Paths of Technical Reconstruction of the Technological Surface Complex of Kuzbass Mines

A. T. Martynenko

If the author’s earlier works had as their aim the solution of particular problems connected mainly with the rationalization of the loading-and-storage facilities complex at existing mines, the present work, by its entire content, goes beyond the narrow limits of solving the tasks of today. For the first time, on the basis of a generalization of many years of experience at the mines of Kuzbass, and taking into account the influence of foreign technology, the technical directions of reconstruction of the technological surface complex of Kuzbass mines are considered as a problem of great national-economic significance. Throughout the entire history of the development of coal mines, loading-and-storage facilities were built with the calculation that the operating regime of railway transport for hauling out coal would, as far as possible, not exert an influence; as a result, the technological surface complex at mines has reached the highest complexity.

The fundamental difference between the technological surface complex of mines in the USSR and that abroad consists in the fact that in the USSR the loading facilities of mines are adapted to the operation of railway transport and to the needs of the consuming industry; in foreign practice, on the contrary, railway transport organizes its work in the direction of satisfying the needs of the producing and consuming industries.

On the basis of the material studied, we have come to the conclusion that the technical direction of reconstruction of the technological surface complex of Kuzbass mines must follow its own, entirely new path, different from foreign practice.

Under the conditions of a socialist economy, the producing and consuming industries, as well as railway transport, are equally interested in coordinated, precise work leading to the general rise of the entire national economy.

Considering the problem posed in the full interconnection of the producing and consuming industries, we first of all set as our aim:

1. To increase the efficiency of utilization of Kuzbass coals by the consuming industry.

2. To concentrate the main attention of the producing industry exclusively on the extraction of the useful mineral.

3. To create for railway transport such conditions under which it could ensure uninterrupted, systematic, planned haulage of the useful mineral from the mines of Kuzbass.

In carrying out the above-stated tasks, on the basis of the thorough analysis conducted in this work, we propose for consideration new technical directions for the reconstruction of the technological surface complex of Kuzbass mines. The basic idea of the new technical directions consists in organizational and technical measures comprising the organization, at the exits from Kuzbass, of central distribution warehouses.

Central distribution yards should constitute a unified complex for the qualitative processing and distribution of coals (preparation, sorting, coal blending, briquetting of coal fines with a high ash content, rational use of waste, etc.).

At present, at the existing Kuzbass mines a new technological process has been revived—mechanical coal preparation. Individual preparation plants at mines, which arose after the mines were put into operation, do not always fit conveniently into the general layout of the surface technological complex. As a result, the route of coal transportation on the surface has become longer, the number of transfer points has increased, and new supporting structures have appeared, creating congestion on the mine surface territory. The quality of preparation and the productivity of the equipment of plants separated from the storage yards do not always meet the technological conditions of the development of mine production. The overall labor productivity of the surface technological complex has decreased, if this productivity is considered in relation to a tonne of shipped coal. Such a decrease was to be expected. When there were not yet preparation plants on the mine surface, the personnel servicing the technological complex were concentrated mainly only on loading and storage operations. With the appearance of preparation plants at the mines, the personnel for the coal technological complex increased significantly, while the productivity of the mine as a whole remained the same. On the other hand, the quality of the coal becomes different and better, since mechanical coal preparation reduces the ash content to standard levels.

It is also necessary to take into account the circumstance that individual preparation plants have, to some extent, solved the problem only with respect to coking coals. Power coals remain, to this day, in an unchanged state. Thus, in the transition to a new organizational and technical system, a major production and economic effect should be expected.

The proposed new organizational and technical measures, in addition to increasing the efficiency of the use of Kuzbass coals, provide for a stable system of operation of railway transport for removing coal from the Kuzbass mines, which in essence is decisive for loading-and-storage facilities. Under Kuzbass conditions, with its severe climate, short hauls make it possible to simplify the entire complex of loading-and-storage facilities at the mines, which will increase the labor productivity of the workers servicing the complex. Thus, for example, at present, at one of the largest Kuzbass mines, the technological complex has an increased staff of service personnel. At the same time, labor productivity per worker servicing this complex is about 40 tonnes. For this mine, with the existing personnel and loading-equipment facilities, the established standard time for a route to stand idle under loading is 1.5 hours. In fact, the average idle time at the mine was 3 hours. Consequently, the main reason for this phenomenon is the failure to maintain the schedule for supplying cars to the mine, and this, in turn, caused the presence of an excessive staff of workers servicing this complex.

Thus, the regularity of the operation of railway transport contains the principal reasons for high labor productivity.

In the work, the principal issues in organizing the technological complex of Kuzbass mines are considered sequentially in the direction of new technical conditions satisfying the requirements of production and mining.

effective consumption and in the work of rail transport in the carriage of bulk freight.

Basic principles for organizing the technological surface complex of mines

In the coal industry, the technological process of extracting a mineral may be considered complete only after the finished product on the mine site has been brought to a state in which it can be shipped to consumers, and, moreover, at any moment and on first demand. We take this technological proposition as the basis for organizing the technological surface complex of mines; all other factors, both external and internal, must be subordinated to this initial requirement.

The nature of the organization of the technological surface complex of mines is influenced by a great many factors, which may be divided into two principal groups.

Group 1. Internal factors inherent in the enterprise itself, determined by geological, economic-geographical conditions and by the operating regime of the mining enterprise.

Group 2. External factors that ensure the functional connection between the operation of the mining enterprise and the consumers of coal.

By internal factors one should understand:

a) the climatic conditions in which the coal basin is located, who the principal consumers of the coals of the given deposit are, and what haulage distance is characteristic of the basin;

b) which grades of coal are characteristic of the given basin and what their quality is;

c) what production capacity of mines is characteristic of the coal basin, and what the operating regime of the mines is for bringing the mineral to the surface.

Let us consider the above-mentioned factors in more detail.

