JACEK KORSKI

FAMUR S.A.
WOJCIECH KORSKI MSc Eng
Institute of Innovative Technologies EMAG

Underground mine as a system of processes

The underground mine is a mixed system where a complex system of processes is

implemented with the aim of mineral extraction. This article presents a generalized
model of a system of underground mine processes consistent with models of indus-
trial processes implemented in other types of industrial companies.

key words: mining, hard coal, coal production processes

1. INTRODUCTION mines and actually the conditions in which these

Nowadays the hard coal mining industry in Poland
are mining companies carrying their mining activity
in two coalfields: the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and
the Lublin Coalfield. The economic transformation of
Poland in 1989 made the Polish coal industry ex-
posed to the foreign mining industry competition and
at the same time the ability to protect the domestic
market of hard coal against its import strongly de-
creased. Also the national economy demand for coal
has been systematically decreasing. Opportunities to
increase exports as an alternative to declining domes-
tic demand are limited by competition from other,
non-European suppliers who expanded their mining
industries in the coalfields with more favorable ex-
ploitation conditions.
Also requirements for coal as a commodity have
evolved and competing suppliers often better came
up to the expectations of customers in terms of quali-
ty, price and supply volume at times. It is a slight
oversimplification to notice that in many coalfields
being exploited nowadays mining operating condi-
tions correspond to the exploitation conditions in the
Upper Silesian Coal Basin at the turn of the XVIII-
XIX centuries, obviously involving different tech-
nical capabilities.
A significant limitation of opportunities to compete
on the domestic coal market are historical events (the
legacy) arising from the previous method of man-
agement and processes conducted at the Polish coal
processes are carried out as well as the technical
systems intended for their realization.
Important circumstances affecting the conditions of
the implementation of the coal exploitation process in
the Polish mines are the following:
 Age of mines,
 Multi-seam exploitation,
 Depth of exploitation,
 Occurrence of numerous, often associated (co-
existing) natural hazards, partly resulting from in-
creasing depth of exploitation,
 Urbanization and rich infrastructure in the mining
areas (the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in particular).
Under similar or even easier conditions of the old
coal basins in Europe, the coal exploitation has been
already abandoned or is unable to function without
state aid.
For a long time the hard coal mining companies in
Poland were an exception but one of the reasons for
this was specific geographic and technical premium
(rent) due to the orientation of the domestic logistics
infrastructure on coal exports rather than on its im-
ports. Development of the bulk material (hard coal
included) unloading infrastructure in Polish seaports,
modernization of so-called land ports caused the
necessity of a confrontation with a strong foreign
competition capable of competing at each end user of
hard coal in Poland.
An indirect confirmation of the increasing com-
plexity of process systems in the Polish undergro-und
coal mines is the statistical number of em-
20 Mining – Informatics, Automation and Electrical Engineering

ployees of underground mines per one longwall of the worsening competitive ability of many Po-lish
shown in Figure 1. From 1988 to 2013 this number coal mines.
increased significantly, which is one of the causes

Average number of underground employees, per one longwall (in thousands)

Year

Fig. 1. Average number of underground employees per one active longwall in Polish underground coal mines
in 1988-2013 (own elaboration based on data from www.mg.gov.pl)

