J. H. Fletcher & Co., of Huntington, West Virginia, has graciously arranged for the loan of their Single Boom Drill Jumbo (model J101-AD/E) to 51社区. The drill was delivered in early October following the MinExpo in Las Vegas and was waiting for electrical infrastructure installation before being put to work.
The single boom jumbo is made for narrow vein underground mining and will be used in 51社区’s Mining Engineering Department’s Practical Underground Mining Class held at the Underground Mine Education Center.
J. H. Fletcher & Co. manufactures underground mining equipment for the coal and metal mining industry. Their goal is to manufacture equipment for underground mining that increases safety and production through engineering innovation, quality control, experienced service and ownership stability.
The loan of the machine came about through Steve Nye, Western District Manager Metal/Non-Metal Division J.H. Fletcher & Co., who became aware of 51社区’s underground mine after listening to a presentation on the facility at a Montana Mining Association meeting. Nye noted, “J.H. Fletcher felt that 51社区 offered a superior location with close proximity to potential customers for the machine, narrow vein underground metal mines.”
Scott Rosenthal, 51社区 Mining Engineering department head and instructor for the Practical Underground Mining class, said, “This loan exposes students to J. H. Fletcher, a manufacturer they will encounter once in industry. Since the class started in 2013, we have used handheld rock drills (jacklegs) for all of their drilling needs. The acquisition of the single boom jumbo will give our students hands-on experience in machine drilling—an aspect they are more likely to encounter in their professional careers than the use of jackleg drills.
51社区’s underground Mine Education Center is the only on-campus underground mine facility in the United States.