Economic-geographical factor

In the practice of the operation of coal mines in Kuzbass, almost daily, at certain periods of the year, we observe the untimely supply of cars for loading. This can be explained by two reasons: first, the delay occurred for reasons of natural disaster; second, for reasons of an operational nature in the work of rail transport. The first reason is not characteristic, since natural disasters, even under the conditions of the severe Siberian climate, are a rare phenomenon. The second reason is a reality that makes itself felt almost every day. We see the most objective aspect of the second reason in the distance of coal haulage.

Thus, for example, if we take the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine, it can receive coking coals from three basins—Karaganda, Kuzbass, and Donbass. Given the varying length of coal haulage routes and, moreover, the sharply changing climatic conditions, delays in haulage will inevitably occur, which will cause certain changes in the organizational forms of the operation of rail transport; and this, in turn, must lead to an increase in the relative capacity of mineral stockpiles at the mines. Studying the operating regime of rail transport for coal haulage under Siberian conditions, we have every reason to assert that a sharp change in climate entails a certain disruption in the normal operation of rail transport even with route shipments,

which contributes to large accumulations of coal at mine storage yards. True, the accumulation of coal at storage yards also occurs because of other factors of an external order, which will be discussed below.

In the Kuznetsk coal basin the following picture may be observed. If coking coals are taken as 100%, then one half are consumed by local coke-chemical plants; i.e., in this case the haulage distance amounts to only tens of kilometers. Steam coals, in their main mass, are shipped out of Kuzbass; here the haulage distance is very great and, in individual cases, amounts to tens of hundreds of kilometers. This circumstance is very important and is taken into account by us below in the arrangement of central distribution storage yards at the exits from Kuzbass.

Quality of the coals mined by the mines

Here we have in mind, first of all, the presence of different grades of coal and the need to set up sorting facilities and preparation plants. It is enough to examine the technological complex of the surface of one of the anthracite mines of Donbass, and we will note the development of loading-and-storage facilities and the specific character of the transport equipment. And if one also takes into account that the consumers of various size classes of coal are many, and that they must be provided with route loading, then it becomes entirely clear that this factor imposes a constructive and organizational imprint on the technological complex. In the Karaganda coal basin, where the ash content of the coals is high, all coals mined by the mines pass through a central preparation plant of dry and wet processes. Therefore the capacity of the loading-and-storage facilities must be minimal, and the organization of coal transport to the plant must fit into the simplest schemes; on the other hand, the loading-and-storage facilities at the preparation plant receive the highest phase of technical complexity. Under the conditions of Kuzbass, very many mines produce different grades of coal that are not subject to mixing. If, under the conditions of shipment, a route must be loaded with only one grade of coal, then, consequently, the loading-and-storage facilities must ensure these requirements in their operation.

At present the mines of Kuzbass mine many different grades of coal used for coking purposes and as steam coal. If average data for recent years are taken, it may be noted that a considerable quantity of coal for coking purposes is shipped from the total output of Kuzbass to the coke-chemical industry. In the future, one must bear in mind the steady increase in the percentage of coking coals in the total output of Kuzbass; therefore the coke-chemical and metallurgical plants of the Urals and the East will have to be primary consumers of coal, even in comparison with the largest consumers of steam coals at the present time.

As is known, when coals are shipped to consumers, the quality aspect of the minerals is of exceptional importance. Here there are a great many misunderstandings, on the one hand because of the variability of the ash content of the seams worked by the mines, given the general backwardness of preparation in Kuzbass; on the other hand, because of organizational difficulties in terms of maintaining a certain constancy of the required blend, which is a combination of individual grades of coal mined by different mines of Kuzbass. All this, taken together, is very strongly reflected in the quality of the products of plants consuming Kuzbass coals, complicates the technological process of the plants, etc. In turn, such work by the mines, from the quality standpoint, is characterized by an increased percentage of rejects.

In some cases, an increase in the ash content of coal by trusts, under the existing state of affairs with preparation plants, may also be expected in the future, owing to an increase in the share in output of seams with higher ash content, as occurred in 1942.

Thus, in order to ensure the constant quality of coals shipped to consumers for coking purposes, it is necessary for mines to have a well-organized preparation system. Because of the natural conditions of mineral deposits, in Kuzbass they have managed with the simplest coal preparation (manual picking of waste rock from the coarse sizes), and only in recent years has mechanical preparation begun to be introduced; in the future, it must be assumed, the need for mechanical preparation will increase many times over. Here the question immediately arises as to where it is more expedient to carry out this independent technological process—at the mines or at central storage yards. If this question is considered together with other requirements concerning coal quality, such as: constancy of charge, classification, briquetting of coal fines with a high ash percentage, preservation of identical mechanical properties of the coals, etc., then it is clear that all this technological processing of minerals is considerably more expediently carried out at central storage yards, without burdening the mines with this work. Another matter is the extent to which this can be fully implemented at the present time; but, by force of necessity, we are compelled to arrive at this sooner or later.

One of the principal shortcomings of coals shipped for coking purposes is their insufficient stability with respect to coking capacity. These fluctuations, under the existing state of affairs, when these grades, as they leave the mine, are directly loaded into railcars and dispatched to consumers, are the natural consequence of insufficiently strict observance of the planned participation of individual seams in the total output for a given mine grade. Since, in the overwhelming majority of cases, a mine grade includes from 3 to 5 or more seams differing in their coking properties, the fluctuations in the indices of coking capacity of commercial coals received by the plants may reach considerable magnitudes. It is quite obvious that this circumstance cannot fail to affect coke quality, since the coke charges of plants are composed with allowance for definite coking indices of the coals charged into them. In addition, in the operating practice of some mines there have been cases of mixing coking coals with oxidized coals, which inevitably also caused a sharp deterioration in the coking properties of the coals of that batch. On the other hand, mines, striving to meet the assigned plan with respect to coal grades, very often take the path of least resistance; that is, instead of naturally adding other grades of coal to the charge, they supply the leading grades, which leads to a general depletion of their reserves.

