Patent ID: 7594702

Claim:
A highwall mining system for transporting mined material from a face of ore in a mined hole across an unimproved mine floor to an outside area comprising a remotely controlled continuous highwall miner including a front end and a rear end, said front end of said continuous miner oriented toward said face of ore; a platform in said outside area; a sled adapted to skid on said unimproved mine floor and transport said mined material from said continuous miner to said platform, said sled including a substantially flat floor plate having two ends and two sides, two side frames extending upward from said sides of said floor plate, and an open top; two guide rollers aligned one above another on said side frames; a pull pin on each of said side frames at said rear end of said sled; a sling secured to said pull pins; a pull out winch secured to said platform, said pull out winch adapted to pull said sled from said rear end of said continuous miner to said platform; a haul back winch secured to said platform, said haul back winch adapted to pull said sled from said platform to said rear end of said continuous miner; said haul back winch including two return sheaves on said rear end of said continuous miner and a third sheave on said front end of said sled; a pull out rope extending from said pull out winch to said sling at said rear end of said sled; and a haul back rope extending from said haul back winch to said platform.