An opportunity to improve this competitive ability
of the Polish coal mines is an improvement of the
system of processes implemented for the hard coal
exploitation with regard to their cost rationalization,
improvement of reliability at the highest level of
work safety.
Other processes carried out in mining companies
may be implemented in compliance with standards
applied in enterprises operating in other economic
areas. The processes related directly with the exploi-
tation of minerals (e.g. hard coal) must take into ac-
count the specificities of the implementation of the
system of mining processes in the underground mine.
This article attempts to formulate a system of pro-
cesses associated with coal exploitation in a way as
similar as possible to the views represented by the
researchers dealing with the process approach to the
management (process management and process orga-
nization) [1, 2, 8]. This text reveals the results of
observations, research and analysis of Polish and
foreign mines (not only the coal mines) in the context
of former observations, experiments and publications
[3, 5, 6].
2. PROCESSES WITHIN THE COMPANY
The dictionary of foreign words defines a process
as a series of consecutive and causally connected
changes forming stages, states of development of
something, course, progress, transformation of some-
thing [10].
Jan Zieleniewski perceives a process as each action
being a series of some events [5].
Reaching for the initial, Latin origin of this word
we may define a process (processus which means
processing) as:
 The course of regular subsequent phenomena
causally connected;
 Repetitive human activity,
 Sequence of physicochemical transformations.
Nr 2(522) 2015
In the ABC management (Activity-Based Costing)
a process is defined as an intentional sequence of
causally related actions.
Process in economy [6] is often defined as a se-
quence or a partially ordered set (collection) of inter-
related activities integrated by:
 time,
 cost,
 cumulative assessment of performance,
and implemented in order to achieve a particular
company objective. In the ongoing economic pro-
cesses a new economic value is created, measured by
so called added value whose source is the increase of
the value in use in the form of tangible property or
service.
If the economic process is implemented as a large-
scale quantitative process and in repetitive cycles it is
referred to as the industrial economic process. This is
the nature of processes implemented in the Polish
hard coal mines and coal mining enterprises.
2.1. Types of industrial economic processes
In the industrial processes implemented in a com-
pany the following one may occur:
 Serial process in which each subsequent activity or
action is executed in a strictly serial manner, one
activity (action) completing before the next starts –
an assembly line is the best example.
In case of simultaneous implementation of several
processes (activities, actions) these may be executed
as [6]:
FIRM INFRASTRUCTURE
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
PROCUREMENT
Inbound Operations Outbound Marketing
Logistics Logistics And Sales
Fig. 2. Porter’s Value Chain [7]
21
 Synchronous activities and processes implemented
with periodic coordination of the timing (synchro-
nization)
 Overlapping activities and processes i.e. those
where the start of a new activity requires a number
of preceding actions to be completed or where oc-
curs a coincidence of place and time of implemen-
tation of activities and actions or where comple-
tion of one activity is a precondition to start sever-
al other activities.
In case synchronous or overlapping processes are to
implemented, uncertainty of the result increases and
the industrial process management requirements are
higher. A further consequence may be a failure to
achieve the objective described above, exceeding the
execution (completion) time or cost overruns. Mostly
in contemporary Polish coal mines a very complex
system of activities posing a high risk of commercial
failure is implemented. While analyzing the changes
of technical ratios and organization indexes of the
Polish hard coal mines, the concerning increase of
labor intensity of the mining process system can be
noted, as shown in the Fig.1.
It should also be stressed that inappropriately de-
signed and implemented industrial process may be
the source of lost profits (lucrum cessans) not recog-
nized in the profit and loss account of the company.
2.2. Process in the enterprise
and the enterprise value creation
In the industrial enterprise including the mining
company, the enterprise value creation and the profit
margin generation is achieved in various activities of
