0.25 $0.03
Rotary Ash
Extraction $0.06 breaker
$0.03 Maintenance $0.37 $0.53 Sulfur
Materials Mercury
handling Media Transportation
$0.46 viscosity
$1.55 $0.23
Flocculant
usage
Combined total
$0.30
Mining
$1.22 $1.80 Processing
Quality
Waste disposal

$0.63
Fig. 9.3 Cost impacts of OSD by component and in total.