Abstract: A method of mining a mineral deposit from a remote point, particularly useful in mining pitching or horizontal seams, comprises boring, casing and preparing a log of a probe hole; the casing will later be used as a guide for the mining head. All personnel are remotely located from the mining face and the mining head follows the probe hole and is rotated by means of a novel drive stem powered from a portal based plant. Thrust is imparted to the rotating mining head in a non-cyclical manner by the intermittently supported drive stem. The mineral being mined is automatically removed from the face and discharged at the portal. Steel or reinforced concrete support collars follow the mining head and support the drive stem until the bore is mined out whereupon the collars, the drive stem and the guide are removed for reuse.

Abstract: A method of mining a mineral deposit from a remote point, particularly useful in mining pitching or horizontal seams, comprises boring, casing and preparing a log of a probe hole; the casing will later be used as a guide for the mining head. All personnel are remotely located from the mining face and the mining head follows the probe hole and is rotated by means of a novel drive stem powered from a portal based plant. Thrust is imparted to the rotating mining head in a non-cyclical manner by the intermittently supported drive stem. The mineral being mined is automatically removed from the face and discharged at the portal. Steel or reinforced concrete support collars follow the mining head and support the drive stem until the bore is mined out whereupon the collars, the drive stem and the guide are removed for reuse.

Abstract: A method of mining utilizing a reciprocating drive, in which a tooth is driven along a relatively straight path over an ore surface in one direction of movement so as to cut a groove therein, and then a wheel is substituted in place of the tooth and is rolled within the groove in the opposite direction, the wheel having a radially wedge-shaped circumferential edge portion which applies laterally outward and downward crumbling forces to the groove walls.Both the tooth and the wheel may be incorporated into a unitary wheel assembly as a single tool, by attaching the tooth to a point on the circumference of the wheel. The tool is then locked against rotation during its powered drive stroke in one direction, when the tooth engages the groove, but during its stroke in the other direction is released to permit rotation of the wheel.The method provides for working a number of parallel grooves concurrently, with wheels being utilized only in alternate ones of the grooves.