this enterprise. Following M. Porter, it has been
schematically presented in the following figure:
MARGIN
Service
22
In industrial enterprises, also in mining companies,
management of activities other than inbound and
outbound logistics, in particular „Operations” activity
is performed from the enterprise level. In multi-plant
mining companies “Operations” activities including
coal extraction and (not always) mineral processing
(e.g. coal cleaning), are performed at the level of each
plant.
2.3. Industrial process and costs
In a simplified way, the company economic result
is the difference (balance) between revenues and
expenses in all areas of the company activities. In
mining companies, where the industrial process in
implemented in underground mines, basic operation-
al revenue and cost areas are processes related with
the mineral extraction as well as with preparation and
supply of that process. In the Polish hard coal mines
it is managed mainly by managers with technical
professional background, who by planning activities
decide on the resource consumption and, consequent-
ly on the fundamental area of costs of the main op-
erational activity. Nevertheless, it has to be pointed
Client’s needs cause
ACTION
Fig. 3. Simplified cost generation scheme [5]
Due to changes in the conditions of the industrial
process execution, its changes are designed and
implemented. There are two general change imple-
mentation models:
Mining – Informatics, Automation and Electrical Engineering
out that the range of solution selection, as in other
activities, is significantly limited by:
 Formal and legal limitations (legislation included);
 Economic capabilities, i.e. available resources
(labor, materials, energy and information);
 Local conditions for implementation of objectives
(this group includes so called historical events (the
legacy) i.e. effects of previous actions and de-
cisions made in old mines with long-standing and
multi-seam exploitation);
 Knowledge and experience of decision-makers (or
rather insufficient knowledge and experience) that
may significantly affect consumption of resources,
and thus the costs of economic activity. The pro-
cess of the cost generation is schematically shown
in Fig. 3.
It should be noted that proceeding with any action
should be preceded be declared or highly probable
actions of customers. For industrial processes im-
plemented in the underground mines where the time
period between the decision concerning change or
launching of the process and its implementation is
very long (sometimes it takes many years), this is
another significant limitation of decision-making
processes.
Use/consumption of resources
expressed in money terms are COSTS
ACTION cause use of
RESOURCES
 evolutionary models – adjustment models;
 revolutionary – e.g. within the process reengi-
neering, changing significantly the system of pro-
cesses.
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3. PROCESSES
IN THE UNDERGROUND MINE
Stefan Trembecki [6] used to present the mining
processes as a series of subsequent actions from the
deposit opening-out up to the delivery of minerals to
the user. However, this model does not show how
repeatability of this process as of an industrial pro-
cess is implemented.
Fig. 4. Modified process system model in the underground mine based on Trembecki’s diagram (own elaboration)
Fig. 5. Objective – system – process chain (own elaboration)
While analyzing the system of processes in the mine,
it may be noted that each action needs to be provided
(supplied) with energy and materials (information
included) and that a technical system (infrastructure)
enabling the above action requires relevant mainte-
nance which means that processes in the mine as per
Trembecki’s approach, must be complemented by
23
According to Trembecki’s approach the process is
composed of a group of actions carried out in the
mine and actions carried out beyond the mine. In a
typical Polish hard coal mine internal actions include
the group of actions carried out on the mine surface
and a system of underground mining processes.
However, it is worth pointing out that each activity
within the process presented by Trembecki is carried
out for a particular purpose and through a particular
technical system (within the MME system: Man-
Machine-Environment).
actions related with power supply and maintenance of
the infrastructure, which is shown in Fig. 6.
The deposit opening-out related actions are omitted
in the above diagram since they are of a non-
recurring nature and are not cyclically repetitive
events like most actions connected with the imple-
mentation of the system of mining processes.
24 Mining – Informatics, Automation and Electrical Engineering

