Coal miners gather in Marion for annual Mining Institute

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The 119th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Mining Institute took place Tuesday and Wednesday at the Marion Pavilion.

Founded in 1892, the Institute's mission statement is to promote the mining industries through technical support, education and information transfer.

Hundreds of miners took part in the programs, which included the 34th Annual Land of Lincoln Mine Rescue Contest, exhibits of mining equipment by manufacturers and technical classes.

The rescue contest was hotly contested between 19 teams representing mines throughout Illinois. There were two Indiana teams fielded by Peabody Energy. Participants had to work their teams through courses staked out in a field next to the Pavilion. The courses simulated the hallways of underground coal mines and were marked with signs that identified obstacles like underground water. Their passage through the course was timed and judged closely.

All the team members wore self-contained breathing packs on their backs, masks on their faces and hard hats on their heads. In the hot August sun, the work was challenging.

Phillip Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, said the competition was a good morale booster for the miners.

"Coal mining is a very important part of the economy in Southern Illinois," said Gonet.

Modern improvements in mining techniques are boosting production, he said. Long wall mining is safer and more productive than the standard room and pillar method. Long wall mining allows the miners to extract more of the coal and protects the miners from ceiling collapse while mining is in progress. It is used only 40 percent of the time, however.

When the ceilings are safe the room and pillar method is used.

Combining surface mining and room and pillar mining accounts for the other 60 percent of the total production, said Gonet.

Illinois coal is high in sulfur content. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 reduced the use of Illinois coal. Gonet noted that in 1990 the state was producing 62 million tons a year. By 2003 the state output had been reduced to 31 million tons a year. In 2010 34 million tons were produced.

But Gonet said that the future looks brighter for Illinois coal. Three major mines are due to open at full production by 2013. They will add about 26 million tons to annual production. Gonet said that China, India and Europe are major customers of Illinois coal. And a spike in the price of Appalachian coal has led to more customers from our eastern states.

Improved scrubber technology makes it possible to burn the higher sulfur coal safely said Gonet.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has signed two separate bills to build two coal gasification plants in Illinois. One will be near Mt. Vernon and one will be located on the South Side of Chicago. Coal gasification turns coal into natural gas. All of these developments add up to an improving market for southern Illinois Coal. But Gonet cautioned that the process will take years to develop.

"It's not going to happen overnight," he said.

The Illinois Mining Institute is based in Carterville.