Well, for coal, getting it all wet would kind of defeat the purpose. ;) I believe the danger for uranium is a combination of dust particles and escaping radon gas. (I'm not super familiar with uranium mining, though, aside from knowing that it uses ISL.) I believe ISL is used in part to eliminate that, possibly in part because it works. (I know ISL does not work for coal. There are likely other substances where it doesn't work at all or is highly inefficient. Gold, for instance, often is found in narrow veins, so you'd have to use a lot of leechant to get at a tiny, tiny amount of gold if you tried ISL, while if you drag the gold to the surface, you can only leech the rock that actually has gold in it.) I'll also admit that, from a "technology will probably advance in the future" perspective, I'm not entirely sure why all mining would not be done by semi-autonomous robots, although you could probably play with robots being too expensive, not quite working, whatever.)
What do you mean by dug into the ground? At the mines I've been in, there are generally portals dug into the side of the ground that roughly follow the vein, or a longer "getting to the vein" vertical portal that doesn't quite follow it. (i.e. a huge elevator shaft that can be used to transport people to the vein), with branching portals from that. I believe that MSHA states that there must be at least two exit portals for every mine large enough for humans to use. (And generally big enough to drive a vehicle into. A primary and secondary escape.) The ventilation tends to use the same shafts that already exist, and the machines sit at pretty much the entrance (easier maintenance).
The mixture of gases within the mine will always change somewhat (exhaust from people, machines, seepage from rocks). But the goal is to keep the gas moving fast enough that all these are blown out. (Of course, toxic gas can still build up, which is the goal of the SCR. And, of course, ventilation can break. Or rocks can fall and seal off the air flow to wherever you are, etc. etc.) I believe most modern deaths are from or roof or rib falls, though. (Not very dramatic. I suppose if you wanted drama you could have full cave ins/explosions/whatever.) Generally everyone has to carry an SCR and there are catches of them all over the place. (Of course, these are all modern regulations. I suppose you could do whatever you want in a gulag.)
Ahhh, got it! I thought the ventilation system used different, dedicated shafts. When I looked for pictures online, I came over this and this, for example, so I imagined these huge shafts that would just be used to pump fresh air in and exhausts out. The big fans I saw oh the outside and some maps I checked somehow reinforced that idea. Ops :/ Thank you for clarifying that.
I'm going to rework some part of the plot, but I agree that a roof collapse might be my best bet. It's not su much about drama, rather than setting up a good scenario for later purposes. This is a toes dip, I have enough room to make changes :DI
They do tend to have tubes that run through the mines in some places so that the intake and outtake air don't mix. (There are also gates, etc.) But the air does use the same shafts that are used for people. ;)
A roof collapse is probably the most expected at least from a modern perspective. (Of course, who knows what will happen in the future?)
What do you mean by dug into the ground? At the mines I've been in, there are generally portals dug into the side of the ground that roughly follow the vein, or a longer "getting to the vein" vertical portal that doesn't quite follow it. (i.e. a huge elevator shaft that can be used to transport people to the vein), with branching portals from that. I believe that MSHA states that there must be at least two exit portals for every mine large enough for humans to use. (And generally big enough to drive a vehicle into. A primary and secondary escape.) The ventilation tends to use the same shafts that already exist, and the machines sit at pretty much the entrance (easier maintenance).
The mixture of gases within the mine will always change somewhat (exhaust from people, machines, seepage from rocks). But the goal is to keep the gas moving fast enough that all these are blown out. (Of course, toxic gas can still build up, which is the goal of the SCR. And, of course, ventilation can break. Or rocks can fall and seal off the air flow to wherever you are, etc. etc.) I believe most modern deaths are from or roof or rib falls, though. (Not very dramatic. I suppose if you wanted drama you could have full cave ins/explosions/whatever.) Generally everyone has to carry an SCR and there are catches of them all over the place. (Of course, these are all modern regulations. I suppose you could do whatever you want in a gulag.)
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I'm going to rework some part of the plot, but I agree that a roof collapse might be my best bet. It's not su much about drama, rather than setting up a good scenario for later purposes. This is a toes dip, I have enough room to make changes :DI
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A roof collapse is probably the most expected at least from a modern perspective. (Of course, who knows what will happen in the future?)
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