Fig. 6. Trembecki’s mine process and power supply and maintenance subprocesses in the underground mine (own
elaboration)

4. SYSTEM OF PROCESSES of executive processes is replaced by operational

IN THE UNDERGROUND MINE
Having regard to the most common models of pro-
cesses described in the literature [1, 8], in the enter-
prise or the industrial plant, it can be demonstrated
that two main groups of processes are implemented in
the underground mine (Fig. 7).
The above division (breakdown) often comple-
ments the group of auxiliary processes (e.g. financial
accounting, procurement, etc. - Fig. 8), and the name
processes.
Operational processes include a group of core pro-
cesses, that is a group of processes aiming at meeting
the needs of external customers i.e. those serving to
create the added value for the company.
In a typical enterprise also occur operational pro-
cesses aiming at meeting the needs of internal cus-
tomer, that is serving to maintain the continuity of the
processes carried out in the mine and allowing for
ensuring the repeatability of cycles of processes car-
ried out in the underground mine (Fig. 9).

Fig. 7. General groups of processes in the enterprise [8]

Fig. 8. Processes in the mining enterprise – main groups

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Fig. 9. Main operational processes in the underground mine
The essence of operational processes aimed at crea-
tion of added value for the mining company and of
utility for external clients in the underground mine is
to empty the underground deposit of useful minerals
and deliver them to the user. Some part of this basic
process i.e. outbound logistics (transport and distribu-
tion) can be carried out by any other entity in the
chain of value creation.
The below block diagram of the main operational
(executive) process in the underground mine shows a
significant difference between this process and indus-
trial processes, called production processes. That
Fig. 10. Main operational processes in the underground mine (own elaboration)
Operation processes of mineral dressing and pro-
cessing that may be carried out (usually) on the mine
surface, they are not always part of the main process
implemented in the mine. It is a common practice,
e.g. in the Russian coal mining industry, that coal
processing plants operate as separate plants or even
25
explains implicitly why it is difficult or impossible to
implement directly modern methods of production
management mainly known from the automotive
industry (e.g. Lean Management, Kaizen and others
[7, 11]) - these methods have been developed for
other system of processes. However, this does not
mean that general philosophy of these methods can-
not be applied.
Generally, main operational processes in the un-
derground mine are two groups of actions shown in
Fig. 10.
separate economic entities. Also often due to e.g.
quality parameters of extracted coal, further coal
beneficiation (in fact: cleaning) is not necessary.
Operational mining (extraction) process in the un-
derground mine is always composed of three main
operations (Fig. 11).
26 Mining – Informatics, Automation and Electrical Engineering

Fig. 11. Main operations in extraction process in the underground mine (own elaboration)

It is worth pointing out that this repetitive cycle of 5. GENERALIZED MODEL

operations includes only one operation of technologi-
cal nature – coal cutting. This is a further argument
demonstrating that the main operational process in
the mine – mining/extraction process – is not a pro-
duction process.
Processes related with execution (or advancing) of
roof supports are not considered in the main process.
These are not part of this process, which is explained
in the further part of this article.
OF THE SYSTEM OF PROCESSES
IN THE UNDERGROUND MINE
In the Fig. 12 the generalized model of the system
of processes in the underground mine has been pre-
sented. In the system of operational processes in the
underground mine the auxiliary processes are intend-
ed to maintain the continuity of the mining process
by enabling the repeatability of cycles (wall cutting,
cycle resulting from necessity to shorten/replace the
haulage equipment, cycle resulting from the wall
panel length).

Fig. 12. Generalized model of the system of processes in the underground mine [own elaboration]
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Two groups of auxiliary operational processes in
the underground mine have been identified:
 Auxiliary processes of mining development works
(and sometimes opening works) intended for driv-
age of galleries/headings necessary for preparation
of another exploitation area. Cutting operation by a
shearer loader in the longwall is also considered as
a heading preparation for another wall cut-
ting/extraction cycle.
 Auxiliary processes of the wall reinforcement and
abandonment generally include operations related
with placing (entering) the machines into a new
exploitation area and removal of the machines af-
ter this area has been exploited. However, it also
includes e.g. replacement of autonomous machines
from one face to another in the Room & Pillar
system and, as pointed out by Irresberger [3], ad-
vancing/moving of powered roof supports, ar-
moured face conveyors and beam stage loaders in
the longwall systems.
6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Polish hard coal mines are a specific subset of the
hard coal mines, whose distinguishing feature is mul-
ti-seam, deep exploitation of coal deposits under the
conditions of combined natural threats. With the
increase of the exploitation depth the nature of these
threats is also changing. So far industrial processes
implemented in the Polish underground mines and in
particular in the hard coal mines, have been evolu-
tionarily improved by improving the components of
the former technical system of the mine, created in
the past for the industrial process implementation.
Correct formulation (definition) of the system of
processes of the underground mine should allow for:
 Formulation (definition) of the cost generation
process in the underground mine;
 Creation of the process costing in the under-
ground mine
 Better preparation of employees to participate
and manage this process.
 Better use of knowledge gained from monitor-
ing systems and data collection.
27
 Improvement of the occupational safety by
redefining of the human role in the process.
A broad discussion would be required to assess
whether there are opportunities for evolutionary im-
provement of the system of processes in the Polish
underground mine as a specific subset of mines or if
there is a need to a radical change in the structure of
processes and activities within the industrial process?
Comparative analysis of the system of processes
implemented in the Polish coal mines and similar
mines worldwide point to the existing potential pos-
sibilities for improvement. Repeatability of certain
undesirable phenomena shows that verification of the
model of the system of processes in Polish mines is
necessary both in terms of improving the safety and
the competitiveness!
The presented model of the generalized system of
mine processes can be applied also for the analysis of
the system of processes in other types of mines
(open-pits, borehole mines, etc.).
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The article was reviewed by two independent reviewers.