Consequently, even coking coals, which are in more favorable conditions in terms of technical supervision, are a subject of daily concern for mine managers, since in essence Kuzbass must supply the coke industry with coal not only in the required quantity, but also of appropriate quality in the full sense of the word. The mines must provide the plants with the planned participation of seams in output for a given mine grade in a strictly maintained order, and not only for such a period of time as a month, but daily. This requirement of the consuming industry must, unquestionably, be satisfied by the Kuzbass mines, and in this respect central storage yards must come to their aid.

If we consider, in this section, the claims made by consumers of Kuzbass steam coals, then here one may note a complete unfavorable situation with respect to the quality of the shipped marketable coals. In particular, the major consumers of Kuzbass steam coals are the railways, plants, power stations, and others, and all of them impose certain requirements for the supply of fuel of constant quality. But, unfortunately, under the existing state of coal processing, Kuzbass is unable to satisfy all consumer requirements, owing to the absence of proper conditions for creating the required blends even of a single grade of coal but with different ash contents, not to mention complex blends—the so-called artificial fuel mixtures—for which there is already a demand at present and which, undoubtedly, will increase in the future.

Pulverized fuel for a number of thermal power stations, chiefly in Western Siberia, has a significant share in steam fuel. At present the suppliers of this type of fuel are a very limited number of Kuzbass mines, whereas, with the existence of central storage yards, the number of such mines would undoubtedly be expanded by properly organizing coal blending on a strictly scientific basis of laboratory investigations.

Capacity and operating regime of a mine in delivering coal to the surface

Extraction of a mineral at mines may take place in 2 or 3 shifts, with an interrupted or continuous week. If it is assumed that mines work in 3 shifts, with short breaks between shifts and with a continuous week, then the flow of coal arriving at the surface, under conditions of normal mine operation, is continuous, but not uniformly distributed over the course of the day (the operating time of the hoist), owing to a whole series of specific conditions of mining operations. Thus, for example, the instruction on cyclicity, approved by order of the NKTP No. 467 of 5.XI—1938, indicated that during the first shift up to 40% of the daily output of the mines was to be delivered, and consequently in the subsequent shifts the intensity of extraction would be lower. On the basis of our observations at the mines of the Prokopyevskugol trust in February 1943, the distribution of coal delivery by shifts was, respectively, 20, 40, 40%. In 1945 the distribution was approximately uniform; thus, for example, the Stalin Mine gave 35, 33, and 32%. In July 1940, a decree of the Economic Council under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR provided for the possibility of transferring mine work to an interrupted week, i.e., in this case on days off the mines do not produce coal.

Thus, as we see, the operating regime of mines for delivering coal to the surface is not stable over time, i.e., over the period of complete working of a production unit. As for the capacity of mines, it may change in the direction of increase.

Thus, the factors considered above, to a certain degree, already establish the principal technical direction for the reconstruction of the technological surface complex of Kuzbass mines.

In any case, if the first two factors—the consumer and coal quality—determine the nature of the technological complex of mines, then the latter, in combination with external factors, which are considered below, determine the productivity of the transport-and-loading equipment.

Turning to the question of considering the external factors that determine chiefly the technique of developing the operation of railway transport for the carriage of bulk freight, we must note the following.

Operating Regime of Railway Transport

Upon careful study of this question, we have come to the conclusion that, in the main, the railway supplies cars to the mines according to two systems—the timetable system and the notification system.

The timetable system is the most widespread in Kuzbass, and this is quite understandable, since these conditions most fully meet the technological requirements of the operating regime of a mining enterprise. Of the five trusts we surveyed, four received cars according to a timetable, and only the trust “Molotovugol” received cars by notification. It must be noted that in its work the railway very often falls behind the timetable, and if it does not then clearly shift to another system with a definite time interval for advance notification, this disorganizes the normal operation of the mines’ loading-and-storage facilities. The chief task of any system is to provide the mines with the necessary interval of time to prepare the required quantity of coal for timely loading of the cars. Since the system is disrupted, the mines are forced to keep cars under loading much longer than would be required under normal conditions.

According to the materials at our disposal (questionnaires), violations of the regime for supplying cars to mines are a widespread phenomenon in Kuzbass. Even the most highly mechanized loading-and-storage facilities of the mines (named after Stalin) are not in a position to cope with this difficulty, to say nothing of mines that do not have unified loading-and-storage facilities.

Our observations have established that mines very often do not ensure timely loading of a given batch of cars not because they lack the possibility of doing so owing to the presence of equipment, but because the dispatching service of the railways and coal trusts is organized unsatisfactorily. A certain disorder that exists in the distribution of empty cars during the day among the trusts and mines of Kuzbass, causing “batch-like” delivery of cars to one and the same mine, is sometimes explained by the need for particular grades of coal. Such an explanation has no foundation, since it is well known that in Kuzbass the same grade of coal is mined not by one, but by several mines. Therefore, with the proper organization of the matter, it is always possible, at the required moment, to make the corresponding allocation, thereby ensuring for the mines the necessary minimum of time to prepare the appropriate quantity of coal for subsequent loading. As for the railways, with good communications it presents absolutely no difficulty for them to notify the trusts in good time of the movement along the subsequent routes.

Thus, this factor is often organizational in character and can be eliminated by the joint efforts of the workers of the dispatching services of the railways and the trusts. Therefore it is necessary to insist persistently that, in organizing the removal of coal from the mines of Kuzbass, this factor be a necessary condition, without which, generally speaking, any more or less normal operation of a mining enterprise is unthinkable. After all, in the final analysis, one cannot, at the expense of imperfect organizational forms of work of the dispatching service, proceed to the technical complication of the equipment of the main technological complex of the mine surface. It is an entirely different matter when the question concerns the general shortage of rolling stock of railway cars for the transportation of bulk freight on the scale of the Union.

Thus, as we see, the operating regime of railway transport in supplying cars exerts a great influence on the organization of the technological complex of the mine surface, both in the sense of strictly organizational ...

measures, as well as technical ones; moreover, in the present case, technical measures for many mines are almost insurmountable without substantial reconstruction of the equipment.

