Taiheiyo Coal Mining Co.,Ltd. Kushiro Colliery (Taiheiyo Coal Mine) is Located on the southeastern part of Kushiro-city in Hokkaido prefecture, Japan. Taiheiyo Coal Mine, which is an underground coal mine, was established in 1920. The total output of clean coal during its 80 years of operation was more than 100 million tons. Its mining fields gradually expanded into sea beds in the Pacific Ocean from land areas; and since 1951 its entire mining fields have been under the sea bed. Currently, the main fields for mining are areas located 600 to 700 meters under sea level. The production of clean coal in 1998 was 2.13 million tons and R.O.M. was 4.08 million tons.
In order to survive under the several difficult conditions surrounding Japanese coal industry, Taiheiyo Coal Mine makes an effort towards mine safety, stable production and cost reduction. However, mining condition of Taiheiyo Coal Mine is extremely worse than American and Australian ones, so not only longwall techniques but also comprehensive technical development are demanded.
This paper describes the rationalization during these ten years and the productivity increase by comprehensive technical development of Taiheiyo Coal Mine.
