Retreat Mining

Retreat mining is a method used in underground coal mining where miners carefully remove support from the final remaining sections of a mined area, causing the surrounding ore walls to collapse safely. This process allows miners to extract the remaining coal while ensuring stability and safety for workers. It’s typically done after most of the coal has been extracted, minimizing the risk of uncontrolled collapses. Essentially, retreat mining systematically “retreats” from the mined zone, using controlled collapses to efficiently recover remaining resources while maintaining stability in the mine.