Quantitative Irregularity

The railroad can supply cars in a quantity equivalent to the productivity of the mines, or, with some coefficient of irregularity, cover shortages over the course of a day, week, or month. In the first years of new mine construction it was assumed that rail transport would provide the coal industry with cars for removing the mineral at a coefficient of daily irregularity of 1.25. These conditions determined the capacity of the transport equipment for reverse delivery of coal from mine stockpiles¹ and even the relative capacity of storage facilities. Subsequent operating experience showed the inadequacy of the adopted assumptions in both respects, because in fact the railroad operated with a much higher coefficient of irregularity, which contributed to large accumulations of coal in mine stockpiles.

We have previously indicated that the accumulation of coal in mine stockpiles occurs at certain periods of the year not only because of the climatic features of the coal regions of the USSR (snowdrifts and blizzards in winter, spring floods, etc.), but also because of the shortfall in tonnage of cars for coal haulage. Taken together, all this gives rise to quantitative irregularity in the supply of rolling stock—railroad cars—to mines. The quantitative irregularity experienced by Kuzbass mines is common to all branches of the national economy that, to one degree or another, are connected in their work with mass shipment of their products to consumers.

Our many years of study of this question show quite clearly that, chiefly because of the general shortfall in railroad cars for the transport of bulk freight, a considerable quantity of finished products accumulates from month to month at enterprises, including mining enterprises, and must be stored in stockpiles. Turning specifically to the operating conditions of mines, we must say that they cannot have mineral stockpiles of unlimited capacity, since, generally speaking, long-term storage of coal at mines is in no way connected with the production technology of a mining enterprise. Moreover, long-term storage of large quantities of mineral at mines requires appropriate technical supervision and, consequently, staff; it diverts the attention of coal-industry workers from their main task—extraction. Therefore, the desire to expand stockpiles at mines, and moreover to do so with their complete mechanization, is in no way justified. Many mine managers to this day consider it necessary, in this matter, to proceed along the path of expanding existing stockpiles at mines. Such a point of view can hardly be considered expedient, if only because such a solution will not reflect the entire range of issues connected with the storage and qualitative processing of minerals. The most fundamental solution to this question may be the creation of so-called central stockpiles for groups of mines and trusts, with their separation into an independent organizational unit, intermediate between the producing industry and consumers. To whom it will be organiza-

tionally coordinated—this, strictly speaking, has no significance for mines, and even less for the technological surface complex. But without reserve storage yards, even of very limited capacity, it is, of course, impossible to conceive the problem of organizing coal haulage from Kuzbass mines, if only because storage facilities, together with loading structures of the bunker and hopper type, must be regarded as a single mine complex intended for continuing the production process of extracting the mineral.

Weight Standards for Shipments

Coal mines dispatch their output in block trains. Block trains are, in every respect, in more favorable conditions. Here we observe a more precise operation of railway transport in supplying cars, a certain constancy of car types, and also a comparatively satisfactory organization of loading work at these mines. It should be noted that block-train shipments, especially circular routes, constitute the most convenient form of organizing coal haulage from Kuzbass mines. Unfortunately, this form of haulage organization is not permanent.

Naturally, with the introduction of mechanization into the loading-and-storage facilities of mines, the weight standards of block-train shipments also steadily increase. If in the first half of 1930–1940 the greatest weight of a dispatching block train was 600–800 t net, then in the second half the weight standards increased substantially.

At present, in Kuzbass the weight standard of block-train shipments has risen sharply and shows a tendency toward further steady growth. Therefore, the intensity of coal loading at mines must satisfy the ever-increasing needs of railway transport operations. Where central storage yards are present, changes in the weight standards of railway block-train shipments will have no effect on the loading-and-storage facilities of mines. The haulage of coal from Kuzbass mines to central storage yards is assumed to be by short-haul service trains, which will have constant weight standards established once and for all for the mines in accordance with their production capacity.

Idle Time of Cars on Mine Access Tracks

In the overall work of railway transport in carrying bulk freight, coal occupies an important place; therefore, strictly limited time must be allotted for car idle time at mines. A slight increase in car idle time at mines, on the scale of the coal industry of the Union alone, causes enormous damage to our national economy, not to mention that it to a certain extent disrupts the normal operation of railway transport. If twenty years ago, given the state of equipment of mine loading-and-storage facilities, it was considered quite normal for cars to stand on access tracks for 15–20 hours, then with the introduction of new principles for organizing loading-and-storage facilities on the basis of mechanization, the picture has changed sharply. We now have the possibility of loading heavy-weight block trains in 1.5–2 hours.

As a general rule, a heavy-weight block train assigned to a given trust is loaded not from one mine, but from two and even three simultaneously.

Loading a block train in parts simultaneously at several mines requires a certain precision in the switching service of the transport departments of the trusts. In this respect, some trusts, displaying good efficiency in switching work, have achieved a reduction of time for individ-

operations from 30 to 45%. This is very important, especially in our period of great communist construction projects. In all cases, according to contracts, about 50% of the total time that cars remain on access tracks is allotted to, and in fact spent on, shunting work, with the exception of some mines where, owing to insufficient output, the actual idle time of cars under loading far exceeded the total time of shunting operations. The necessity of “scattering” the route among several mines is in many cases caused by a disruption of the railway transport schedule for supplying cars to the mines. Therefore, in order to avoid car demurrage, the transport departments of the Kuzbass trusts are compelled, by necessity, to adapt themselves.

Work practice shows that, provided railway transport operates satisfactorily in supplying cars to the mines, there is every possibility of reducing the total idle time of cars during shunting operations connected with the placement and assembling of cars. In addition, in the standards for individual operations during the stay of cars on access tracks there are still time reserves that can be uncovered through proper relations between the loading departments of the mines and the transport departments of the trusts, with due operational efficiency in the work.

Thus, we have examined factors of an external character which, to one degree or another, affect the organization of the technological complex of the mine surface and are taken into account by us in developing new technical directions.

Selection of Technical Directions

The factors determining the conditions for organizing the technological complex of the surface of mines in the USSR differ sharply from those adopted in foreign practice.

