The Paskov Mine: New conveyor belts increased the mucking capacity

STAŘÍČ – In the Paskov Mine, last Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays of January, February and March were marked with the replacement of three conveyor belts of a total length of 920 metres. This was taking place while operation was going on at one stope and three faces, with minimum impact on the output or the driving within the entire pit! It was necessary to increase the capacity of central mucking from the coal seam No. 063 because of the planned deployment of a mining complex within the POP 2010 programme in the new face.

Instead of the TP 630A conveyor belts, the Belt 1200 type conveyor belts appeared. They serve to bring coal to the skip that has been extracted by the miners under Chief Foreman Vladislav Horák in the stope No. 063 605. The new central mucking system will also be used by the team of Foreman Petr Prokop, that will work in the stope No. 063 606 and use the mining complex supplied within the scope of the POP 2010 programme and, since the spring, also by the team of Chief Foreman Petr Zeman. The stope No. 059 605 where this team operates will be equipped with self-advancing roof supports and a ploughing compound PF2.2 with RHH 4.1.

“It was confirmed that appropriate employee motivation and their good organisation allows to reach even goals that seemed unfeasible at first sight,“ Tadeusz Pieczka, Technical Deputy Manager, concluded. In addition to other tasks, his team, along with people from the central mucking division, had to move their working hours to Saturdays and Sundays.

The organisation of the event lay also on the shoulders of the chiefs of the sections: Jaroslav Kubiena (machinery), Josef Žilt (central mucking division), Petr Merta (electric equipment) and Jiří Lokaj (suspended transportation). Face workers of Jiří Drábek or preparation workers of Otmar Smolan were also involved. Given the time pressure, Master Mechanic Libor Grebeň ordered deliveries of materials from the Bucyrus company on the day-by-day basis (what is known as a “just in time“ system).

“Everybody understood the importance of the task and agreed to transfer their working hours. Nothing could and did not hamper the continuity of operation, maintenance and safety,“ Mr. Pieczka added and said that they used all the idle moments very well. They dug recesses for the driving mechanisms, extended the profile for the passage of the means of suspended transportation, added new floor for fitting in larger driving mechanisms and stretching devices, as well as pre-assembled the suspension system for the conveyor line.

(Radek Lukša)