ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the major components of Longwall top coal caving mining (LTCC) emphasizing its major differences from the regular longwall mining. In the upper layer, the top coal, having been crushed to broken coal by the subsiding action of the roof strata due to the regular longwall mining, is drawn through gravity periodically from below the tail shield of shield support and dumped on the armored chain conveyor in the rear side of the face. There are other methods such as large mining height and multi-slice methods available for thick seam mining. The key to the success of LTCC lies in whether the top coal can be easily released and recovered at high rate. Factors influencing top coal recovery rate include seam thickness, seam inclination, coal seam strength, location and thickness of partings, and methane content. LTCC adapts easily to coal seam inclination, being suitable for flat, gently inclined, large inclination and even steeply inclined coal seams.