If in the Soviet Union the starting point is considered to be the reduction of car demurrage and, as a consequence, the necessity of constructing coal storage facilities, then in foreign practice, on the contrary, the possibility of unlimited demurrage of cars under loading is taken as the premise, which makes it possible not to build storage facilities at mines. If output is not removed, the operation of the mine may be suspended. Loading coal from current production directly into cars does not require the construction of bunkers and storage facilities at most foreign mines.

This distinctive feature is very conspicuous in the USA, but it is also present in other capitalist countries. In American practice, delays of cars are not considered at all. Car demurrage for several days and even weeks is a common phenomenon.

The reason for prolonged car demurrage abroad lies in the irreconcilable contradictions of the capitalist economy, which do not permit the rational use of the means of production because of crises and competition. Comrade L. M. Kaganovich, in his speech at a conference of railway transport workers in April 1935, pointed out that “in America many railroads, in the competitive struggle for the client, are compelled to allow cars to stand idle while awaiting loading. Moreover, as a result of the crisis they have more cars than freight to be transported.”

The same situation exists in England, France, and other capitalist countries. Irrational use of rolling stock under the conditions of the socialist economy of the USSR cannot be permitted.

The absence of coal storage facilities at mines, and in connection with this the simpler surface arrangements, are explained by the fact that the capitalist entrepreneur is interested only in profit and will readily agree to shutting down a mine if this does not affect his dividends.

Contracts with railroads provide for payment by the railway companies of all losses due to failure to supply cars or to delays in haulage. For this reason, in capitalist countries bunkers and storage yards are not built; in the event of a failure to supply cars, the mine is shut down.

Forced idleness, as a rule, is not paid to the workers, and all other losses are charged to the railroad company. To a certain extent, the absence of storage yards at mines is also determined by the climatic conditions (absence of snowdrifts) and the territorial conditions of a number of countries. For example, England is characterized by short coal hauls.

The character of surface equipment is influenced by the use of water transport. When coal is transported by water, instead of storage yards at mines, large central storage yards are built in ports; for example, in the USA there are two docks specially for hard coal in the harbor of Duluth. In some cases special river ports are equipped for transshipment of coal.

The conditions governing the organization of loading-and-storage installations at coal mines in the USSR proceed from other principles, fundamentally different from those of the capitalist economy. Socialist production is built on the basis of the planned, rational use of all means of production, and in this light the question of accelerating the turnover of rolling stock and reducing car downtime is of exceptional importance.

Of substantial importance in this matter is also the insufficient number of cars in the railway network in connection with the rapidly growing and developing socialist industry. The construction of mine storage yards is determined by differences in climatic and territorial conditions and by the fact that, for socialist industry, the shutdown of a mine because of a delay in cars is inadmissible.

Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Professor A. O. Spivakovsky (“Mining Journal”—1929, No. 12), comparing the cost of a storage yard with the losses that the state would incur if a mine were stopped because of the absence of cars, comes to the conclusion that the expenditures on equipment pay for themselves when it operates 8–10 days a year. The aggregate of the indicated circumstances determines a substantial difference in the organization of the technological complex of mine surfaces in the USSR and in capitalist countries. Therefore our conditions differ sharply from those of capitalist countries and require their own, entirely different approaches to solving these questions.

The development of storage-yard operations in foreign practice is proceeding mainly in the direction of building large plant, port, and commercial coal storage yards.

At coke and gas plants, at power stations, and at other enterprises one can see fully mechanized storage yards of large capacity.

Thus, for example, the Illinois coke plant in Gary (USA) has a storage yard with a capacity of 600,000 t; the storage-yard capacity at The Johnston and Tube Co. plant near Chicago is 300,000 t, and at the Carnegie Steel Co. plant in Clairton a storage yard for 250,000 t of coal has been built.

The equipment of such storage yards, expensive and metal-intensive, is designed for a long service life and is distinguished by high productivity, reaching more than 1000 t/h.

At large plants and in ports, the equipment used consists mainly of grab unloaders and cranes of the most varied design; at gas plants and power stations, scraper storage yards have become fairly widespread.

For central anthracite depots in the USA, conical Dodge stockpiles are used. For long-term storage of coals prone to spontaneous combustion, where favorable conditions exist, underwater storage facilities are arranged in a number of cases.

Large central depots nevertheless do not completely eliminate the installation of coal depots at mines, the need for which is associated with marketing crises.

Abroad, these depots are regarded as temporary, which determines a certain primitiveness in their design.

Main Features of Organizational and Technical Measures

1. The loading-and-storage facilities of mines are oriented toward permanent coal-shipping points located at relatively short distances from the mines.

2. Such points are central depots, coal complexes, whose location is determined by the freight flows of the principal consumers. Central depots are a complex facility for the technological processing of the mineral in accordance with consumer requirements; their tasks also include the long-term storage of coal in large quantities.

3. Railway transport reorganizes its work in removing coal from Kuzbass in accordance with the new organizational and technical tasks:

a) a special service is established to provide short-haul transport of coal from the mines to the central depots,

b) a service of routed coal shipments is established for the principal consuming plants.

In order to reduce transfer operations, coal consumers within Kuzbass receive fuel directly from the mines by the railway transport of the short-haul service, by way of rerouting, if the quality of the coals does not require corresponding processing.

1. Organizationally, central depots are independent production-and-technical enterprises.

2. In accordance with the principal organizational and technical forms of coal removal from the mines of Kuzbass, the loading-and-storage facilities at the mines are transformed into a single technological surface complex, whose main task is the primary processing of the mineral and its mechanized loading into railway cars.

Technological Complex at Mines

A coal mine is a production unit of the extractive industry; therefore its main task is the extraction of coal in its natural state. Since the mining systems employed and the condition of the roof cause mechanical contamination of the mineral with rock, the surface technological complex must have the simplest technical means that improve the quality of the mineral.

