What are the different methods of mining?

Answer 1

Here are two of the main categories of mining:

Underground Mining - Underground modes of access include drift, slope, and shaft mining, and actual mining methods include longwall and room and pillar mining. Drift mines enter horizontally into the side of a hill and mine the coal within the hill. Slope mines usually begin in a valley bottom, and a tunnel slopes down to the coal to be mined. Shaft mines are the deepest mines; a vertical shaft with an elevator is made from the surface down to the coal.

Surface Mining - Surface-mining methods include area, contour, mountaintop removal, and auger mining. Area mines are surface mines that remove shallow coal over a broad area where the land is fairly flat. Huge dragline shovels commonly remove rocks overlying the coal (called overburden).