ABSTRACT
Ukraine’s power strategy up to 2030 foresees considerable increase of coal percentage in Ukraine’s fuel and energy complex. In this connection extraction of thin seams and chain pillars with the thickness of 0.6…1.2 m where the exploited coalfields contain up to 70% of conditioned coal deposits has become one of the most urgent problems. The complexity of solving it at the mines of West Donbass Region is explained by specific mining and geological conditions. The coal in this region is solid enough (strength coefficient according to M.M. Protodyakonov is 5302 .....f ) and bearing strata – argillites, siltstones and sandstones are weakly stable ( 5280 .....f ). Therefore, previously used augers in these conditions turned out to be of little effect: cutting units often did not cope with solid coals and due to weak stability of rocks it was necessary to insert wide pillars between the stalls. The situation somewhat improved after transferring to setting BZM-1M use with the improved cutting units but coal loss remained to be considerable.