The simplest methods of coal beneficiation should consist of picking tables installed in the common transport line leading to the loading points. For high-ash coals intended for special purposes, as an exception, it is possible in the surface technological complex at the mine to use mechanical beneficiation on pneumatic separators. Mechanical beneficiation at mines is regarded by us as a transitional variant, since this function of coal processing will subsequently be transferred to central depots. Since the removal of coal from mines to central depots is carried out by a special short-haul transport service in

permanent points, the loading facilities of mines must be low-capacity, but highly productive.

High productivity is determined by reducing the time standards for loading operations in order to increase the turnover coefficient of the fleet of railway cars, which is a necessary condition in the system of a socialist economy.

The highest productivity in unloading coal into railway cars is provided by bunkers, which we also accept, together with small-capacity storage yards built according to the scheme of a single interconnection of high productivity, as the principal method of mechanizing loading operations.

A certain reserve of capacity in loading facilities is determined mainly by the operating regime of mines when delivering to the surface different grades of coal or seams of unequal ash content, oxidation, etc., which are not subject to mixing. In addition, a certain capacity ensures the accumulation of the required quantity of identical batches of coal when dispatched from the mines, which simplifies the work of the railway transport of the short-haul service.

The climatic conditions of the severe Siberian climate may cause some disruption in transport operations, even in the short-haul service; but since this phenomenon is rare and of short duration, the coal can be placed on the same area in an elevated stack, which will not create a danger of spontaneous combustion owing to the short duration of this phenomenon.

Thus, the principal purpose of the technological complex at a mine, in the new understanding, should consist of the following:

1. Primary processing of coal (simple beneficiation by picking out barren rock from coarse classes).

2. Transportation of coal to loading points, ensuring complete independence of the work of mines in delivering different grades of coal and seams that are not subject to mixing, and their separate shipment.

3. Complete mechanization of loading operations of high productivity.

Labor productivity

The proposed new technical directions for reconstructing the technological surface complex of Kuzbass mines should ultimately yield a significant increase in the labor productivity of the workers servicing the complex. Considering existing mines in this respect, we observe excessively inflated staffs of service personnel. The main causes of this phenomenon should be considered to be:

1. The absence of regular operation of railway transport in supplying cars to the mines, as a result of which the bulk of the coal passes through storage yards. Under such conditions, the utilization coefficient of the existing bunker capacity is extremely low. The transport-and-mechanical equipment of coal storage yards, when loading bunkers are present at mines and railway transport operates regularly, should be loaded minimally. In practice, the storage-yard equipment is in continuous operation, and a large staff of workers has to be maintained to service it. However, even with inflated staffs servicing the bunkers and storage yards, car idle time at the mines far exceeds the established standards.

As an example, let us consider one of the Kuzbass mines, No. 2 (see Table 1). The mine has bunker capacity of 1000 t with a daily output of 2000 t. It would seem that all the conditions exist for the timely dispatch of one batch of cars with a capacity of 700 t, and nevertheless the average actual idle time at this mine was 2.9 hours instead of 1.5 hours. The same picture, unfortunately, is also observed at other mines.

Consequently, the inflated staffing of service personnel for bunkers and storage yards at Kuzbass mines is due chiefly to the operating regime of rail transport in supplying cars. Under the severe conditions of the Siberian climate, and with the long distances over which coal is hauled, delays in the delivery of cars to the mines can always occur.

Therefore, an increase in the labor productivity of workers in the loading-and-storage facilities complex will be directly dependent on the operating regime of rail transport for removing coal from the Kuzbass mines. Under present conditions of material equipment, rail transport can ensure a stable operating regime only over short distances of coal haulage.

1. In addition to the factors indicated above, the perfection of loading-and-storage facility layouts will also have a major influence on increasing labor productivity.

Below (Table 1) we give the staffing of service personnel by category for three Kuzbass mines whose loading-and-storage facilities differ from one another in their layouts.

Table 1

In this case mine No. 2 has the smallest staff of service personnel; however, with large bunker capacity and complete mechanization of coal transport, provided rail transport operates regularly, the service personnel can be reduced still more substantially. The highest productivity pertains to mine No. 1 (40 t per worker in the complex), and this is such a low productivity that it does not seem possible to take it as a standard. This table also points to the fact that, through rationalization and, in part, reconstruction of the loading-and-storage facilities of Kuzbass mines, labor productivity can be raised considerably.

New equipment layouts for the technological surface complex, providing for a constant operating regime of rail transport in removing coal from the Kuzbass mines, require minimal staffing of service personnel. Below we give the staffing (Tables 2, 3, 4) and labor productivity for three basic equipment layouts.

Table 2

Scheme 1—trestle-scraper semi-bunker complex

Table 3

Scheme 2—bunkers with scraper storage

Table 4

Scheme 3—bunkerless complex

Thus, labor productivity can be significantly increased:

1) by the proper ordering of the scheme of the technological surface complex at existing mines, which will make it possible to increase labor productivity by 2–2.5 times;

2) with the transition to precise, regular operation of rail transport in supplying cars to the mines, with the aid of a short-haul service, labor productivity can be increased to 500% in relation to the maximum that exists at the present time.

Basic Variant of the Technological Surface Complex at Mines

The loading facilities of mines consist of an ordinary railway bunker with an elevated gallery-and-scraper storage yard, as the most economical in terms of capital costs and operating expenses. The proposed combination of a bunker with an elevated scraper storage yard is encountered most frequently at Kuzbass mines and shows a tendency toward wider adoption. Therefore we propose the given equipment scheme (Fig. 1), developed in relation to the new technical conditions for hauling coal from mines, which has the following advantages.

1. The scheme may be implemented as a purely semi-bunker or as a proper bunker variant, which gives it flexibility in terms of the breadth of its dissemination at Kuzbass mines.

2. Such a scheme provides for a sequence in the development of bunker structures and storage facilities. This is very important, since here reserves of free areas are immediately provided in case it becomes necessary to develop bunkers and storage yards at the mines.

