Mining Terminology - L

Lamp - The electric cap lamp worn for visibility or the flame safety lamp used in coal mines to detect methane gas concentrations and oxygen deficiency.

Layout - The design or pattern of the main roadways and workings. The proper layout of mine workings is the responsibility of the manager aided by the planning department.

Lift - The amount of coal obtained from a continuous miner in one mining cycle.

Lignite - A low-rank coal with relatively high moisture content and relatively low heat/energy content.

Liquefaction – The process of converting coal into a synthetic fuel, similar in nature to crude oil and/or refined products, such as gasoline.

Lithology - The character of a rock described in terms of its structure, color, mineral composition, grain size, and arrangement of its component parts; all those visible features that in the aggregate impart individuality of the rock. Lithology is the basis of correlation in coal mines and commonly is reliable over a distance of a few miles.

Load - Placing explosives in a drill hole or transfering broken material into a haulage device.

Loading machine – A device used for transferring excavated coal into the haulage equipment.

Loading pocket - Transfer point at a shaft where bulk material is loaded by bin, hopper, and chute into a skip is called loading point.

Longwall Mining –A major underground coal mining method currently in use, that employs a steal plow, or rotation drum pulled mechanically back and forth across a face of coal that is usually several hundred feet long. The loosened coal falls onto a conveyor for removal from the mine.

Loose coal - Coal fragments larger in size than coal dust.

Low sulphur coal - Coal which has a sulphur content generally ranging from 0.1 per cent to 1.0 per cent.