3. The arrangement of the transport equipment in the scheme is such that it ensures great flexibility in operation, for example:

a) one grade of coal enters the bunkers from the mine;

b) one grade of coal from the mine enters the storage yard, while at the same time another grade enters the bunkers from the storage yard;

c) coal of the same grade enters the bunkers simultaneously from the mine and from the storage yard;

d) coal of different grades from the mine enters the bunkers and the storage yard, while at the same time a third grade is issued from the storage yard to the bunkers.

To ensure these tasks, the bunkers and storage yards must have the necessary conditions for the separate accumulation of coal by grade. Under the condition of a constant operating schedule of rail transport for supplying cars to the mines, which is adopted as uniform for all mines attached to the central storage yards, the capacity of the bunkers must be minimal.

The weight of the batch of cars supplied to the mines is recommended to be taken as 500–1500 net tons, depending on the production capacity of the mines and the profile of the approach track.

As was already indicated above, the coal storage yard at the mine must be of small capacity and must meet the technological conditions of the mine’s work in delivering coal to the surface. The capacity of the storage yard should not exceed a three-day reserve, i.e., for the largest mines of Kuzbass this amounts to about 25 thousand tons. Taking into account the short-term storage of coal at the mine, the stack height should be taken as no less than 6 m. Under these conditions the elevated storage yard is 160 m long. For dragging coal over the storage area, stationary scraper installations or mobile-type installations are used. Normally, the operation of scraper installations in the storage yard is reduced to dragging coal from the ends of the primary cones under the elevated structure to the discharge hatches of the transport gallery. In case of winch breakdowns, coal is dragged over the storage area.

Fig. 1

II variant of a reversible-conveyor arrangement

I variant of a reversible-conveyor arrangement

Coal feed from the storage bin to the concentrating device

Fig. 2

Receiving bunkers and preparation device.

Fig. 3

The technological complex considered for the basic variant, as was already indicated above, may be a pure semi-bunker complex. In this case, the capacity of the conveyor loading transport must be high.

Transitional Variant

This variant has been developed with preparation devices. In developing the variant, the following was taken into account:

1. Coal delivered from the mine may pass through preparation either completely or partially. In the event of an accident involving the machines of the preparation plant, the coal must be dispatched in the normal manner. For this purpose, a removable bar screen is provided ahead of the crusher.

2. Unprepared coal located in the storage facility must be able to go from the storage facility to preparation.

3. When shipping unprepared coal from the storage facility, provision must be made for the possibility of removing waste rock from the coarse classes.

4. Provision must be made for the possibility of shipping coal from the mines’ current output directly, bypassing the storage facility.

Taking into account the fact that trestles are more widespread at the mines of Kuzbass, the transitional variant is considered in two types:

1. With a scraper sectional storage facility (Fig. 2).

2. With a trestle gallery-scraper storage facility (Fig. 3). In both cases, coal is loaded into railroad cars through loading hoppers.

Capital Costs for the Basic Variant

Capital costs for the basic variant are divided into two parts.

1. The portion of capital costs that does not depend on the capacity of the mine and consists of the cost of erecting connecting trestles, galleries, and conveyor transport in this structure.

2. The portion of capital costs that depends on the capacity of the mine and, in essence, consists of the cost of bunker and storage facilities and their transport-mechanical equipment.

Using the methodology for calculating capital costs set forth in the author’s work “Selection of the Most Rational Types of Loading-and-Storage Facilities for Kuzbass Mines,” 1944, below we present a graph showing the dependence of capital costs for the equipment of the loading complex on mine capacity (Fig. 4).

In the calculation it was assumed:

1) the cost of transport equipment for bunkers is from 4 to 8 rubles per ton of capacity, depending on how many belt conveyors are installed;

2) the cost of transport-mechanical equipment is 10 rubles per ton of storage capacity, taking the capacity of 1 running meter of trestle storage as 150 t;

3) bunkers, trestles, and transport galleries are of reinforced-concrete construction;

4) the cost of reinforced-concrete construction per ton of bunker capacity is 350 rubles, and for single-gallery trestles, 6 rubles.

Connecting trestles, depending on height, cost 650 and 820 rubles per running meter; underground transport galleries, 250 rubles per running meter.

Thus, the cost of bunkers with transport equipment per ton of capacity is 358 rubles, and that of trestle gallery-scraper storage facilities, 16 rubles.

Analyzing the data of the graph, the following conclusions may be drawn:

1. The share of fixed costs decreases as mine capacity increases.

1. Capital costs, as mine capacity increases, grow faster for storage facilities than for bunker structures.

2. For mines with a productivity of up to 6000 tons per day, trestle gallery–scraper storage yards of reinforced-concrete construction are advantageous for independent use as semi-bunker installations; within the indicated limits of mine production capacity they are an economically expedient supplement to bunkers.

Fig. 4

The comparatively high cost of the loading-and-storage equipment complex at the mine is due to the complexity of the transport-and-mechanical equipment adopted in calculating the variant, and also to the fact that the reinforced-concrete structure of the gallery trestle is in itself an expensive facility.

Central Storage Yards for Mineral Resources

1. Central storage yards must be independent organizational and technical enterprises, intermediate between the producing and the consuming industries. The tasks of central storage yards should include: a) long-term storage of coal, b) coal blending, c) classification, d) beneficiation, e) briquetting of coal fines with a high ash content, f) rational utilization of waste.

1. The development of the technological complex of central storage yards is to be carried out gradually. The first stage should provide for long-term storage of coal by grades and for simple coal blending. Further development of central storage yards into a complex installation is to be carried out with due regard to the prospects for development of the industry consuming Kuzbass coal.

2. Since central storage yards carry out the technological processing of coal in the interests of the highest efficiency in its use by the consuming industry, consumers should therefore be more greatly interested in the organization of such storage yards.

3. Central storage yards may be of a general or a special character. A general storage yard receives all the coal from the mines assigned to that yard, processes it technologically, and stores it in a common mass for all consumers of Kuzbass coal. Special storage yards should have a purely consumer-oriented character, for example, central storage yards for the MPS, the coke-chemical industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, power stations, etc.

4. Proceeding from considerations of national economic interests, it is more expedient in Kuzbass to have central storage yards located at the exits from Kuzbass in accordance with the freight flows. General central storage yards should produce a major effect in terms of the use of fuel waste, the uniform distribution of high-quality coals among consumers, the unified arrangement of the technological process, coal processing, etc., which will equally determine the interest of consumers of Kuzbass coal in the smooth operation of the entire complex of central storage yards.

5. The haulage of coal from mines to central storage yards is carried out according to a schedule drawn up separately for each given mine, in accordance with the productivity of the mines. In individual cases, cars may be supplied to mines on request.

6. In order to reduce the turnover of cars in the transportation of coal from mines to central storage yards, the weight of the supplied batch of cars, depending on the daily productivity of the mines, is established as follows:

Character of the Equipment of Storage Yards

1. The transport-and-mechanical equipment of central storage yards must be calculated for the normal daily output of the mines assigned to the given storage yards, with their total capacity not less than a monthly reserve.

2. The principal transport-and-mechanical equipment of central storage yards should be powerful scraper installations and belt conveyors, as having already proved themselves from the technical standpoint.

3. In view of the conditions of transport and loading operations, central storage yards must have a greater throughput capacity, ensuring trouble-free operation of all mechanisms both for receiving coal from the mines and for shipping it to consumers.

4. Proceeding from the conditions of the intensity of freight flows and the comparatively equal lengths of coal hauls, it is expedient in Kuzbass to have four central storage yards.

In Southern Kuzbass.

The 1st storage yard—for steam coals of grades SS, DO and for coking grades K, K₁ and K₂, with a total capacity of 1900 thousand tons.

2nd warehouse—for steam and coking coals of grades T and PZh, with a total capacity of 500 thousand tons.

In Northern Kuzbass.

1 warehouse—for steam and coking coals of grades G and DO, with a total capacity of 510 thousand tons.

2 warehouses—for coals of grades SS, PS, and K, with a total capacity of 250 thousand tons.

1. The capacity of the transport-and-mechanical equipment of the central warehouses for receiving coal into storage is determined by the intensity of train arrivals at the warehouses.

2. Cars should be unloaded into bunker pits located beneath the railway tracks.

Coal is shipped to consumers according to the scheme of open bunkering, whose transport-and-mechanical equipment is arranged on the principle of a fail-safe system.

The arrangement of central warehouses proposed by the author undoubtedly requires comprehensive detailed elaboration.

The absolute capacity of the central warehouses for economic calculations has been adopted with a large reserve. Generally speaking, warehouse capacity may be increased; for this it is necessary to adopt layouts that allow the successive development of sections.

Capital expenditures, as shown by the technical-and-economic calculations, average 13 rubles per 1 t of useful warehouse capacity.

The attraction of industrial capital for the construction of central warehouses should be proportional to consumption.

The organization of coal haulage from Kuzbass mines is initially envisaged according to two systems:

1. Coal is dispatched directly from the mines to consumers in block trains.

2. Coal from the mines is first hauled in special trains to central warehouses, from which it is dispatched to consumers in block trains.

Both systems, as the technical-and-economic calculations have shown, are well coordinated with the availability of the existing loading-and-storage equipment of the mines and with the operating regime of railway transport for supplying the mines with cars for coal haulage.

One of the significant points that may be raised against the organization of central warehouses is the appearance of one additional transshipment operation and, consequently, the associated additional degradation of the coals. There are no special grounds for assuming that in this case the coals will be crushed to a greater extent than under the existing situation, especially since the proposed system of coal haulage from the Kuzbass mines provides for the shipment of the main mass of coal through bunkers, bypassing warehouses.

The considered system of supplying industry with coal requires the availability of a fleet of railway cars assigned to the central warehouses. This circumstance should not serve as an obstacle, since under the existing system as well, the coal trusts and the industry consuming Kuzbass coals have their own fleet of cars.

In calculating freight flows for the transportation of coal from the mines to the central warehouses, car idle time was determined as 5.6 min per car trip. With average coal-haul distances of up to 100 km, the turnover of the rolling stock of cars increases in comparison with the existing system.

Thus, the considered system of supplying industry with coal is at present the most viable, because it provides for the active participation of consumers and frees the mines

from excessive concern for the safe storage of large quantities of the mineral.

Consequently, in favor of organizing central distribution warehouses at the outlets from Kuzbass, a number of indisputable positive points may be advanced, which are briefly presented below in thesis form:

1. The presence of central warehouses in Kuzbass will make it possible, at first, to simplify the loading-and-storage complex at the mines. With a sufficient number of cars, it will ultimately be possible to have simpler equipment layouts at the mines.

2. Powerful transport-and-loading installations are envisaged at the central warehouses. This will make it possible to ship heavy trainload consignments in the minimum time, which will increase the turnover of railway cars.

3. A characteristic feature of central warehouses is the independence of the technological process for processing, transporting, and shipping the mineral to consumers. This will make it possible to have qualified cadres of workers specialized in particular processes, which will undoubtedly increase the labor productivity of the workers of this complex.

4. The Kuzbass mines produce coals that are highly variable in properties and unstable in quality. Therefore, central warehouses, as a single complex, make it possible to have better conditions for maneuvering fuel stocks. In this case, on the basis of replacing coals of one district with coals of another, it is even possible to prepare complex artificial fuel blends according to the requests of industry.

Thus, the creation of central warehouses, ultimately constituting a single complex for coal processing (beneficiation, coal blending, briquetting of coal fines with a high ash content, rational utilization of waste, etc.), is a problem of the near future not only for the coal industry of Kuzbass, but also for the entire national economy of Western Siberia and the Urals. Very serious tasks have long stood in line before the consumers of Kuzbass coals—the achievement of maximum efficiency in the use of fuel, the comprehensive reduction of the cost of the fuel component of production cost calculations, and the reduction of capital expenditures for the equipment of enterprises’ heat-engineering facilities and of operating expenses.

1. Basic Provisions of the General Plan for the Mechanization of Mines of the Donets Basin, 1933. ↩